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: 

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: 

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.

The article and graphics were created by the Elavation Team.

Elastos is excited to team up with Arcus and welcome the game studio to its growing mob of GameFi projects. Arcus is a Web3 ecosystem that integrates GameFi, SocialFi, and EsportsFi with ready-launched products. The project centres around Arcus, a unique all-new first person shooting mobile game where gamers use a bow and arrow and companion pets, called Ethers to battle it out with their friends for the chance to earn tokens. The game allows head-to-head and team deathmatches as well as team play Guild Wars action. 

Arcus aims to explore Elastos’ open source technology stack, including Decentralized Identities (DID) through the Elastos Identity Chain (EID) to bolster their efforts to build Social Finance, a comprehensive commerce experience for gamers that includes Esports, NFTs, and Task to Earn. Arcus is working to pioneer the concept of Esports Finance, allowing the community to create, host, and organize tournament events on their social platforms. With the help of Elastos’ Web3 identity solutions, Arcus’ community will be able to manage assets, keep track of game activity, and increase possible rewards.

“Since the start of 2023, Elastos has added a steady stream of partners related to building, curating, monetizing and most importantly playing Web3 games. What makes Arcus different is that it is a game that the Elastos community can play right now,” says Fakhul Miah, Elastos Growth Lead. As a gamer myself, I’m looking forward to working with Arcus to create real use cases for DIDs but also potentially for DRM and decentralized storage as well.” 

This announcement follows recent partnership announcements between Elastos and Web3 gaming platforms, such as Build It Merchants and Lifty.io that further demonstrate how Elastos’ technologies can create a more equitable, self-sovereign experience for content creators, including Web3 game developers and gamers themselves.  

Projects like Elacity provide an enticing example of the future of Web3 creator economies through the application of decentralized storage, identity, AI and rights-managed NFTs provided by Elastos. As new DRM technologies for Web3 are being pioneered in Elacity and demonstrated through rights-managed content streaming services, it’s only logical to consider the possibilities for gaming. 

“As the world moves towards the decentralized Web3 era, it is essential to find ways to bring Esports gamers from Web2 into the new ecosystem. While many gamers may not be familiar with the technology behind blockchain and Web3, it is important to educate them on the benefits and opportunities that exist within this space,” says Rommel Carlos, CEO of Arcus. “One way to bring Esports gamers into Web3 is by creating a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of buying and selling virtual assets. Additionally, hosting tournaments that incorporate Web3 technology can help familiarize players with the benefits of decentralization and blockchain technology. We see Elastos and its user-centric tech stack focused on data sovereignty as a great fit for what we are trying to build with Arcus.”

Additional partnership details will be provided as Arcus and Elastos continue to collaborate.

About Arcus

Arcus Game is a Filipino-led gaming company that provides gamers with quality gaming experiences. Founded in 2022, the company has been a pioneer in the tech and gaming industry, offering players a variety of exciting and innovative games across different platforms.

Arcus Game is a leading gaming company committed to providing gamers with an exceptional gaming experience. With a focus on innovation, quality, and player satisfaction, Arcus Game is a company that will continue shaping the gaming industry for years to come.

Find Arcus on their social media channels:
Website | Telegram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Medium | Instagram | Discord | Youtube | TikTok

The article and graphics were created by the Elavation Team.

Elastos Foundation

Cyber Republic

Developer Portal