Non-fungible tokens (NFT) and self-sovereign identity (SSI) combined unlock a whole new gaming experience. In summary, NFTs are fantastic to capture uniqueness and scarcity, whereas SSI is perfect for storing and updating characteristics, especially when those characteristics are specific to the player. Here’s how.
Imagine porting progress/experience and items between games. No longer are downloadable content (DLCs) locked into one platform, and your progress in one game can let you skip the initial tortuous grind of another (but only if you want to, some just love the grind!).
But first, Pokemon. Yep, pokemon, that’s where we’re starting.
So far, there have been ~122 (122!) games across eight generations spanning 26 years. When compared to the universe of games, pokemon is quite unique in that a character (let’s include pokemon in the definition of game characters) can be transferred from the very first game to the most recent with its stats and moves maintained.
Now, it’s by no means easy as the image below shows, but how many other games could make this claim?!
Source: Pokemon Transfer Guide
This means that progress (or at least part of it) you have made in one game can be ported across to another without having to start from scratch.
Imagine a world where the Charizard you have raised across games takes on Link from the Legend of Zelda, at the height of his powers, in Super Smash Bros. Suddenly, the possibilities are so much greater, and the potential for an emotional bond is so much stronger.
[Super Smash Bros. but with the Charizard, you trained since you were a teen!]
Source: YouTube Dr. Mel
On a side note, since the bulk of the gameplay revolves around collecting and curating, a key mechanic is scarcity. Starting with starter and legendary pokemon then more recently to shiny pokemon with the peak being event-specific pokemon, i.e. a player has to attend an event either physically or virtually to secure said pokemon.
[Armoured Mewtwo, yep, that exists.]
Source: Event_Pokémon
Now, replace the word pokemon above with Bored Apes, Flufs or <insert your favourite> and see any parallels?
NFTs are fantastic to capture uniqueness and scarcity whereas self-sovereign identity (SSI) is perfect for storing and updating characteristics, especially when those characteristics are specific to the player such as in experience in first-person shooters like Counter-Strike (CS) or Call of Duty (CoD). Primary and secondary markets already exist for in-game skins across the likes of CoD, CS and Rust.
Imagine gaming where your progress/skins/items can be ported across to another whether for use or simply to give you a headstart. Where you can port your favourite weapon from CoD Modern Warfare into CS Global Offensive or Ronaldinho from Fifa Street to play for Mansfield Town in the latest Pro Evo or Football Manager or Peter Crouch shooting hoops NBA 2K22.
NFTs can replace DLC items so that they can be ported between games or ecosystems whilst maintaining their scarcity. SSI can then bridge achievements and experience, so progress is no longer lost once you stop playing a game and move on to the next in the genre. Axie Infinity achieves this but only inside their own ecosystem, it’s a start but there is much further to go.
This portability will have a colossal impact on the creator economy. The value of creations will drastically increase if they can be ported and used across multiple ecosystems. The Roblox economy paid out $250m to creators in 2020, imagine that number if those creations could be used across any other game/ecosystem.
Whilst elements of this vision have been built, we are now seeing it rapidly come together, thanks to NFTs and SSI as the base technologies but also firms like the following:
- Crucible (a cheqd partner): Building interoperable blueprints for the metaverse.
- FragColor: building the engine for a distributed gaming ecosystem
- Linking Realities / Union Avatars: Creating photorealistic avatars from a single selfie.
As we fast track towards the metaverse, NFT and SSI applications within the gaming and beyond will be rapidly growing. Speaking of the metaverse, find out why SSI and metaverse is a new super-power.
Would you like to join the cheqd partnership ecosystem and benefit from a self-sovereign identity for your gaming / NFT / metaverse platform? Join Crucible and many others taking this leap into what will define the next hype train in web3.0. Contact: [email protected] for more information.