Web3 Gaming: 2022 and Beyond

Crypto Winter

According to the observations of GameFi in 2022, the ecosystem has already risen and fallen on the back of the 2021 NFT hype cycle. Early token rises and NFT mints were rewarded by the “NFT go up” mindset for games that were still in development and solely intended to provide players with an opportunity to earn money.

Many P2E gaming projects that were released in the last 12 months include sustainable design rather than providing genuinely enjoyable play experiences. These games instead of holding the Ponzi schemes are controllable using WASD (The game controlling keys other than arrow keys).

As traditional equities and other assets saw a wider worldwide decline, the 2022 cryptocurrency market also had a severe correction. Investors have tightened their decisions to risk-on assets, such as cryptocurrencies, as a result of rising interest rates that are intended to fight inflation. With the exception of Web3 gaming, which is proving to be a significant factor in the global growth of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, venture capital funding in those industries has also somewhat decreased. Despite the weak market, blockchain gaming has been demonstrating its strength in these trying times. Blockchain games may receive over $10 billion in investments this year, more than tripling the US$4 billion raised in 2021, according to a report by market watcher DappRadar. To be precise, 2022 has been a significant year for growth, investment, and development in both web3 gaming and NFTs, indicating a fruitful crypto winter.

According to the Binance research, the situation at current leading Blockchains in Web3 gaming are:

Report: games on BNB Chain dominate GameFi industry in Q3

Moving forward let’s review some of the major topics and metrics that indicate the development of these markets in this 2022 Web3 Gaming report. Read below how these turning points handled the market slump and how things are shaping up for next year after a year of significant growth for cryptocurrency markets and increasing attention to the web3 gaming field in particular.

Web3 Gaming

1. Gaming Model Switch

The gaming model transformation is partially a result of the game developers switching to concentrate on the game play aspect rather than the earning part. The phrase “play to earn” also establishes certain standards for the playerbase. In some regions of the world, playing Axie Infinity used to be a full-time job. However, their faltering economy made it clear that this was an unstable arrangement.

Developers started using the phrase “play AND earn” instead of “play to earn (P2E),” suggesting that you can make money while playing. Actually, this more closely reflects what true gamers desire. They prioritise enjoyable games. Additionally, if they manage to uncover a way to earn a little money while playing their games,

The problem gap arises when the small gaming startups embracing the new economic model and the profound AAA studios with high-calibre games devoted to a premium $60 price tag and paid subscriptions. But the twist comes as the AAA studios that are now converted to the wildly successful F2P(Free-to-Play) model. The difference between the rising P2E economic model and AAA game quality will eventually close.

Many studios and developers are working to create a Web3 game that is genuinely entertaining. Businesses are exercising a formula that is entertaining, equitable, and profitable for both the gamers and their creators of them.

Web3 gaming is not readily switching back to a free-to-play (F2P) model from a pay-to-earn (P2E) model, as both models can coexist in the web3 gaming space. However, there are a few reasons why some developers and players in the web3 gaming space are experimenting with F2P and other models such as play-to-play (P2P), Factory Models etc.:

Player engagement: F2P models give players the opportunity to earn rewards for their skill and effort, rather than just spending money. This can create a more engaging and satisfying experience for players.

Fairness: F2P models can be more inclusive and fair for players, as it allows everyone to access the game without spending money.

Revenue generation: F2P models can generate revenue through in-game purchases, while P2E models generate revenue through the sale of in-game assets or currency.

Community engagement: F2P models can build larger communities, as it’s more accessible to a wider range of players.

It’s worth noting that many developers and players are experimenting with different models to try and find the best balance between player engagement, revenue generation, and fairness.

2. Newly Launched Web3 Games in 2022

The top games with the most DAUs (Daily Active Users) in 2022 are listed by collective Research as follows:

Alien Worlds is a space-themed metaverse game.
Benji Bananas is a ridiculously informal smartphone game in which players gather bananas.
Solitaire Blitz is a simple card game.
Splinterlands is a game of card accumulation.
Illuvium is an open-world RPG game that invites you to gather NFT monsters called Illuvials. In PvE and PvP arenas, the player must engage opponents using these monsters.
Legends Reborn: Essentially a deck-building game, Legends Reborn by Gala Games is enhanced with web3 concepts.
My Neighbor Alice: Similar to Animal Crossing, My Neighbor Alice is a multiplayer-building game.

3. 2022 As The Year of Alphas

An essential stage of development is the alpha release. In software development, reaching a working build that you’re ready to share with the public is a significant accomplishment. It’s encouraging to see so many alphas and betas released this year.

It is true that 2022 was the year of the alphas. Axes Metaverse, Mytheria, Everseed, Sunville Farms, Moonville Farms, Eternal Dragons, Big Time, Ancient Society, Phantom Galaxies, Star Atlas, Farsite, Spider Tanks, Mirandus, Legacy, Superior, War Park, Chicken Derby, Green Rabbit, Guild of Guardians, R-Planet: Conquest, Farming Tales, My Neighbor Alice, TreeVerse, Life Beyond, etc. are some examples of games that fall under the initial release category.

4. Web3 Gaming investments/Funding review

The Web3 gaming and metaverse sectors received a lot of investment from venture capital firms this year. But the overall amount of money invested in these sectors fell from $5.5 billion in 2021 to $3.7 billion in 2022. (Footprint Analytics).

Animoca Brands is the market leader as of the publication date of this study, having invested in 61 projects in the web3 gaming and Metaverse categories. They are followed by Shima Capital with 29 projects and Infinity Ventures Crypto with 30 projects (CoinMarketCap). Even if it is happening more slowly than in previous years, the number of Game-Fi projects is still increasing. Yat Siu, a co-founder of Animoca Brands, has also made plans to launch Animoca Capital, a $2 billion metaverse fund.

With a $50 million B round, indie gaming studio Theorycraft secured the largest investment of the month in September. The trend of well-known gaming firms and developers entering the Web3 area is evident, with the founding team including members of Blizzard, Riot Games, and Ubisoft (Cryptoslate).

In October, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive participated in a $40 million Series A fundraising round led by Horizon Blockchain Games, the company that created the video game Skyweaver (DappRadar). More recently, Web3 game producer Fenix Games secured $150 million in order to purchase, fund, and distribute blockchain games (DappRadar).

Despite the unpredictability and difficulty of the market in 2022, it is evident that investors are still upbeat about the future of the blockchain gaming sector.

5. Ecosystems and Web3

Even if Axie Infinity and STEPN may have been the first projects to become widely popular, they are no longer the leading initiatives in the field. Alien Worlds and Splinterlands are the current leaders in terms of active users, with Alien Worlds claiming 131K average active users and Splinterlands closely trailing at 98K. Only the players of these two games account for almost 30% of all gamers on the web3 platform (Footprint Analytics).

The best performers in terms of transactions are WAX and Hive. The popularity of Alien Worlds and Splinterlands, which account for 54.55% and 99.85% of each platform’s overall users, respectively, is crucial to both of them as a blockchain technology (Footprint Analytics). BNB, the third-largest chain in terms of gamers and gaming transactions, hasn’t yet created a standout game in the genre.

Despite this, BNB Chain is still one of the gaming industry’s most resilient chains. With 299 new projects debuting on the platform in 2022 alone (excluding December) and a 37% market share in terms of web3 gaming protocols, BNB continues to dominate in terms of both new project launches and market share (Footprint Analytics). When it comes to new initiatives, Ethereum comes in second.

It is obvious that the world of cryptocurrency gaming is continuously changing, with new players appearing and established ones fading away. Although Splinterlands and Alien Worlds may currently be the dominant powers, the future is still uncertain.

6. Rise of Metaverse

The six basic elements that make up the Metaverse—blockchain, interactivity, games, AI, networks, and IoTs—are more popular than ever. According to Goldman Sachs, the potential Metaverse economy could represent an $8 trillion opportunity by 2022, according to Gartner, which recently designated the Metaverse one of the top five emerging trends and technologies for that year (Bitcoin.com). Due to the fact that gamers have long been participating in immersive virtual experiences and creating social ties, gaming is crucial to the growth of the Metaverse.

Tokens

Free-to-Own: The Limit Break gaming studio’s Free-to-Own (F2O) marketing strategy is minting a genesis NFT collection (in Limit Break’s case, DigiDaigaku) and giving them away for free in an exclusive and covert manner. A new gaming economy is being proposed as an enhancement to both free-to-play mobile games and play-to-earn business models that sell game NFTs to players up front. F2O sets the groundwork for this new economy. This model is among the most encouraging ones we’ve seen in 2022 for web3 gaming, regardless of whether F2O is fair or not.

Soulbound Tokens (SBT): SBTs are non-transferrable digital identity tokens that can stand in for a person’s or an organization’s credentials, expertise, and/or reputation. These tokens represent and publicly validate an individual’s reputation, accomplishments, and skill level in a novel way that will have broad repercussions for web3 games, guilds, players, etc. Although SBTs are still a relatively new idea, developers are actively working on SBT products that may be available by the end of the year.

