Are you in the mood to game? It appears that most gamers Web2 or Web3 consider their mood to be a key influencing factor when deciding which game to play. So have blockchain game developers factored in the frame of mind of the gamer when designing their in-game mechanics?
After attending the Decentraland Gaming Expo 2024, it was clear that the whole gaming space is heating up. Packed full of casual games to entertain, free wearables to collect, and talks from experts across a broad spectrum of industries, the Expo was a hit. If you watch back any of the talks, you will find a takeaway of two.
There were a few key points that stood out when it came to building a Web3 game, and whether or not you are in the mood, I will give a brief overview of those key takeaways.
Firstly, as much as Web3 aims to reshape and transform the gaming industry, centralized games and ecosystems still very much control the environment today and play an important role in gamers’ lives. As Ken Anderson, CTO of Tashi Gaming, points out, it can take six years to produce a game in the Web2 environment.
So, how can the Web3 gaming community come together to build games that stick in the players minds and offer them a unique experience?
Shifting away from this control requires rewiring our current systems and embracing owning, portability, and community-driven development. In traditional gaming, players already invest countless hours into their favorite games, collecting game assets and rewards confined within that ecosystem.
Along comes Web3 technology to change the entire player-game relationship. In our favorite Web3 games, the assets are stored on blockchain rather than the platform. The potential is obvious; the technology is not so simple.
Web3 game development is a continuous process of experimentation and iteration. Upland’s Chief of Staff Danny Wolf Browne shared insights into their approach, noting that 65% of their players had never owned a non-fungible token (NFT) before joining Upland.
Their success on platforms like TikTok demonstrates the potential for growth in both Web2 and Web3 audiences. “The most interesting part is looking at sustainable growth,” she says, emphasizing the importance of testing and optimizing user engagement strategies.
Web3 gaming projects have demonstrated how to incentivize players to hold onto their tokens, creating a stable in-game economy. This approach contrasts with the problematic launchpools of exchanges, where tokens are often dumped, undermining long-term value.
Many believe that adoption holds the password to the crown jewels when it comes to Web3 gaming and cryptocurrencies in general. However, when it comes to gaming, those who already see and understand the benefits are the most loyal, according to Jason Lee, a co-founder of Yomi Games.
He emphasizes this point from his extensive experience in game development. “There are enough people playing these games and interacting and buying,” he notes, highlighting the loyalty and spending power of this demographic. “Our most devoted players are the Web3-native people. They are loyal and spend the most.”
Web3 token incentives play a crucial role in engaging the crypto audience. Players not only contribute to the game’s economy but help to build a loyal, engaged community.
The importance of community cannot be overstated in Web3 gaming. Anderson highlighted this point, stating, “It’s not just about sovereignty and ownership; it’s about community.”
The success of a Web3 game often hinges on the founders’ engagement with the community. He spends time with successful game studios and they reported that “the number one factor for its success was the founders’ engagement with the community and building right alongside the community.”
Web3 games commodify community building, creating emotional and financial incentives to align around a project. This participatory approach ensures that the game evolves in a direction that resonates with its community, fostering loyalty and long-term engagement.
A common thread throughout the Expo was the need to reduce friction for players interacting with Web3 games. The user experience has become synonymous with friction-filled experiences, which cause onboarding issues and discourage adoption overall.
Game studios and development teams should spend more development time simplifying interfaces and increasing the portability of assets across platforms. How can games eliminate friction while staying true to the values of decentralization?
For example, Tashi has built a multi-player consensus engine that allows peers to connect directly with each other without servers or hosts getting in the way.
“Taking Web3 technology and driving real value for Web2 players. We can start to see the benefits of Web3 gaming on mass when Web2 developers are getting value out of it without any friction,” says Anderson.
For Felix Norden, Head of Development at Neo Tokyo, composable NFTs are an interesting way to think about one token holding multiple asset files.
Norden believes that Web3 has a lot of meeting points, but they are very fractionalized, and although it is great to have access to them, it can become quite noisy. So then it becomes “a balancing act between finding a select few things in the existing beautiful communities and also figuring out how to cross-pollinate.”
Web3 gaming is more than the average gaming experience. It is about creating new digital economies where players have ownership and even a say in future game chapters. Ensuring a smoother transition for Web2 players into the Web3 gaming world, making the experience seamless and enjoyable for everyone involved, is a critical component for all game studios to consider.
I will bow out with a quote that sums up the Web3 game development quite nicely in its current state and it didn’t come from my lips. The Hippocratic Oath of Web3 should be “Do no harm = Have no friction”, as Ken Anderson says.