Play-To-Earn (P2E) games are NFT-based in-game items with a real-world value is not difficult thanks to blockchain technology, but problems arise when game developers the game as an income source or investment opportunity for all players.
While some games denominate their in-game items in fiat currency, the overwhelming majority of online games are built on virtual economies that have no real-world value. Thanks to blockchain and Web3, it is now easy to create digital property with real-world value, and implementing Ethereum and its ETH cryptocurrency.
As BEAT esports co-founder managing and paying blockchain gas fees, and dealing with network issues is even worse than dealing with server outages on World of Warcraft.
What Is The Solution?
P2E has proven to be unsustainable as an economic model, since there is no way for every player to make money without other players losing money, or, more commonly, the game's economy suffering hyperinflation and collapsing. P2E games exclusively attract P2E gamers, who hold unrealistic investment expectations and will dump their holdings at the first sign of trouble. This has resulted in most Play-To-Earn games evolving into a Play-And-Earn (P&E) model, where rewarding gameplay is prioritized, and the ability to sell in-game items for real-world value is a secondary feature of the game.
Ultimately, the most successful Web3 games will be those that traditional gamers can and play without knowing the game items they are earning, crafting, and trading are NFTs and cryptocurrencies. If P&E game developers stop using the term NFT to describe game items, and can find a way to create proxy wallets for non-crypto players, then the traditional player base could be tapped as a primary source of income for the game's economy, which can be used to reward the players who function as economic producers.
The problems of P2E gaming are related to the reasons why NFTs are misunderstood, as most P2E gamers are retail crypto investors looking for easy ways to get rich. P2E games are notorious for selling in-game assets for large sums of money to fund the game's development, and many of them are scams, or lose their appeal rapidly after release. Instead, Web3 gaming must follow the direction of P&E gaming, where the game's items and currency are blockchain tokens with small/marginal real-world values, and the primary focus is on deg and maintaining a rewarding experience for traditional and casual gamers.
Source: Bill Elafros