Blockchain application developers are paying special attention to the game sector, because this is a highly profitable industry when applying blockchain technology properly. Not only that, blockchain is also reshaping the way this industry works. Let’s learn about the applications of blockchain in the video game industry with Tech Town.

Features of the game industry

This dynamic industry always has many characteristics, in addition to the stakeholders will also have certain influences. That makes gaming a fast-growing segment in the global tech sector. Tech Town will show its characteristics right now:

•     We need money to play popular games. One of them allows players to accumulate digital gold, which is inconvenient for many players because it takes time. Most players spend their out-of-pocket money buying in-game assets.
•     Game developers and entrepreneurs need a safe and secure environment to develop and launch games. Then they make money from them.
•     Players need to safely buy and sell in-game assets, so they need secure platforms for that.
•     Players can play multiple games and they create their own profile in each game title. They want their profiles to be interactive in-game, and this is one area where technology can help.
•     People tend to predict the value of intangible assets, so more and more people are spending real money on virtual games. When a field enters this phase, it will take a technological breakthrough to create a huge success.
•     When players are not online, they need to keep their virtual assets safe. Currently, these assets are stored in the game company’s centralized server, making them a target for hackers. This is another issue where technology can make a big impact.
•     The player never actually owns the assets in the game, the game company owns them.
•     The game can stop working, the rules can change suddenly and arbitrarily. Players will feel frustrated because of this. Which technology can provide more control to players, that technology will have the potential to disrupt the current gaming market.
•     A lot of players will have great ideas to make the game more interesting, but they just can’t do it. Technology will give opportunities to talented developers.
•     If technology can create a business model that allows closer collaboration between players and developers, it will change the industry forever.
•     Games would be a lot more interesting if developers allowed the creation of in-game assets, which is another area where technology can make a difference.

 

We talk about “technology” a lot, and such technology has emerged. It is blockchain and its applications that could completely reshape the gaming industry today. How is the specification?

The most prominent blockchain application in the gaming industry

Easy in-game purchases with cryptocurrency

Players won’t need to wait for 3rd party payment providers to process their transactions, instead they can purchase in-game goods instantly. From there, players can also save money on payment providers.

 

Blockchain startups have seen this opportunity. For example, Enjin introduced a framework for game developers that includes:

•     Software development kits (SDKs)
•     Electronic wallet
•     Game plugins
•     Other applications for item management and in-game payment gateways.

 

Blockchain applications are deployed in the gaming industry. Enjin created the ERC20 token, ENJIN Coin, to support transactions on their platform.

Safe and secure development environment for businesses and developers

Blockchain applications use powerful data encryption technologies such as public key – private key to secure cryptocurrency token (crypto token) transactions. With today’s computer technology, it is impossible to hack these data encryption techniques.

 

In addition, hackers will not be able to destroy a decentralized blockchain network because there is no single server to destroy. Nodes maintain a distributed database in a shared manner, and each node has complete information in the database.

 

Hackers cannot delete or modify transactions in the blockchain and cannot attack these networks. Blockchain programmers use Proof of Work (POW) or other consensus algorithms to keep the network secure.

 

An entrepreneur or game developer now has a secure environment to develop his product on the blockchain.

Buy and sell assets in the game

With the popularity of cryptocurrency (crypto), buying and selling with tokens is now very easy and safe. If a blockchain game developer allows players to buy and sell in-game assets with digital currency, they will ensure that they have the means to make those transactions.

 

Players need to protect their private keys to keep transactions secure. Of course, they need more discipline when it comes to the security of their computers, such as performing regular backups, avoiding web risks, and avoiding keeping too much crypto in a web wallet or smartphone.

Profiles players can interact with in the game

Cryptocurrency investors and traders have a public address that they can use to transact on different blockchain networks. For blockchain games, players can get their unique public address from game to game. It is entirely possible for them to use cryptocurrencies to transact from the same public address.

Valuations on intangible assets

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Axiom Zen launched CryptoKitties on November 28, 2017. As of December 6, players have spent $6.7 million on this game.

