Forget GameFi, web3 games are about decentralization

You’ve undoubtedly heard the word “crypto” or cryptocurrency, and immediately either “oohed” or “booed”. Terms like “blockchain” or “NFT” have been used (and abused) in and around the conversation. But, how familiar are you with web3 gaming? And if you have, do you know what web3 gaming is?

To put it short and sweet, web3 gaming is (really) just video gaming plus the perks of the blockchain. You can think of it as a level-up of traditional video gaming, though arguments still stand to this day if it’s indeed an upgrade or just a messy combination that should end here. Our take at unix gaming is a little different; that one way or another the true goal of web3 gaming, like web3 itself, is decentralization.

So what does decentralization mean for gaming? 3 Words: Total, Unadulterated Control. And by “control” we mean the sheer plethora of options available to the player. The idea is to empower the player to control more of their experience, so the powers-at-be can no longer tell them what they can and cannot do. Take Dota 2, for example; you earn items like character cosmetics, particle effects, graphical changes and more through play, and then Valve (the creators of Dota 2) let you sell/trade these items in their marketplace (Steam). In many respects, that’s decentralization since you have “control” over the cosmetic items you’ve earned, to do with as you please - albeit limited to Steam’s ecosystem.

Web3 gaming enables players to take control of their items (through the use of NFTs) and uses the blockchain to remove the constrictions of being locked to a single ecosystem like Steam. It’s the same great features but with fewer restrictions. With transactions such as trading/selling not isolated into a single, controlled marketplace and instead handled by the blockchain, developers’ only say is how items are used in-game. Everything else, including how they’re used outside that original game, is up to the player. Some games are even working on providing players with the ability to use items from other games in theirs.

When you think about it, the provided freedom in games like Dota 2 and others on Steam’s marketplace, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for example, is an example of how web3 games might work and, indeed, flourish. However, we should never forget that these are all still games. It’s because functionality like trading was attached to outstanding games that Steam has achieved the level of success it has.

Gaming will continue to evolve, just like when Super Mario rocketed platforms to superstardom, Hideo Kojima pioneered the stealth genre, Nintendo revolutionized mobile gaming with their Game Boy, and Nobuo Uematsu fit entire orchestras into Final Fantasy. With or without blockchain technology, gaming will always grow from strength to strength.

We just think web3 technology has an important role to play in putting players more in control of the industry they so clearly love.