Intro to the metaverse: What role does gaming have in our virtual worlds?

In the previous intro to the metaverse , we spoke about the roles that NFT will play in the metaverse. What about gaming and its role? Let’s examine how gaming can help expand, introduce, and improve the metaverse.

The metaverse is already here

The “metaverse” became a buzzword for businesses and organizations largely after Facebook decided to rebrand to Meta. Zuckerberg then began elaborating on how the metaverse will be a new place for humans to interact with friends, purchase NFTs from your favorite brands, and enjoy new virtual reality or augmented reality experiences.

We’ve spoken about the history of the metaverse concept before, but what made Facebook decide that it was worth exploring? It might be because successful games like Roblox and Fortnite had already created unique and interesting virtual worlds. 

Some may learn about the metaverse and become interested in becoming metaverse entrepreneurs. Others may learn about the metaverse through their crypto token research. Regardless, gaming can serve as a much more accessible intro to the metaverse for billions of people.

The numbers are behind gamers

We know that games have already experimented with the idea of a “metaverse” before many corporations decided that virtual worlds were worth examining. Why does this matter? It’s important because the numbers behind gaming are staggering.

There aren’t just millions of gamers in the world: there are over 3 billion gamers globally. If you are confused about the power or influence of the gaming industry: consider that it is now bigger than both movies and music COMBINED. It’s hard to deny it: creating popular metaverse games can probably help with mass adoption more than anything else.

Play to earn gaming is growing

If we are going to talk about gaming’s role in the metaverse, there is no denying the rise of play to earn gaming or P2E gaming. Now, gamers can play games in the metaverse and earn money in the form of either cryptocurrencies and NFTs. There’s even a new label for the decentralized business model regarding blockchain-based gaming: GameFi.

Axie Infinity is arguably the biggest player in this space, and it’s a great example of how gamers will take advantage of the metaverse. In Axie Infinity, you can purchase and breed creatures called Axies, which exist as NFTs. That’s not all: you can purchase Axie Infinity governance tokens–the AXS token–to help influence the game, as well.

Play to earn gaming offers new incentives and rewards for gamers, which is one of the reasons why the metaverse can appeal to gamers immediately. Instead of just trading their time to play online games, now gamers can socialize and build wealth through their favorite metaverse games. If play to earn gaming can drive NFT and crypto growth, it can also drive metaverse growth.

How will gaming evolve as an intro to the metaverse?

Will gaming help the metaverse take off in the short-term? It seems pretty likely. It often takes a while for people to embrace emerging technologies. Years ago, the common criticism for cryptocurrencies was that they were “often used by criminals.” Now, most individuals don’t even make that association. Over time, the perception of crypto changed.

The metaverse may be worth trillions of dollars, but it’s not like everyone is going to suddenly start showing up in different metaverses out of nowhere. It’s much more likely that they will gradually enter the metaverse, interested in specific experiences, games, or brands. 

Thanks to blockchain, virtual reality, and augmented reality, it’s safe to say that the metaverse will offer the kind of interactivity and operability that can attract gamers worldwide.