The future of web3 gaming industry is not what you think (1/4)

Web3 and the gaming industry

Many say that gaming will be the fist real use case for blockchain, massively contributing to the web3 mainstream adoption. With its glorious rise and humble cleanse during the last bull-run, GameFi set to revolutionize the way we play and interact with games. There is no doubt that blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally change the gaming industry, when we use it in a meaningful way that adds real value for the players.

Simply adding blockchain to a game without a clear purpose or benefit can lead to a poor user experience and may not provide any real advantages. However, if blockchain were to be integrated in a way that enhances gameplay, it could provide a more immersive and secure gaming experience. For example, blockchain could be used to create in-game economies that are more transparent and player-driven, allowing for more dynamic and engaging interactive experiences. It can also be used to create games and game content that are not controlled by a single entity, but instead are governed by a network of independent nodes. This can lead to a more democratic and inclusive gaming ecosystem, where players have a say in the development and direction of the games they play. Innovative usage of blockchain technology, F2O(Free-to-Own) and user-generated content are highly anticipated spotlights in the future of web3 gaming industry. In F2O refers to a model of blockchain gaming where players can earn or receive in-game assets that are fully owned by them and can be freely traded or used outside of the game ecosystem. This way, game developers and players co-own the game economy. To bring true innovation we must rethink how we use its core advantages and characteristics to improve and expand the whole gaming sector.

This four-part series of articles dives deep into the future of web3 gaming. In this first part, I will discuss game development and the gaming industry in the context of blockchain. I will analyze the factors that need to be considered when creating meaningful innovations for the blockchain gaming sector. When considering how to decentralize creative work, all of these factors need to be taken into account. In part 2 of this series, I will go through the 6 stages of the design thinking process and discuss different ways to decentralize each stage. In part 3 of this series I will analyze the different types of creative work associated with different people in a creative production and suggest methods to decentralise this part of the creative work. In part 4 of this series, I will use a practical example to show how to decentralise creative work in game development — with lessons that can be applied to all types of creative work in different industries.

What is decentralization?

Decentralization is a key element of blockchain technology, as it allows for a more secure and transparent system that is not controlled by a single entity. However, when looking into a more detailed definition, the definitions diverge.

In the article “The Meaning of Decentralization,” Vitalik Buterin explains the concept of decentralization and its importance in blockchain technology. He defines decentralization as a system where there is no central authority controlling everything, but instead, power is distributed among different participants in a network.Buterin highlights the benefits of decentralization, such as increased security and censorship-resistance, and the challenges that come with it, such as the need for coordination among participants. He also notes that decentralization is not a binary concept, but rather a spectrum where different systems can have varying degrees of decentralization.

Designing decentralized games requires a significant shift in mindset and a willingness to embrace new technologies and models. For the blockchain gaming industry, decentralization can offer benefits such as ownership of in-game assets and increased security in transactions. Decentralized game design requires a fundamentally different approach compared to traditional centralized game design. In a decentralized game, the game’s rules and operations are executed on a decentralized network rather than on a central server. This means that game developers need to carefully consider the architecture, governance, and economic models of their games to ensure optimal exploitation of advantages of decentralization.

By giving players a greater say in the governance of the game, developers can create a more collaborative and community-driven gaming experience. Using blockchain-based consensus mechanisms enables players to govern the game’s rules and operations. This can take the form of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), where players can vote on proposals and make decisions collectively. Overall, the potential benefits of decentralization make it an attractive option for game developers and players.

Midjourney: Vitalik Buterin as a powerful fantasy mage in front of an abstract background that represents blockchain technology, comic book style, — ar 3:2

Why decentralize creative tasks in game development?

In his article “The Meaning of Decentralization,” Vitalik Buterin identifies three types of decentralization: architectural, political, and logical. Below are examples of how game development could be decentralized according to the three types of decentralization:

1. Architectural decentralization refers to the physical distribution of power across a network. This means that the network is composed of many independent nodes that work together to validate transactions and execute operations. In a blockchain game, architectural decentralization can be achieved through the use of a decentralized network, where each player has a copy of the game’s rules and data, allowing them to interact with the game in a trustless and transparent manner.
2. Political decentralization refers to the distribution of decision-making power among stakeholders in a network. In a decentralized game, this means that players have a say in how the game is governed and how it evolves over time. This can be achieved through the use of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), where players can vote on proposals and make decisions collectively. By giving players a greater say in the game’s governance, developers can create a more community-driven and collaborative gaming experience.
3. Logical decentralization refers to the distribution of data and information across a network. In a decentralized game, this means that game data and rules are stored and verified across multiple nodes in the network, rather than being stored on a central server. This ensures that the game is transparent and resistant to attacks, as there is no single point of failure.

