Topic: Blockchain Game Economics (Read 161 times)
Why do people keep trying to bring crypto to in-game currencies, it will never work well. In game currency exists for imaginary economy, it's supposed to be worthless, because otherwise there will be big problems - you'll have to deal with bots and farmers, who will inevitably damage your economy and spoil the fun for the honest players. And gamers absolutely don't care about blockchain technology or "owning their assets", they want to play quality games and that's it.
Tetra is a variable in the server code with a fixed exchange rate. It’s the ability to “cash out” for the paired crypto (at a fixed rate) that gives it an inherent value. I would love to use Bitcoin but that’s another discussion as hosting is a major cost factor. Smaller altcoins usually have developer funds and a more engageable community. Two things any new projects needs to succeed.
Some good feedback here, as mentioned I think focusing on the game does help a lot but I hoped to get out ahead of it in a sense. Primarily, as someone else mentioned, in order to gauge potential exploits.
You know what would be cool.
If a game established a presence in africa or another country with a high demand for digital currency. While having a presence in countries with lax financial regulatory standards. It could naturally open up cross platform ARB (arbitrage) trading once again. The most lucrative and best altcoin/shitcoin trading strategy of all time.
If I was a game developer and my goal was to reward players and promote my game. Leveraging existing differences in regional demand wouldn't necessarily be a bad way to go about it.
If a game established a presence in africa or another country with a high demand for digital currency. While having a presence in countries with lax financial regulatory standards. It could naturally open up cross platform ARB (arbitrage) trading once again. The most lucrative and best altcoin/shitcoin trading strategy of all time.
If I was a game developer and my goal was to reward players and promote my game. Leveraging existing differences in regional demand wouldn't necessarily be a bad way to go about it.
I am not a real fan of all these Alt coins specifically developed for a specific gaming platform. The reason is simple, because there are no real utility for these tokens, other than for being used within the game. Also, the game developers are pre-mining tokens to line their pockets with cheap tokens and not just to oil the system. 
I cannot for the live of me understand why these game developers are ignoring the biggest market, namely Bitcoin to go for these non-exist Alt coins? They can still have their in-game currency that can be bought with bitcoins.
Why should people have to trade in and out of Alt coins to eventually buy bitcoins to be able to use something to buy and trade with. Bitcoin has a huge merchant network too, so whatever you get from the game can be traded back to bitcoins and be used to buy at these merchants.
Players can buy in-game currency from the game or trade for it with bitcoins with other players on a in-game market and then the game platform can take a percentage of that traded in-game currency, like they would have done at an exchange.
Better yet, skip the in-game currency and let people use the Lightning Network with almost instant transactions.
I cannot for the live of me understand why these game developers are ignoring the biggest market, namely Bitcoin to go for these non-exist Alt coins? They can still have their in-game currency that can be bought with bitcoins.
Why should people have to trade in and out of Alt coins to eventually buy bitcoins to be able to use something to buy and trade with. Bitcoin has a huge merchant network too, so whatever you get from the game can be traded back to bitcoins and be used to buy at these merchants.
Players can buy in-game currency
Better yet, skip the in-game currency and let people use the Lightning Network with almost instant transactions.
Tetra is a variable in the server code with a fixed exchange rate. It’s the ability to “cash out” for the paired crypto (at a fixed rate) that gives it an inherent value. I would love to use Bitcoin but that’s another discussion as hosting is a major cost factor. Smaller altcoins usually have developer funds and a more engageable community. Two things any new projects needs to succeed.
Some good feedback here, as mentioned I think focusing on the game does help a lot but I hoped to get out ahead of it in a sense. Primarily, as someone else mentioned, in order to gauge potential exploits.
I am not a real fan of all these Alt coins specifically developed for a specific gaming platform. The reason is simple, because there are no real utility for these tokens, other than for being used within the game. Also, the game developers are pre-mining tokens to line their pockets with cheap tokens and not just to oil the system.
I cannot for the live of me understand why these game developers are ignoring the biggest market, namely Bitcoin to go for these non-exist Alt coins? They can still have their in-game currency that can be bought with bitcoins.
