What Are Cryptogames, and What Can Be Played?

Perhaps soon enough, the term “cryptogames” will be on everyone’s lips. Even now, sometimes, we hear news about the successful symbiosis of blockchain technology and computer games. And while we wait for Death Stranding and Cyberpunk, the real revolution is brewing right next to us. Or maybe not. It will be useful for a modern gamer to know what cryptogames are and how to distinguish decent projects from pyramid schemes.

What are P2E Games?

Cryptogames are games in which players can own some digital property, the authenticity and uniqueness of which is confirmed by a blockchain, and can freely exchange or sell this property, both within the game and on third-party trading platforms. To give a simple example, imagine if in Hearthstone you could sell any card you don’t need and use the money to buy what you want, or take the money out of the game and spend it however you like. In addition, digital property in crypto games can be bought and obtained in the course of the game as various rewards. Thus, in theory, cryptogames allow you to monetize your time on them.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Today, crypto games are just emerging as an independent trend, and any project is a pioneer in its field. Developers do not yet have the appropriate experience, and players are afraid of becoming victims of cheaters. And if we remember how it all began, we will realize that players’ fears are quite fair.

When did cryptogames first appear?

The first cryptogame appeared in late November 2017 and almost immediately blew up Reddit. Unforgettable cryptokitties! People rushed to buy up digital kittens, breed them and sell them to each other. You could find quite a few stories online about fabulous prices, incredible prospects, and expectations if you wanted to. Transaction volume quickly exceeded $4 million. I think active users of the Ethereum network still remember this nightmare. The blockchain froze, transaction costs skyrocketed, and transactions themselves might not execute for days. Fortunately, by the end of December, the excitement around kittens had died down. Strangely enough, there were no scandals or trials.

My personal experience

I invested $100 in cryptocurrency and quickly discovered that I became the happy owner of digital property that costs nothing. The first crypto had no gameplay whatsoever. There was no practical benefit to owning cryptocurrencies. The only action a player could take in the game was to pay a little more money to cross his kittens with each other and thus get more kittens, which, let me remind you, were worth absolutely nothing.

 

Of course, when selling your kitten, you can set any price you want, and there are quite a few people willing to sell even now, but there are no buyers for digital kittens for a reason described above. I’m sure that the guys from AxiomZen studio who created this game didn’t want to cheat anyone, but their brainchild looks like a pyramid scheme.

It is interesting that even now, major crypto industry publications seriously call cryptokitties the largest crypto game with the largest number of players and mislead their readers. The number of players who have bought cryptokitties is quite high, but the number of active users of this “game” does not exceed 200 people per day. Again, I’m not accusing anyone of anything, but if after reading this article you are interested in cryptogames and want to try them, I strongly recommend avoiding cryptokitties.

Of course, some enthusiasts are still trying to breathe life into them. In particular, a game called KotoWars, a KKI that will use players’ existing kitties instead of cards. Maybe something worthwhile will come out of this project, but it’s better to wait for the finished product, especially since there are more noteworthy games at the moment, like Runner Game.

Does it make sense to play this or that cryptogame?

Before moving on to specific examples, let’s figure out how to understand if playing this or that cryptogame makes sense. Most of the projects are in the pre-sale stage, when the game doesn’t exist yet, but you can already buy some digital property so that when the game finally comes out, you would have a good startup backing. By the way, this approach is practiced not only in crypto games. Remember Star Citizen, for example. Maybe these games will launch, and perhaps the purchased property will get some real value instead of a potential one, but we are interested in games that can be played right now. Finding them is not difficult. The main thing is to know how to look for them.

How big is the audience for cryptogames?

It is worth noting that the audience of crypto games, at the moment, is not as high as conventional ones. Let me remind you, the same direction right now is just emerging, so if the game has more than 1,000 players online, it can already be called popular. At the very least, you can pay attention to it. But there are clear leaders, the game with an audience of 2500 – 3000 players a day, Steem Monsters and Axie Infinity. There is a nuance in the same high online different games on the EOS platform. Before you start playing a crypto game, you need to have an account on the blockchain on which your chosen game works. In the case of EOS blockchain, this is not a simple thing, and if you are starting to learn crypto games, it is better to choose a more beginner-friendly option.

My Crypto Heroes is free to start playing, but you will still need some ETH cryptocurrency to playfully, and the process of exchanging fiat money into crypto is not easy. Steem Monsters game is paid, the starter kit costs $10, but you can buy it with fiat money through PayPal. In my opinion, this is the best option for a beginner.

Conclusion

Today you learned a little bit about cryptogames as a way to have fun and earn some cryptocurrency. Don’t forget that cryptocurrency can both rise and fall in value. Therefore, you need to look at things realistically. Crypto-games are just now starting to gain popularity, and no one knows what will happen to them next. But right now, this is an opportunity to take part in a new direction and try your luck at earning cryptocurrency in other ways. If you are interested in this article, I recommend reading other articles on this blog:

• How to Keep Employees Productive During the Coronavirus Outbreak
• How to Read Facebook Messages Without Being “Seen”

 

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