Blockchain, DApp and an evolution of Gaming industry
Blockchain and Problems of current Gaming Industry
The 21st century is the time we witness many changes and applications of new technologies into our daily lives. In 2009, Blockchin was first properly introduced to the world by Satoshi Nakamoto and its application in Bitcoin protocol, creating Digital currency and referred to as “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party”.
To the present, there are many projects that show the potential of Blockchain technology in its applications to our daily life. For example, Healthcare is now applying Blockchain technology into their ways of operation. Due to its transparency, decentralized and automated in nature, Blockchain provides Healthcare with faster, cheaper and better ways in taking care of patients since every patient record is stored on the Blockchain system, doctors can keep track of their patients’ status quicker. Furthermore, data security is guaranteed since Blockchain is a decentralized system that is hard and impossible to be hacked and much much more other applications.
Gaming industry is not an exception. Current gaming industry is considered to be a hundred billion dollars industry providing consumers countless ways of entertainment. However, the gaming industry has many problems concerning both consumers’ experience and developers rights and ownerships. For players, common problems they have to face when playing on current gaming platforms are:
- Server shutting down
- Hackers
- Game crash and shutting down
- Undeserved ban
- Transparency problem concerning gameplay and mechanics
- Involvement of third parties, developers and administrators takes over game economy
- High transaction fees
For game creators and developers:
- High fees when putting products on game distribution platforms
- Ownerships and rights are compromised
- Revenues are not directly received
It can be seen that the current gaming industry is not all transparent, secured and safe for both players and game developers. But then, how can Blockchain help ?
Blockchain applications in gaming
Blockchain in its nature is a decentralized data system, which means they are not controlled by any entities. Players when playing the game will benefit greatly from:
Faster and cheaper transactions
Building on the Blockchain system, the involvement of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will benefit players greatly with low-fee and faster transactions since there will be no third parties to process their fiat currency transactions anymore.
Transparent gaming platforms for players and developers
Blockchain games will have a decentralized server. Which means no one will have absolute control over anyone or anything. Players have permanent ownership of their in game items. Items cannot be deleted or altered even if the game server is shut down. Moreover, in-game items are presented by a unique token called NFT (Non-fungible Token). Players can then trade their NFTs with others or sell them on markets and websites.
For developers, they benefit from a secure environment where hackers cannot stage a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) since Blockchain uses a Proof Of Work and other consensus algorithm to secure the network. Moreover, publishing their games on the Blockchain platform means that they have more power in product ownership, directly receiving their revenue and paying low or no fees to get their products reach out to players.
A multi-verse of game and a decentralized market
Players can now trade their in-game items between different games which allow them to recycle their digital assets. In addition, in-game items are represented using digital tokens and they can start trading tokens on other gaming markets as long as they are hosted on the same Blockchain. Gaming market is also designed to be decentralized, which means it removes the need for trust between players and provides censorship resistance.
Dapps and Blockchain gaming
Applications that operate on a distributed computing system, such as blockchain networks are called Dapps. There are many way to describe a Dapp and it can be described to have following characteristics:
- Open Source: A source code made for the public allows everyone to verify, use, copy and modify
- Decentralized: Building on Blockchain network, Dapps is not entirely controlled by any entities.
- Secured by cryptographically: All data is stored on public chain which provide strong security and low risk of failure.
Dapp plays an important role in providing a strong, secure and reliable foundation. Games built on Dapps provide users the same gameplay, game mechanics which are very familiar to many players while applying the Blockchain network to solve current gaming industry problems stated above.
EOS knight is the first Blockchain game that was built on EOS platform. Moreover, EOS knight is also available on mobile, introducing Blockchain gaming to even more players around the world. In the game, players compete with each other by slaying ogres, collecting items, crafting items and adopting pets. By slaying ogres, you receive items, magic potions, armors and weapons and these items can then be sold and traded with EOS. What make EOS different from other blockchain games is that it elevates its internal economy along with an easy and interesting gameplay.