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There’s probably no piece of entertainment that has captured our present and future dystopian times best than Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror television series, and there’s perhaps no better (and more cynical) vision of what the current future of gaming might look like than in. the second installment of the series, ‘Fifteen Million Earnings’. If you don’t remember, in that episode, society was driven by a “merit” based currency, which people earned by riding stationary bicycles. They could then use these credits to buy food, virtual accessories and virtual avatars, or as a way to skip the obligatory ads in the gigantic video rooms that dominated their living spaces.
Sounds familiar? Since it went online at about the same time that payment processing itself went online, gaming has gone hand in hand with similar virtual currencies and rewards. MMOs in the mid-2000s featured virtual treasure chests that would soon give way to often divisive loot boxes in games like World of Warcraft. It wasn’t long before loot farmers were playing these MMOs’ virtual reward systems in a scheme that resembled a digital sweatshop.
A bridge now exists between fiat currency and the items and currencies of gaming and virtual worlds, making the digital sweatshops of the MMO boom seem child’s play and bringing us closer to that world of Black Mirror where gamers are forced to collect as much as possible. “earnings” instead of, well, gaming. That’s a very dangerous crossroads.
Meeting gamers where they live
The potential for such shenanigans has only grown with the implementation of game tokens and NFTs that can be sold for popular cryptocurrencies or “real” currencies in secondary markets, giving way to a “play-to-earn” model where gamers collect revenue to brag virtual rewards and game tokens. When a game implements NFT and tokens publicly under the “play-to-earn” model, it is usually portrayed negatively, from Ubisoft’s unpopular Ghost Recon NFT to the scammers who marketed fake Outerverse NFTs.
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While “playing to earn” may have had a rough start, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, among others, thinks this new dynamic is inevitable, and it’s hard to argue with his logic:
“In five years you will really appreciate your time. And instead of being harvested for advertisements, or robbed for dollars to buy stupid hammers that you don’t actually own, you play a similar game in the chain that will be just as fun, but you will earn real value and your shall be the reaper.”
The numbers back him up. According to Juniper Research, 230 million gamers are expected to purchase loot boxes by 2025, generating $20 billion in revenue. Passionate players in particular are also willing to pay high amounts for rare items, and are willing to pay real money for in-game items when it makes sense.
The game industry’s job is to find a way to implement this new wrinkle, a wrinkle that is unlikely to go away, in a way that is not only fundamentally ethical, but enhances gameplay rather than makes it. to distract. The genie is now out of the bottle when it comes to gaming’s new economy powered by virtual goods, in-game tokens and NFTs, and the industry needs to develop a plan to ensure this new dynamic isn’t overrun by scammers.
Gaming-first and gamer-first models
One way game makers can integrate this new business model in a way that makes sense to their gaming audience is by using “play and earn” instead of “play to earn”. What that means is that virtual items associated with tokens and NFTs are a nice bonus rather than the goal. Essentially, gamers want to complete a game, not collect loot boxes or become day traders.
As Ohanian noted, the integration of tokens and NFTs only replaces the old paradigms for monetizing ads and in-game items, not the games themselves. Game makers should not let the hunger for these potentially lucrative new monetization channels undermine the fundamental value proposition of delivering an entertaining, delightful and immersive gaming experience.
Like any landrush, digital or otherwise, you always have a fair share of scammers. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that as long as NFTs and tokens are an aspect that enhances gameplay rather than a total profit-seeking replacement for that gameplay, these things can actually be embraced by gamers. For that to happen, the gaming industry must come together to formulate best practices for both integrating virtual currencies inside and outside of games, while being proactive about the anti-fraud measures that will protect gamers. That could mean the industry is outlining a set of principles and self-regulation already being used by crypto institutions, such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC).
Gaming shouldn’t feel like a job or a reward system from dark science fiction. To avoid a gaming landscape that looks like “Fifteen Million Earnings” or a dystopia like this, the industry must do all it can to stamp out fraud and build models where earning is an extra gaming power, not the sole purpose of to exist.
Anthony Charlton is the co-founder and CEO of Utopian Game Labs. He has 30 years of experience as a marketing professional and business strategist in multiple industries, including sports, leisure and hospitality, and more recently with specialist knowledge of information technology, the blockchain and the video game industry. Anthony has senior leadership experience in these industries and has led a number of companies from inception to growth and profitability and ultimately to financial exit. For ten years, Anthony has also been a personal business coach and mentor, working with individuals and organizations to advise on future strategy and C-level planning.
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This post Games should promote ‘play and earn’ instead of ‘play to earn’
was original published at “https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/29/games-should-promote-play-and-earn-instead-of-play-to-earn/”