Permanent Death: This refers to the gameplay mechanic in which a player’s character is reset to zero upon death. The more battles they win as they advance in the game, the more competent their character becomes, and the more the game’s owner is rewarded. However, if they lose, their character passes away for good and the NFT that represents it is burned. As it promotes talent, strategies, and more deliberate risk-taking, the idea can assist web3 gaming transition from playing for profit to playing for fun and embracing difficulty.
Physical Backed Tokens (PBT): The developers of Azuki, Chiru Labs, released this novel open-sourced token standard in October. It links a physical object to a virtual token on the Ethereum blockchain. Using physical objects to create digital experiences; tracking the ownership history of physical commodities; and decentralized verification of goods are all possible with PBT. With PBT, users may now create a collection that includes both digital and physical items, exchange authenticated goods, or take part in physical quests.
ERC-4907: Since NFT rental platforms have grown in popularity in the digital sphere, the Double Protocol-proposed ERC-4907 standard has quickly emerged as one of the most significant token standards thanks to its novel and surprisingly straightforward implementation. The ERC-4907 standard does away with the requirement for collateral in lending and borrowing NFTs thanks to its dual-role capability. NFT owners, buyers, marketplaces, and artists will have access to safer and more lucrative opportunities if it becomes generally accepted as the norm for NFT creation and programming.

Sensational Projects In 2022

Kiraverse: Built on Unreal Engine 5, is an online multiplayer game, which allows players from all over the world to participate, compete, and gain achievements to unlock or rent avatars, skins, weapons, and other items. Battle Royale and Elimination are the two game types that KIRAVERSE will debut with. To improve their gaming experience, players can acquire in-game achievements and own, buy, or rent characters, skins, weapons, and other items.
Illuvium: A collectible 3D fantasy RPG game with 343k Twitter followers that has developed a substantial and devoted fan base. In addition to concluding a virtual land deal for over $72 million this year, Illuvium also just made the auto-battler game mode’s first private beta available. The game has received overwhelmingly positive reviews so far and has AAA visuals and gameplay.
Shrapnel: The project has garnered a lot of interest from the public, particularly in the West. It is being developed by a team of seasoned developers that have won BAFTA and Emmy awards from series like HALO and Call of Duty. Shrapnel, which won “Most Anticipated Title” at the Polkastarter GAM3 Awards this year, is evidence that Web3 games’ quality will continue to rise.
Big Time: A forthcoming multiplayer action role-playing game that is now in early access. This project’s aim of creating a “second-generation crypto game” in terms of its in-game economy has been obvious this year, among other things. Big Time recently unveiled full information on its token and economy, which aspires to build a player-driven circular economy.
Tatsumeeko: A multi-chain MMORPG designed to “build communities and deepen worldly relationships” and based on the Tatsu.GG Gaming Bot in Discord. The Tatsumeeko proof-of-concept generated over $369K in microtransactions, surpassed 62K MAU, and over 4.7M virtual products sold. The well-known Discord communities of PewDiePie, Davie504, Moistcr1tikal, Mobile Legends, and Team Liquid, and the fan community of Kanye West, Ariana Grande, and Hololive Fan Server already have Tatsumeeko.

What’s in for 2023?

Cryptocurrency volatility is nothing new, and 2022 was a true rollercoaster for the entire sector. It also represents a remarkable chapter in the artifacts of crypto history. It will be a useful lesson to educate both experienced developers and beginners that cryptocurrency is still “a work in progress” while simultaneously highlighting how far it has come. Future developments in this quickly evolving industry will be shaped by innovators and visionaries who remain focused and persistent.

The two industries that are most likely to use blockchain technology to spread cryptocurrency are Web3 gaming and Metaverses. Following a bright start to 2022, economic and social unrest has had an impact on international markets, particularly tech.

Crypto and NFT advocates have had to deal with hacks, significant falls, and plummeting token prices. Web3 gaming and NFTs are still very much alive and moving forward in spite of all the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).

As the industry develops, there will be more obstacles and setbacks, but we also anticipate that market recovery, adoption by Web2 businesses, and significant technological advancements will serve as the catalysts for a number of innovative NFT and Web3 Gaming projects and trends in the coming year and for many years to come.

The blockchain sector may have been jolted by the bear market and other problems, but the web3 gaming alternatives are just becoming better. In 2023, It can be confidently expected that there will be even more advancements in blockchain gaming with good value returns.

Web3 Design Principles

What is Web3

Everyone seems to be talking about Web3, how it will transform the current apps we use, manage our data, and handle our accounts, how Web3 Design looks and is created and what makes it different from Web2?

To begin with, Web3 is all about the decentralization of the Internet. For easier understanding, the following features would be the best way, to sum up, the new Web3.0 era:

Decentralized websites and apps
Complete transparency
New (and improvised) Security
Driven by Crypto

What does Web3 Design mean?

In terms of the acceptance and use of web3, design is an important element. Since the majority of the users interacting with the terms of Web3 are exposed to DApps. To help them overcome the complexities of new technology, design is used as a primer in between.

Depending on the Web3 applications type, design rules will differ slightly depending on the type of dApp from standard web 2.0 apps to Web3.0 apps and all it contains (Gaming, NFTs and DEXes, etc.). However, there are some general design concepts that a designer should be educated about.

The three main pillars of Web3 UX

Pillar 1: Educating on technology

Help the user understand any step he is going to work on and make it simpler for them to navigate the function by adding minor user interactions, tooltips, straightforward animations, pop-ups, or familiar, clearer terminology.

Web3’s status makes one thing quite clear: individuals won’t typically have the mental models and ways of thinking that it will require (yet).

It is the responsibility of designers to assist users in navigating the blockchain learning curve as they become more aware of the technology and its potential.

There are certain resources that can help anyone learn about the jargon, processes, mindset shift, etc.

The need of defining the terminologies will be not much necessary once when blockchain becomes more common. However, businesses are correctly focusing their efforts in this area for the time being.

Specifically, the designer’s goal of assisting the common person is comprehending blockchain.

Example: Binance Academy has listed all the crypto jargon as a glossary with one-liner definitions.

Pillar 2: Transparency

Users should have access to all relevant transactional information, especially for De-Fi apps that support a large number of transactions. As for design, this comprises:

Displaying the transaction’s breakdown. Allowing consumers to view all charges connected with the transaction. There should be an option to view the additional details if there are any.

To guide users in understanding the transaction by explanation. Keeping the general good design principles aside, it helps users in learning more about the technology, especially when accompanied by explanations.

Displaying confirmed and pending transactions. Initiating transactions using dApps, connecting a wallet, and ensuring that the state of a successfully completed transaction is reflected in the dApp itself. Users should be informed about any transaction delays and their expectations should be constantly managed through feedback.

Displaying the price in FIAT money. Help consumers comprehend the worth of components in the transfer by displaying USD because “regular” money is still thought of in terms of fiat currencies like the US dollar (or whatever currency).

Pillar 3: Familiarity

As Jacob’s law of UX design states,

“The majority of user time is spent on other websites. This indicates that visitors desire your website to operate similarly to every other website they are already familiar with.”

Specifically, a Web3 application should be similar to a Web2 one in terms of user experience. Following this, you make it easier for people who are still learning about topics like cryptocurrency wallets, blockchain technology, etc. to utilize them.

Example:

The user should not find the connection of the crypto wallet procedure any different than using his/her conventional online banking procedures. Whatever they are transacting should be as easy and as similar to their daily banking experiences.

Secondly, minting their audio NFTs should be as smooth and familiar as their normal Spotify uploads, or YouTube video uploading process so that they do not find it an additional complexity as cost of ownership.

Web3 UX principles

When creating web3 user experiences and interfaces, designers should consider the best practices in the Web3 Design Principles collection.

Active Guidance

Definition:

Users must have easy access to steady navigation that makes it clear how to return to a previous state and what to do next.

Principles:

Consider user needs

Consider where your personas are most likely to turn for assistance while anticipating the need for additional assistance and working to reduce it.

Possession of visibility

One must take into account various perspectives of an interface because visibility management is crucial for business.

Streamlined User Interface

Avoid adding components that will clutter an interface or mislead users. Every component has a function.

Patterns of Existing Designs

Utilize standard design patterns to minimize user learning requirements.

Examples:

Dodo is a decentralized exchange. On the exchange right now, there are 8 coins and 14 trading pairs.
When the users visit the website. Dodo provides a visible and simple use case for anyone willing to liquidate.

It reflects the text in real-time currency exchange value right opposite to it. The play cards can be navigated back and forth to find all the currency values in real time that the platform supports.

Moving along the sentences highlights the words and explains to the user about the platform’s service definition of it.

B. DTube is a decentralized (Web3-based) video streaming platform. At first glance, a user will find it similar to any other web2 video streaming service. Like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc.

The approach behind DTube is the design consistency of what the viewers’ UX is trusted to till now.

Consistency

Definition:

The establishment of uniformity across products and the customer’s experience is important for building trust.

