GameFi: How to Earn Crypto with online gaming 🎮
Or how to combine business with pleasure. 🎯
One of the trending topics in crypto right now is GameFi. The blockchain gaming ecosystem is evolving at a rapid pace and attracting millions of daily active users. More users are venturing into play-to-earn gaming as it gives them the opportunity to trade in-game rewards for cash and earn an income.Â
So, this explosive world of GameFi; what's it about? And how can you earn money from blockchain gaming?Â
In this article, we discuss:
What is GameFi?
How do play-to-earn games work?
How easily can you cash out in-game rewards?Â
 What you need for play-to-earn gaming
Top free play-to-earn games you can try right now
What is GameFi?Â
GameFi is what you get when you add gaming and DeFi (or finance). It’s the sector of online game engineering that combines cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFTs to provide virtual gaming environments where players can participate and earn money.Â
Since the integration of DeFi and NFTs in blockchain games, the GameFi sector has attracted millions of people into the Web3 space over the last year. At the end of 2021, the total number of unique wallets interacting with gaming-related smart contracts reached 1.3 million, a 46x increase from 28,000 in 2020.Â
How do play-to-earn games work?Â
Play-to-earn games use a mechanism that involves rewarding active players with financial incentives that can ‌level up their gaming experience or can be exchanged for cash by trading them with other users. Several blockchain games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox allow their users to earn a full-time income from interacting and playing these games.Â
Where traditional online games—especially Massive Multiplayer Online games like Call of Duty—allow players to collect digital avatars, mystery boxes, and level-up items as rewards for completing a task, quest, or mission, these rewards can’t be exchanged for real money.Â
Under P2E, game rewards could range from collecting non-fungible tokens to earning native digital currencies that can be traded in a secondary marketplace or converted to fiat currency on a decentralized exchange.Â
Taking "Axie Infinity" as an example, the popular play-to-earn game that allows players to purchase virtual creatures called "Axies" as an NFT minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Axies are bred and used in-game battles, and since each one is a unique NFT, they can be bought and sold via Peer-to-Peer trading using cryptocurrency.Â
How easily can you cash out in-game rewards?Â
Before investing your time and money in a P2E game, it's essential to do your research on how the game works, how rewards are supplied, and how you can utilize in-game rewards and convert them to real-life earnings.Â
Also, though play-to-earn games are built on public blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, or Avalanche, converting game tokens to another coin might require a process. It might also take some time to sell as an NFT in the marketplace, and in-game tokens are known to be volatile as their market prices fluctuate rapidly.Â
What you need for play-to-earn gaming
To gain access to the GameFi world and participate in these play-to-earn games, you need the following:Â
A cryptocurrency wallet: Every user needs a dedicated crypto wallet to store the virtual currency and NFTs and as well, perform in-game transactions. The wallet you use depends on which blockchain the game was built on. For example, Metamask is recommended for Ethereum-based games, while Phantom wallet is required for games on the Solana blockchain.Â
Purchase starter packs and items: All play-to-earn are free to download on mobile stores or accessible on a web browser. However, many require that players purchase characters, native crypto tokens, or in-game upgrade packs before they can be allowed to play the game.Â
Funds in your Wallet: Players might need to hold a certain amount of crypto funds to be able to purchase starter items for some play-to-earn games. Although, there are several play-to-earn games that you can start playing for free and earn rewards. For example, to play CryptoBlades, users are required to convert their Binance coin (BNB) to the native in-game token, SKILL.Â
Top free play-to-earn games you can try right nowÂ
Most users looking to try out online blockchain games they can earn crypto from usually go for free to play games or those that require very little capital to start. For this reason, we have a shortlist of the top 5 free-to-play games you can start earning from as a gamer.Â
Gods UnchainedÂ
Gods Unchained is one of the most popular trending free crypto games this year. It’s an online digital card game based on NFTs. Players are allowed to collect, trade, battle, buy, and sell cards on the Ethereum blockchain. It also has immersive animations, impressive graphics, and very detailed gameplay with great depth.
For fans of digital card games, Gods Unchained is a no-brainer. It has solid and deep in-game mechanics, and due to its growing popularity and crypto rewards, players can earn good money from playing the game. The best part is that it's free to play and users are only required to download the game and sign up.Â
Chain Monsters
 Fans of the Pokemon game would love the immersive gameplay on Chainmonsters. It’s an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) with gameplay centered around taming monsters. It has a beautifully crafted 3D world where players can battle for rewards and climb up the leaderboards.
Chainmonsters has potential plans to be played on all mobile devices and consoles like Steam, PS4, X-Box One, Nintendo Switch; Android; and Apple phones. Chainmonsters has achieved so much in such a short time and will keep growing.
There are currently 161 unique creatures with the abilities, and the stats are 3D models. It has an entirely player-driven economy, all based around NFTs. Almost every item in Chainmonsters is a unique NFT and can be traded in a secondary marketplace.
Splinterlands
Splinterlands is another brilliant digital card game inspired by Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering titles. It is one of the oldest and most established NFT games on the market and can be played for free.
Players can earn its native token—Dark Energy Crystals (DEC)—by playing and growing in ranks. To start earning DEC, players are required to win at least 15-20 games to reach the Bronze II league.Â
DEC is a unique cryptocurrency with monetary value and is available for trade on top decentralized exchanges. This provides a brilliant competitive nature to this amazing strategy card game. The best part is that it’s both mobile and web-compatible game, so users can access the game through a mobile phone or any web browser. Players can play on the go or anywhere in the world.
The SandboxÂ
The Sandbox is a brilliant platform game recommended for creators and creatives. It allows players create their own NFTs in a vibrant virtual metaverse. This game contains many unique creations and has a brilliant expression engine. Players are allowed to create houses, games, art galleries, or anything they feel like. They can then invite other players to visit their creations and interact with them together.
Players can also turn these creations into NFTs, which can be traded in a secondary NFT marketplace. The Sandbox offers endless possibilities, and players have an excellent opportunity to build incredible designs while making money. It’s even drawn the attention of gaming companies such as Atari, Square Enix, Helix, and more.
Coin Hunt World
Coin Hunt World might be the right fit for you if you’re looking for a brilliant, innovative mobile game based on the player's geo-location. It’s built on Android and IOS, and players search real-life sites on the hunt for blue keys. These keys can then be used to open blue vaults, providing great rewards.
Players are rewarded in either Bitcoin or Ethereum or win in-game items such as Cubies and other resources. However, it’s only currently available in the US, Canada, the UK, and El Salvador. This game is perfect for those who love walking and exploring with the chance of great rewards.Â
Astra
Astra is a network of virtual cities, where you can create and enjoy virtual experiences like shopping & playing with your personalized avatar.
More than just a defi game, Astra promises to revolutionize meta-commerce, social events, and virtual experiences by using NFTs as a launchpad into a decentralized metaverse. With its earlier versions, users played a demo to win a real-life Balenciaga bag. Rumors surrounding their upcoming versions suggest innovations around a play-2-whitelist arrangement that promotes an immersive experience. With the launch of their $250,000 metaverse grant, Astra promises to change Gamefi and the metaverse for good.
Although blockchain games are attracting millions of users, the sector is still in its infancy. So far, the relationship between decentralized gaming and cryptocurrencies may be unclear to the public because many do not understand the technologies this sector is built on. However, getting into GameFi can be made easy by following a guide (such as this one) that prepares you to earn crypto while playing your favorite online games.Â
Join us on Spaces today by 7PM (GMT +1) as we discuss this Gamefi with @Aiyewoyievictory, a defi analyst and gamefi promoter.
Trivia: What is GameFi?Â
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