The blockchain technology sector on the whole is booming and will be worth more than six trillion dollars by 2023. And, it’s quite obvious that the Web3 gaming industry is one of the real winners so far in 2022, with a growth of 2000% in gaming activity in just a year, and the birth of countless prominent projects such as Battle Infinity, Axie Infinity, and Illuvium. Serving as a fun and easy entry point to the world of Web3, blockchain gaming is the leading industry for gamers to make money and indulge in the mesmerizing gaming worlds.
It may be a known fact that we are entering the Web3 era and that it’s all about decentralization and true ownership. But perhaps, many are still uncertain about the Web3 definition and the differences from its predecessors — Web1 and Web2. So what set them apart, why has Web3 been so well-received by the mass and why should we care?
Web3 is an umbrella term for projects using blockchain technology. These projects are regarded as suitable for the next step in our digital revolution — enabling users to read, write and own online. Instead of users being able to access the internet via services provided by Google, Apple, or Meta, each individual will own and govern portions of the Internet. There will be no central authority dictating who uses what services and there won’t be a need for a third party to conduct virtual interactions between users. And why should we care? Because Web3 is the future of the Internet. And because Web3 could provide so much better consumer security and privacy and give us a new way to organize, and monetize data.
The first steps in our digital evolution
The Web1 era started in the 1900s. During this period, different kinds of websites could be created. Nevertheless, these websites were specifically created for corporations more than individuals. At the time, the design was quite simple and most of the modern functions were unavailable. There was not much that users could do with the website then except for viewing content such as news sites. Significantly different from today, users had no chance to interact and express their opinions as well as leave personal remarks on the matters they came across.
A bit forward in time, around the 2000s, the Web2 era arrived. This was the period when more advanced and progressive programming languages were born. The appearance of these programming languages gave developers tools to build more complex and interactive websites. We are still living in the Web2 era, the era that has revolutionized the web along with various other industries with the advent of social media, including sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter; streaming applications, and podcasts,… Websites are no longer read-only but now read-and-write. Our generation can instantly interact and communicate with people from all over the world. We can create content and voice our opinions as well as our personal feelings towards a problem online.
Still, Web2 has two rather massive flaws — centralization and censorship, meaning that there is no true ownership for content creators. Every data, every piece of content is stored and managed by big enterprises. And so, what needs to happen, has happened. It’s time we embarked on the next stage in digital evolution — Web3.
What’s different about Web3?
“Web 3.0 will bring about the complete upheaval in the way businesses and consumers interact with each other online, making the customer experience more personalized. Users can collectively contribute to product creation, being fairly paid for their contributions as co-investors and creators with no central authority authorizing these payments” - Alexandra Pitkevich, principal, business consulting, EPAM Systems.
Undeniably, we are becoming more and more reliant on the Internet. And slowly, we begin to notice the unpleasant, darker side of the web: Information about users on social media platforms is collected and used for advertising; various data breach incidents occur — meaning customers’ confidential information is leaked. All of this happens due to an obvious reason — everything is centralized. And that is why Web3 is born — a decentralized, secure, transparent, and interoperable world. There would be no central authority that controls the information flow. Everything that takes place on the blockchain would be recorded, guaranteeing transparency that is never seen on Web2.
A big challenge ahead of Web3 future
The opportunity that we must take
Web3 is still in its early stages in terms of adoption by the masses. A report by BCG and Potloc revealed that even though 16% of people have never heard of the terms Web3, NFT, or Metaverse, Web3 has been gaining more attention from the public. Web3 is a chance you don’t want to miss.
“It presents an opportunity where people are not merely products or beneficiaries of technology-powered business models but builders and owners of digitally unique assets” - according to WEF.
The obstacles that we must overcome
So what are the challenges for this decentralized Internet? While the shortcomings of Web2 are its lack of digital ownership and interoperability, the challenge for Web3 is that it may be difficult for beginners to get a hold of.
The birth of Web3 means the appearance of multiple new concepts: NFT, Metaverse, blockchain, crypto, GameFi, DeFi,…, and they are not easy terms to comprehend. And blockchain gaming, with its uncomplicated, fun nature, has become the entry point for the adoption of Web3 and the Metaverse. People are gaining more information about blockchain technology and how these ecosystems function via Web3 games. It has helped draw non-crypto natives into the world of Web3.
Regarding Web3 gaming, blockchain-enabled games focus on generating value for players instead of encouraging players to spend money to access in-game content like traditional ones. For instance, when a player purchases in-game upgrades for an item (such as armor), the only benefit is the enhanced gameplay within that one game. Yet, in a gaming system that utilizes cross-platform non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the same item could be tokenized in a way that converts in-game buys into transferable assets. These assets may confer benefits across interconnected games or be exchanged for money or other digital assets.
Since NFTs are unique and created to retain value outside the game in which they originated, blockchain-built games have the chance to expand gaming economies, establish new gaming types, and fuel the growth of new games.
Talking about NFT, it is a type of digital asset that has been receiving public interest these days. And even though there are numerous NFT revenue models, the reward mechanism is one of the most common and is often said to be an unstable economic strategy. StepN is a project that utilizes this strategy — rewarding NFT holders with tokens in play-to-earn/move-to-earn apps. Like most play-to-earn games, it starts with motivating users to earn in-game tokens, then pushing them to spend more to accrue more in the future. New users are always encouraged to collect tokens before minting NFT that they could sell. And this cycle repeats.
However, when the project fails to draw in new users to continue this cycle, no more funding will be invested in the project, leading to a drop in the price of the token. Evidently, StepN economic strategy is broken up due to “the unfair distribution of incentives among the NFT holders, gamers, and stakers.”- Arun Krishnakumar.
Yuniverse
Over the decade, it has been quite observable that the most responsive audience and developers of Web3 are the gaming community. The intersection of blockchain technology and game creation is especially lively. Game building is extremely active in 2022, with days when there are 25 new games introduced on Steam.
Understanding the market needs, our solution is to be the entry point for the adoption of Web3. Yunero Studios focus on developing stimulus games in different genres fueled by IP NFTs and also backed by blockchain to encourage Web2 users to onboard into the Web3 space. Our games are updated and improved every day to suit your liking, so our supporters can not only profit from in-game tokens but also actually enjoy our Yuniverse. We will continuously shape a strong and tie-knit community, where supporters can voice their opinions, and possess true ownership over their digital assets to use on the platforms of choice. We envision a stable economy, with only one governance currency and an appropriate number of rewarded tokens in the ecosystem.
If you still have any doubts, join us via our Discord channel or visit our Twitter to find out more! We are here for the long haul, so let’s come along with us and together, build a true Web3 gaming community.