Principles:

Typographic Uniformity

Use the same “Blockchain color” consistently throughout your project and be consistent with your font selections.

Use color to convey meaning

Keep your color choices and associations uniform and similar by maintaining consistency.

Grid-Based Design

Grid-based designs with proportional and meaningful negative space should be kept in the design.

Globalization: Design Across All Boundaries

Wherever our users are, we design for them.

Examples:

Rarible, a popular NFT marketplace, states a good expression of consistency in the design such as the ground alignment, typography choices, and spacing. The strong-grid layout throughout the web page is quite impactful.

Community

Definition:

The services of Decentralized Applications may be only used by individuals but the basis of development of any application is planned for and also used frequently by, a sizable group of people worldwide. Community formation of a single type of user is beneficial for making the user experience better with uniform holistic feedback.

Principles:

Community

Indicate the number of community members worldwide independent of any region.

Who are the Community, exactly?

Categorizing the community with the law of proximity.

Subgroups and Responsibilities

Describe the community’s composition in detail (that is sub-groups and their power over the project)

Mission Statement

Describe the project’s larger purpose (if any) and how their participation helps it to be fulfilled.

Examples:

Parsiq Network gives quick access to web3 data, enabling particular features in your applications. The platform has been designed specifically for developers who want to build event-driven apps with a focus on trending reactions to events. It has a supportive community system integrated into the site.

Data Transparency: Provenance

Definition:

A user must be able to determine whether a certain piece of information or piece of data is actually saved in the Blockchain, maybe just by looking at the page.

Principles:

Data Reliability

Make it clear which information originates from the Blockchain and which does not.

Data Address

Make the contract’s address clear (s)

Links to Blockchain

Connect all Blockchain information to unbiased Blockchain explorers.

Oracles

State what data is derived from oracles

Examples:

When Data Provenance option is turned on. It highlights the blockchain data in Green color for better visibility. The value is also made prominent.

Data Transparency: Transactions

Definition:

Allowing users to make assumptions and assume that “all” data visible is saved in the Blockchain is not user-friendly. The design should communicate enough at just a glance.

Principles:

Permanence

Clarify actions that are irreversible.

Value

Clarify actions that involve money or value.

Privacy

Clarify actions that could potentially lead to user identification.

Factory

Clarify actions that generate new contracts in users.

Examples:

In the SuperRare NFT market when placing a bid, this screen is captured. The message informs you of the value and permanency of your activities.

Don’t Forget the Newbies

Definition:

If we want Distributed Applications to be widely used, we must remove the entrance barriers for those who lack technical expertise or familiarity with the Blockchain and its jargon. The user would also benefit from being aware of the key distinctions between Decentralized applications and other applications.

Principles:

Don’t Lose Context

Apps should try to minimize the use of new words and concepts, especially on the pages for the generic public (ie. homepage), and progressively show more learnings on pages for engaged users (ie. User dashboards).

Terminology

Make every effort to use jargon-less, consistent terminology. Language should be concise, clear, and align with our users’ natural communication patterns.

Learning Process

Provide 2 or more levels of educational content: Blockchain Basics and Decentralized Application-specific terminology.

Friction & Confirmation

Try to weave in the snippets within the interface, with temporary pop-ups that can be easily dismissed that then could open more detailed information in another tab.

Examples:

OpenSea has a learning service available for newbies entering the NFT market. Gives a complete service to the user from learning from scratch, building NFTs, selling, and purchasing.

Feedback

Definition:

Through the design of constant feedback, we assist our users in understanding what is happening and lower anxiety.

Principles:

Motion Animation

When used sparingly, motion and animation support the understanding of what ia happening.

What is Going On?

The user should always know what is happening, what just happened, and what will happen next as time is a significant element in Blockchain.

Examples:

Upon connecting the wallet or refreshing funds OpenSea provides prompt feedback to let the user inform about his confirmation of activities.

Trust

Definition:

Maintaining the trust of our users, many of whom work in fields involving highly sensitive data, is essential to the success of our company. The blockchain is “new” to almost everyone, with varying degrees of knowledge and assurance. Users must believe that our goods (and the people who created them) are stable, dependable, and trustworthy.

Principles:

Reliable
Stable
Secure
Transparent

Final word

Dapps are fundamentally distinct from regular web or mobile apps because they are built on the powerful Blockchain-enabled principles of decentralization, transparency, trustlessness, immutability, not hidden etc. and should strongly convey these values.

These Design Principles translate the characteristics of the Blockchain into useful tools by reflecting them in the front-end of Dapps for a promising and smooth User Experience.

Check out The Best Web3 UX Process in the world of Web 3.0.

Metaverse Design: All you need to know

Remember when our parents complained about how we lived on the internet 24/7? Well, we will be proving them right soon enough! 🤣 How? Thanks to the Metaverse Technology. At this point, you must be questioning, what is a metaverse.

The metaverse is a virtual replica of our real-life world. First, let’s see how the creators of the metaverse explain it.

“Today, I think we look at the internet, but I think in the future you’re going to be in the experiences” -Mark Zuckerberg

“With the Metaverse, we are transitioning from viewing a 2D world looking at the internet to living inside in a 3D world ” -Dave Water

“The Metaverse has become the newest macro-goal for many of the world’s tech giants.” -Matthew Ball

Other than the Meta-makers, this is what the internet-people who are curious yet do not know much, have to say:

And trust us, we are enjoying the creativity 😜

So, is it actually all pile of nothing? Yes and No.

Yes, because it exists virtually, and No because it is not about investing and dealing with imaginary stuff. Here is a proper explanation of the Metaverse:

What is the Metaverse?

The entire metaverse network is a decentralized platform meaning: shared by everyone, which may be continuous and in real-time, which is present in the post-internet era. The metaverse is not something you can physically own.

It is an open 3D virtual world where everyone can take part. There are various metaverses made by various individuals or groups.

Something people often mistake the Meta for the entire Metaverse is the owner Mark Zuckerberg. The founder, chairman, and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has shared his vision of the Metaverse’s future as well.

For investing, unlike The Mask movie, 🎭 you do not become a billionaire overnight. But investing in the metaverse is also not something imaginary as most people have perceived about.

Investing in the Metaverse entails buying stock in well-known companies, buying non-fungible tokens (NFTs), creating one’s own non-fungible tokens, and buying or renting real estate on virtual platforms. There are numerous choices, and they are all promising.

If the metaverse is widely used, there could be high profits. Investors have institutional backing, indicating a firm position in the market.

How to get into the Metaverse Design

To master some skills, we recommend experiencing them. That’s right, to be a metaverse designer you must fully experience it. Have a virtual tour of it, meet new people, buy real estate in the metaverse, get metaverse equipment, and so on.

This will not only give you a fun adventure in a new world but will also provide first-hand experience of what is up-to-date, which UX components are already available, what else can be done to enhance the usability of the system etc.

We have curated a list of important features to guide you to become a Metaverse Designer and explore the possibilities of Metaverse as a UX designer.

Design is everything

Mandalorian is absolutely right. Metaverse is nothing without design. Metaverse requires compelling storytelling, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 3D animation, etc. Here designers play the most crucial role in getting the metaverse integration’s design component just right. After all, Design has to be something that makes it feel like users’ real-world space. The three core spaces where designers need to focus are:

Imagine people inside the verse navigating like dead zombies 🧟 because of the poor map designs. Map design should be simple to direct the user so they do not go off-board in the infinite space. Design should prioritize smooth navigation.
You-know-who loves darkness? Voldemort, that’s right! But for the muggles and wizards visiting the metaverse, don’t use dark patterns. Avoid employing patterns that pressure users into making choices they do not want to make. ⚡🧙
Make designs that are more accessible. Allow users of all capacities to participate in the system you create.

The successful design would be to provide a truly immersive experience, aiming to “bring things to life” in the metaverse and make them seem tangible and as life-like as possible.

Mindset for the great metaverse UX

Users are Players:

The metaverse designer needs to reform their mindset for the technology so that the user interacting with it is not just a mere user, but a player. To do this, UX designers will need to broaden their perspectives on skills and disciplines. Because these virtual worlds are comparable to societies with entirely different systems of ethics, economics, sociology, and psychology are all involved.

Accessibility

A critical component of effective design is accessibility. Since many other design elements, such as the motion sickness in VR, can negatively affect users, creating an accessible metaverse experience is definitely a challenge.

The early stages of metaverse design offer a great opportunity to incorporate accessible technologies right away rather than later trying to improve systems to be more inclusive. Designers will probably need to come up with brand-new, easy methods to encourage people to spend a lot of time in virtual environments.

Everyone’s a Noob:

It is not bad being a noob, noobs act as the bridge to create smoothness between the initial trial and mass adoption of any technology.

In fact, it means creating such User Interfaces that are represented as walk-throughs and have the tendency to communicate with new users. It allows more opportunities to learn, explore, and interact with new technology. The metaverse itself is supposed to be the new, more interactive internet.