Why should people have to trade in and out of Alt coins to eventually buy bitcoins to be able to use something to buy and trade with. Bitcoin has a huge merchant network too, so whatever you get from the game can be traded back to bitcoins and be used to buy at these merchants.
Players can buy in-game currency from the game or trade for it with bitcoins with other players on a in-game market and then the game platform can take a percentage of that traded in-game currency, like they would have done at an exchange.
Better yet, skip the in-game currency and let people use the Lightning Network with almost instant transactions.
I cannot for the live of me understand why these game developers are ignoring the biggest market, namely Bitcoin to go for these non-exist Alt coins? They can still have their in-game currency that can be bought with bitcoins.
Why should people have to trade in and out of Alt coins to eventually buy bitcoins to be able to use something to buy and trade with. Bitcoin has a huge merchant network too, so whatever you get from the game can be traded back to bitcoins and be used to buy at these merchants.
Players can buy in-game currency
Better yet, skip the in-game currency and let people use the Lightning Network with almost instant transactions.
I think that you should forget for a while about the Game economics and focus on the game itself.What will be the game?If it's based on strategy,I think it could be exploited by some players.If it offers the option to make real money by selling the in-game currency,the incentive for exploiting the game increases.
If you have exploiters,they will drain out your currency reserves and you won't be able to sustain a stable token price.How are going to protect your game against those scammers?
If you have exploiters,they will drain out your currency reserves and you won't be able to sustain a stable token price.How are going to protect your game against those scammers?
I think it would be more straightforward if you just use a fixed rate. For example:
- 1 USD (worth of crypto) -> 1,000 Tetra
- 1,100 Tetra -> 1 USD (worth of crypto)
100 Tetra is your profit as the market maker.
This way, people won't speculate on the in-game currency and focus on the game itself. You can reward players, create contests, etc., using the mentioned profit as well. You can also sell items (weapons, perks, etc.) to earn money.
- 1 USD (worth of crypto) -> 1,000 Tetra
- 1,100 Tetra -> 1 USD (worth of crypto)
100 Tetra is your profit as the market maker.
This way, people won't speculate on the in-game currency and focus on the game itself. You can reward players, create contests, etc., using the mentioned profit as well. You can also sell items (weapons, perks, etc.) to earn money.
Thanks for the input, yeah I think the best way to put it is that I have enough crypto to pay out for Tetra. At least for now. And that the exchange rate for the Tetra is only weighed against the dollar. Definitely trying to take everything into consideration.
Sounds exactly like World of Warcraft gold or Eve Online isk, or any other in-game currency that can be traded for real money.
However, you can't "peg" its value unless you have the money to back the peg.
However, you can't "peg" its value unless you have the money to back the peg.
If I were you I wouldn't peg a sell price to the currency. You could inflate the currency in game or have a "bank" that does so but if you had the exact thing as a token that you offered people to cash out directly for dollars then you'd have to keep making sure your balance sheet will never become unbalanced...
Rather as a token (either on a smart contract or not) the players would be able to speculate on it still and sell it on an exchange either attached to the game or elsewhere... There should prjabnly be a way to allow them to pull their funds too imo and store them elsewhere such as on a nmemonic phrase they wrote down.
Rather as a token (either on a smart contract or not) the players would be able to speculate on it still and sell it on an exchange either attached to the game or elsewhere... There should prjabnly be a way to allow them to pull their funds too imo and store them elsewhere such as on a nmemonic phrase they wrote down.
In my career I have found that studying virtual economies is a fun way to understand the ones we deal with everyday, in the real world. Well over the past few weeks I have found myself faced with a project requiring a game economy to interface with a cryptocurrency in a way that makes sense. There are some good ideas floating around this board so I am hoping to have some of you weigh in here.
Quick note, the game functions on top of a sort of social layer platform which is what people use to trade, chat, post on a forum etc. Think Steam or Origin but with a focus on social features.
So the method I have decided to use requires the introduction of a pegged native game currency called Tetra (T). The reasoning here being that it would require a lot more capital upfront to simply use the cryptocurrency itself as the primary mode of exchange. As there would need to be a reserve available (that was purchased) to reward players with in the first place.
