Blockchain and the new gamer economy: how to earn in dollars by selling video game items

When a player enters the current world of video game you can find several ways to do profitable long hours of entertainment in front of the PC. Some manage to become professional players or members of the staff of a football team. esports and collect a salary; Others can reap the benefits of blockchain to become digital traders and earn in dollars.

Blockchain technology burst into the gaming world 8 years ago when it made it possible, among other things, monetize virtual world assets. Basically, players found the mechanism to save their purchases and retain their value to sell them to other players.

The blockchain allows the transfer of digital data with very sophisticated encryption and in a secure manner. As a “real” life example, it would be book of accounting entries of a company where all inflows and outflows of money are recorded.

These blockchains have loops and encryption to protect the privacy of each person, which in turn generates trust in the rest of those who interact on the platforms. The system mainly allows the information to be public, transparent, unalterable and, since everything is recorded, traceable.

Each transfer does not require a centralized intermediary to identify and certify the information, but is distributed across multiple nodes independent of each other that register and validate it without the need for trust between them. Once entered, the information cannot be deleted, only new records can be added, and it will not be legitimized unless the majority of them agree to do so.

Each block in the chain contains the transaction package and two codes, one that indicates which block precedes it (except the original one, of course), and another for the one that follows it, that is, they are intertwined or chained by what are called hash codes or pointers.

Simply put, you can think of blockchain as a digital scribe. A means to certify and validate any type of information. A reliable, decentralized registry, resistant to data manipulation, and where everything is recorded.

In a twist for the video game industry, blockchain technology introduced new habits in which gamers interact, create and monetize their digital experiences. This practice, called “Tokenomics” (combination of “token” and “economics”) transforms the economy of online games and opens new opportunities for users.

It is a way of encompassing those elements that make a cryptocurrency valuable and interesting for investors. It includes all aspects, from how it is issued, to its usefulness, supply, distribution and demand, among other things.

In video games, tokens can be digital assets with various uses that have a value determined by their rarity or demand. The most coveted items are usually those that They have a functional value within the gamesuch as unique characters or collectible cards, as well as cosmetic items that allow players to customize their gaming experience.

Some popular games that use tokens are Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, Meta Soccer, Sorare, Big Time, and Decentraland, as far as the Metaverse is concerned.

These and other titles are classified in the so-called Web 3.0the evolution of the Internet (World Wide Web), which is focused on decentralization, data interoperability and the ability to carry out direct transactions between users without the need for intermediaries.

Therefore and according to its spirit, players who engage with these kinds of games can acquire and trade digital assetsOf course, in addition to being entertaining.

Anyone who wants to invest in these digital units can do so on different cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance, Vain or Mexo, among others. In addition, these platforms also monitor your market quoteas happens in the real world with stocks or bonds.

“Players can buy and sell them on Binance, for example. Additionally, they can speculate on them, buying at low prices and selling when the value increases. Demand may vary depending on factors such as the popularity of the game and the scarcity in question,” explains specialist Tomás Lorences, Head of Game Research at Sura Gaming, platform that creates communities of gamers in Web 3.0.

“The purchase and sale of tokens by players or people who bet on digital assets that are not cryptocurrencies, largely allows studios to finance their projects; while retail investors find a chance to make a profit if the game is successful,” he adds.

A virtual currency within the game is normally used to buy skins, Battle Pass or level up the character, so those tokens that can be acquired normally usually have a relatively low price.

However, each title has its particularities and the most desired items or those that have relevance in the market can be calculated in Thousands of dollars.

For example, Meta Soccer, which is a Web 3.0 soccer manager starring Ronaldinho, currently has players as assets. They range from a few cents to $200 for the most coveted cards. However, some Axis – virtual creatures of Axie Infinity – may have a market value that exceeds 6000 dollarsaccording to the latest listing on Binance.

“In particular, I feel that blockchain is a technology that has a very clear and constructive value proposition for the user. The possibility of owning your digital assets, everything you use to play, as well as the independence of the developer in As for the commercialization of its content – not owning and commercializing them, what is colloquially called decentralization – I think these are valuable things for a game,” Lorences points out.

Looking to the future, he says: “I think in recent years we are seeing more and more games and of better quality with bigger budgets and greater investment, being developed with blockchain technology and coming to market, and that is only going to crescendo.”