Protection of privacy

In the metaverse, data protection, security, and privacy should be included from the beginning as the top priority. It’s crucial to create environments that discourage cyberbullying. Users should be allowed to choose whether they want to be alone or with the firm, and individuals who negatively affected them should be removed from their connection. To design more safe and more user-friendly services, product designers will need to collaborate closely with data security experts and behavioral psychologists.

No more Technical barriers:

As the designers have to keep the critical factor of making learnability, findability and usability a priority they must also concentrate on the importance raised by the development side of these virtual universes.

As a result, it will allow the players to not have to face any technical barriers throughout their interactions. Learnability and ease of understanding will assist the players to spend a good, satisfactory time in the virtual world.

What is the required expertise?

Here comes the good part! Below is the concrete skills info that the designers need to pull in order to become the metaverse UX designer.

Using Extended reality

Holograms sound cool, right? It is exactly the kind of technology that the matrix movie introduced to us to fantasize about the magical virtual world. 👩‍💻 Metaverse designers highly utilize extended reality in the virtual world to create smooth user experiences.

Designers use Extended reality which is a fusion of AR (Augmented Reality), VR(Virtual Reality), and MR (Mixed Reality). This Extended Reality helps the players to experience a life-like world in a virtual environment.

Encouraging Context awareness

Recognizing the user’s physical environment, User Perspective and depth are three important aspects of the physical world. In order to create experiences that keep users safe while they are in the virtual world, designers will be able to map the environment surrounding the user using sensors in VR headsets.

Creating Expressive realistic Features

We are aware that non-verbal communication makes up a significant component of human connection. Face expressions can be used to convey emotions. As you connect with others, Avatar will be able to depict current human emotions. Standardization of head, hand, and body movements for gestures in virtual reality.

Standardization will enable the usage of traditional patterns, making it easier for people to learn how to use products created for the metaverse.

Animating in VR/AR

The next stage in the growth of the animation sector is a virtual world. Immersive virtual worlds can be made possible using NFT, or metaverse technology. As this technology gains in acceptance, interesting new prospects are emerging for all kinds of animation.

Making unique avatars

The avatar can move, communicate, and carry out specific actions automatically for each player. These avatars are becoming more prevalent in online gaming communities like Second Life and Roblox. These are created using traditional as well as contemporary 3D animation.

Methods & Tools:

Many designers are curious about the tools they can use to create a metaverse experience because the metaverse is still more like an early technology. We have summarized the majorly used tool for building genuinely immersive experiences in this section.

Metaverse Engines

You may design virtual places where players can engage with each other using platforms and engines.

Tools for 3D modeling

Using 3D objects, the Metaverse’s virtual world will emerge as a real world. The ability to create 3D models will be a challenging one for metaverse creators.

Blender
Houdini
Adobe Medium
3Ds & Maya
Ready Player me
Spatial

Challenges in Metaverse Design:

1. Creating the UI

What is the primary interface distinction between the world as we perceive it and the Metaverse? In the actual world, the user can see and touch the interface since it is in front of them. In Metaverse the user is inside the interface in a virtual environment.

The fact that a static design is no longer essential but rather an addition to a more immersive design poses a dilemma. The task of creating environments and experiences in a virtual world then falls to someone with extensive architectural knowledge.

2. Heads-up display (HUD)

The panel that projects information onto the windscreen into the driver’s or pilot’s line of sight is known as a heads-up display. When it comes to gaming and user interface, the status bar is where information is displayed to the player or user.

A packed HUD seems only natural playing an important role in promoting the Metaverse. Consider it; it’s a brand-new world that only exists in your sight, and you’ll require assistance navigating it. You will need HUDs in the virtual world since they provide info panels, minimaps, inventories, colour filters, accessibility filters, and other features. Concise the info is then UX’s job.

3. Virtual Reality Sickness

Speaking of VR sets, while they may be your definitive route to travel and explore the Metaverses, they are also causing worry because they are uncomfortable. Cybersickness is a condition brought on by VR headsets that imitate the effects of motion sickness.

In essence, you are deceiving your brain into thinking something is moving when it isn’t. It is this separation that makes people sick of virtual reality.

4. Dislocation

It’s possible that this young technology may reach us in many years. However, users do not go from one static page to another in the virtual world rapidly by clicking or tapping, which is the basic foundation of contemporary UI and UX design. Instead, even in non-tangible spaces, users move from one spatial entity to another

The virtual space might be rather confusing for the user if there is no sense of continuity from one stage to the next. The connectivity of all the spaces inside the metaverse is a critical factor for the designers to keep in mind.

What is it like painting the infinite canvas?

Know what the video game players 🎮 first notice and enjoy the most? It is definitely the game plot and the design. The people who build the connection between users of technology and those who create its interfaces are mostly UX and UI designers. They “interpret” it for the players, removing obstacles and facilitating communication with devices and apps.

People can work, play, shop, interact and engage in other activities in the “metaverse,” which is a graphically rich virtual area with some resemblance to the real world (or, perhaps, more importantly, the internet).

To create experiences that become the gateway into other universes, UX designers will need to adapt their perspectives, skills, and processes. To do this, they must first stop considering those who use technology as “users.”

They should think of them as “players,” or individuals who exist, inhabit, and live in this virtual environment.

UX designers must develop an immersive design in order to give “players” excellent experiences. One that enables users to live in virtual environments not just visit them. To not achieve sustainable yet simple goals, designers are to be fully committed.

What Is The Mighty Ethereum Merge: How It Will Affect GameFi

What is The Ethereum Merge?

The Ethereum blockchain, as we know it, is the foundation of numerous Web3 applications, cryptocurrency, and NFT projects. The Ethereum Merge, also known as Ethereum ETH 2.0, is essentially an upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain that will lessen its environmental impact, boost network security, allow Ethereum developers to add new features, and improve the chain’s scalability. This is due to the converging of two independent chains “Beacon chain” & “Ethereum”. The latter one will integrate the consensus mechanism of the Beacon chain into it. Let’s dive deep into it below.

When will Ethereum Merge?

The existing Ethereum Mainnet and the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake network will soon converge, indicating that Ethereum will entirely switch to proof-of-stake, putting an end to the proof-of-work. The merge is expected to be in operation in Q3/Q4 of 2022, with the tentative deadline of September 15 this year.

This will result in Ethereum’s 99.95% reduction in energy consumption.

What is Proof-of-Work & Proof-of-Stake?

Algorithms that are used to validate cryptocurrencies on a blockchain network using proof of work and proof of stake. The key distinction is in the method used to select and qualify users for adding transactions.

The Proof of Work consensus algorithm involves challenging puzzles that must be solved by powerful computers used by miners. Trial and error are used to find solutions to the issues. The right to add new blocks to the blockchain for transactions is granted to the first miner to solve the puzzle or cryptographic equation.

In Proof of Stake, before confirming the transactions, miners promise an investment in digital currency. Miners need to put up a stake with their currencies to validate blocks. Miners also provide the duration of their transaction validation history. A weighted algorithm that is weighted based on the stake and validation experience determines at random who will validate each transaction.

Integrating the Mainnet

Since Ethereum’s inception, the Mainnet has used the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The PoW holds each transaction, smart contract, and balance from 2015 till now.

The Beacon Chain, however, was established on December 1, 2020, and it has functioned parallel to Mainnet as a separate blockchain. Beacon Chain has not done transactions on the mainnet, but it reaches consensus on its own by agreeing to active validators and their account balances.

When the Beacon chain is integrated with the Mainnet, and then this composition is merged into Ethereum, the Beacon Chain will work as a consensus engine for all data, account balances, and execution layer processes.

The Merge Impact on Game-Fi

Now that we are fully equipped with the Ethereum merge, it can be simply put as a quick swap of the new engine for the old one of the jet mid-flight. Everything, including the games based on this blockchain, will be swapped and altered eventually in The Merge spell. The three pillars: transparency, immutability, and traceability are fulfilled via wallet, smart contract, and the game server in blockchain game architecture.

Games Security

Research shows 34,200 smart contracts in blockchain games are vulnerable to attacks. The causes of vulnerability are platforms and contract programming languages. Which opens up to Calls to the unknown, Gasless send, Exception disorders, Type casts, Re-entrancy, etc.

The merge promises a better tomorrow with higher security for the game-fi industry. The upcoming updates will increase Ethereum’s security by requiring major ETH deposits from validators. In addition, the protocol has the authority to delete their ETH immediately in the event of attempted fraud.

Faster Transactions In Games

Currently, when the players make microtransactions in the games to buy any virtual assets or skins, it takes time due to the PoW consensus. The merge update, however, will not speed up the transactions. It is here to lay down the foundation for all the anticipated upgrades. The next updates planned in the Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023 will bring high core speed to the chain.

Less Gas Fee

For those who wonder what is a Gas Fee? On the Ethereum network, the user must pay a set amount of gas for each transaction. So in essence, “Gas” serves as a unit of measurement for determining the costs associated with putting a transaction in the “blocks” that make up the ETH blockchain.

Since 2020, there has been a dramatic increase in Defi and NFT activity in the Game-Fi, which has greatly increased transaction volume and can also clog the network with raised gas fees during peak times.

