He's a long time gamer, and a long-time crypto enthusiast, and even in this hostile Web3 landscape, he believes that he can spot the shining stars of the medium.
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Welcome to the Wild West of Gaming
Opening the door to Web3 gaming reveals fantastic and exciting new projects pushing the boundaries and revolutionizing the gaming industry. However, this also comes with a myriad of new problems and questions.
There are thousands of web3 projects being developed and just as many networks. The cherry on top is that web3 is a space that is not regulated, meaning there are a ton of scams amongst golden projects.
Beginning your blockchain gaming experience can be intimidating at first; there’s so much to learn, and the terminology can leave you scratching your head. You can’t just load up a game, play, and trade NFTs. Moreover, you want to ensure that you know exactly what you’re investing in.
This article will explain some wicked tools to help you begin your blockchain gaming experience. Although that would be impressive, you can’t drive a car without a steering wheel or expect to wipe a team on your favorite competitive shooter using a laptop trackpad. So here are some essentials for getting into Web3 gaming.
Bottom Line-Up Front
In a rush? Here are the key takeaways to enlighten your blockchain gaming learning experience!
Crypto wallets are required to make any transaction in the Web3 space, meaning it’s essential for playing blockchain games. Creating a MetaMask wallet is a great place to start for a Web3 beginner, and a non-custodial wallet means it’s the most secure. Don’t lose that secret phrase, or you aren’t gettin’ in!
To optimize your Web3 experience, utilize all blockchain counterparts mentioned in this article. However, if you don’t have much time to surf the blockchain and juggle several tokens, coins, and NFTs from different networks and have little time, then I’d recommend you use a portfolio tracker to allow you to follow all your assets in one place.
Socials are my personal favorite blockchain counterparts:
- Discord
- YouTube
- Spotify
- Telegram
- Medium
These are all fantastic resources that offer invaluable information regarding a project. Each platform specializes in a certain aspect; Twitter is the perfect middleman to connect with other socials.
Want to know when the CMO of a company is hosting a developer update, they’ll announce it in a tweet? Want to know when a co-founder is making rounds in interviews with Twitch streamers? They and the streamer will tweet it.
You can get a personal insight into other avenues that you wouldn’t even have thought of, like-new merchandise that can be overlooked. A strong brand strengthens your investment even if you’re not interested in cute plushes.
Spotify is specialized in audio so follow the company for podcasts. At the same time, Discord focuses on community and interaction. Together all these social media platforms can paint an ugly or beautiful picture of all corners of a Web3 videogame company.
Selection Criteria
Not all of these tools on the list are essential for playing blockchain games. However, I decided to add them anyway, as they will help you significantly when deciding to invest in a game.
Moreover, some aspects, such as socials, aren’t necessary to play a game. Still, they reveal a company’s intentions and level of care for their customers, which can be a forewarning of the overall success and strength of the project.
Crypto Wallets: A Web3 Surfers Essential
Crypto Wallets are an essential blockchain counterpart as they are required for transferring FIAT currency into cryptocurrency, which can then be used to purchase NFTs for a game. So, creating a crypto wallet is a good start if you want to dive into blockchain gaming.
Although slowly dipping your toe to test the water is a way better approach when it comes to Web3 gaming and cryptocurrency. You don’t want to get burned!
Although a simple process, there are dozens of crypto wallets to choose from. For beginners, I recommend the MetaMask Wallet. It’s quite possibly the easiest to set up and use. MetaMask is a non-custodial wallet that gives you full control over the wallet’s security.
When you create a non-custodial wallet like MetaMask, you will be provided with a private key in the form of a secret recovery phrase. You must write this secret phrase down on a piece of paper and store it somewhere safe and secure.
Storing your phrase digitally on your computer is dangerous as it makes it easier to be hacked or lost due to hardware failure. Remember, if you lose this recovery phase, you will not be able to access your crypto or NFTs stored in your wallet ever again.
A MetaMask Wallet allows you to switch Mainnet depending on your choice of blockchain game. Remember that funds in your MetaMask Wallet cannot be used for games based on different Mainnets. However, MetaMask will prompt you to switch Mainnet and at it your account.
