Who Controls Your Gaming Destiny? As we build towards a new concept of a decentralized web, we need to come together to agree on what a self-sovereign, equitable Web3 looks like, what it requires and how we can work together to make it happen. 

As part of our ongoing Twitter Spaces series, we ask, ‘Who Controls Your Digital Destiny?’, inviting industry leaders to debate, disagree, and ultimately identify and align on the key pillars of the web we all want to be part of.

Our most recent Spaces took a deeper dive into one of the key areas highlighted in our first Twitter Spaces: gaming and entertainment! This session aimed to: 

• Identify and agree on the opportunities and challenges for gaming and gaming communities as they explore and migrate to Web3 and GameFi.
• Build consensus on the different technology solutions needed to ensure personalized experiences, creator-owned and monetized content, marketplaces, gamer IDs, leaderboards, etc.
• Build understanding of what it takes to build a healthy ecosystem and community for gamers that is open, accessible, self sovereign and most importantly, a lot of fun!

Gaming is the largest entertainment segment in the world! The Global “Games Market” earns nearly $200BN per year. That’s bigger than Hollywood and the music industry combined. But not only that, given Web3’s community focus and ability to track and incentivize behaviour, the gamification of everything from work to shopping to health means that we are entering a new era. But how can we make sure gamers are central to this new world and not commoditized as they have been in the social media era? How can we own and keep and manage our virtual assets? What aspects of a gaming ecosystem need to be considered? 

Here is a cross section of the key discussion points laid out by our guests: 

• Adin – Web3 Manager at Wisdom Labs, the innovation arm of game and entertainment studio Wisdom Gaming
• Johnny – CEO of Morfyus and Morfyus Leage, a gameFi esports league and guild
• Roy – Co-Founder of Arcus, a popular play-to-earn first person shooter
• *Pavel – CEO of Bluzelle, unfortunately wasn’t able to join.

The conversation covered various topics such as the challenges and opportunities of Web3 gaming compared to Web2, the importance of decentralized identity (DIDs) and data sovereignty, and the role of fairness and transparency in gaming. 

The panellists discussed the need for qualities and technologies in an open, self-sovereign gaming ecosystem. They touched upon the importance of standards and interoperability, as well as the integration of business models into Web3. 

The conversation explored the potential of Web3 gaming, addressing challenges, discussing technologies, and emphasizing the importance of fairness, transparency, and self-sovereignty in gaming experiences.

 

What are the challenges of Web3 gaming and how do they compare to Web2?

One challenge mentioned is the commoditization of gamers in the social media era. How to ensure that gamers are central to the new Web3 world and not treated as mere commodities, as they have been in the past. This suggests that in Web2 gaming, players may have been undervalued or not given the recognition they deserve.

Another challenge discussed is the learning curve for people transitioning to web3. Johnny mentioned that games in the past were not as seamless as they are today, indicating that Web3 gaming aims to provide a more user-friendly and familiar experience. This suggests that in web2 gaming, the user experience may have been more complicated or less intuitive.

Additionally, the conversation touched on the challenge of integrating web3 into existing gaming experiences. Adin mentioned the need to find ways to integrate web3 into broader gaming experiences through marketing campaigns, brand integration, and providing more value to brands. This implies that adapting web3 technology to fit existing games and platforms may pose a challenge.

 

How can interoperability and standards be established across different games and platforms in web3?

Collaboration between game developers: Johnny raises the question of how to get different game developers to work together. Establishing collaboration and cooperation among game developers could be a key factor in establishing interoperability and standards. This could involve sharing knowledge, resources, and best practices to create a unified approach to web3 gaming.

Development of industry-wide standards: To ensure interoperability, the gaming industry could work towards developing and adopting industry-wide standards. These standards could define protocols, formats, and guidelines that games and platforms must adhere to in order to achieve compatibility and seamless integration. Establishing these standards would require the involvement of industry organizations, regulatory bodies, and game developers.

