Are you a gaming enthusiast? Have you ever wondered if you could turn your passion into profit? Welcome to the world of Play to Earn Games, where gaming meets earning.
With the advent of recent technological developments — particularly with Blockchain technology becoming more and more mainstream, a new era of gaming known as Play-To-Earn, or P2E games has spawned, enabling you to earn while you play games — and sometimes, significant amounts of money.
This post will guide you through the ins and outs of these income-generating games and how you can start earning cryptocurrency rewards.
The Traditional Gaming Landscape
Remember the days when we would spend countless hours immersed in games like World of Warcraft?
I grew up spending hundreds of hours playing WoW, completing quests and progressing my character(s) to seek the most exclusive and hard to obtain in-game items.
But back then, the thought of earning money through my gameplay was outrageous— that was reserved only for competitive e-sports players who spent all day everyday gaming, a far cry outside the possibility of what I (a high-school student at the time) could commit to.
So why did I do it? Well, beyond the fact that I found great enjoyment in immersing myself in the gameplay experience, and in a similar manner to why people purchase fast cars or expensive luxury items — I did it to show off my exclusivity.
And for me, that meant showing off my in-game achievements to all the other gamers inside the World of Warcraft ecosystem.
The thing is though, in a centralized ecosystem such as World of Warcraft, developers have most of the power over the gaming experience. No matter how many hours you spend playing the game and collecting an assortment of assets like weapons, add-ons, characters, and additional powers, all these achievements are ultimately condemned to remain inside the gaming ecosystem, ceasing to be transferred to other games, cashed out, or exchanged on third-party marketplaces.
So how are Play-to-Earn (P2E) games different? The answer is quite simple, they aspire to give players control over their hard-earned achievements.
Enter Play to Earn Games
Just as the name suggests — Play to Earn (P2E) games are games where gamers are incentivised (through monetary means) to participate and continue playing a particular game.
That is to say, these games allow you to earn digital assets while gaming, thus rewarding you financially for your engagement and time spent playing.
The concept, which is relatively straightforward, is proving to drive a revolution in the gaming industry. And it’s all thanks to the technology developments in the cryprocurrency space. If you aren’t familiar with what cryptocurrency actually is, I have a post that explains the basics of cryptocurrency if you’re itnerested.
At the most fundamental level, these games allow gamers to collect, farm and earn cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can be sold either directly through the games ecosystem, or elsewhere on third-party marketplaces which can ultimately be exchanged for real-world currencies.
Gamers, therefore, have the ability to earn digital assets while gaming by investing more time into the game or by selling their digital assets to other gamers.
As a result of this, founders and developers are able to generate revenue in the secondary market from sales made amongst gamers, which they typically achieve by taking a small cut of each sale. This opens up endless opportunities for developers, such as having their game free to download, hence more users entering the ecosystem — since they do not have to rely on outright sales of high-cost purchase prices to drive their earnings.
The Reality of Profitable Gaming
Although P2E games may sound like a no-brainer for gamers, there are still limitations or factors that restrict complete adoption by the mainstream. Notably, most P2E games are still in early development and may not offer the same level of gameplay that well-established companies can offer.
For example, If you compare the graphics of a lot of these P2E games with the latest game releases on a PlayStation or Xbox, gamers likely will not enjoy the gameplay experience as much.
So as it stands, comparable high-resolution good-looking crypto games may still yet be a thing of the future.
Despite these pitfalls, for someone like me who no longer has the expendable time to really invest myself into the gaming world like I once could, these income-generating games can offer an enjoyable experience that can provide financial benefits, without needing to spend hours on end gaming.
My Experience with Play to Earn Games
Now that we have a sense of what P2E games are, I wanted to draw your attention to one of the cryptocurrency earning games I trialed that earned me some income. Better yet, I only had to spend around 10–15 minutes per day to earn this passive income.
The game I am referring to is called Mouse Haunt.
Mouse Haunt is a multiplayer play-to-earn game where players collect NFTs, and farm tokens that can be exchanged for money.
In the game you assemble a squad of Mouse Heros (in the form of NFTs), who work together to farm and destroy chests to collect the native MHT tokens that are kept inside. These tokens, which are rewarded to gamers, can be used to purchase rarer Mouse Heroes to improve their farming ability or can be cashed out and exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or real-world money.
The beta version of the game was released on April 29, 2022 which is when I first started off playing. In the first couple of weeks I tested it out, my mice farmed me a total of 65.2MHT (~$19.5USD or $28 AUD).
Although these mice were earning me rewards in the form of MHT tokens, the process was not entirely passive. Every few hours I needed to open the app and either put my mice to sleep to replenish their energy, or set them off to loot treasure chests once their energy has been replenished.
But once they are off and looting, I can close the app entirely and let them do their own thing until their energy runs out again. So for the marginal effort involved in clicking a few buttons every 3–4 hours, it’s not a bad feeling knowing I earned approx $20 (AUD) per week.
I do note however, that in order to assemble my squad of mice heroes, it did require me to acquire each mouse, each of which is a unique NFT. So although the game was free to download, there was a cost involved in acquiring your heroes to allow you to farm the tokens.
The Bottom Line
The goal of this post isn’t to convince you to join the Mouse Haunt ecosystem. Rather, it’s to showcase the potential of Play to Earn Games. There are many hundreds of P2E games out there, each offering unique and enjoyable experiences for users.
So, whether you’re a gaming enthusiast or someone looking for innovative ways to earn, keep an eye out for these profitable gaming opportunities. Who knows, you might find a game that not only entertains you but also adds value to your wallet
That’s all for this post!
