Gamefi as a solution to “shadow” market in gaming
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We spend a lot of time talking about how GameFi can revolutionize gaming and bring in a wider acceptance of blockchain technology. Now, it’s time to mention how it can help bridge the gap between Play-to-Earn titles and a huge, albeit illegal, ‘’shadow’ market.’
What is this shadow market and why does it sound so edgy?
In a nutshell, it’s the practice of gold farming — still illegal but also still very prevalent in online games.
We take a look at how gold farming became a thing, and why GameFi will successfully tap into this lucrative market, causing farmers to abandon traditional games in favor of Play-to-Earn games.
The gold rush
We all love money, right, so it’s not a surprise that gamers discovered a way to monetize their hobby. The popularity of MMORPGs exploded in the 2000s, and with it, so did the process of gold farming.
The concept is simple really: players grind away to earn resources in games with virtual economies, such as World of Warcraft, and then sell them to wealthier players.
However, this didn’t happen on a low scale as gold farmers were working in virtual sweatshops, so to speak. Back in those days, low-paid workers in developing countries would spend ridiculous amounts of time doing boring activities to earn resources that players from wealthier countries would gladly buy.
At its height in the late 2000s, the entire market was valued at roughly $987 million, with 400.000 gold farmers operating in Asia alone. There is a big chance that these numbers could have even been double than it was reported.
Once you take into account that the gaming industry is even bigger than it was some ten or so years ago, the shadow market of gold farming has followed suit. This means that there is a gold mine (excuse the pun) in this illegal shadow market that’s just waiting to be explored.
Naturally, the way we can capitalize on this booming market is GameFi.
Transformative powers of GameFi
As you can probably guess, the Play-to-Earn gaming model is a natural progression from gold farming.
GameFi is already reinventing the gaming industry as one of the better ways to make money.
You can see why if you consider what’s happening in the Philippines.
Once the dreaded pandemic led to financial issues in the Philippines, many families started playing P2E games. Even non-gamers (aka. everyone and their grandma) are now earning money in a blockchain game called Axie Infinity.
Today, players can earn more than the average income in their country while casually playing a simple video game.
This is a stark contrast to how gold farming used to operate. For example, farmers in China would work 12-hour shifts, sleep in crowded dorms, and work 7 days a week to earn minimum wages.
On top of that, what they did was illegal, ultimately shunned by the gaming community (including gaming developers themselves). To add insult to injury, it also negatively affected the in-game economies of the games that these farmers played by causing inflation.
Does this mean that GameFi is already taking over?
GameFi vs. Farming
There is ample evidence that gamers prefer Play-to-Earn over gold farming due to lower fees and the ability to make amazing profits at a lower cost.
Still, there are a couple of big reasons why GameFi is a winner and will most likely eliminate gold farms.
The biggest one is the fact that gold farming is illegal and gaming companies are actively fighting against it. In comparison, with Play-to-Earn games, the financial aspect is one of the core aspects of the game.
While earning money in traditional games was possible, and items could be traded through small exchanges, the economies of these games were always closed. However, the assets earned in Play-to-Earn games are already a part of a bigger crypto market and can be easily traded on all crypto exchanges consistently.
Traditional games also had no sense of real ownership because all the assets are controlled by the game company while digital assets in earned Play-to-Earn titles belong to the player alone.
But it’s not just the financial aspect that’s key here. An often overlooked fact regarding this debate is also the aspect of fun.
If you ever spent time doing low-level quests or farming in MMORPGs, you know how boring and soul-crushing that can be. This is why we are positive Play-to-Earn titles will reign supreme sooner or later.
That’s not to say that all crypto titles are fun. At the moment, there are multiple problems with Play-to-Earn games we should work on.
However, the scene is changing and we’re proud to be one of the companies that actively work to see the aspect of fun gameplay reintroduced as the focal point of gaming.
Once Engines of Fury drops, there won’t be a reason to farm in Azeroth ever again.
Welcome to the blockchain, kid
The simple truth is that GameFi can empower gamers. While gold farming only manages to turn the gamers into the cogs in the machine, GameFi provides them with the opportunity to take control of their labor.
The question of which is better is pointless.
On one side, you’re doing something illegal while having absolutely no rights and on the other, you get a chance to govern the game and share its success in the GameFi world.
This will all ultimately help GameFi take over and bring a massive influx of regular people into the blockchain community. Ordinary people who’ve never even heard about crypto will be able to easily get introduced to the wonderful world of DeFi through playing video games.
It’s on our crypto community to welcome them with open arms once they arrive.
About Engines of Fury
Engines of Fury is a wager-based PVE/PVP arena battler based in a stunning 3D retro-futuristic world on blockchain Metaverse & powered by $FURY.
The game allows players to engage in exciting duels & tournaments where they can win $FURY, forge NFTs, and earn profits.
