There is hardly a way to describe play-to-earn games without mentioning the non-fungible tokens (NFTs). If you follow through with this article, we will demystify any uncertainties you may have about NFTs and how they relate to P2E modeled games. The NFTs or non-fungible tokens are virtual collectible assets that come in different digital forms, including images, music, and arts. However, in terms of gaming, they appear as what a player will easily collect anyway.
For example, depending on the game you are playing, you may pick up items like clothing, skin, weapons, characters, and other items. In other cases, you may get to possess a portion of a virtual land space or win a prize after a battle or contest. All these items within the game environment can be precious and exciting to possess. However, we have not scratched the peculiarity of play to earn gaming just yet.
The peculiarity of NFTs or digitized form of these items is that they are always unique and irreplaceable. In other words, it is impossible to duplicate or replicate them once a player possesses them, except that player trades them within the blockchain network. For example, imagine the Mona Lisa painting, a unique work of art, and only one original exists in the whole world. Maybe two now – one on the blockchain and another in gaming.
Therefore, these invaluable digital assets are stored on the blockchain network and not just within the game. Besides, each one holds a unique value. So, if two players have identical characters in the game, something must differentiate them. For example, one character may have a red hat while the other will have a black one. And if both of them were to engage in a trade, one would have a character with an increased value than the other. Click here for promotional product ideas for a new golf shop.
Are Play-to-Earn NFT Games Free to Play?
One of the great perspectives that some people have about play-to-earn games rallies around the question above. And often, it leads to some level of skepticism from the person. Let us try and find a clear answer to the question. Perhaps, you wonder if the game hands over cryptocurrencies or NFTs to the players without doing anything. Well, yes and no; because it depends on the game developer and the whole concept of the game.
Some of these game developers may decide to make the NFT game free to play. By implication, you can register for free without paying a dime and begin to play to earn different valuable assets. Therefore, in those cases, the players earn the NFTs as the rewards of playing and not their investment. All they have to do is be active players, spending some reasonable time on the game and engaging the environment.
In other play-to-earn games, it takes more than the time of engagement with the platform. The developers may ask the players to make an upfront investment such as an entry fee before the game playing starts. In such a case, the player may have to buy NFTs from the other players before they can begin playing their own. Such a gaming environment is called pay-to-earn games. Meanwhile, this system does not stop players on either side from still making profits.
Who owns the NFT in the Play-to-Earn Games?
Put: NFTs belong to the game players and are strictly their property other than anybody’s/ on the other hand, traditional in-game assets usually belong to the game developer or investor. They can decide to do whatever they like with it. If the game shuts down or cannot continue for one reason or the other, the player has no stake nor any way to retrieve assets. But in NFT games, if the game shuts down, the players still hold their assets and can still trade them.
There is no fuss about what any player does with their assets once they deservedly own them. Meanwhile, due to the ability of the assets to increase in value, the player usually finds a way to increase the value. The simple way is to commit the asset to further game playing. And when the value is worth what they desire, they may sell these assets or trade them with other players for other assets.
Furthermore, NFT in-game digital assets are not stuck with the game as they can be traded outside the game environment. There are dedicated third-party marketplaces where all assets can be traded for their actual market value. Payers enlist whatever assets they wish to sell, and they get paid in cryptocurrency.
Play-to-Earn games in Developing Countries
Play-to-earn games may still not look like a big deal to some people in the developed world. But it is a massive income-generating adventure for people in developing countries such as India, the Philippines, and Venezuela. When the pandemic struck in 2020, many people became jobless in these places, with the unemployment rate in the Philippines reaching an all-time 40%. People needed to find a way out of it and find it fast, even if it was still impossible to go out and work.
A few people found the potential value in these play-to-earn games, and soon, they became an escape route. Game players from this part of the world grew, and Filipinos began to earn thousands of dollars just by playing games. Initially, the minimum wage in Phillippines was meager, at about $230 a month. But when they started playing Axie Infinity, players began to earn over $1000 monthly from simply farming SLP tokens from the game.
Earnings rose so high that the government of the Philippines proposed taxing new players that are planning to join the platform. By now, you already know that Axie Infinity is a pay-to-earn game where players need to buy three axies before they can start the game. So, where did these Filipinos get the money to start the game? Apart from the fact that axies were not this costly at this time, there was another way out for passionate game players.
The way to play such games is to join NFT rental communities or guilds. As a result, the communities offer these NFTs to the players at a very minimal cost. When the players play Aie Infinity and earn some cryptocurrency, they can repay continue until they begin to make huge profits.
Conclusion
On a final note, we hope this article has given you many glimpses into the relationship between play-to-earn and NFT games. If there are unanswered questions in your mind, kindly post them in the comment section.