The merger won’t directly reduce gas prices. The Merge’s technical advancements have included nothing intended to minimise fees. However, activating PoS would be the first step in allowing sharding.

Sharding is the division of a network into “shard chains” that distribute Ethereum’s load, relieving congestion and boosting transaction throughput. It is expected to start in 2023, which will allow the network to scale dramatically and eventually lower the gas fee to an exceptional level.

More Players at a Time

As discussed above, the merger will focus on security and reduce the energy consumption of the current transactions. But it will set the stage for all other areas that users have been waiting for so long. After the merge, sharding could hypothetically boost Ethereum’s transaction throughput to 100,000 transactions per second, outpacing all major credit card providers in speed and throughput. This allows more users to play games at once. Reducing the time consumption for data processing and transactions.

99.9% Reduced GPU Energy Consumption Cost

There are glad tides on the way with merge for the gamers. Game Processing Units (GPUs), which are used for mining Ethereum, are becoming less expensive as the network gets ready to convert from a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) one, which would make these gaming processing components essentially useless for Ethereum miners.

According to calculations made by Ethereum experts, the GPU models on eBay have decreased by 37% since May 2021, and more are expected to drop very soon after the merge. Much more GPUs will be pushed to the secondary market when Ethereum eventually switches to PoS, which will probably cause prices to rise even higher.

The fact that the price of Ethereum has been relatively low, as mining has become more challenging, adds to the downward pressure.

Reduced Costs and Increased Speed

The major 2 upgrades after The Merge are the “Sharding update” and the “Shanghai update”. Both of the upgrades are anticipated in Quarter 1 of 2023, possibly in action by January. Sharding following the merge describes the division of the whole blockchain ecosystem into manageable units called Shards.

Sharding will assist the network in facilitating secure distribution of data storage requirements, as well as making transactions quicker and making nodes easier to operate at a reduced cost. Next, we will witness The Shanghai update. It will tackle 3 critical functionalities; EVM object format, Beacon Chain withdrawals, and L2 Fee reduction.

We are fully aware that news can be trending on the internet and still be wrong. To tackle that for the upcoming Ethereum Merge, we have busted some of the myths that went viral below.

Myths about The Merge

Myth No. 1: “Gas fee will be reduced following the merge”

False. The merge won’t lower gas prices because it only modifies the consensus mechanism, not increases network capacity.

Myth No. 2: “After the merge, transactions will be quicker.”

False. On layer 1, transaction speed will mostly not change despite minor adjustments.

Myth No. 3: “Once the merge takes place, you can withdraw staked ETH.”

False. The merge does not yet support stake withdrawals. However, withdrawals from bets will be possible after the next Shanghai update.

Myth No. 4: “The chain will increase the downtime after the Merge.”

False. Merge will provide zero downtime, as the chain will switch to proof-of-stake.

Myth No. 5: “In the dissipation of merge, new tokens will be generated.”

False. Ether will continue to be the native asset of the Ethereum network when The Merge is finished. Therefore, there will not be new tokens created.

What is “Eth 2”?

There won’t be two separate Ethereum networks anymore; there will only be Ethereum after ‘Eth1’ and ‘Eth2’ have been combined into a single chain.

The eth developer community has changed these terminologies to avoid ambiguity:

The “execution layer,” currently called “Eth1,” is in charge of transactions and execution.
The “consensus layer,” which manages proof-of-stake consensus, is now called “Eth2.”

These terminological changes solely affect naming standards; they have no impact on Ethereum’s objectives or development timeline.

A decentralized network scaling strategy and a switch to proof-of-stake have long been on Ethereum’s roadmap. Researchers initially worked on these projects independently, but in 2018 they were brought together under a single roadmap for “Ethereum 2.0.” a term coined.

Conclusion:

The existing ethereum mainnet and the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake(PoS) network will soon converge. This will complete Ethereum’s shift to proof-of-stake and signal the end of proof-of-work. This curates the way for later scaling improvements like sharding. Ethereum’s energy use will be reduced by 99.95% due to the merge. It will also make the chain highly secure, a welcoming tide for all.

The original Ethereum developers planned for sharding in the first phase, but since gamification holds 51% of the blockchain’s transaction operations, it was viable to make the chain scalable first. For the development and popularity of layer 2 technologies to scale transaction execution, the focus of the sharding plan was shifted to enable the rapid increase in network capacity. The developers realized that this would not have been possible without switching to proof-of-stake.

Upcoming developments after the merge would be focused on sharding, modifying the EVM functionality, and reducing the beacon withdrawal delay. This means there will be a threefold surge of players onboarding on the chains. This is nothing more than a piece of good news considering the almost negligible prices of GPU and reduced gas fees for microtransactions.

Finding The Best Web3 UX Process (Hint: There Isn’t One)

Technologies around the world are causing a transition from Web 2.0 to a trustless and permissionless Web3, causing the global technological environment to change quickly. This has compelled the conventional recognized software businesses to form Web3-specific teams and convert their typical web systems to web3.

But now Web3 is having trouble gaining widespread adoption due to a lack of knowledge and technological complexities. The sole reason for this is the lack of user diversification experience. As the technology itself is complicated, it should at least have a user-friendly interface that gives the user the impression that it has ease of use and a high user diversification experience.

User diversification is a path to a productive and forward-thinking Web3 environment in the future. Mass adoption equals a fulfilling user experience. The more people who utilize these digital environments and tools, the more they resemble the real world. As with the current face of the internet and the web, it might happen as soon as some anticipate.

At expedite, being the advocates of web3 design, we have concluded that design is the first and foremost interacting element that enhances the user experience. In this article, we will be discussing the categories of product launches and the processes of UX design that are the best fit for a product launch in the Web3 space.

Types of Product Launches and their design strategies:

1. For Products that just want to jump into the market OR want to onboard investors by showcasing ideas.

These sorts of products are known as Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and can be introduced to commerce after quick steps. The term “minimum viable product,” or “MVP,” refers to a product with just enough features to draw in early adopters and validate a product concept. In the web and software domains, the MVP can assist the product team in gathering customer input as soon as possible so that they can iterate and enhance the product.

The MVP is essential to agile development since the agile process is centered on validating and refining products based on user feedback.

The UX design processes for the first product category are as follows:

Understanding

The biggest chunk of the initiating design phase is in understanding the project and its requirements. What are the pain points of an end-user? What can be modified in the current product to enhance UX? and how to make the experience of an end user smooth and consistent?

Before creating an MVP or prototype, a UX designer seeks to understand what drives a user and what validation they are looking for. The intersection of UX development and design occurs when the proper products are provided to create a user’s capacity and motivation to accomplish a task.

For understanding, we start by elicitation and requirements gathering.

Requirements Gathering

Understanding the user’s perspective is essential to mastering the UX design process; however, working with actual users to conduct in-depth user research, which results from the many methods of requirements gathering, is the only way to discover what that perspective is.

By doing this first, we will need to make fewer revisions in the future, saving us a lot of work, time, money, and resources. If we conducted research first and then design, we would need to make significant design adjustments to accommodate the needs of the customers we have spoken with.

This has the advantage of allowing consumers to interact with an existing system directly. Some of the techniques that can be used to collect requirements:

Stakeholders Meeting
Interviews
Focus Groups
Client Surveys
Req Gathering Form

Branding

Product branding is a strategic fusion of design, marketing, and experience that distinguishes one product from others in the same category. It includes every aspect of the product, including the name, graphic design, materials used, delivery method, and physical appearance of the packing.

Product brands have become increasingly sophisticated and specialized for each product. A product’s niche differentiation is the objective.

However, at the core of branding, UX is about knowing the users, establishing the brand’s tone, and then designing helpful products that promote great user experiences. Branding Includes the following elements of a company:

Logo Design
Color Palette Finalization
Mission statement
Tagline
Company’s signature font styles

Design

Formally, there are three main design elements that makeup product design: quality, functionality, ease of use, and appearance.

To build a successful, competitive product, you will need to carefully consider each of these three criteria: an appealing, contemporary design; a useful functionality that helps users deal with their problems, and ease of use can be stated as a user on a website accessing the homepage within 3 seconds of opening the link, and maximum availability, the design must enable high performance and security as well.

To have an improved design process we must consider 3 things.

Get to know your project purpose well enough. Carefully examine individuals for whom the product is meant to pinpoint the best possible course for future product design.
Be not afraid of issues. Make it a task for your team to identify and resolve them, instead. You’ll probably need to redo the outcome if you consistently put off solving problems or entirely miss them in favor of focusing just on the tasks you excel at.
Strategizing your budget in compliance with the design needs is also essential, as it can get both the client and designer in an indecisive spiral where the finances and requirements don’t go side by side.
The elements in the design to produce or modify are:

User Flow charts

The user flow guides users through a series of processes from their entry point to a successful conclusion and end action, such as end-users purchasing a product.

Lo-Fi Wireframing

Low-Fidelity or Lo-Fi wireframing is a basic wireframe that describes the layout of web pages or app displays. They assist you in conveying the “main idea” of your product rather than the specifics.