In alignment with user-generated content and community-driven gaming experience, decentralizing game design itself could innovate how games are developed. The usual architecture of creative tasks in game productions is very hierarchical and standardized, bottlenecking towards the top with the department lead positions and the creative director positions. Due to budgeting reasons, the artists/designers at the bottom of the hierarchy are usually understaffed with little regard to the people’s personal capacities. With a decentralised design process, design tasks across all departments and roles can be distributed to accommodate individual availability. Responsibility and tasks can be matched better with specialised skills and contribution to a more hierarchy-fluid and sustainable system. A continuous flow of game content could emerge from automated cycles of user content-generation and democratic user feedback integration. New game concepts could be user-tested much earlier and smaller scale and easily scaled depending on their popularity. In the long-term, decentralizing game development itself, could close the detachment gap between game developers and players. Additionally it increases user participation and with it player brand loyalty, limits risks and decreases initial development sunk costs.

Potential advantages of a decentralised game design process include:

• Sustainability and fluidity of project structure
• Accelerates decision making and removing bottlenecks
• Improves quality of (creative) decision making through better skill/task matching
• Protecting individual work-life capacities
• Early spotting of challenges and fast reactivity through increased communication across hierarchies
• Decrease risk and amount of sunk costs
• Emergence of the most-desired ideas and solutions
• Closing the detachment gap between created content and user feedback
• User participation and community building
• Step by step scalability of creative projects

How to decentralize creative work in game development?

When thinking about the decentralisation of creative work, as found in game development, we can look at the processes of all creative work. The 6 stages of the design thinking process are a good way of breaking this down. Of course, design can be assigned to different departments, such as visual design or game design. However, if you look at the design tasks of different departments, they all follow a similar thinking process.

Midjourney: a group of 6 fantasy witches that represent empathy, definition, brainstorming, prototyping, testing and implementation, comic book style, — ar 3:2

The 6 stages of the design thinking process are:

Stage 1 — Empathise + Research

Understand the users, their needs and the purpose of the design.

Stage 2 — Define

Clearly outline the problems identified and summarise the findings of the first step.

Stage 3 — Brainstorm

Generate a range of ideas without judging their feasibility.

Stage 4 — Concept + Prototype

Develop approaches and create prototypes, sketches and concepts based on the ideas with the highest potential.

Stage 5 — Combine + Test

As part of the iterative design process, steps 4 and 5 are repeated until a state is reached where the design meets the needs, problems and purpose defined at the beginning of the design process.

Stage 6 — Implement

Produce the final design and launch it in the intended real-world environment. The creative vision is materialised and translated into the user experience.

Additionally when scaling up creative projects, we have to consider different types of creative tasks. In a hierarchical sense creative projects have department leads, who envision and direct, and an operational team that executes with individual levels of skill.

In part 2 of this four-part series of articles about the future of web3 gaming, I will go through the 6 stages of the design thinking process and discuss different ways to decentralize each stage for creative tasks in game development. In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below how you think the future of web3 gaming will look like.

About CrowdControl

Hi! I’m Anna. As the co-founder and creative lead of CrowdControl — a community-owned trading card game on — I am responsible in exploring how blockchain can truly innovate the gaming industry. Instead of only recreating existing games on the blockchain, we at CrowdControl want to change the way game development works, create maximum fun through player engagement and immersion, and give the power of content creation and game balancing to the people. Find out more about us on our websiteand join our community on Discord.

Bibliography and recommended reading

Vitalik Buterin; The Meaning of Decentralization (https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/the-meaning-of-decentralization-a0c92b76a274)

World Economic Forum; Abhimanyu Kumar and Alice Liu; Blockchain gaming under the microscope (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/blockchain-gaming-part-one/)

CoinMarketCap and Naavik; 2022 Blockchain Gaming Report — New Frontiers And The Path Forward (https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/coinmarketcap-and-naavik-2022-blockchain-gaming-report-new-frontiers-and-the-path-forward)

Alok Vasudev; The “Free to Own” (F2O) Business Model for Games (https://mirror.xyz/alokvasudev.eth/GFXXAETXDGpICPyOn1X1Zc6x0-R7EPA9tg0surTeCTA)

The Economist, March 25th 2023 Edition; The rise of user-created video games (https://www.economist.com/special-report/2023/03/20/the-rise-of-user-created-video-games)