 

This suggests that if the company builds an interesting enough game on the blockchain, it is inevitable that players will predict the value of intangible digital items. The most important thing is still “an interesting game”.

BLOCKCHAIN WILL ALLOW PLAYERS TO SAFELY STORAGE IN-GAME ASSETS:

It is very easy for hackers to attack centralized servers and steal all the assets stored on that server

 

However, blockchain technology can change that. Players can purchase digital goods in blockchain games and store them securely in their digital wallets

Allows players to actually own in-game assets

Unlike current games, where players don’t actually own virtual items purchased in the game, blockchain games allow players to actually own their assets. A blockchain-based game would use smart contracts to govern the transactions inside, and that makes all the difference.

 

Smart contracts are executed automatically when the contract’s coded conditions are met, and as a result are immutable. All in-game assets purchased by players using smart contracts will be moved to their public addresses. The smart contract is also completely transparent and every player can see the rules.

 

The results of smart contracts are recorded in a decentralized blockchain and those records are immutable. No centralized agent can change the public address where assets are stored, so no one can change ownership of in-game assets.

Give the player control of the game

A game like CryptoKitties is a “Decentralized Application” (DApp). Entrepreneurs or game developers can consider going the DApp route to launch their blockchain game.

 

DApps have certain characteristics that make them different from other applications as follows:

•     Although the front-end code can be in any language, the DApp must have a smart contract as the backend code.
•     The DApp must run on a decentralized blockchain.
•     The DApp must use crypto tokens generated using a standard cryptographic algorithm, and no one person can own the majority of those tokens.
•     The DApp must store its data in a decentralized blockchain that follows cryptographic standards.
•     Code must be open source.
•     Most importantly, the DApp must run automatically and the user community must reach a consensus to modify the DApp.

Open up opportunities for developers

If inexperienced, entrepreneurs can also learn how to develop a DApp game, there are plenty of resources available. For example, Loom Network has built an interactive course on how to develop a DApp (Crypto Zombies coding) game.

 

Talking about Enjin again, they are not the only blockchain startup that offers an SDK for blockchain-based game development. Loom Network provides their Unity SDK, and developers can use it to build their own games.

 

How to build a blockchain game:

Learn how to develop Ethereum, including smart contract coding and DApp development.

Create an Ethereum account.

Install the necessary tools.

Coding smart contracts.

Test, deploy, and run encrypted smart contracts.

 

Blockchain games are open source and developers can view the code of similar games if they need guidance. For example, CryptoKitties smart contracts can be viewed in their EthFiddle repository. Open source also allows fork and start with base code, so there may be no need to start over.

Allows players to collaborate with developers to improve the game

Blockchain is changing the gaming industry by enabling open communication between players and developers. This is possible because the development of blockchain applications is driven by community consensus, not top-down.

 

A player or another developer might come up with a great idea to improve the game. If the community agrees, improvements will be made.

Create in-game assets

One trend in the gaming industry that we can see becoming more pronounced in the future is that rarer digital items/items will attract higher prices, which in turn drives sales. of the industry.

 

Smart contracts in the blockchain can be a great way to create “IF-THEN-ELSE” conditions, creating rarer in-game assets based on certain types of interactions. For example, the CryptoKitties smart contract generates rarer breeds of kittens in some cases, and they attract higher prices..

Prevent fraud

Earlier we talked about modern ciphers and consensus algorithms to protect the blockchain network from hackers. Smart contracts running on the blockchain network can be vulnerable if they contain bugs. Hackers can exploit such bugs, one example being the Ethereum DAO hack in 2016.

 

A public blockchain allows anyone to read all transactions, and the Ethereum community soon discovered the hack. They did a hard fork to prevent money loss and refund DAO investors.

 

If you want to develop games on blockchain, make sure that the smart contracts are well coded. However, a completely open ledger of all transactions helps prevent fraud, and that’s another supporting blockchain to offer you.

 

The most prominent blockchain application is in the gaming sector. If you are planning to build a great blockchain game, consider the advantages of blockchain technology for game distribution among other advantages.

 

Hope the information Tech Town brings above will be useful to you.

 

Contact us if your business has any technological challenges.