Open-source initiatives: Open-source projects can play a significant role in fostering interoperability. By creating open-source frameworks, libraries, and tools, developers can collaborate and contribute to building a common foundation for web3 gaming. Open-source initiatives encourage transparency, community participation, and the sharing of knowledge, which can lead to the establishment of interoperable standards.

Adoption of blockchain technology: Blockchain technology, which underpins web3, can facilitate interoperability by providing a decentralized and transparent infrastructure. Through the use of smart contracts and decentralized protocols, game assets, currencies, and identities can be easily transferred and utilized across different games and platforms. By leveraging blockchain technology, developers can establish a common framework for interoperability.

Standardization of game asset formats: To achieve interoperability, it would be essential to standardize the formats of game assets such as characters, items, and environments. By defining common formats, developers can ensure that these assets can be seamlessly integrated and utilized across various games and platforms. This standardization could streamline the process of asset sharing and interoperability.

Cross-platform compatibility: To establish interoperability, web3 games should aim to be cross-platform compatible. This means ensuring that games can be played and accessed across different devices and platforms, such as consoles, PCs, mobile devices, and virtual reality headsets. By focusing on cross-platform compatibility, developers can enable players to enjoy the same gaming experience regardless of their preferred platform.

 

What are the challenges of web3 gaming and how do they compare to web2 gaming?

Commoditization of gamers: The moderator raised the concern that gamers have been commoditized in the era of social media. In web3 gaming, the challenge would be to ensure that gamers are not treated as commodities but rather as active participants and beneficiaries of the ecosystem. Web2 gaming may not have faced this challenge to the same extent, as the focus was primarily on entertainment rather than community participation and value creation.

Integration of web3 technology: Adin mentioned the responsibility of finding ways to integrate web3 into broader gaming experiences. This suggests that one challenge of web3 gaming is effectively incorporating blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other web3 elements into traditional gaming models.Web2 gaming, on the other hand, may not have faced this challenge as it was not built on decentralized and blockchain-based technologies.

Learning curve and user experience: Jamie asked about the biggest challenge for people on the learning curve and how games can evolve in the future. This implies that web3 gaming may present a steeper learning curve compared to web2 gaming. The integration of complex technologies and the need to understand concepts like digital ownership and decentralized systems might require users to adapt to new interfaces and experiences. web2 gaming, in contrast, may have focused more on providing familiar and user-friendly interfaces.

Mass adoption and value provision: Adin mentioned the need to find ways to introduce web3 into games and provide immediate value to players. Web2 gaming may have had the advantage of already being established and familiar to players, while web3 gaming needs to convince users of the benefits and advantages it offers.

Fairness and transparency: Adin spoke about the goal of providing more fairness and transparency in gaming through web3. This implies that web3 gaming faces the challenge of addressing the issues of fairness, such as reducing cheating and ensuring transparent and trustworthy gameplay. In comparison, web2 gaming may have faced similar challenges, but web3 gaming has the potential to leverage blockchain technology and smart contracts to create more transparent and fair gaming environments.

 

To become successful, web3 gaming must address challenges in scalability, user experience, community building, interoperability, regulations, and sustainability. To achieve this, developers must leverage blockchain technology to build games with open economies, allowing players to earn and spend tokens within and outside those games. They also need to design games with incentives to attract and retain users.

Web3 gaming is a nascent industry, and through collaboration, Elastos hopes to build a vibrant ecosystem with partners such as Wisdom Labs, Arcus, Morfyus, Lifty.io and Build it Merchants. As the gaming industry has shown, early adopters of new technologies can reap significant rewards. Therefore, it is essential for developers to stay abreast of evolving player preferences and continue to iterate and innovate to meet users’ demands and help achieve web3 gaming’s success in the future. 

Elastos is excited to invite new partners and platforms to join us as we forge our own gaming destinies.

Check out the Twitter Spaces recording here.

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