There's no clearer sign of the times than Facebook rebranding as 'Meta' and developers petitioning Valve to lift the ban on blockchain games from Steam. As we inch closer to the reality that is offline oblivion, it's no surprise that the cryptoverse gets gamified. You won't need me to explain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) at this point, but let's just provide a little background on how the Ethereum economy and technology is adapted for the gaming world.
Based on a play-to-earn model, players become owners of in-game assets through digital purchases or unlocking new items. Basically like most game systems, except that you earn exclusive ownership rights where you can distribute or resell them for your own profit. If that sounds up your alley, here are some popular examples:
Axie Infinity
Think Pokemon meets NFT, and somewhat descendent of Cryptokitties. Creatures known as Axies have a virtually limitless combination with over 500 customisable body parts and individual genetic imprint. You breed, raise, trade and battle PVP (player versus player). There's even in-game currency Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) that you can earn while playing, and ERC-20 token that rewards partial governance rights.
Gods Unchained
A trading card game with fantasy duels for that ultimate nerd-out gameplay. To win games strategically, players have to build a deck with a variety of tactics. Players earn Flux when they win in Ranked games, which can then be used to create high-quality cards and traded on the platform's marketplace for actual cryptocurrency.
Evolution Land
Not far removed from real world concepts, land here is up for purchase by auction, with occupation choices like mining materials produced on the land or synthesising elements into props. Together with collectible Apostles (again, some rarer than others), these assets can be traded. Of the 26 continents contained by the elements of land, fire, gold, water, wood, and silicon, developers _ have built Ethereum-based Atlantis and Tron-based Byzantine.
Sorare
Going old school back to card games, you manage a virtual team via purchase and sale (not forgetting trade!) of players. Officially licensed and representing real-life footballers for a particular season, the game tracks the individual performance of footballers from 23 leagues. Players articipate in competitions and earn either cash or Ether crypto.
F1 Delta Time
You can't have games without one involving racing. The interesting thing here is that components—whether for car or drivers—are small, divisible tokens, each with a set of stats that affects car or driver performance. They can construct much larger crypto amounts, and the ERC-20 token currency called REVV can be earned by staking NFTs. Of course, besides testing your compositions on Trial mode, there's also a Grand Prix mode for racing.
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