By Peter Bergman (MoneyAmped.com)
The primary catalyst for the significant development of online gaming and the Internet itself has always been the concept of community. Consider some of the industry’s most well-known games, such as World of Warcraft.
However, despite the complex social structure inherent in these widespread multiplayer online games, it is clear that they adhere to a standard template.
Games Involve the Creation of Social Structures
Implementing game mechanics often involves the creation of predetermined social structures, such as guilds or clans, which can inadvertently prevent alternative communities from forming organically. Without the trust and reciprocity that arises from face-to-face interactions, online players seek a more profound sense of connection.
The integration of fully online games has the potential to effectively bridge existing digital inequalities, thus facilitating the organic fusion of the diverse and complex social interactions that occur in the physical environment with the immersive gaming environment.
With the emergence of online gaming in the mid-2000s, the industry experienced a significant surge in popularity, resulting in a currently active user base of approximately three billion people. With the proliferation of multiplayer games, game companies noticed a positive reaction from players towards alliance-oriented games such as EVE Online. Consequently, they began to develop more and more games that foster player communities and facilitate digital interaction.
A comprehensive analysis of games such as Rise of Kingdoms sheds light on the not-so-great aspects of the traditional multiplayer structure. On the surface, these games promote alliances, task sharing, and role delineation. However, in doing so, they inadvertently reduce the overall quality of the experience for the average player.
The game’s dynamics are biased towards “whales” – players who incur high costs and demonstrate an unwavering focus on achieving dominance in the game. As a result, the rest of the alliance members may find themselves as mere components in the mechanism of conquest campaigns.
The crux of the problem is the need for significant virtual assets and an appropriate system to protect them. Web2 models, especially those that utilize the free-to-play principle, incentivize players to allocate financial resources to achieve their goals in the game. However, it is worth noting that both virtual assets, deliberately designed to be highly inflationary, and individual player contributions are consistently undervalued within the game concept.
Due to the nature of the online environment, intangible qualities such as assets and personality are difficult to maintain. As a result, the dominant paradigms in online gaming do not offer any incentive to do so. This starkly contrasts tangible goods, which are exceptionally well safeguarded because of well-established legal and social frameworks.
The capacity for players to autonomously develop social frameworks or establish diplomatic accords for self-preservation, resembling entities such as NATO or local governance, wherein individuals collaborate, adhere to regulations, cultivate interpersonal connections, and forge agreements, is absent. Social interactions of this nature are not accorded commensurate value relative to the monetary allocation directed toward inflationary assets.
Introducing a New Level of Trust Into the World of Online Gaming
By leveraging the capabilities of smart contracts and blockchain technology, gaming companies have the potential to address the inherent vulnerabilities within the existing trust frameworks that form the foundation of contemporary gaming.
The emergence of a novel breed of crypto-native games is facilitated by preserving game assets and logic within a decentralized and immutable ledger. The solidity of property rights about virtual assets and entities is equivalent to physical assets within the on-chain framework.
The execution of contracts within the gaming community can be facilitated on-chain, thereby fostering the growth of pseudonymous societies that are immune to concerns regarding breach of trust.
To fully optimize the potential of online gaming, the industry must establish a standardized template. This mechanized framework enables players to oversee commitments and uphold agreements effectively. This framework should resemble legal entities that exist to safeguard the rights and interests of individuals involved in the gaming ecosystem. The effective management of diverse virtual societies comprising tens of thousands of individuals necessitates implementing a comprehensive interaction management system.
The task at hand presents inherent challenges. The existing on-chain game architectures face significant challenges in effectively accommodating the social layer and achieving the necessary high throughput to facilitate the development of exceptional MMO and grand strategy games.
Numerous players express their discontentment regarding their encounters with fully on-chain games, wherein the prevalence of enduring minutes for the execution of game actions is a recurring phenomenon.
Delays significantly hinder smooth gameplay, especially in situations where your ability to make quick decisions and react in real-time is critical. Think of a scenario where you are caught up in a major conflict and a necessary maneuver is not executed on time, or you are trying to synchronize your efforts with your comrades but are hampered by transaction times.
Existing infrastructure needs to be improved to facilitate the widespread adoption of blockchain-based games. Modular blockchain systems have enabled significant progress in the field of blockchain games. The current state of the art in technology allows for the development of specialized frameworks specifically designed to improve the performance of gaming applications.
Trust-free infrastructure expands the opportunities for creating deep and meaningful connections in the online sphere. The potential depth inherent in digital relationships can equal, and potentially surpass, the complexity and lushness of social networks seen in real-world communities such as a sports league, extended family, or professional environment.
No Social Frameworks
Players’ autonomy should not be limited to predefined social frameworks set by developers. Smart contracts allow individuals to effectively create their own organizations and contractual relationships, similar to well-known organizations such as NATO or local parent-teacher associations. The design space is vast.
The emergence of next-generation blockchain games offers promising opportunities for developing virtual societies. The platform provided by the company goes beyond mere interactivity to include a multifaceted community that exactly replicates the complex social structure observed in the material realm.