Prototypes

A prototype is an early version of a product that has been produced to test functionality. System analysts and users typically utilize a prototype to assess a new design that aims to increase precision. In certain models of the design workflow, the stage between formalizing and evaluating an idea is the creation of a prototype.

Quick Evaluation

Quick Evaluation is important because it enables teams to determine whether their design is effective for their users. Since testing with high-fidelity designs yields more insightful feedback from end users, the evaluation phase typically begins after the high-fidelity design is complete. The team validates the product with end users and stakeholders through a series of user testing sessions. Evaluation is a crucial phase in the design process where designers would test the prototype.

2. For products that require quick UI with detailed research on UX:

When the clients ask for enhancement of the user experiences based on real user data having thorough research of user experience to launch any product, in this type of product launch the focus is on the detailed research of UX for the product with a short launch window having a simple quick UI. This sort of product is studied and data is gathered using user feedback, reviews, surveys, and the normal initial procedures discussed above. Understanding, Branding, Design, Quick Evaluation, and designer’s testing prototype.

The client can now onboard investors using this prototype OR enter the market. Meanwhile, the UX designers would begin gathering data in preparation for the launch of the next edition, which would have a better UX and be more user-centered. The continued procedures would include:

In-Depth Evaluation

In the deep evaluation method, the team runs usability testing, qualitative testing with moderated usability testing, and quantitative via data gathering through product usability interviews, social survey forms, product communities, testing groups from actual users etc. For testing a running piece of design there are multiple ways to achieve that. One is the Qualitative + Quantitative usability testing through Maze

Research

If you are wondering about the research after launch then yes! We strongly abide by the rule of iteration. Iteration is the key to a brilliant UX enhancement.

The product launch research process can be broken down into seven general steps: understanding the market and the competition, focusing on the customer, developing a distinctive value proposition, choosing a marketing strategy, testing the product and general strategy, launching the campaign, and monitoring the overall lifecycle. These steps include Competitive Analysis, User Interviews/Personas, focused groups, Affinity Mapping, Journey Mapping, Information Architecture (Optional), and User Flows.

Design Refinements & Final Evaluation

Design refinement can be defined as the process of changing a concept to make it more useful/easy to use or aesthetically beautiful. Renovating a certain design element, such as a web page’s layout, to make it easier to view.

In design refinements, the design system, UI, and prototype are modified if requested by the client. In this final testing, the product’s usability is examined. Both comply with Qualitative and Quantitative separately and at once.

This final evaluation helps to provide proof to the client about any change history, also maintains a log, and that the product is tested and verified, etc.

3. For Products that have enough time to follow UX Processes and want to get into the market with a User-Centric Product.

The final product category in which the time is fully invested to follow the thorough UX processes on to the product, making it a user-centric product. These products are called user-centric because they follow User Centric Design (UCD) in which the user is the heart and soul of the product. The needs, goals, and feedback of the consumer when creating digital products are the top priority.

This type of process follows the same initial procedure in understanding the business, gathering the requirements via surveys and forms then branding the product having a signature theme and consistent design. The design and Evaluation follow the same procedures as above. However, In the research phase, a few new options are involved.

Understanding

Requirements Gathering
- Stakeholders Meeting
- Req Gathering Form

Branding

Logo Design
- Brand Guide

Research

Competitive Analysis
- User Interviews/Personas
Focused Groups (Optional)
Affinity Mapping (Optional)
Journey Mapping (Optional)
- Information Architecture (Optional)
User Flow

Design

Lo-Fi Wireframing
Design System
UI Design
Prototype

Evaluation

A heuristic evaluation can be used to determine how user-friendly a website is. In other words, it evaluates how usable the website is. In a heuristic evaluation, unlike user testing, where users assess the website (or prototype), the site is evaluated by usability specialists.

To conduct a heuristic evaluation, the experts perform Usability testing inclusive of

Usability testing
- Qualitative
  - Moderated Usability testing
Quantitative
- Data Gathering through Survey Forms
Qualitative + Quantitative
- Usability testing through Maze
- Design Refinements

Summary:

User diversification experience is the common lacking point of most Web3 products. It is not an impossible approach to reach every category of the user, but the design can be made smooth, consistent, and attractive enough to get a massive percentage to adopt this young technology. The UX is said to be the heart and soul of any product-based business.

It has a 400% conversion rate of potential to convert one-time clients to your daily users. Brands need to focus on the User Experience as much as or rationally speaking more than other areas. The above processes are curated to help Web3 design companies follow a guide and produce compelling products with a high conversion rate and user concentration respective to their type of category of product.

Expedite Live Design Supported Products

We take pride in successfully completing and deploying satisfied clients’ products. The experiences that we gained in the design processes are all part of our learning to make the processes more user-friendly in the future. You can check Unipilot and Metadot to see live results. Check out our work for more inspiration.

What Is GameFi? A Beginner’s Guide To Blockchain Games

This guide brings the objective to restructure the way people think about the Gaming industry or GameFi, how blockchain is part of it, how it gives ownership and more control to players, brings new global friends using decentralization, and establishes the earning habit while playing games.

GameFi allows users to earn incentives for playing games and matches players with shared interests via a peer-to-peer approach. Gamers may make new acquaintances and take part in international gaming events thanks to GameFi.

First, let’s understand the few concepts to bridge the gap between conventional games and Blockchain-based games.

Conventional Games vs Blockchain-based Games

Despite not being restricted to certain platforms like smartphones and desktop PCs, blockchain games and conventional games mostly function differently. Here are four distinctions between blockchain games and conventional video games.

1. Who’s in control?

The standard video games or conventional games as we have played in the past end when the player has achieved the conquest or the character ran out of lives. Where does all the data go? What happens next? IT only starts over as a fresh game. In centralized gaming models, all player data, and game-related intelligence including player account information and all of the events and in-game items users acquire on their virtual journeys, is kept on servers that are entirely under the authority of the game producers or administrators.

In addition to the fact that players never actually own their own data or the in-game items, they spend countless hours earning, all of the aforementioned are also at risk of being taken or even lost forever in the event that the game developers themselves damage or shut down the servers. This means that the player itself is not controlling the events/happenings about his character. Whereas, in blockchain games there is a strong belief in decentralization. We will discuss that in detail below.

2. Where do the accomplished game assets go?

It is indeed a milestone for players when they win hard levels, reach the finale, and end the game with an amazing victory. After winning in traditional games, the player is bestowed with all the coins, cups, new skins, diamonds, and relevant game assets. Once the game ends all the assets are gone. And while remaining in the game, the assets are accessible on that system only with no procedure of sharing or using the swags afterward.

For obsessive gamers, it would be a dream come true to keep the items even after the game stops. The rewards acquired are limited to being used in the next level or sometimes the rewards are purely visual and have no effect on the earning and gameplay. The revolutionary gaming industry known as the Blockchain or Web3.0 gaming industry has changed its concept and put a lot more into the game assets being only static assets.

3. What’s in for the next level of game?

With traditional technology, players can not actually get info about the procedure, and activity going on behind the video game screens. It restricts the freedom of players where they can truly take a peek behind the scenes. This is a lack of transparency in the older game-plays.

The trust that players and game producers have in a game is increased by this level of openness. Gamers may observe every move done by developers and other players, eliminating the need for them to wonder what is occurring in the server of a game they have spent hours playing. However, in Blockchain gaming development, games offer expandability chances for ongoing game improvement in the industry and allow a fault-free and righteous gaming ecosystem.

4. Having permanent storage to increase reliability:

Since conventional video games are centralized, there is an enormous risk of losing everything you have played so hard to obtain. The only way to save your massive win and show it to your circle is by taking a screenshot of the final screen and framing it which does not sound like a rational approach. With blockchain games, this is not the case because of decentralization, as stated earlier.

The blockchain factor in games will store all game data on the Kronoverse/FYX platform. With Kronoverse’s Twitch-like match viewer, games that have been permanently saved may be broadcasted while still allowing for game replays. This implies that you may review earlier games to learn from your failures and achievements and advance your knowledge and skills.

What is Game-Fi?

The phrase “GameFi,” which combines the terms “gaming” and “decentralized finance” (DeFi), refers to the incorporation of blockchain technologies in the gaming industry for monetization and other uses. Particularly smaller publishers take advantage of the tokenization option to monetize their games. The tokens are often released as part of an Initial Coin Offering and are based on the ERC-20 standard of the Ethereum network (ICO). This helps to pay for the expenses spent during the game’s production. Players get automatic tokens from the publisher via smart contracts in return for a payment using currently available cryptocurrencies, and they may spend those tokens in the game that is subsequently created.

It blends cryptocurrency, blockchain, non-fiat currencies (NFTs), and game mechanics to provide a virtual world in which users may engage and make money. GameFi has a “play-to-earn” business strategy. This idea is around offering players cash incentives to play games and advance through the stages. Some blockchain games let players make a full-time living while they play.

