GAMING IN METAVERSE WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
The biggest evolution of video gaming is the “metaverse” — an immersive virtual world powered by blockchain, non-fungible tokens, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality, among other things.
The metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual universe where players can build their avatars, purchase and sell virtual properties, play games, travel, meet, work, chat, and much more. For instance, you may use a VR headset to experience a fully-immersive driving session in a virtual world alongside digital avatars of other players within the same metaverse.
The relationship between blockchain technology, gaming, and the metaverse makes sense. The gaming industry has always been at the forefront of adopting new technology. At the same time, the vision of the metaverse is dependent mainly on virtual environments common in games that offer decentralized asset ownership.
Additionally, all blockchain games offer in-game NFTs, which can be traded, bought, and sold across secondary marketplaces. In a way, the metaverse will consist of several interoperable virtual worlds. This means that both the play-to-earn model and NFTs offered by blockchain games will also play a crucial role within the metaverse in one way or another.
Mainstream players and deep-pocketed investors are opening up to the idea of the metaverse, significantly as popular blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, Splinterlands, and many others disrupted the traditional gaming model. These games introduced the concept of true in-game asset ownership and monetization, positioning themselves as the biggest contributors to the expanding blockchain industry.
The second wave of blockchain games took the concept of in-game NFTs even further by introducing the idea of GameFi, the merging of gaming and DeFi (decentralized finance). With this, blockchain games like Decentraland and Sandbox started offering players graphic-rich and immersive virtual experiences, thus unlocking the door to the metaverse.
Currently, the blockchain gaming ecosystem mostly consists of the card, RPG, MMO, and strategy games. However, in recent months, game developers have introduced more graphic-heavy and complicated game mechanics, enhancing the experience for the gaming community.
Today’s gaming and tech ecosystems are largely split along regional and cultural lines, and the same is likely to hold true for the early metaverse. “The potential for abuse of power in a centralized metaverse is also non-trivial, which is why several organizations are working to create open standards. We also need to remember that, as with any new technology, the transition to the metaverse will happen gradually, and it is up to the individuals building it to do so responsibly.”