Custodial Wallets are slightly different from non-custodial Wallets as the wallet’s private key is held by a third-party entity. This is the least secure wallet that also has few use cases. Mythical Games Blankos Block Party built on the EOSIA network, is a good example of this, as it uses a custodial wallet to view my NFTs and trade.
All I have to do is log in to my Mythical Marketplace account with a simple email address and password. The downside is my NFTs are at higher risk due to low security, and withdrawing funds from trades is more restricted than a non-custodial wallet as I would have to use the Mythical Marketplace process, in this case, creating an Uphold account.
Hardware Wallets: Extra Layer of Security and They Look Cool
Hardware Wallets are USB-like devices that have your private key stored within. A hardware wallet provides an extra layer of security as once plugged into your computer and linked to your wallet requires you to enter a pin code. Furthermore, this pin code is required every time you try to transact on your wallet.
Hardware wallets are still at risk from phishing scams attempting to discover your secret phrase. Don’t worry if you lose your Hardware wallet; you’ll be able to access your funds as long as you have your secret recovery phrase. Cryptocurrency is not stored on the device. It just adds an extra level of security.
NFTs: What All the Hype about
NFTs stand for Non-Fungible Tokens. They’re unique crypto tokens that cannot be replicated. Therefore, NFTs in your crypto wallet are owned only by you! NFTs enable players to own in-game items in web3 games. Players can trade NFTs on the blockchain or, in many cases, burn NFT tokens to acquire more valuable NFTs.
NFTs are not essential for every blockchain game. However, NFTs are sometimes required if you want to get access to a game or more features.
For example, owning land in Illuvium enables you to extract resources that go straight to your wallet and can be sold on the market. In card games, NFTs are the cards and therefore are required to build decks and play the game.
In most Web3 games, players can mint NFT Tokens on the blockchain. Moreover, burning tokens is a common use case of NFTs in blockchain gaming. Say you have multiple NFTs of the same type; you can burn a set number to gain a more valuable NFT.
NFTs drastically vary in price depending on their rarity, type, and the project itself. For example, a plot of land will cost significantly more than a gameplay item.
Therefore you must research the cost and history of a project to determine an NFTs value. Some games, such as Star Atlas, require the player to own a spaceship NFT, which can cost a sizeable amount of money. Whereas if you wanted to play Splinterlands, you’d have to purchase a Spellbook NFT costing around ten dollars.
Portfolio Tracker
There are thousands of projects and too many blockchain networks to stay updated on all of them, and not all projects can be found on the same platform. As you can imagine, the more blockchain games you play, the more wallets and networks you’re going to expose yourself to.
It can become quite complicated to keep track of all your NFTs, cryptos, and wallets, and if you’re reading this article, you probably want to be gaming more than investing and loading up App after App. If this is you, a Portfolio Tracker would be a great tool for you.
A Portfolio Tracker compiles all your assets in one place so you can get an overview of your entire crypto and blockchain assets without having to log in to a million Apps.
Some crypto exchanges feature a portfolio tracker, but it’s locked behind premium features such as Coinbase Pro. However, crypto exchanges aren’t the most secure methods of trading crypto look at the recent disaster with FTX and FTT.
If you search crypto on Google, you will likely end up on CoinMarketCap. CoinMarketCap is a price-tracking website for cryptocurrency and crypto assets. What I like about the website is thats it was created purely for research and information purposes.
Moreover, you can log in to CoinMarketCap, link your Crypto Wallets to your account, and create portfolios where you can add purchases, transfers, and trades into your portfolio to keep track of your overall crypto spending.
You can create additional portfolios if you’d like one for specific games or networks. CoinMarketCap also has a reward system where you can obtain Diamonds by logging in to spend on rewards such as NFTs and merchandise.
Of course, CoinMarketCap isn’t the only portfolio tracker out there. CoinTracker is a no-nonsense portfolio tracker, a simple tool where you can add your crypto wallets to get an overview of your assets.
Why would you want to use a portfolio tracker? I hear you ask. Well, you may need to pay tax depending on your crypto earnings.
Free NFT Minting on Immutable X
The Immutable X blockchain is a brilliant network that solves the gas fee problem of minting NFTs on the Ethereum network. You’ll likely purchase an NFT within Immutable X at some point in your blockchain gaming journey.