Such gaming initiatives are introduced on the blockchain distributed ledger. This implies that any items players obtain are fully their property.

For instance, some blockchain games offer rewards for in-game achievements, while others let players generate income from the many assets they hold.

Game-Fi background -the revolution:

The end of 2017 saw the global growth of the pet-raising game CryptoKitties, which is built on Ethereum smart contracts. In the first seven days after its introduction, the game’s transaction volumes surpassed $1.9 million, and it was so well-liked that it clogged the Ethereum network. Due to CryptoKitties’ popularity, traditional and online gaming firms have flocked to blockchain gaming. AxiomZen, the firm that created the video game CryptoKitties, received $70 million in a Series A investment a month later. Numerous strategic, role-playing, simulation, and other blockchain games have since been released.

However, the word “GameFi” publicly appeared in presentations given at China’s Wuzhen World Blockchain Conference in November 2019 by the founders of MixMarvel, a blockchain game publishing platform, about how the technology behind cryptocurrencies may transform the video game business.

Numerous blockchain games with NFTs, DeFi, and other components have surfaced since June of the year 2021, under the slogan “Play to Earn.” The most notable example is the pet-game Axie Infinity, whose single-day revenue of $9.72 million quickly eclipsed that of Tencent’s well-liked mobile title “Honor of Kings” in a matter of months. Over the course of just two months, the value of its tokens AXS and SLP increased more than thrice.

Five of the top nine applications according to DApp rankings are GameFi apps. Since the summer of 2022, GameFi has had more unique users than DeFi, and as a result, it now accounts for most of all Dapp users. Game-Fi has 9.21 million weekly active users as of the beginning of December, a record number.

The two important reasons why the rise of the Game-Fi revolution happened are; The first is the freedom of trading in-game resources, which is expressed both in the freedom of trading items and the freedom of trading prices. Traditional gaming models’ transactions resemble those of planned economies to some extent.

The second element is the open pricing and trading of in-game money. Although game currencies cannot be directly monetized through official channels, it has been neglected by many experts that it is feasible to generate real money from the game currency by selling in-game objects or props for money on underground black markets. But doing so results in high transaction costs.

How does the Game-Fi system work?

The mechanics of various GameFi projects differ. In-game things often take the shape of avatars, lands, outfits, weapons, currency, tokens, and pets and are created as non-fungible digital tokens (NFTs). As a result, you can prove that any in-game stuff you buy is entirely yours.

As they play the games, users claim these things, which they can then sell for profit on NFT marketplaces or convert into well-known cryptocurrencies. Most of the time, in-game items are NFTs that operate on the blockchain and may be exchanged on NFT exchanges. However, in some circumstances, users cannot buy or sell in-game assets until they have been transformed into an NFT.

Typically, the in-game items will provide players with certain advantages so they can earn more prizes. However, some games also provide cosmetics and avatars that are entirely aesthetic and have no bearing on the game’s gameplay or revenue.

Depending on the game, players can gain prizes through completing missions, engaging in combat with other players, or constructing buildings that can be sold. Through staking or by lending their in-game assets to other players, several games can allow users to earn passive revenue without actively participating in the game.

Important Features of GameFi projects:

● Play-to-earn model (P2E)

Players may earn money for achieving game objectives in several blockchain games. The native token reserve stored within a smart contract is often where the money granted in these play-to-earn games comes from.

It differs significantly from the pay-to-play business model used by conventional video games. Pay-to-play games need players to make an investment before they can begin. Video games like Call of Duty, for instance, demand that users buy licenses or recurring subscriptions.

Most of the time, gamers of traditional video games won’t see any financial gains, since the gaming industry controls and owns all of the in-game assets. P2E games, on the other hand, may give players total control over their in-game possessions while simultaneously providing them with chances to make money.

● Ownership of digital assets

Because digital asset ownership is made possible by blockchain technology, gamers may earn money from their in-game assets in a variety of ways. Blockchain-based games provide this wonderful fortuity to gain any valuable item from the game forever in your ownership even after the game ends. Everything you win, gather, or buy becomes your property, and it is kept in your virtual wallet.

Players may own avatars, pets, homes, weapons, equipment, and much more, much like in video games. However, in GameFi, these assets may be produced as NFTs and issued (also known as NFT minting) as well. As a result, gamers may fully control their goods and ensure their validity and ownership.

This protects you from the possibility of losing any in-game stuff if a game crashes in the middle of a match or your account is suspended. In the event that you lose Internet access after triumphing in CryptoFights combat, for instance, you still have all of your armor and weaponry. You may still trade stuff even if your account is suspended, keeping you from being totally shut out. You can trace every transaction, from purchases to exchanges, thanks to blockchain technology.

The notion of land ownership is emphasized in certain well-known metaverse games, like Decentraland and The Sandbox. They let users earn money off of their virtual property. Gamers may buy digital plots of land in The Sandbox and develop them to make money.

● DeFi integration

DeFi items and functionalities are also offered by several GameFi initiatives. Players often risk their in-game tokens to get awards, gain access to premium products, or advance through the game’s stages.

The addition of DeFi components can further decentralize crypto gaming. Some Game-Fi initiatives let the community take part in the decision-making process, in contrast to traditional game companies that centralized control over their game updates. Through decentralized independent groups, they can suggest and vote on the next upgrades (DAOs).

Games on the blockchain are decentralized as said, which gives users and game producers more flexibility and security. The innovative environment that blockchain game developers build gives players more freedom to play and enjoy. Due to its decentralization, blockchain games vary from conventional video games like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA. DAO in Game-Fi gives freedom to the collection of individuals working together toward a common goal or project who, through the use of tokens and the blockchain, enable their members to cast votes. Game-Fi DAO also allows the players to team up and represent as a team like e-sports and share the reward. Blockchain games let you monitor and examine every action you’ve ever performed as well as the actions of other players

Players in Decentraland, for instance, may vote on organizational and in-game rules by locking their governance tokens (MANA) in the DAO. Their voting strength increases as they lock more tokens. This makes it possible for players to interact with game designers directly and affect how the game is made.

Making Friends Around the Globe:

Millions of gamers now have the chance to mix their gaming with partnerships. New resources are provided to developers for marketing and reimbursing NFTs and games. The selling of unique skins, things, and characteristics also brings in money for the investors.

As the gaming business becomes increasingly well-known every day, more influential players are joining forces with several top-tier GameFi and NFT initiatives to provide new, lucrative possibilities and features for the whole network.

This is bridging the gap between the global network and compiling a huge set of players into friend zones. People meet and greet at the GameFi events, and realize that they have met their virtual opponents, friends, and allies.

Following are some of the multiplayer games that let people compete, play, and fight in groups against other teams and earn a mutual reward, these made it huge into the industry:

· MMO RPGs

MMORPGs stand for massively multiplayer online role-playing games. These games provide players the chance to trade, strategize, explore, earn gold, craft, and even compete within a network pool of other players and teams.

· Battle Royale

It hit the news not very long ago that “The Next War Launches the First Blockchain-Based Battle Royale Style GameFi”. This is a great turn for all the Royale fans that they will now be joining the futuristic tech within their favorite game.

· Arcade

The Web3 arcade has a 5-step rule. 1. Stake 2. KYC 3. Apply whitelist 4. Buy 5. Claim and that is it. The players can play any game from the arcade using Multiplayer or solo mode abiding by these guides.

Final Note:

GameFi is projected to continue expanding quickly as blockchain technology continues to advance. It is incredibly well-liked, particularly in underdeveloped nations, because it allows users to buy stuff in games and profit from them.

It’s simple to understand how GameFi attracts gamers by providing both entertaining and monetary effects. It is expected that as blockchain games gain popularity, more and more significant businesses will begin to develop the metaverse. However, initiatives like Axie Infinity, Illuvium, and LOCGame will pave the path for the gaming generation by creating the subsequent ecosystems that will enable this market to reach its full potential. As we approach 2023, their creative fusion of NFT, DeFi, and traditional gaming mechanics has established GameFi as a leader in this market.

Blockchain Gaming Redefining The Gaming Industry

Blockchain gaming has taken the industry by storm with tech and cryptocurrencies. The gaming industry has always thrived and enjoyed massive growth. In the last few years, it has risen exponentially with the advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Virtual Reality (VR). Despite the evolution and growth, the industry has decided to add more advanced technology – the blockchain!

Blockchain has revolutionized several industries, and the gaming industry is one of them. This breakthrough technology is changing the way games will be created and played. Apart from the progress, the pandemic has also enabled this technology to grow at an exponential level. It is, in fact, due to people resorting to gaming on the lockdown days.

In this article, we will look at how blockchain gaming is redefining the gaming industry by making it more immersive and secure. We will also look at how this industry will be the first real use case of blockchain technology.

Blockchain Gaming and the Role of NFT

So, what exactly is blockchain gaming? Technically, a blockchain is a transparent unalterable chain of data blocks on a network. On top of that, it is decentralized, hence there is no central control. Instead, the digital assets in the blockchain are controlled by users. These digital assets are also called Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and are like Cryptocurrency coins. It is a fantastic invention for gamers who can freely move their virtual assets from one game to another.

