Why not make a token for online games?

[GamerSky]

This idea just came to my mind while playing an online MMO, it might make no sense, but it's something that I'd like to see in my life time.

Economy in MMO is pretty interesting, for sure it'll be awesome if crypto could fit in it, after if the online game market adapted crypto, then it's another step towards the crypto win.
Lets assume some MMO game where the company behind it rised funds using ICO with 100% pre mined token, those tokens can be used to buy 'premium' items in the game, this is just a simple concept here, instead of the company storing data in its own system, they made it public. What benefit does this do? it opens lots and lots of doors. First thing, it'll be possible to make player to player transaction, again something that could be done in the game without needing a token. Second thing, it'll be possible to let multiple games share the same economy, so if you traded in game gold for some tokens with another player (P2P), then you're not limited to spend those tokens in this game, you can easily spend them on another game that uses the same token, and this is the real fun part, the tokens can be shared among multiple games, and they don't even need to be under the same company -cross company game economy- will be an interesting thing.
As for how the company will make money after the ICO, the players will finally spend those tokens to buy items, that means the company will get tokens back to push them to the market again for profit, also, the transactions between players could be taxed.

I'm just throwing an idea here, hopefully discussion can shape it better, and finally someone with enough skill will be able to realize it for all the gamers.

[lockept93]

The most famous gaming coin is XP (eXperience coin) atm. Look here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2313170.0

Crowdfunding is not new in the game biz. But the problem with a token for a game is - the game gonna be old in few years - what about the tokens? Did they loose value with less interest in the game?

Maybe when the studio plans more games and updates, maybe, but the future point is important for any ICO.

[GamerSky]

The most famous gaming coin is XP (eXperience coin) atm. Look here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2313170.0

Crowdfunding is not new in the game biz. But the problem with a token for a game is - the game gonna be old in few years - what about the tokens? Did they loose value with less interest in the game?

Maybe when the studio plans more games and updates, maybe, but the future point is important for any ICO.

I'll take a look at that coin in few hours when I'm back home.

As for what happens when games goes old in couple years, here's what I had in mind for it:

Second thing, it'll be possible to let multiple games share the same economy, so if you traded in game gold for some tokens with another player (P2P), then you're not limited to spend those tokens in this game, you can easily spend them on another game that uses the same token, and this is the real fun part, the tokens can be shared among multiple games, and they don't even need to be under the same company -cross company game economy- will be an interesting thing.

It doesn't have to be a single game that uses the coin, but multiple games sharing same economy to build a world, just like all countries share the same total amount of gold, but each has its own currency and sub economy.

[eternalgloom]

I've never heard about Experience Coin, but Gamecredits are pretty well known.

I think Gamecredits are doing exactly what you're describing and they're pretty far along with their project.
There are already a couple of games that support Gamecredits out of the box, no AAA titles though.

I'd suggest you check out their project before starting your own ICO.

[Vod]

It doesn't have to be a single game that uses the coin, but multiple games sharing same economy to build a world, just like all countries share the same total amount of gold, but each has its own currency and sub economy.

Don't think it would work.

1) Virtual currencies are valuable, and the game manufacturer will want to control them
2) It would be very difficult to balance the rewards so they were the same in all games

[GamerSky]

About the XP coin, it doesn't seem to have what I thought it would be...

I've never heard about Experience Coin, but Gamecredits are pretty well known.

I think Gamecredits are doing exactly what you're describing and they're pretty far along with their project.
There are already a couple of games that support Gamecredits out of the box, no AAA titles though.

I'd suggest you check out their project before starting your own ICO.

Wow, didn't hear of them before, but a fast reading about them and they seem really doing what I was thinking of, just need to scale up with time for it to become dominant. I'm looking around for their SDK, and if I found a Unity SDK, then I'll surely bring it up in the meeting with my friends to integrated in our new game.

It doesn't have to be a single game that uses the coin, but multiple games sharing same economy to build a world, just like all countries share the same total amount of gold, but each has its own currency and sub economy.

Don't think it would work.

