In my career I have found that studying virtual economies is a fun way to understand the ones we deal with everyday, in the real world. Well over the past few weeks I have found myself faced with a project requiring a game economy to interface with a cryptocurrency in a way that makes sense. There are some good ideas floating around this board so I am hoping to have some of you weigh in here.
Quick note, the game functions on top of a sort of
social layer platform which is what people use to trade, chat, post on a forum etc. Think
Steam or
Origin but with a focus on social features.
So the method I have decided to use requires the introduction of a pegged native game currency called Tetra (T). The reasoning here being that it would require a lot more capital upfront to simply use the cryptocurrency itself as the primary mode of exchange. As there would need to be a reserve available (that was purchased) to reward players with in the first place.
By creating a new game-issued currency I can "mint" the initial supply and use them to reward players. But then how do they earn the actual crytocurrency? By swapping it for Tetra at a fixed rate.
Say 1000T(etra) had a value of one real USD and our cryptocurrency was worth $2 USD today and fluctuates based on real markets. Well the player could always sell 1000 Tetras on an in-game exchange for 1USD worth of those cryptocoins (using the broader platform) then do whatever they want with them, including re-invest it back into the game for more Tetra. But if Tetra is pegged, how will people earn more? By trading based on the price of in-game goods which are dynamic and may cost more or less than the cost of Tetra. All of these goods are effected by natural scarcity and other factors that are subject to what's happening in the game world.
Which is to say that eventually, even the people who are only in it to make money will at some point have to play the game. Or "pay" people to do it for them if they want the markets to move. They might be able to get to certain resources and own them for much less than they would if they just sat watching the markets. Bringing me to my next point, trade companies.
These organizations will function like corporations in Eve Online but with better organizational mechanics like being able to buy/sell digital equity in these groups that function themselves like DAO's within the system. Rewarding "shareholders" and paying out in either cryptocurrency or Tetra on a case-by-case basis based on parameters voted on by the owners.
I forgot to mention that this whole time the developer (me) still needs to keep a crypto reserve on hand in case a player wants to make a trade into crypto. But that's OK because the starting economy will be so small (by design) with the crypto withdrawal limits being on the higher side. For these i won't ever take fees. But withdrawals to external wallets and ads may be considered for monetization.
There's more to it but that's the gist of it. To recap, the game has a pegged native currency that can be used to buy and sell in-game goods only. This native currency can also be sold for a cryptocurrency to be used on the games platform (think Steam or Origin) to buy perks there, withdraw to an external wallet or reinvested into Tetra. And if you like game economics and organizing teams let me know via @KhanJohnson I could use your help!
