The potential impact of the blockchain technology on current global issues is immense, especially regarding the unauthorized exposure of sensitive data, deceitful activities, excess financial spending, and inadequate governance systems. By harnessing this technology, we can envisage innovative remedies to address these concerns, which would enhance our security, safeguard us, and ensure cost-efficiency.
The term ‘blockchain’ is no longer synonymous with cryptocurrencies. Although initially intended for this function, the technology is now being widely employed for a variety of other purposes that may not be immediately apparent. The gaming world may not be the most obvious sector to apply blockchain technology; nevertheless, it is one of many domains where this technology can prove useful.
Exploring the possibilities, it is apparent that the gaming industry can greatly benefit from the integration of blockchain technology. Through a comprehensive evaluation of the gaming space, it is evident that this technology can address various concerns, such as safeguarding sensitive information, reducing fraudulent activities, minimizing expenses, and discouraging games primarily designed to generate profits. These issues have created a challenging landscape for gamers.
Gamers should be free to indulge in their gaming experience without worrying about the game’s technical aspects. Blockchain technology can transform the gaming sector and offer significant advantages to players, including the ability to own authentic digital assets and participate in decentralized games with a high level of impartiality and a ‘play-to-earn’ mode. Although we are not quite there yet, blockchain technology holds the potential to unlock these opportunities.
Protecting Player Data
The internet has enabled gaming companies to offer a more extensive range of services than ever before, including online gaming, updates, downloadable content, in-game currency, tournaments, and more. However, to avail these services, players have to create an account and provide sensitive information, such as credit card details and social security numbers.
In recent times, there has been a disturbing trend of unauthorized individuals gaining entry into centralised systems housing sensitive data. As a result, people have lost trust in organisations and their ability to protect their customers’ data, with the number of data breaches continuing to rise. Thankfully, blockchain technology provides a potential solution to this problem, with increased security and assurance.
Because of its distinctive features, blockchain technology is highly appealing to the gaming industry. Firstly, data stored on a blockchain is highly encrypted, making it challenging for unauthorized parties to view or alter it. Furthermore, since blockchain technology is distributed among numerous transactions and databases, accessing a particular piece of information becomes intricate. Its transparency guarantees that all participants can be confident that no deceitful activities are transpiring.
Authenticating Property Ownership
One of the most significant concerns in the gaming industry today is the lack of ownership for in-game items purchased. Since the files for these items are housed on the developer‘s servers, players merely rent them instead of having legitimate ownership. In the event of the developer releasing an update that disrupts anything or deleted data accidentally, all the items purchased by the player would be permanently forfeited.
The adoption of smart contracts in blockchain technology is a significant benefit to the gaming industry and for validating digital asset ownership. Smart contracts have the capability to manage in-game transactions with their pre-set rules, which automatically activate once a player fulfills the requirements of the contract. Any amendments made to the contracts after the requirements have been met become permanent.
When playing a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) founded on blockchain technology, you may face a contract when purchasing a sword. The contract specifies that you need to attain a certain financial threshold and have a suitable hero level to qualify for purchase. Once you meet these criteria and agree to the provisions, you can keep the sword permanently, or at least until you retain access to your public address, where the sword will be securely stored.
Managing the Complexity of In-Game Merchandise
As we are already discussing, blockchain technology simplifies purchases and ensures that you are the rightful owner of any items you obtain. In-game purchases have become more prevalent, providing game developers with an avenue to generate revenue from their creations and granting players unique advantages through the acquisition of exclusive items.
There has been considerable criticism of the practice lately, but blockchain technology could be useful by eliminating the need for a middleman to process transactions. Third parties, frequently banks, are required to authenticate the specifics of in-game purchases for it to be successful presently. However, with blockchain, such transactions can be completed instantly, thus eliminating the need for a mediator.
It is conceivable that all transactions could be conducted through any cryptocurrency as blockchain technology underpins all cryptocurrencies. This has the potential to establish a ‘play-to-earn’ structure, where users can ‘mine’ for cryptocoins while playing a game and later utilize these coins to purchase or exchange items within the game’s economy. This would prove advantageous to all parties involved, and the process would be simple.
Creating Personalized Profiles
If you wish to play games from various game developers like Electronic Arts, Blizzard Entertainment, and Microsoft, you have to create multiple accounts and usernames on each digital platform. This can be a tiresome and inconvenient process as you need to log out of one service before accessing another. However, the gaming industry can significantly profit from blockchain technology. Using blockchain, it could be feasible to make a single profile that can be used in any game, allowing you to avoid the trouble of continuously logging in and out of various services.
By using your authentic email address as your profile, shifting between games is uncomplicated and free from trouble. The most significant advantages are that you can utilize the same address to buy and sell the cryptocurrency you mine through the play-to-earn approach of any of those games.
Moving away from current centralized platforms would offer games more flexibility and interoperability. This would benefit players greatly as they would no longer have to fret about shifting to fresh platforms or adjust their gaming strategies to fit the preferences of a small group of people.
Potential Challenges Ahead
The possibility of blockchain technology to transform the gaming industry is incredibly thrilling for players worldwide. However, its complete deployment is yet to be recognized. Several factors hinder the full utilization of the technology, including vested interests of corporations and political parties that benefit from the existing system, and technological obstacles that prevent game developers from prioritizing it.
It is becoming more apparent that gamers crave games that are highly intricate, streamlined, and fast-paced. However, due to the sluggish transaction speeds of current blockchain systems, it would be unfeasible to adopt blockchain technology for in-game transactions and the creation of new assets – highlighting the significance of speed.
The maintenance of the blockchain infrastructure required to operate gaming applications is an issue that must be considered. If you have ever made a purchase using a blockchain, you know that each transaction can be expensive, with each one potentially costing several dollars. In a moderately complex game, this could result in thousands or even millions of transactions happening daily; an expense that could be too high for the average user.
The implementation of blockchain technology in the gaming industry is a promising prospect. Nevertheless, certain obstacles must be tackled before it can be fully utilized. Mainly, these are concerns that require resolution to ensure a fairer and more pleasurable gaming experience for all. While it may be enticing to outright reject the concept of blockchain-based games, it is essential to acknowledge the challenges and work towards solutions to enable the comprehensive implementation of this pioneering technology.
