Edited, co-written, captured on the go with AI.
So, I conducted this non-representative survey on Hey.xyz, wondering what the killer Web3 feature for games is. Not surprisingly, “owning your assets” won.
I've been fortunate to work with some respected players in the game design community in the past, helping to define their future strategies and where the future of gaming ecosystems goes. Honestly, this was a major reason why I went full-time into Web3.
Now, Web3 is a very different space than it was three years ago when I finally went full time. Last time, we didn't have account abstraction and a paymaster; we didn't have social graphs like Farcaster or Lens Protocol. Attestation and reputation were still just on the roadmap of what the future might look like, and cheaper and faster L2s were just launching. The world feels very different now.
2020/21 also marked the first time we saw a real glimpse of what Web3 games could be. Decentraland and cohorts created metaverse-likes with blockchain-powered economies. Axie introduced the idea that games can be a professional career, cementing the idea of play-to-earn, with communities like Yield Guild leveling up a huge community of players turned earners. We also saw a glimpse of games that truly used some of blockchain's native features, like Dark Forest. But, in all honesty, the critics were often right about most NFT shills promising triple-A games and open worlds with strong IP. So much didn't work out.
Years later, a lot of new things are mature enough. I often think here about the product design philosophy driven by Nintendo. It banks not on the most impressive emerging tech but uses things that are now readily available to change our whole understanding of what you can do with it. Think about the Wii, totally underpowered compared to the Xbox or PlayStation generation at that time, but we all had a ton of fun, and fun sells.
So if this is true for better graphics and faster chips, our on-chain tools might get to a soon enough mature state; maybe some parts have already reached. So, where might this go?
Well, I started this with the non-representative survey, “owning assets”. I'll be blunt here. For me, this is the most boring aspect of it. I do believe it can be massively empowering and create something special. But honestly, games have had in-game economies and sellable in-game assets for a long time, sometimes with great success, sometimes not so much. What I do think is true is that on a day-by-day basis, we overestimate the impact truly owning your assets has. How often have you sold in-game assets, except when you were stuck in an in-game grind loop to get forward?
So, I have a hunch we overestimate the value of selling and trading, but I do believe the bragging rights to say you have something on-chain verifiable rare is powerful. But it leads me more in the direction of reputation and identity. (There will always be a community that approaches this as a job, but you don't need an on-chain world to generate a third-party market to sell rare items or accounts; this happens anyway.)
What I am excited for is how it might change some subtle things about how we think about multiplayer in general. (Bear in mind, my last half year has been deep down in reputation and identity systems, so I do have a bias). But I think logging in with a wallet and even better, logging in with a shared open social graph might be a literal game-changer.
I enjoy playing online, but my friends on PlayStation and Steam should be more often than not the same; I want to easily create a forum or community space outside of the game itself and not just have to cumbersomely find everyone. I feel we underestimate how much of gaming happens literally outside of games, and that's where an open social graph login can easily connect dots.
But it's not just that. I had my fair share of days where I was semi-competitive, and matchmaking is a holy grail of a great game, finding a worthy, not too overpowered component is what makes games good, it is what makes you comeback. This data could be on-chain; with data on-chain, it's easier to build tools on top to analyze, to form squads and guilds, but also entire tournaments, etc. Again, so much of gaming happens outside of games; your on-chain profile, with your in-game reputation, can go to many places. Outside is Inside again.
One thing from the old narrative from the ancient 20/21 days was that your in-game assets can come with you to another game. While I believe that works fairly well potentially in mostly social hangout spaces like Second Life, The Sims, for anything that is competitive, it will most likely mess to a certain degree with the fairness of a game. A slightly different shade of an outfit in a game might render you invisible on a certain map, etc. That's why I feel it's not that compelling to game designers. If you build a Lego-like Sims open-world simulation, interoperable assets are cool, but games are not just chill; they are games.
So again, openly verifiable in-game reputation with a login and a portable social graph makes gathering/coming together/playing and competing a lot more enticing. Because it expands the game and your community beyond it. That for me is true interoperability.
Now we are seeing more and more create your account with fiat, account abstraction goes further and further down the way that you might not even know that you own a wallet, and Lens and Farcaster are open to anyone to join.
So where do I hope we are heading?
Your login comes with on-chain verified in-game reputation of your scores, matches, encounters, connections, and yes, items you have. But then, instead of play-to-earn grinds, to flip assets for a quick return, my hunch is that extending the game beyond its world is where we enter a new realm. Regroup easily in a social space, new data tools to analyze your game, matchmaking, and tournaments organized by anyone based on your verified in-game stats.
My hunch is the next step for Web3 is there. Expand the community, in-game stats beyond the game's realm, and then maybe along the way, if you are in it for playing to earn, there will be things, but you're essentially just airdrop hunting with sexy graphics. The future for me lies in extending stats, friends, communities, reputation beyond it. And if some of it might unlock an Easter egg or a hidden quest, even cooler, but the game beyond the game, seems to me the bigger opportunity than assets that work in any virtual world.
If you build for gamers, my DMs are open.
Bonus:
Redefining Immersion & Play by Brooks Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLBCTb1odpY
Brooks has been pushing my thinking a lot in the past and this is a wonderful talk about how to design with play in mind.
The Loner: Why Some People Play MMOs Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2l2ZxNhCSg&t=6s
A wonderful tak that makes you think beyond our initial thoughts of multiplayer.
Magic: The Gathering: 20 Years, 20 Lessons Learned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHg99hwQGY
I found this really inspiring when I was thinking how to design for an expanding world.
