Traditional Gamers and Their Outlook on Cryptocurrency and NFTs in Gaming
For anyone even remotely aware of gaming culture, it’s a known fact that traditional gamers hold quite a strong sense of distaste for the integration of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into their games. This particular point of view didn’t crop up overnight. According to industry icon and the founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell, this perspective took root primarily due to the astronomical rise of play-to-earn games.
Factors Leading to Gamers’ Disdain towards Cryptocurrency in Gaming:
- Play-to-earn games that incorporate blockchain gaming.
- The “Grinding” aspect linked with these games; gamers crave fun over grinding.
- The dependency of play-to-earn games on the “greater fool theory.”
“Good gamers don’t like to grind. Grinding is bad. Gamers want fun, and sadly, these play-to-earn games are fully reliant on the greater fool theory to work.”
Nolan Bushnell: A Legend in Gaming
Speaking to Cointelegraph in a comprehensive interview, Nolan Bushnell, famously known as the “godfather of video games”, gave his many perspectives on the present gaming landscape and the part blockchain technology might play in the industry’s future.
It would seem totally unbelievable if a person claimed to have “invented video games.” However, for Nolan Bushnell, it’s a fraction of his storied career, which includes establishing the gaming system Atari and the American food chain Chuck E. Cheese. He also has the distinction of having employed Steve Jobs.
Launched in 1977, the Atari 2600 was the first home video game console developed by Atari. Source: Wikipedia
In Bushnell’s view, the growth of Web3 gaming depends heavily on a critical shift away from the play-to-earn dynamics. He believes that the spotlight should be on building believable virtual worlds using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology.
The large-scale adoption of these new worlds will depend entirely on the human craving for socialization and a constant sense of “place and time” in the burgeoning economy of virtual worlds.
“How do you meet people? Where do you interact with them? Those are the fundamentals of Web3 and the metaverse. Providing a sense of real place and real time in virtual worlds, that’s when we’ve truly achieved something.”
Currently, Bushnell is the chief knowledge officer at Moxy, an innovative blockchain-based esports firm. He emphasizes there are three areas where blockchain can significantly upgrade the present gaming landscape.
Tweet from Nolan Bushnell:
I’m psyched to be speaking at the DELF event. We’ve selected Hong Kong for https://t.co/GNemkV0YDf’s entry into the Asian Market. https://t.co/phUuANd9LB
— Nolan K Bushnell (@NolanBushnell) August 15, 2023
Three Key Areas Where Blockchain Can Upgrade Gaming According to Nolan Bushnell:
- Ability to transfer funds quickly and securely.
- Utility of smart contracts.
- Capacity to securely store the value of digital assets in the form of cryptocurrencies and tokens.
As we move towards a heavily digital era, there needs to be a mechanism for aligning people’s actions and expectations with outcomes. “The utility of smart contracts serves this purpose well. They are not only valuable in games, but also in all human interactions as they manage relationships and dictate the terms of these relationships,” he adds.
Emphasizing the third point, Bushnell talks about the potential to securely store the value of digital assets through currencies and tokens.