11 Web3 Gaming Examples That Will Revolutionize Online Play

Blockchain technology has revolutionized numerous industries, and the gaming industry is no exception. Verifiable ownership, security, immutability, and decentralization are all benefits that blockchain offers. This has given rise to a new era of gaming where players can have ownership of assets and monetize their time and effort spent in-game while game developers can create more engaging experiences that incentivize player participation. In this article, we will explore the top 11 use cases for blockchain in gaming.

Blockchain gaming use cases

1. In-game Asset Ownership

Currently, when a player buys a skin or asset, they can only use it in the game that they bought it in. The IP is still with the gaming company and if the player stopped playing the game for whatever reason then their in-game purchases would be essentially worthless. An analogy here would be like buying a pair of jeans but only being able to wear it at the store you bought it. With blockchain, players can now have ownership of their in-game assets through their wallets and on-chain identities. Players can choose what to do with their assets—whether that is to sell, trade, use, or do nothing outside of the confines of the game environment.

For developers, this also unlocks new creator economies and monetization models. We’ll talk more about this in example #3.

2. Tokenization of In-game Items

Tying into the point above, different aspects of the game could be tied to different token standards. To recap, ERC-20 tokens are fungible, meaning that it can be exchanged for something of the same value. ERC-721 tokens are non-fungible meaning they are unique and ERC-1155 tokens can support both fungible and non-fungible tokens.

For gaming purposes, currencies and crafting materials could be represented by ERC-20 tokens whereas in-game items could be represented by ERC-721 or ERC-1155 tokens. Some items could be transferable to others in the form of trading while others could be account bound through the use of soulbound NFTs, which are NFTs that are permanently linked to a specific identity.

3. Ownership of User-generated Content

In many games such as Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and more, much of the games success is from user generated content. While users are compensated for their contributions and many people make full time careers out of the in-game content that they create, there is still controversy over what is truly fair. For instance, this article by The Verge highlights certain flaws in Epic’s creator economy model.

With blockchain, players can gain ownership of the content they create within the game, such as mods, maps, and skins. Players can determine their own business models and even use concepts like NFT royalties. This can help to create a more engaged and invested player community, as well as incentivize players to create and share content within the game.

4. Game Interoperability

Another benefit is potential interoperability between games. This is beneficial for both players and developers. From a developer point of view, interoperable games would bring about new avenues for user acquisition. Developers could choose to either assimilate games between their own IP or choose to work with others. For players, users could potentially port an asset from one game over to another. Imagine being able to buy Nike NFT shoes and being able to wear them on characters across different games.

5. Peer-to-peer Economies

Interoperability of games also brings about new market dynamics where there may be multiple currencies. Payments may be made in multiple currencies and players may be able to transact their wealth and assets in one game to get head starts in other games. An example of this in the current gaming world is a site called d2jsp. Users on the site have a form of currency called “forum gold” which they can use to trade for items in various games. Trading items directly between two games such as Diablo 2 and Path of Exile isn’t possible. However, using a middleman such as d2jsp allows users to sell items in one game for forum gold and use that same forum gold to buy items in another.

With blockchain, all assets and currencies are retained in virtual wallets so there is no risk of a central entity shutting down or locking users out of their accounts. Blockchain also can provide an immutable and secure way to trade, whereas sites such as d2jsp largely rely on trust between users and often encounter scams.

6. Immutable Player Progress

Tying on to the concept of soulbound NFTs, player progress could be tracked on chain. For example, progress and achievements could mint soulbound NFT badges so that these are tied to the player. This way players can be confident that their hard-earned achievements and progress will remain intact, even if the game is updated or the player switches devices. Additionally, being tracked via soulbound NFTs means that players cannot sell their progress or access to content.

7. Transparency in Item Rarity

Loot boxes are a controversial topic in the gaming industry due to their ties to gambling and there’s been regulations by Apple and Google put in place to make the odds more transparent. Even then, studies have found that more than 30% of games do not follow these rules and keep the odds hidden. With blockchain, games can create a transparent way of tracking the rarity of items, which can prevent players from being misled by false rarity claims. This can help to build trust between players and developers and bring transparency from a regulatory point of view.

8. NFTs for Unique Items & Achievements

Games can utilize NFTs to represent rare items or achievements in the game, providing a unique ownership experience for players. For example, game developers can launch one-time-only world events and reward a NFT to players that participate or complete the challenge. These NFTs could bring about a new level of prestige to players that own them and become digital collectibles.

9. Pre-release Rewards

Early supporters of a game can be given tokenized assets that they can then stake to earn exclusive content. For example, a player could stake their early-access token and receive rewards such as power ups, exclusive in-game items, and/or skins that they would be able to use on launch. This encourages users to support games early and provides a retention mechanism for developers while working toward the launch date of the game.

10. Player Voting

By using blockchain, games can create a decentralized voting system where players can vote on game updates, changes, and new features. Voting systems can be defined a number of ways, whether that’s one player one vote or voting power determined by tokens accrued through the game. This can help to create a more engaged and invested player community, as players feel that they have a say in the direction of the game.

11. Guilds & Clans

Blockchain can unlock new ways for players to create and join guilds or clans. Currently, in-game systems allow clans to designate different ranks for their members such as who the clan leader is. These systems also might control who has what access to the community loot box. However, if there is anything outside the game such as a Discord server or clan forum, the in-game permissioning system does not work and becomes a manual process. With blockchain, NFTs could be minted and used as a permissioning system. These NFTs could be used as auth tokens whereby the type of NFT a user has determines the access the user has to guild experiences inside and outside the game.

Kaleido offers web3 game developers unmatched flexibility

Blockchain brings about a new set of possibilities in gaming for both gamers and developers. To do so, there are many technical challenges that need to be overcome. How will nodes be run? Will gas fees become too expensive? How do I integrate blockchain into an existing game? What goes on the chain? How do I manage user wallets and accounts?

Thankfully, Kaleido’s Asset Platform has got you covered. We make it easy to map wallets to users, create NFT collections, and manage both public and private chain connections. If you're ready to bring your web3 gaming ideas to life, schedule a demo with one of our solutions architects and we'll help you make your vision a reality.