So NFT, like cryptocurrency, is not only transferable in the game, but also outside of the game. If we consider a scenario of RPG games such as Final Fantasy, the NFTs could be a sword, shield, costumes, or anything else.

Digital Scarcity of Assets

In RPG games, some of the legendary items are available in limited quantities for players. The players can only purchase it by paying a hefty amount, and only the premium players can keep those items. Similarly, in blockchain-powered games, some digital assets are scarce, and not easily available to every player. Thus, it follows the aspect of digital scarcity in a distributed ledger to maintain the decentralized marketplace.

Ownership of In-Game Assets

An NFT owner, in blockchain games, always remains the owner even if the game stops working. It is because the asset can be transferred from one ledger to another, from one game to another, and can also be kept in the wallets. Blockchain-powered games utilize smart contracts to handle transactions. It transfers the assets into a players’ account. Thus, the ownership of the item cannot be replaced.

Liquid Gold

The bottom line of blockchain gaming is liquidity. Liquidity is the capability of a digital asset or crypto coin to be converted into cash or any other coin. Since gamers are already accustomed to the concept of tokenization, liquidity allows them to implement a distributed ledger game very easily. Also, the assets can be traded with real-life currency as well. Since the items can be exchanged in-game as well as in the real world, it is best to keep the transactions on the blockchain to keep track.

Security in the Gaming Market

With the power of decentralization in blockchain and encryption measures, hackers find it impossible to hack the crypto server. This gives an advantage to game developers to develop blockchain-based games that cannot be damaged by intruders. They need a secure and safe environment to develop, launch and monetize games in a secure market.

Improved Payment Methods

Security and privacy are top features of distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies. In the gaming industry, there have been numerous payment fraud incidents, security breaches, and multiple incidents. With blockchain-based games, crypto tokens can be used to make smooth payments, thus making the payment possibilities secure for gamers.

Single Gaming Profiles

Most RPG games require users to register and create their profiles on games if they wish to play games and access gaming features. However, with crypto-based games, users can have one integrated RPG account that can be used to access and play multiple games. This single RPG profile will not only improve user experience but also make games more accessible.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is that blockchain with its cryptocurrency offers a multitude of features to game players and game developers. This technology is revolutionizing the RPG industry despite its infancy and slow progress. With the rapid development, the crypto-based RPG business will help the gaming industry by making it more enjoyable and smooth, while keeping the hackers out of the domain.

Web3 Mindset For UX Designers

Web3 is a word that is the talk of the town these days. With new technologies and progress, web3 stands out as the next big thing. But how does UX design fit into this equation? What do these two terms mean? And can one exist without the other?
Well, wonder no more! I’ll explain in this article the relationship between web3 and UX and how a designer can start thinking in a web3 way!

Firstly, it’s important to understand what actually is web3, Chris Dixon defined it in really easy words:
“Web3 is the internet that is owned by builders and users, orchestrated with tokens.”

Web3 is the place where users will be incentivized on contributing to the platform, and things will work in a decentralized manner, rather than only big giant companies owning everything.

Now the point is, how UX design will be contributing to the web3 world, and what is the mindset that a UX designer should have in the web3 world, the things that we as designers need to prepare beforehand the world takes the paradigm shift.

1. Don’t let yourself forget the noobs 👶

The newer the technology, the difficult it is for people to adopt it. Most of the users are typically new to this space and being new means less familiarity and understanding of what basically the technology is. This is the part where the crucial role of UX comes in, to literate the user and guide them through their journey of performing any action.

When there’s the case of instructing users there are high chances that you may be overwhelmed with lots of information that results in a poor user experience. The actual art is to convey the right amount of information at the right time! This will help in developing the confidence of people who are trying to adopt this new technology. Since the technology is new and complex and is full of technical jargon that an average user might not be able to understand, there is a dire need to put the creatives’ minds in action to find creative ways of making the technology easier for people. Although the change is huge, with proper UX design you can make it look like nothing really changed. You see, that’s the power of UX Design. And as a web3 designer, you have to keep the noobs in mind.

2. You have to build trust through transparency

When something is new in the market, it’s comparatively difficult for people to trust it, and guess what, if it somehow involves the finances part, then all the best bro cu’s the case is worse now! 🤒 Wait, don’t lose all the hope, UX is still there!

Gone are the days when big giant companies used to show only the data that they wanted to show. The world is going to be more honest and transparent in the upcoming times, it’s time to build relationships based on transparency. To build the trust of the users, it is highly important to be transparent, especially when it comes to DeFi products where people are trusting the application with their assets. UX can definitely help in building trust in products by going with the transparent design approach. By transparent, we mean to show them enough of the details of the transaction, their asset details, clarifying the actions that are not reversible, clarifying actions that involve risk, providing a history of all the transactions, the delay it could take in the completion on any action, or anything that would want to see. The more transparent you are about these things, the better you can build trust with your users. As a user, when you get this feeling that you can access all your information or everything that is going on in front of you, this definitely levels up the trust, all because of the transparency.

You see the depth of details that Uniswap is providing to the user when interacting with the dApp. That’s one way to build the trust of the user!

3. There’s no way going back 🤐

Being immutable means the action once performed can’t be changed, and this tells there is very little tolerance for mistakes, one wrong action can lead to disastrous results. This is the part where UX comes in when technology is so crucial, you must give users enough understanding about the action they are going to take, and give the margin to cross-check the action being performed. Double confirmations, warnings/alerts can help reduce the mistakes. Let’s consider an example of wallet account creation, if you lose the seed phrase, all your money is gone and there are zero chances of recovering your account. Do you see how crucial it can be? A huge amount of losses can be prevented just by putting thoughts while designing the user experience of the product!

Some examples of double confirmations, and warnings even if one has to compromise on the UX because the real assets of people are involved!

4. There’s no such thing as “perfect” processes, don’t be too rigid

Web3 is coming faster than anyanyone of us can think. The transition from web2 to web3 is HUGE, and when the transition is huge, how can we assume to go with the same UX processes assumptions in the world of web3? It’s time to rethink and reconsider everything from scratch and design the processes that are in the best interest of the web3 products.

As Expedite Design is working on the designs of web3 applications for quite a time now, we realized the need to redefine the processes of design. One of the most important factors in the success of web3 products is the SPEED. The speed of executing your idea and launching it in the market. And if we talk about the most-followed sequence of UX design, it can now be obsolete for web3 products.

What we can do is, design the minimum viable products with basic functionalities after conducting user interviews about their pain products, wants, frustrations, and launch the product in the market. After launching, gather the real data with the help of heatmaps or surveys and then reconsider your UX decisions based on real facts and figures! Iteration is the key. I know it will take time, but eventually, we will be able to achieve the mass adoption of this new technology with the help of UX design.

5. Developers, Product Managers & Designers can do wonders together 🤝

UX design in web3 is beyond just design. In fact, even in web2, UX designers cannot solve the problems of the users alone through design, they need a collaboration of a developer to produce a product that a user loves.

In web3, the center of attention will be the user, because the user will actually be a part of the product, hence what will matter the most is the actual incentives a platform is providing, for example, Lower gas fees, high transaction speeds, more return on investments, etc. If we actually want to make this technology easier to understand and increase its adoption, then the designers, product managers, and developers must work together so that they can be on the same page if the thing that a designer is designing is technically possible or not, and if it’s not possible then how can we find the middle-ground? In the end, it’s about making combined efforts in one direction.

6. Communities and community members are IMPORTANT:

Communities are the beating heart of the web3 world. They’re what drives and encourages new people to join and participate! Communities aren’t just the force driving growth in web3. They’re what allows it to stand out and become remarkable. Now the point is, as a UX designer how can you get the maximum benefit from these communities? Communities mean like-minded and focused-in-one-direction people on one platform, the people who you are designing for. Involve them in the process, ask for their feedback, look out for their frustrations and try to solve problems through UX design. Feels the communities are GOD SENT for designers, no?

Also, there are now many communities for web3 designers, you can join those and share your experiences, learnings with each other, build relations with designers, help them solve different UX problems, play your part even if you think this won’t create a difference. Believe me, it WILL.

Let’s sum it up
The days are not too far when most of the applications that we use in our daily lives might be shifted to web3. More value will be provided to the users for the contribution. There is so much going on in the world of web3 and people might not be ready to adopt the changes that are on their way. User experience design can play a huge role in making people ready for this change, by not making the changes look so huge through design. We have a good example of Polygon, which launched Finity a user-first interconnected system of design elements that allows teams to quickly prototype, launch and scale their products without compromising on aesthetics and usability. (Read more here) You see, how people have started thinking about the web3 design world? Not too late, it’s a good time to start thinking the web3 way! 😉

We are at the early stages of a truly decentralized internet. There are more and more decentralized services, tools, and technologies that are appearing on the horizon. I believe that UX Design will play a pivotal role in bridging this gap between our centralized internet and new decentralized web3 technologies. Let’s see how the journey goes!