By creating a new game-issued currency I can "mint" the initial supply and use them to reward players. But then how do they earn the actual crytocurrency? By swapping it for Tetra at a fixed rate.
Say 1000T(etra) had a value of one real USD and our cryptocurrency was worth $2 USD today and fluctuates based on real markets. Well the player could always sell 1000 Tetras on an in-game exchange for 1USD worth of those cryptocoins (using the broader platform) then do whatever they want with them, including re-invest it back into the game for more Tetra. But if Tetra is pegged, how will people earn more? By trading based on the price of in-game goods which are dynamic and may cost more or less than the cost of Tetra. All of these goods are effected by natural scarcity and other factors that are subject to what's happening in the game world.
Which is to say that eventually, even the people who are only in it to make money will at some point have to play the game. Or "pay" people to do it for them if they want the markets to move. They might be able to get to certain resources and own them for much less than they would if they just sat watching the markets. Bringing me to my next point, trade companies.
These organizations will function like corporations in Eve Online but with better organizational mechanics like being able to buy/sell digital equity in these groups that function themselves like DAO's within the system. Rewarding "shareholders" and paying out in either cryptocurrency or Tetra on a case-by-case basis based on parameters voted on by the owners.
I forgot to mention that this whole time the developer (me) still needs to keep a crypto reserve on hand in case a player wants to make a trade into crypto. But that's OK because the starting economy will be so small (by design) with the crypto withdrawal limits being on the higher side. For these i won't ever take fees. But withdrawals to external wallets and ads may be considered for monetization.
There's more to it but that's the gist of it. To recap, the game has a pegged native currency that can be used to buy and sell in-game goods only. This native currency can also be sold for a cryptocurrency to be used on the games platform (think Steam or Origin) to buy perks there, withdraw to an external wallet or reinvested into Tetra. And if you like game economics and organizing teams let me know via @KhanJohnson I could use your help!
Quick note, the game functions on top of a sort of social layer platform which is what people use to trade, chat, post on a forum etc. Think Steam or Origin but with a focus on social features.
So the method I have decided to use requires the introduction of a pegged native game currency called Tetra (T). The reasoning here being that it would require a lot more capital upfront to simply use the cryptocurrency itself as the primary mode of exchange. As there would need to be a reserve available (that was purchased) to reward players with in the first place.
By creating a new game-issued currency I can "mint" the initial supply and use them to reward players. But then how do they earn the actual crytocurrency? By swapping it for Tetra at a fixed rate.
Say 1000T(etra) had a value of one real USD and our cryptocurrency was worth $2 USD today and fluctuates based on real markets. Well the player could always sell 1000 Tetras on an in-game exchange for 1USD worth of those cryptocoins (using the broader platform) then do whatever they want with them, including re-invest it back into the game for more Tetra. But if Tetra is pegged, how will people earn more? By trading based on the price of in-game goods which are dynamic and may cost more or less than the cost of Tetra. All of these goods are effected by natural scarcity and other factors that are subject to what's happening in the game world.
Which is to say that eventually, even the people who are only in it to make money will at some point have to play the game. Or "pay" people to do it for them if they want the markets to move. They might be able to get to certain resources and own them for much less than they would if they just sat watching the markets. Bringing me to my next point, trade companies.
These organizations will function like corporations in Eve Online but with better organizational mechanics like being able to buy/sell digital equity in these groups that function themselves like DAO's within the system. Rewarding "shareholders" and paying out in either cryptocurrency or Tetra on a case-by-case basis based on parameters voted on by the owners.
I forgot to mention that this whole time the developer (me) still needs to keep a crypto reserve on hand in case a player wants to make a trade into crypto. But that's OK because the starting economy will be so small (by design) with the crypto withdrawal limits being on the higher side. For these i won't ever take fees. But withdrawals to external wallets and ads may be considered for monetization.
There's more to it but that's the gist of it. To recap, the game has a pegged native currency that can be used to buy and sell in-game goods only. This native currency can also be sold for a cryptocurrency to be used on the games platform (think Steam or Origin) to buy perks there, withdraw to an external wallet or reinvested into Tetra. And if you like game economics and organizing teams let me know via @KhanJohnson I could use your help!
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