1) Virtual currencies are valuable, and the game manufacturer will want to control them
2) It would be very difficult to balance the rewards so they were the same in all games

If it's so valuable, then why make it have unlimited supply? game manufacturer can issue as much game currency as they wish, however if it's implemented as a token, there's a limited supply which means people will want to have them before others. I believe this can add another dimention to the game, if the company sells out all tokens at 10$ for example, when they're sold out players can trade them between each others, then pay them back to the company which can sell at the same price other players are selling (which would be higher than 10$ usually), while this makes things a bit more costy on the player side, it adds a limitation to the system to prevent someone from jumping in game power from zero to hero in a single go.
Creating a 'fight' between game manufacturers will increase the competition in creating quality content which would in return benefit the players.
Balancing rewards... I haven't thought of that yet, but from top of my head, why not let each game define their own values? this will create another competition between games to produce quality stuff at reasonable prices.

[wumBowo]

there's actually exists, if you look out here https://www.kickico.com/campaigns/1003/magisters-of-magic .
Yeah it's really not that big, since it's only an indie games and  on their pre-ico theiy only need minimun 200 ETH to continue their projects.
But i don't know the progress right now because i'm not quite following it

[spacedis]

Not a bad Idea if you were able to get a few major game company on the hook to spread it across multiple games.

Make a common currency kind of like steam has for there wallet.

[Patatas]

Not a bad Idea if you were able to get a few major game company on the hook to spread it across multiple games.

The point is,no major companies want to get their businesses replaced by cryptos just yet.

This idea just came to my mind while playing an online MMO, it might make no sense, but it's something that I'd like to see in my life time.
I'm just throwing an idea here, hopefully discussion can shape it better, and finally someone with enough skill will be able to realize it for all the gamers.

The topic is discussed several times in the same section.People also came up with blueprints that would support the idea but the end consumer market isn't as open minded as you think.This is also a good time to establish the roots which will form the base for future developers.

Crowdfunding is not new in the game biz. But the problem with a token for a game is - the game gonna be old in few years - what about the tokens? Did they loose value with less interest in the game?

Yes they would.Less players == Less usage of the tokens == Drop in the market price of the tokens.

[MCVXYZ]

This idea just came to my mind while playing an online MMO, it might make no sense, but it's something that I'd like to see in my life time.

Economy in MMO is pretty interesting, for sure it'll be awesome if crypto could fit in it, after if the online game market adapted crypto, then it's another step towards the crypto win.
Lets assume some MMO game where the company behind it rised funds using ICO with 100% pre mined token, those tokens can be used to buy 'premium' items in the game, this is just a simple concept here, instead of the company storing data in its own system, they made it public. What benefit does this do? it opens lots and lots of doors. First thing, it'll be possible to make player to player transaction, again something that could be done in the game without needing a token. Second thing, it'll be possible to let multiple games share the same economy, so if you traded in game gold for some tokens with another player (P2P), then you're not limited to spend those tokens in this game, you can easily spend them on another game that uses the same token, and this is the real fun part, the tokens can be shared among multiple games, and they don't even need to be under the same company -cross company game economy- will be an interesting thing.
As for how the company will make money after the ICO, the players will finally spend those tokens to buy items, that means the company will get tokens back to push them to the market again for profit, also, the transactions between players could be taxed.

I'm just throwing an idea here, hopefully discussion can shape it better, and finally someone with enough skill will be able to realize it for all the gamers.

I have heard about one project known as Refereum which is built on blockchain technology and uses smart contracts,I don't have enaugh time to read everything about this but i think it will be interesting for gamers and not only for them.If I understood correctly there will not be third person among develepors and gamers,also gamers will get RFR tokens for playing and watching gaming videos,So i think its a something new project for gaming community and it will be very interesting too,i advice you to read more about this project.it may not be connected directly to this what you said but its similiar case.anyway I think there are already many projects about that.

[Vod]

Balancing rewards... I haven't thought of that yet, but from top of my head, why not let each game define their own values? this will create another competition between games to produce quality stuff at reasonable prices.

Wouldn't you have one game give out tokens too generously to attract new players?

What would happen to the games that gave out tokens fairly?  They would lose membership to the games that were more generous.

Game manufacturers are not going to want to lose members to another game that gives out better rewards than they do.  They will either increase their rewards (making the token even less scarce) or not use the token at all.

[lockept93]

Balancing rewards... I haven't thought of that yet, but from top of my head, why not let each game define their own values? this will create another competition between games to produce quality stuff at reasonable prices.

Wouldn't you have one game give out tokens too generously to attract new players?

What would happen to the games that gave out tokens fairly?  They would lose membership to the games that were more generous.

