Imagine you're playing a video game. This game is based in medieval times, where there's all sorts of different characters and creatures. There are people in the village that are blacksmiths, farmers, and warriors. All different types of characters. And during this game, you've got certain missions you've got to accomplish. There's all different types of people providing supporting roles.
The farmers grow the crops to feed the village. They get compensated for the crops they provide. You've got the bartender who serves the beer at the local tavern. There are hotel owners that provide a place for people to rest and recoup over the night. Each one of these roles has certain economic incentives to provide the value that they provide to the game.
For example, assume you're a blacksmith. As a blacksmith you make swords for the warriors and provide the horseshoes for the horses. So during this game, you have the ability to exchange in an economic fashion, from one person to the next and in most video games that's, done through points or some form of in game currency which is worthless in the real world. Usually this involves paying for the ability to increase your game play or shortcut to the next game level.
If players purchase a bigger sword or a more powerful shield that money goes directly to the game company. And this is how it's been for for years.
Now imagine if that blacksmith in the game was able to create the sword and sell it to another player for real value in the form of a cryptocurrency coin. Imagine if the farmer was able to grow his crops and sell it at the market. Then earn the game coin that could be taken out of the game and turned into Fiat currency, like the US dollar or the British pound.
And imagine if there was a land owner in this digital world where the farmer, tavern owner, blacksmith, all had to rent space from this landowner in order to put their property or their business on that land. Just like in the real world, just like with commercial real estate, what if that was all possible in a digital world?
Well, I can tell you it's already happening.
In fact, there are people investing millions of dollars in digital real estate, within video games. There's people that are already playing these video games and earning more money than they were at the regular nine to five job.
In March of 2021, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, NFTs are Spurring a Digital Land Grab in Video Game Worlds. The author states investors in games are buying millions of dollars worth of land that only exists in video games.
The ability to own an asset inside a video game is possible with an NFT (Non-fungible Token). An NFT allows the owner to have verifiable ownership of a one of a kind asset on the blockchain.
An NFT in a video game could be a piece of land, tools, characters, and so much more. The video game company that is referenced in the WSJ article is Gala Games. Gala Games was founded by Eric Schiermeyer, a co-founder of Zynga and the vastly popular game Farmville.
Individuals as well as businesses are acquiring these digital real estate properties within these video games. And actually there was one property within the yet to be released game Mirandus that was sold for $1.6 million. So this is basically speculation on real estate within a game that many see as being one of the most popular video games played by millions of gamers in the next few years.
Sounds like there is a lot of conviction in this technology.
For most people, this sounds absolutely crazy. That people would invest millions of dollars in digital real estate inside of a video game. But I'll tell you a fortune favors the bold and also favors the curious.
As of 2020, the video game industry is estimated to be worth $159 billion. That is more than the music and movie industry combined.
In 2025, that is forecasted to grow to more than $268 billion.
Currently, there are 2.9 billion players in the global gaming industry. That's almost 40% of the entire population of the world.
One of the interesting statistics that I found was that 85% of the industry revenue comes from free to play games. So how do they make their money? Well it's those in game opportunities to pay, to expedite your leveling-up in the game or advertising.
So they build these video games. They become very fun to play and they're free to play, but once you get players hooked then you offer those users the opportunity to pay to up-level their character in the game, or to move faster up to the next level.
What do you think is going to happen come 2025 when there is that estimated $270 billion being made in the gaming industry. And those people that are playing the video games now become owners of assets inside the games. They actually are earning income, playing the game and providing value within the game ecosystem.
You can imagine the amount of wealth transfer that's going to happen?
This will allow people no matter where they are in the world. No matter what financial position they are currently in to participate and play a video game, add value to an economy and not only increase their income. But also provide value to the digital real estate owners within the video game.
That sounds like an economy!
One of the most exciting things about this for me, Is seeing the ability to teach kids and people about economics through a game, allowing people to play a video game while understanding how money moves through an economy. When somebody plays as a blacksmith creating swords or a farmer growing crops that in turn is then sold at the market and paid for by other people that need what they've created.
Now you might be saying to yourself, well, that sounds really cool and interesting. And I had no idea that that was possible, but I don't play video games. So that's just not for me. And what I'll tell you is if you don't start learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency, you're going to be left behind.
Every industry will use blockchain in some capacity or another.
The real estate industry will use blockchain for signing contracts, transferring funds, and verifying ownership of property. Your marriage certificate will be stored on the blockchain instead of at the county clerks office.
The medical industry will be using blockchain and in fact they currently are. There's a company called Solve Healthcare which uses blockchain to redefine the care coordination, improving access to care, reducing benefit administration costs, and helping reduce fraud and waste within the healthcare industry all around the world. So there's a lot of different uses for blockchain and gaming just happens to be one of them.
I'm super excited for blockchain gaming specifically out of all of these technologies. I see it as a way to empower people all around the world, no matter what they were born into with the ability to have fun, add value to an economy, and to create something that they own. It will also help educate players about economics in a fun way that school otherwise couldn't.
I'm a huge proponent of entrepreneurship and small business ownership. And I think more people would be better off if they understood how they provide value within an economic system. And what better way to do this than to play a video game and learn while you earn.
Who knows maybe one day, you'll see, Curious Hero the video game.
If you are interested in playing a blockchain video game and see how a player can earn within a video game then head over to Gala Games. Click here to start your account and play.
