Traditional gaming vs Web3 gaming
Lately, you may have often heard the term web3 gaming, but what makes it different from traditional gaming? In this blog, we want to give you a brief description of both!
In traditional digital gaming, the developer or publisher launches a game where all in-game assets, economy, and events are owned by the creators. They hold the rights to the game and all its parts. Players are “users”, where they interact and enjoy the game, entering an agreement with the developers where the creators maintain the rights to the game and its content.
Typically, the user or player does not own any part of the game; ownership rests in the hands of the creator.
Think of it this way: you can customize your character in Skyrim with cosmetics to be wholly unique and personalized, but at the end of the day, that account and the character attached to it are owned by the developer.
As a player, you can use it as much as you like (or until the servers are shut down), but all the aspects of that character are essentially “loaned” to the player as part of the end-user license agreement.
One way to explain how web3.0 gaming changes the concept of ownership is an example of buying vs. leasing a vehicle.
Renting vs Owning
Perhaps you have been in this situation: you don’t know whether to buy a car or lease one. Each option has its benefits. If you make a lease or rent a vehicle, you can use it for as long as the contract estimates… but at the end of the day, you have to return the car.
If you buy a vehicle you are free to do what you like with it. You can sell it, rent it, give it away or just keep it for future use.
This concept is similar in digital gaming. When we talk about traditional digital gaming, the user or player is renting a character in an RPG game. When you finish the game, you can’t do anything with that character. You can leave it in a saved file, and maybe get some replay value out of it by using it again, but there is no return for the investment of time and money you made in that character.
With web3.0 gaming, the goal is to allow users and players to own a piece of the game in the form of a digital asset.
In the Bitverse, for example, your Bitverse Hero is a digital asset that stores information within it. With the purchase of this digital asset, the user becomes the owner.
In the Bitverse, your Hero can be taken from one game to another within its metaverse and your progress is taken with you. With a Bitverse Hero. You can plug your owned asset into any one of the Bitverse games. Whether it’s dungeon diving into the heart of Bit Heroes Quest or fighting for survival to be the last person standing in Bit Heroes Arena or leaping through obstacles in Bit Heroes Runner, your Hero will store the data on it, and you own that data.
What happens to your Hero when you decide you don’t want it anymore? Or if you feel like trying out a different Hero? Maybe you want a Hero with a different look or rarity.
With web3.0, your owned asset is yours to do with whatever you please! Sell it, rent it out, or give it to a friend — there’s an opportunity to exercise your rights of ownership however best suits you!
This is one of the advantages that blockchain technology grants you: the player becomes the owner. Your unique, one-of-a-kind Hero’s destiny is yours to control.
IAPs vs. NFT ownership
If you have played a mobile game at any time in your life, it’s likely that you are familiar with IAPs or in-app purchases. Unlike games with retail prices, games with in-app purchases can be utilized in a number of ways. Most commonly, IAPs can be used to give your character an XP boost, an in-game item like a cosmetic that changes your character’s appearance or improves your character’s performance (speed boosts, armor, damage boosts), etc. Sometimes IAPs can be used to decrease the time it takes for something in-game to occur. These microtransactions are incredibly common in most mobile and web games.
IAPs accumulate over time and are only as good as their duration lasts. Since microtransactions are impermanent — you buy them and use them like consumables or apply them like cosmetics — whenever you decide to stop playing a game, there is no way to recoup your investment upon leaving the game.
In web3.0 gaming, purchasing a non-fungible token means that you are the owner of the asset. As the owner of your NFT (character, hero, etc…) you can get a return on the investment made in the game, either by selling or renting your character to others.
In the Bitverse, owners of NFTs have the benefit of being able to receive bonuses and special rewards, as well as keep all the progress they have made with their Hero. That progress travels with you wherever you want to go in the Bitverse, and if at some point you want to capitalize on the time and money invested in your character, you can do so by selling or renting your NFT.
In traditional mobile gaming whatever you invest in your game, stays in the game, in web 3.0 what you invested stays with you.
Centralized Decisions vs DAO:
In traditional gaming, in general, the developer/publisher is the one who makes all the decisions regarding the game. It is possible that they can get feedback from the community for future updates, but they have the final say.
In web3.0 gaming, the concept of DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is becoming increasingly popular, where players can participate in the decision-making of the project.
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Still have questions about the difference between traditional digital gaming and web3.0 gaming? Let us know in the comments section!
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