Published on: 28/07/2019

Blockchain & Crypto Games

Crypto Games and Blockchain Games – a new and exciting way to game?

The gaming world is talking about blockchain and crypto games – here’s what you need to know!

Blockchain games, crypto games, maybe you’ve heard of them, maybe you haven’t. But trust us, you will hear about them, as they’re promising to be a new, exciting part of your gaming experience.

If you have heard about blockchain, it’s probably through talk of bitcoin, the blockchain cryptocurrency that’s made big headlines over the years. Using the blockchain allows every transaction with bitcoin to be verified and secure but also decentralised. And blockchain games, or crypto games as they’re also known, make great use of the blockchain as a payment system for the games, often dealing in some in-game cryptocurrency such as coins, cards, gems etc.

One thing you shouldn’t do, when thinking about blockchain gaming, is confuse blockchain or crypto gaming with cryptocurrency betting and gaming sites – they are simply traditional betting and gaming sites that use cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin for their payment method. True blockchain gaming is something far more interesting and exciting!

The very first blockchain game was Huntercoin, released in 2014. Players moved around a map looking to collect huntercoins and kill other players and these cryptocurrency had real world value. The biggest blockchain game so far, certainly in coverage, has to be CryptoKitties. Here you created, upgraded, bought and sold your CryptoKitties, the in-game pet that was also the in-game cryptocurrency. It launched in November 2017 and by December 2017, a CryptoKitty sold for an incredible USD $100,000.

The video gaming industry is, certainly, taking blockchain gaming seriously, with the 2018 formation of The Blockchain Game Alliance having the support of the massive traditional gaming giant Ubisoft. Games makers, developers, and all the big gaming companies are all looking at blockchain gaming as a potentially huge future path for gaming.

Here at Justgamers, we know that if it’s important to the gaming industry, blockchain games and blockchain mobile games are going to become important to you. And that’s why we’re covering this innovative new type of gaming. So you get to discover it first! We’re the place for crypto games reviews, new releases, tips and so much more!

But first, let’s go back a little… just what is blockchain anyway?

Blockchain Games explained – just what is a block chain anyway?

Well, it’s basically an ever-growing list of records (the blocks), linked together, that hold the data as an open digital ledger.

What is the blockchain? Watch Don Tapscott demystifying this world-changing, trust-building technology which represents nothing less than the second generation of the internet and holds the potential to transform money, business, government and society.

Each block contains the data, a timestamp, and a cryptographic hash of the previous block. Once the block is listed, it can’t be modified without altering all subsequent blocks, something that makes blockchain extremely safe and although blockchain isn’t totally incorruptible, it’s incredibly difficult to alter. It also means that all the block data, the transactions, are immediately verifiable. A lot of blockchains are managed and updated not by huge corporate organisations but by peer-to-peer networks who work to an established protocol.

So, with the most widely-known example of blockchain technology, bitcoin, how the blockchain works is like this; each bitcoin transaction is a record of a transaction between two parties, the transaction is permanently recorded to the blockchain as a verified record, making fraud extremely unlikely. Obviously, the bitcoin model is similar to many other cryptocurrencies, all with public ledger blockchains.

But, the whole point of the blockchain is that it securely and verifiably records a transaction. This can be for any crypto object, or asset, no matter what it is. For example, in the world of CryptoKitty, the asset, the cryptocurrency involved, is a cute virtual cat. And that’s what makes blockchain so intriguing for gamers; the blockchain technology can be used in many different ways for your gaming, something we’ll look at next.

What on Earth are crypto games and blockchain games?

Basically, any blockchain game is one that includes the blockchain technology somewhere. Some games just use blockchain in their structure, the backend stuff you don’t see, and other games will integrate blockchain tech in the actual game mechanics.

With these blockchain games you find that there are three, big, main blockchains used as their base; Ethereum, EOS, and Tron. And you’ll find all sorts of gaming with blockchain; card games, collectibles, MMORPGs, MMORTS, text based adventures, and so much more!

