Level Up: Gaming’s new evolution in Web3

The gaming industry has evolved a lot since it reached mainstream popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, it has kept up with the many trends and transformations we saw over the years. 

In short, we can say that the evolution of gaming was not a causation of these trends, but it just followed the general evolution of the Web.

Web1: Games were static

This was a characteristic of Web1. As a user, the limitations on what you can do was completely set by the developer (unless you had the technical expertise and became a modder). Players spent hours completing the gameplay, levelling up or beating others’ high scores.

Web2: Flexibility in gameplay

Users acted as both the producers and consumers. They had control over customization and could even create things from scratch – especially avatars. Users could spend endless hours and/or money to level up, gain new tokens, and “improve” their characters. 

This resulted in a new market where gamers could earn money by selling their characters or accounts! 

For example, gamers would sell their World of Warcraft accounts with characters of different levels and tokens to the highest bidder. In CS:GO, gamers could collect skins (different looks) for their weapons that were earned through gaming and/or through a sort of gambling. The second-hand market was huge as the skins had limited availability and high demand, much like the NFT market today

However, even though there was an existing market for buying and selling, did anyone own anything? Users merely had the login credentials to an account with access to specific tokens. The true owner was still the company that created the game. Similar to banks, they are in control of the value and can freeze it at any given time.

Now with games like Axie Infinity, and the plethora of games hosted in the Sandbox, not only can users own these game-compatible tokens (NFTs), but they can also earn NFTs and cryptocurrencies, just by playing, which can easily be exchanged for fiat currencies,

Web3: Ownership of progress and creation

As a new era is coming into shape, it is difficult to ascertain what will happen to the gaming industry. However, it is safe to say that blockchain technology and the adoption of NFTs can dramatically change the way we see ownership of progress and creations that is a result of the many hours spent on gaming. 

 

If you want to learn more about Web3, download our report here: https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/country_sector/web3-the-inevitable-next-step/?option=2021-southeast-asia&code=15048 

We’ll be deep-diving into Web3, the major concepts and use cases in our event “Web3: The inevitable next step” happening on 29 June between 3-4pm SGT. 

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/web3-the-inevitable-next-step-tickets-359134700557