I don’t know what’s more insane at the moment, the fact that there are now billion-dollar in-game economies running on the blockchain, where individuals equipped only with wallet addresses and ETH (even MANA, ILV, etc..) or the fact that NFT’s are now being used as incentives for players to participate in the future of gaming.

It’s gotten my mind in a bit of a swirl, trying to make sense out of the use of NFT’s as incentives, and means of exchange within games like Decentraland (ETH), Mist (BSC), the incoming Illuvium (Immutable X, scheduled Q3 release) and more that are climbing the ladder.

See, I’ve grown up during a time where spending money in a game was primarily based around 2 polar extremes. 1.) Buying a membership to unlock the full features of a game, I.e. Runescape (my ex-personal favorite) and 2.) Buying items & skins, I primarily spent more money on League of Legends buying skins than I’d like to admit (<$200) however, I know there are people out there that live in this virtual universe, and spend money on new skins like they do on their real clothes. This capability basically opened the floodgates to spend exorbitant amounts of money in a game in order to look your best (maybe even feel your best..?) and for the occasional flex. Having such items that were worth buying brought an interesting flare to the game, and honestly made it more fun to an extent, it no longer felt bleak and “normal”.

The next level, as I got older, I started to play games like Halo, & Call of Duty as they came out, as all gamers know, each of these games had yearly releases, so it was never TOO long before a new and refreshing version was out, being conquered by everyone who had even the slightest interest in these games. Easily from years 12–35+ there were (and still are) people playing these games for hours/days on end to reach the highest levels, to break new records, or to simply catch a funny clip. The higher the play time, the higher likelihood you’d make some content that could accidentally go viral.

Fast forward <10yrs. Here we are in 2021, and Decentral Games hires real-life hosts to work the floor at its Tominoya Casino. “For four hours each day, the greeters staff shifts in the metaverse. Then, at the end of the month, they get paid upward of $500 in DAI or the firm’s $DG token.” Where an average shift is essentially the exact same as what a casino host would do, in the real world (funny, to now have to distinguish the two..) what is stopping people from rushing to this new world of opportunity and freedom?

I believe in the next 2–5yrs we will commonly see people who live and work in the virtual landscape, whether it be as digital real estate agents (yes, you can buy land in games like Decentraland, My Neighbor Alice, etc…) or as casino hosts, bartenders, therapists, consultants, the list really goes on, the realization that now mostly anything can be transmitted and operated in the virtual realm has come to light and I think the only way this realization can go is UP, not DOWN…

With this realization in mind. We might find ourselves at a crossroads in many areas, be it morally, investment wise, or even belief wise. The fact of the matter is, whether we believe it or not, the virtual world is already here, it is at infant stages at the moment but it has a beating heart and is alive and well. Whether we choose to take part in this new ecosystem will always be our choice, but at the end of the day, in growing the digital economy, we might be fascinated at what we find that we couldn’t have previously imagined. I personally am still playing catch up, but one thing is certain in this space, developments compound at an eye-watering pace, and it is by far the easiest market to get left behind in.

As far as NFT’s are concerned in the space, am I completely positive of where they will go as far as value in connection to the games? No. However, I am completely positive that as NFT’s continue to rise in popularity, as far as art, fashion, and collectibles are concerned, I know that their value in-game will explode.

Imagine, for a second, a Master Chief (Halo) NFT, or a ‘Soap’ (CoD) NFT, or Skyrim (unique character) NFT’s, how much would they be worth today? How much would they have been sold for during the most popular times that these games were played? These games revolutionized the entire gaming community and gave it great soul and emotional ties on a scale that the world never saw before them. I use these 2 games, although there is an ocean of other games that had this effect, because I personally spent significant time playing these games and exploring their universes. If there is one thing I know to come from this, this is the absolute tip of a massive iceberg, that we have not yet been able to measure in size.

This is not financial advice.

All the best.