So far, the majority of blockchain games have used blockchain tech to store items, as cryptocurrency, associating them with your crypto wallet. This could be anything; coins, gems, characters. Virtually anything that has some value in the game has a value as cryptocurrency.

One obvious benefit of storing these valuable in-game assets in the blockchain is that, because of the security and unalterable nature of the blockchain, you’ll never lose your assets if something bad happens, such as servers going down or the game stopping development.

With blockchain gaming, you have real-world value for the trading of these in-game assets as cryptocurrency. Your asset’s in-game value translates to a real world value to those invested in the games. Using blockchain reassures a buyer to the verified nature of the asset and the transaction is incredibly secure, with the transaction recorded safely and securely.

But, the next phase of crypto game development is coming, where the blockchain tech is still used to securely store your assets, but it’s also blockchain tech that stores progress in the game and powers some much more complicated game mechanics and gameplay. It’s one of the most exciting gaming advances for many, many years and could become the future of all gaming.

Another very important aspect of blockchain gaming, we think, could well be in blockchain based gambling. This is something that is only really being thought of right now, and the power of the big betting companies may well stop this in its tracks, but there is a possibility that a blockchain based gaming and betting site would have the transparency that a lot of gamers think is lacking in traditional gambling sites.

However, here at the infancy of blockchain gaming in all of its forms, things are very much still up for grabs. But, no matter which way blockchain gaming goes, we’ll cover it at JustGamers!

What sort of blockchain games and crypto games are out there? We give you the best!

So, we’ve given you some idea of what crypto games are, shown you how important these blockchain-based games could be, but we wanted to give you an idea about some of the best crypto games, the latest crypto games and some to look forward to.

But first, the most famous of them all, one we’ve already mentioned… CyptoKitties. This was one of the first of the Ethereum blockchain games where you collect, breed, buy and sell cute lil’ CryptoKitties. You can selectively breed your CryptoKitties to create all new kitties and even get to unlock rare characteristics. And, if you’re wondering just how much money there is in blockchain games, there have already been some CryptoKitties that have sold in excess of $100,000. Wow.

For two of our favourite blockchain based games, we choose World of Ether and EOS Knights. In World of Ether you breed, collect, buy and sell powerful native creatures, the ‘Athenians’, and put them in combat against other players ‘Etherians’ to gain the experience to get upgrades to rare breeds. EOS Knights is a great blockchains mobile games example, a medieval RPG optimised for mobile play. It’s a collect and upgrade game, trading assets to build a better knight.

Finally, it’s well worth looking at Decentraland for a different Ethereum blockchain games experience. A virtual world where you buy pieces of land to do… well, pretty much whatever you want with. There’s really no limit to what you can do.

But, there are many more great crypto games. Try MonsterEOS, My Crypto Heroes, Gods Unchained, Zombie Battleground, and MLB Crypto Baseball as 5 more to get your blockchain based games fix with!

And there are a slew of games in development or due for release that people are getting very excited about. Look out for the 3D MMORPG Age of Rust, or collectibles game Blanko’s Block Party, space exploration in Crypto Space Commander, or the really attractive prospect of a Vikings: War of Clans type game brought to blockchain games with CryptoWars.

Blockchain Games & Crypto Games – Will they be the future of your gaming?

Blockchain games have the potential to totally open up the possibilities in all of your gaming. These crypto games are being touted as the next evolutionary step in gaming… but we’re in the earliest stages as yet. In the future? Who knows?

There is, certainly, a growing market in trading and using in-game resources, whether that’s weaponry, custom skins, upgraded characters, even those cute cyber-cats. And that’s something that’s going to grow and grow. The use of blockchain in transactions adds security and makes every purchase verifiable, cutting out forgeries and cheating. We also imagine that there’s potential for using blockchain and cryptocurrency more in gambling online, sites specialising in the transparency offered by blockchain structures.

But the real excitement for those interested in blockchain games comes from the use of blockchain as an integral part of the game. This could transform gaming in ways we can’t really imagine quite yet, in the same way we couldn’t imagine modern gaming back in the dawn of the computer age.

However the blockchain gaming revolution develops, you can be sure of one thing… we’ll cover it here at JustGamers!