Immutable X is one of my favorite marketplaces and networks because it costs nothing to mint NFTs on the blockchain. It has great integration with MetaMask, inclusive of all kinds of cryptocurrencies.
Immutable X has its own tracker called Immutascan, which automatically tracks every single action taken on your wallet, from claiming tokens as rewards from games to trades on the marketplace.
Charting Platforms
Don’t get confused between charting platforms and portfolio trackers. While of the same coin, Charting Platforms focus more on bringing the user chart information rather than tracking their own crypto portfolio. In short, Charting Platforms offer extensive tools to study a cryptocurrency.
While it’s not necessary to be an expert in the charts to play blockchain video games, Charting Platforms give extensive information that can help you decide whether to invest in a project or not.
Many charting platforms are available online, although I’d stick to the biggest names and number of users as these are the most reliable.
TradingView is a great place to start for a blockchain beginner. Their motto, “Look First Then Leap,” highlights what charting platforms are all about.
Researching a game is only half the work; you’ll want to know how the game’s token has been performing. Charting Platforms allow you to view a coin’s performance since its introduction to the market.
This is essential information if you want to purchase expensive NFTs like land. For example, you don’t want to purchase land after a recent spike in the coin’s value, as the value could just as easily decrease. A smart gamer would wait and see how the coin charts before purchasing.
Medium: Stacks of Information at Click of a Button
Medium is a social media platform with a blogging format. It’s a great tool, as once you’ve created your account, you can follow your favorite blockchain games or companies to get in-depth information on the latest updates. Moreover, Medium is a fantastic tool as you can learn much about a project and see its development play out linearly.
The platform has over 100 million readers, making it a reliable place to learn about blockchain gaming. Companies are attracted to this as they can merge their followers with the active readers of Medium and generate revenue from their posts.
Enough of the benefits for the developers. What the benefits for you and me? Medium isn’t just a tool for companies; anyone can write on the platform.
Therefore, you can follow trusted journalists and people with experience in the blockchain space. To find relevant information regarding the blockchain game you’re researching, add it as a tag when you’re searching.
Medium helps you find the exact information you want, whether it’s tokenomics, updates, or the company’s partners. Each Medium page has a list of menus to view information regarding a certain topic.
Although only if the company or writer has added this to their homepage. You can get a scope for how many people like a post on Medium by how many claps the article has and read and write comments on certain sections of a post.
When I find an upcoming game that tickles my pickle, I can’t help but soak up all the information I can about it. Back in the day, when I was a youngster, I compiled binder folders with information on games that I was looking forward to for my birthday. Yeah, I was that nerdy kid! Platforms like Medium do this for me.
Web3 games constantly have new info and updates released, and to help you stay on top, Medium has a Follow and Subscribe feature that will notify you via email and on the site when new developers release new posts.
Many blockchain games have a Medium Page, but not all companies fully utilize Medium’s features; sometimes, it can be hit or miss. However, this is very telling whether their game is worth following. The best projects have the most transparency.
Take the blockchain mobile game Guild of Guardians, for example; they are constantly posting content on Medium in varying formats showing off their progress and teaching their readers about the blockchain space; the best projects do this.
Discord: A Powerful Social Tool for a Web3 Surfer
If you’re a gamer, then Discord doesn’t need an introduction; it’s one of the best social platforms for gamers to meet, chat, and play games together. Before Discord, my buddies and I would use TeamSpeak for the time being. It was great, then Discord came along and enabled us to share music and videos and even stream games to one another.
There’s nothing like laughing with your buddies watching, whether watching a mate play a single-player game like Red Dead Redemption or your squad playing a competitive shooter.
Discord is my go-to platform for learning about blockchain games. From Discord, I can determine how popular a project is, how much the developers interact with the community, and usually see what the developers are working on.
Moreover, participating in the community can help you in trading NFTs and learn other players’ thoughts and opinions on the blockchain space.
The benefits of Discord are that you can access information instantly, and you don’t have to wait for an article to publish on Medium. For example, Denis Ermolin, CEO of the Knight Lands blockchain game, announced on Discord that the team will be ceasing all development of Knight Lands until further notice due to the recent events in crypto with FTX.
