Play to earn and gaming guilds: Explained
Play to earn games gained popularity in 2021 with it becoming increasingly popular this year. Play to earn or P2E is a system where players can earn tokens/NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) that can be traded for traditional real-world money or cryptocurrency.
Whilst some people are skeptical, people have started to earn a living by playing P2E games whilst others have also joined what is being called gaming guilds.
What is play to earn?
Play to earn games is a model that works on blockchain technology — this is what allows players to earn cryptocurrency within the games. This occurs by players being able to earn valuable in-game assets that range from avatar skins or in game collectables which have the potential to become more valuable over time.
Compared to other games, P2E games have the potential to generate value for other players as well as the developer. In more traditional games, the developer is able to control everything. The reason P2E games are able to differ from this is due to what if offers — entertainment, competition and money.
Crypto payouts
Game developers are able to create their own native cryptocurrency in the form of tokens. For this to happen, the developers have to create a blockchain project, create tokens and close the deal. The currency works in the same way as in game money, however, these have real-world value. These cryptocurrencies are basically the same as others — the value will increase and decrease and players can receive payouts.
Whilst some of the most popular games use native currency, some often using existist cryptocurrencies. In this instance, the games are usually named after the currency they use eg. Bitcoin Tycoon. Players still receive payouts from these games, however, earning is usually a lot slower and holds less value.
NFT’s
As some of us know, NFT’s are virtual assets. They can come in a variety of forms and in gaming, usually come in the form of collectables from within the game itself.
The assets are stored on the blockchain and are irreplaceable, one of a kind and impossible to duplicate. They also each hold their own value.
Some of the games that include this sort of system can charge a fee to play or users are able to play for free. Some developers make their games avaible for free and users can earn by simply playing and engaging.
Some other developers may require an upfront investment to begin playing the game. They also may need players to purchase NFT’s from other players — these are known as pay-to-earn games.
Gaming Guilds
Guilds or clans within gaming is not a new term. For years avid gamers have gotten themselves involved with groups of people to form a guild or a clan, this has been seen in games such as World of Warcraft.
In terms of crypto-gaming guilds are different. These gaming guilds are groups of people that come together to compete on multi-player games for a mutual advantage. The groups can range from a group of friends simply looking to play and earn together to large global organisations that offer community based incentives and scholarships.
The large organisations have reached a point where players are able to be recognised and rewarded for playing the games. As well as this, some groups are forming esports teams to compete against others to earn a lot more money.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, places such as the Philippines saw people earn a much better living that they were in their regular day job. Minimum wage in the Philippines was as low as $230 a month. People started to realise that they could earn around $1000 a month by playing P2E games.
The biggest difficulty that people faced in the Philippines is that affording to join P2E games such as Axie Infinity. To begin playing Axie Infinity the gamer is required to create a team of Axies which could cost under $100 if chosen correctly. Once the Axie is bought the player then owns it. However, those living in the Philippines could not afford to spend this money — leading them to join guilds.
The guilds would support the player by offering different types of help. One example is AAG Ventures. This is a tech firm that founded the Achip & Archair Guild which is one of the most popular P2E guilds. With the first seven weeks, they had already created a guild of 1500 academics and now have 2000 scholars spread across seven nations.
The main countries that this guild is present in includes: the Philippines, Brazil, India, Russia, Indonesia, Argentina and Nigeria. Each person part of the guild now earns more than the average wage in their country allowing them to live comfortably from P2E gaming.
People are able finance being a part of the guilds by exchanging a percentage of game earnings. From this they receive training and programmes that allow new players to borrow or rent expensive NFT assets in gaming.
In addition to the players, the guilds introduce community managers who recruit and teach new players how to profit from their participation and players in-game principles. These members of the guild are paid a percentage of the awards earned by the players who they look after.
Play to earn opportunities have been revolutionised by the introduction of gaming guilds which has also changed the landscape of gaming completley.
Being able to earn an full and sufficient living via gaming is bound to attract the masses. Whilst the P2E industry is still young, it is becoming clear that guilds will keep on having a significant contribution to the growth.
