In the past few years, a new kind of gaming phenomenon has emerged in the market, where players can earn an income on their playtime via NFT games. But, what is the meaning of NFT gaming? How do you play NFT games? These games are developed on a decentralized network and all in-game characters, weapons, items, and even land are tradable, upgradeable, and even in some games rentable. If you haven’t heard about this before, it all may sound a bit daunting at first, but I assure you by the end of this article you will firmly grasp the concept.
What are NFTs?
NFT meaning here is simple, NFTs are Non-Fungible Tokens which are a form of digital assets that can be bought or sold in exchange for cryptocurrency. These digital assets are all one of kind codes that are identifiable, traceable, and verifiable. This means that these NFTs are impossible to duplicate or hack. This uniqueness is what gives NFTs so much value.
Now, an NFT is a digital asset in a game, a collectible piece of crypto art, or even a real-world object like real estate. You would be surprised to know that some of these NFTs have been sold for thousands of dollars and the most expensive ones for millions. This trend is expected to grow in the future, with new technologies coming into the market soon, these NFTs will only get more popular.
Even the renowned video game developer Zynga is eyeing play to earn and NFT games by launching blockchain incubations. So, relax, learn, and then play NFT gaming.
What is Games NFTs?
Unlike simply keeping cryptocurrency collectibles in your wallet, NFT games offer far more options. NFTs will be used in an NFT game’s regulations, mechanics, and importantly the player interactions. A game might, for example, represent your individual character or avatar as an NFT. Moreover, the items you find along the way while playing the game can also be an NFT. After collecting the NFT, you can potentially make a profit by trading or exchanging your NFTs with other gamers.
Recently, most players have been making a killing of the play to earn gaming model. Here players are not only rewarded for their gaming skills, they are given complete control over what they can do with their winnings. Be it investing in the game or exchanging it for cryptocurrencies or fiat money.
So how do developers technically integrate NFTs into the game environment?
Well, the developers build smart contracts that define the rules for the NFTs used, which are then used to exchange, generate, and implement NFTs within games. These smart contracts are self-executing pieces of code that are kept on any particular blockchain.
Let’s take an example from Axie Infinity, you will understand the meaning of NFT. Here you breed your Axie with another to create an offspring that has traits similar to its parents. Now a specific combination of genes makes up the value of a particular Axie. The rarer the combinations, the more valuable your Axie NFT.
Try out some of these NFT games
Plants vs Undead
The world has been taken over by the undead and the plants are alive ready to fight them off the land. This is a tower defense game with the goal of saving the mother tree. In this game, your NFTs are the plants and gardens you create. Moreover, in this game, the token and the in-game currencies are also interchangeable. This means you can potentially earn more or invest more in the game.
Besides the tower defense game, this is also a farm simulation game where you can grow your gardens in exchange for the In-game currency LE.
The Sandbox
Experience NFT gaming in a metaverse like no other. Here players can socialize with one another and create experiences using the game’s tools. You can own property, create events on it and even charge a fee to users for the experience. Moreover, you can even create PvP competitions with reward incentives. Here everything you own or create is an NFT.
The game is quite similar to Minecraft in terms of building. You can also rent out your land and the experiences you have created for other users. Those users utilize your resources to profit for themselves while paying you a small fee.
Axie Infinity
If you ever loved the classic pokemon game or the series this is the game for you. Here you own adorable critters called Axies, which you use to battle other players with their Axies. In this game, you can breed, upgrade, buy, sell, trade, and fight to earn money. Here your Axies are the NFTs.
You can get Axies by either buying them from the marketplace or catching them in adventure mode. Moreover, each season has leaderboards and those on top are rewarded quite handsomely for their efforts.