Discord is a great tool and social platform; however, you must stay safe online as you often get Discord users to direct message you. Do not reply to messages regarding cryptocurrencies, as these, more often than not, are phishing scams. Users will try to get information from you. I recommend blocking these users.
Discord is a fantastic platform for an individual looking to get into the blockchain gaming space, as Web3 companies must bridge the gap with their community.
Games such as GOG have implemented a community spotlight, and some of the active users have become brand ambassadors by showcasing their interest in the game from the content they have created.
Moreover, Discord is an essential platform to be part of if conducting governance voting in a game. A dedicated governance channel will enable all participating users to chat and propose ideas, whether thats for token distribution, game features, or new content ideas.
Discord practically has everything a fan of a game would want to feel as though they are part of the community, and developers can create any channel they deem useful.
I’ve seen general support, AMAs, official leaks, and leaks discussion channels for the community. Moreover, channels regarding a games token, guild recruiting, tournaments, trivia, you name it, and it’s probably a channel.
Get the Most Out of Twitter for Web3 Intel
Twitter is one of the top social media platforms. Following your favorite blockchain game is a brilliant way to get notified as soon as a new update is out or a community competition has started. Just like Discord, be careful with any direct messages or replies to your comments phishing for information regarding your crypto wallet.
Companies are always hosting competitions as marketing campaigns to attract new players to their games and keep old fans interested. For example, The Sandbox frequently hosts competitions where players must complete tasks and share their experiences on Twitter.
Winning the competition can win you access to the current season’s activities and rewards. In other competitions, players can win unique NFTs like skins and item accessories.
Competitions can vary from actions completed in a game like Blankos Block Party competition of creating a retro gaming-themed map with their map editor. To exterior tasks such as meme competitions where players are tasked with creating memes about the game.
Of course, the winners and competitions aren’t just hosted on Twitter; owning a Twitter account is required in some cases, such as The Sandbox competitions.
Regular multiplayer games typically mention patch notes, events, and new downloadable content. Web3 games have a lot more to cover to get the community involved, such as community voting through governance features in Web3 gaming.
Moreover, games such as The Sandbox featuring a Metaverse will have to cover even more content from third-party companies using their platform.
For example, Sergio Kun Aguero, Argentinian footballer, and The Sandbox created a raffle where a lucky holder of a Kuniverse Avatar has a chance to win a trip to Qatar to see the Football World Cup.
Twitter is an essential tool for gamers that want to stay in the know about an upcoming Web3 game. However, if you want to optimize your time on the platform to ensure you don’t miss a beat using all the socials I mentioned in this article, don’t be a noob and only follow the game or company.
Follow the developers making the game. Tailor your social media to your needs; for example, I constantly have Discord open for information and social with my friendship group, so I’ve set notifications that alert me when events and posts are made to Illuvium’s socials.
How I use Twitter to Follow My Favorite Games
Following the game’s developers gives you a more in-depth insight into what is going on in the game’s development process. Remember, in the Web3 space; you want as many trusted sources of information as you can get and cross-reference them.
You can get a good feel for a team’s enthusiasm for the project they are making. While, yes, Web3 gaming has a lot of problems, it’s the wild west of gaming, and scams are lurking everywhere.
However, now more than ever, Web3 gaming companies must connect with their communities and fans, and I think this is beautiful, as a team’s excitement and spark for a project can spread like wildfire. It allows gamers to see all the cards on the table.
Now I’ve mentioned Illuvium a lot, and thats because it’s my most anticipated web3 game in development. To get a good scope of everything that is going on at Illuvium.
I’m part of the official Illuvium Discord server and follow key developers on the game, such as Kieran Warwick (Co-Founder), Grant Warwick (Art Director), Andrew Wall (CMO), and other developers working on the game.
Following Kieran’s posts, I joined many interviews showing off gameplay with Twitch streamers and also got many shots at winning land in a raffle. Following the CMO has been invaluable as I’ve not only learned a great deal from listening to him interview key workers in the Web3 gaming space.
