Ignore The Noise: Web3 Gaming Is Making Real Progress

Blockchain introduces the promise of a decentralized video games landscape where players can earn rewards, own in-game assets and have a real say in the direction of their future development.

\It’s a compelling promise, and yet it’s one that many gamers strongly resist. Gamers have become some of the most vocal naysayers against crypto, labeling digital assets as worthless, with many arguing that the entire industry is a scam. Given the number of hacks and ill-intentioned social media influencers around, it’s understandable that many might think like this.

Web3 Gaming Is Far From Dead

In a recent editorial in Cointelegraph, NPC Labs co-founder and CEO Daryl Xu argues that Web3 games have failed to achieve mainstream adoption because they’ve ended up recreating many of the problems they set out to fix, creating walled gardens that aim to keep players trapped in their gaming ecosystems. Moreover, he claims developers tend to place too much emphasis on blockchain and tokenomics, at the expense of fun gameplay.

But there are many reasons to believe that decentralization can be better for gaming. One of the most compelling is the idea that gamers can exercise control over their development. Indeed, Vitalik Buterin says that a decision by the creators of World of Warcraft to nerf his favorite character was one of the main inspirations that drove him to create the Ethereum blockchain. Then there was the infamous incident with Madden NFL 23, where a data storage issue on one of EA’s servers caused the progress of thousands of gamers to be permanently erased.  With blockchain’s decentralized governance and distributed network, neither of these things can happen.

Web3 gaming has its share of success stories too. The rise of so-called “tap-to-earn” games on Telegram such as Hamster Combat and Notcoin, which boast millions of players, speaks to the appeal of crypto rewards in gaming. Then there’s the case of Off The Grid, the hit battle royale shooting game that gathered 9.12 million users and processed more than 100 million transactions within the first month of its launch.

A Showcase Of Token Stability

A recent spate of token delistings on platforms like Binance stoked apprehension for blockchain gamers. A number of native gaming tokens were included among them, but this is not so much a criticism of the value of these assets, but rather a reaction to the rise of numerous worthless memecoins, which has resulted in many exchanges tightening their listing requirements to protect customers.

While there may be a few bad apples among blockchain games, most Web3 gaming assets boast sound tokenomics and provide genuine utility. Web3 games developers have put a lot of thought and effort into strengthening their tokenomics models in the wake of what happened to Axie Infinity’s, whose token price crashed once the game’s popularity peaked.

But that’s unlikely to happen with newer games like My Neighbor Alice and Alien Worlds. The price of MNA’s ALICE token has been stable since the summer of 2022, propped up by the growing popularity of its metaverse-based farming and social adventure, ample liquidity with more than 50 exchanges listing the asset, and its adherence to industry compliance standards.

It’s a similar story for Alien Worlds, widely regarded as one of the most successful blockchain games. Its native token TLM has a market cap of around $25 million, with its price hovering around the $0.004 mark for more than three years, in stark contrast to the usual volatility of crypto assets.

A closer look at ALICE highlights some strong fundamentals. More than 90% of its total supply is already in circulation, reducing any chances of inflation. It provides vast utility, serving as the main rewards token and currency (for buying NFT-based virtual assets and acquiring skills). Players can also unlock exclusive content by paying with ALICE, and they can even start an in-game business and earn ALICE tokens. \

ALICE also powers MNA’s decentralized governance. By holding ALICE tokens, players are eligible to make proposals to the community and vote on those ideas, with their votes proportional to the amount of tokens they hold. They can thus play an active role in the game’s development and help shape its future.

ALICE’s time-tested tokenomics model is based on the idea that transaction fees are returned to the game’s treasury, then fed back to players as rewards for fulfilling various in-game tasks. The game’s economy is rounded out by DeFi features such as staking, lending and borrowing, providing further utility.

Continuous Development and Community Engagement

Games must evolve if they don’t want to die, and MNA has been transforming itself rapidly with new features such as the launch of its race-inspired NFT Collection, which fuels an ongoing event called “From Land to Track”. In the event, players are encouraged to design their very own race track, on land they own, with big ALICE prizes for those that attract the most community votes. MNA is also celebrating its birthday with its second ALICE airdrop, rewarding its loyal gamers for sticking around, and has many new gaming features planned, such as an innovative new guest mode for new players and WebGPU to ensure smoother gameplay.

The pace of innovation in Alien Worlds is just as frenetic, with recent examples being the launch of its Battlefleet Armageddon and Starblind mini-games. It has also introduced community grants to help fund developers who want to create new experiences within the Alien Worlds universe, and launched a new, 10-week community engagement program to help kick start its expansion into China.

Stability: The Key To Success

Mainstream adoption remains a distant dream for blockchain gaming, for the industry continues to be dogged by misplaced narratives and broader market challenges. Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see the resilience, the ongoing innovation and the never-ending community engagement with newer Web3 games like MNA and Alien Worlds.

With their strong token fundamentals and loyal player bases, these games have established a strong foundation for the future that won’t easily crumble. With their unwavering commitment to continuous development, they showcase just the kind of sustainability needed by the Web3 gaming industry to further its progress.

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