Game manufacturers are not going to want to lose members to another game that gives out better rewards than they do.  They will either increase their rewards (making the token even less scarce) or not use the token at all.

This is why a coin that is used by many game devs better than a single ICO for every game.

[GamerSky]

there's actually exists, if you look out here https://www.kickico.com/campaigns/1003/magisters-of-magic .
Yeah it's really not that big, since it's only an indie games and  on their pre-ico theiy only need minimun 200 ETH to continue their projects.
But i don't know the progress right now because i'm not quite following it

That's interesting, maybe someone would join forces with them and make another game that uses same token.

Not a bad Idea if you were able to get a few major game company on the hook to spread it across multiple games.

Make a common currency kind of like steam has for there wallet.

I believe it's hard a bit to get major game companies on the hook at first, such changes take time, and usually starts with small companies, larger ones join only after seeing the good and bad effects in real rather than thoughts.

Crowdfunding is not new in the game biz. But the problem with a token for a game is - the game gonna be old in few years - what about the tokens? Did they loose value with less interest in the game?

Yes they would.Less players == Less usage of the tokens == Drop in the market price of the tokens.

That's the idea of using the same token for multiple games, when one dies the usage of the token isn't affected, you just pull them to another game. It's better for the gamer, I mean if you buy 100$ worth credits in game, and spend half of them, then something happens and you go away for couple months, then when you're back you find the game dead but you still have 50$ stuck in there and you can't enjoy them... if this game uses tokens instead you can go and spend them on another game that accepts same token.

This idea just came to my mind while playing an online MMO, it might make no sense, but it's something that I'd like to see in my life time.

Economy in MMO is pretty interesting, for sure it'll be awesome if crypto could fit in it, after if the online game market adapted crypto, then it's another step towards the crypto win.
Lets assume some MMO game where the company behind it rised funds using ICO with 100% pre mined token, those tokens can be used to buy 'premium' items in the game, this is just a simple concept here, instead of the company storing data in its own system, they made it public. What benefit does this do? it opens lots and lots of doors. First thing, it'll be possible to make player to player transaction, again something that could be done in the game without needing a token. Second thing, it'll be possible to let multiple games share the same economy, so if you traded in game gold for some tokens with another player (P2P), then you're not limited to spend those tokens in this game, you can easily spend them on another game that uses the same token, and this is the real fun part, the tokens can be shared among multiple games, and they don't even need to be under the same company -cross company game economy- will be an interesting thing.
As for how the company will make money after the ICO, the players will finally spend those tokens to buy items, that means the company will get tokens back to push them to the market again for profit, also, the transactions between players could be taxed.

I'm just throwing an idea here, hopefully discussion can shape it better, and finally someone with enough skill will be able to realize it for all the gamers.

I have heared about one project known as Refereum which is built on blockchain technology and uses smart contracts,I don't have enaugh time to read everything about this but i think it will be interesting for gamers and not only for them.If I understood correctly there will not be third person among develepors and gamers,also gamers will get RFR tokens for playing and watching gaming videos,So i think its a something new project for gaming community and it will be very interesting too,i advice you to read more about this project.it may not be connected directly to this what you said but its similiar case.anyway I think there are already many projects about that.

I'll make sure to read about that project soon. Thanks for the hint.

Balancing rewards... I haven't thought of that yet, but from top of my head, why not let each game define their own values? this will create another competition between games to produce quality stuff at reasonable prices.

Wouldn't you have one game give out tokens too generously to attract new players?

What would happen to the games that gave out tokens fairly?  They would lose membership to the games that were more generous.

Game manufacturers are not going to want to lose members to another game that gives out better rewards than they do.  They will either increase their rewards (making the token even less scarce) or not use the token at all.

There's a set amount of tokens, so game can't give them out of thin air, they'll have to either attract enough customers who have tokens and spend them in their game, or buy it from another company that has tokens, so giving out tokens too generously will only hit the budget of the game doing it, other games could even benefit from it by selling part of the tokens they hold to that game.
So for example, assume a game1 is selling tokens at 20$, and game2 wants to attract customers and sold their tokens at 10$, game2 will run out of tokens soon and is left with 2 options: buy tokens from game1, so game1 could sell it for higher price (25$ for example); or if game2 has enough players then it just waits for players to spend tokens in it, this case is equivalent to game2 providing cheaper service.