Such as marketing strategies for blockchain gaming, but also about big events that have happened in the space and how they could possibly affect Illuvium.
This may seem trivial to some; however, while Illuvium has hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, the Illuvium podcast attracts merely a couple of thousand views. Therefore, many people are missing out on exciting and important information regarding space and games.
Official Game Resources
It’s all good to follow a companies social media but thoroughly exploring the game’s website is a must. Now I know what you’re thinking Duhhh, thats obvious; however, it’s very easy to miss key information regarding the project heading straight to installing the game.
The quality of the game’s website says a lot about the project. If there isn’t detailed information on the team thats working on the project, then don’t even touch it with a barge pole. When I load up a blockchain game’s webpage, I want to see all its partners, team, features, and, most importantly, the Whitepaper.
The Whitepaper is your guide to the game and project. You can follow a company’s socials, but you won’t get walls of information like you to get on the Whitepaper.
In the Whitepaper, you’ll get extensive information regarding all aspects of the game. It’s like picking up an instruction manual for driving the Millenium Falcon. That is, if the developers have bothered to create a full Whitepaper.
I’ve come across some fantastically detailed Whitepapers like Phantom Galaxies, The Sandbox, and Illuvium. I particularly like that you can see private investors on the Illuvium Whitepaper.
This makes the project a lot more reliable. However, some terrible Whitepapers offer surface-level information regarding tokenomics; you will want to steer clear of these projects.
As a last note on official game resources, the information available to you is immense. Always make sure to track the dates of these documents and posts, as a company may have released a newly updated whitepaper.
Sometimes it’s not easy to find, and you could read outdated information. Moreover, all this information is useless if you don’t utilize the company’s social media channels. If I didn’t follow the posts on the Knight Lands Discord, I wouldn’t be unaware of the game development being stopped.
FAQs
Questions: What is a Metaverse in Blockchain Gaming?
Answer: The Metaverse is a virtual world where users can shop, form their own businesses by offering services on the Metaverse, or take part in experiences hosted on land owned by a company.
Web3 users are drawn in by decentralized metaverses like The Sandbox, as its world and economy are run by its users, and no company or group of people own it.
However, although decentralized metaverses are created with the same concept in mind, users must search for a metaverse that best suits their needs. For example, The Sandbox is gamer-oriented, emphasizing world creation and exploration, like Minecraft.
Questions: How Did the FTX Bankruptcy Impact Blockchain Gaming?
Answer: The bankruptcy of FTX and fraud committed by SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried), founder of the FTX Crypto exchange. Plummeted the value of Bitcoin and altcoins in the crypto space and the entire blockchain gaming space. Solana, a network with close ties to SBF and FTX, saw its value decrease by 60% amid the crisis.
Other Web3 companies associated with FTX had to prove their own liquidity. At the same time, blockchain game companies made statements across the internet disclosing to their communities and investors whether they would be impacted.
Questions: Can You Make Money from Blockchain Gaming?
Answer: Yes; however, the amount of money you earn is directly linked to the game that you are playing. There are numerous ways to earn money in blockchain gaming.
Whether that’s creating and minting NFTs for a game or trading and renting NFTs, staking is another common method of earning money from blockchain games. Or earn tokens by taking part in the game experience. Or metaverse users could offer a service on a metaverse for other players.
Conclusion
In conclusion, NFTs and Crypto wallets are essential for playing blockchain games. If you’re going to take anything away from this article, know your wallets! Non-custodial wallets are infinitely better than custodial wallets, as you have full control over your crypto!
Although not essential, Portfolio Trackers can relieve a lot of stress for Web3 surfers with many fingers in pies. However, if you are only investing in one or a couple of Web3 games, then this isn’t necessary.
But all blockchain gamers must utilize social media platforms to stay updated on their chosen games. The industry is incredibly volatile, and projects can be wiped out in a blink of an eye.
These platforms will help you excel in the space by giving you notifications on big events, giveaways, governance features, etc.
On a closing note, I recommend that beginners in the space stick to the bigger projects in blockchain gaming and learn how established and successful companies market and interact with their communities.
This will teach you industry best practices as Web3 is unlike the contemporary video game industry. This will give you a solid foundation when researching new projects and games.