One of the most prominent blockchain features is the ability to give power to its users. After all, it is a tool to create decentralized entities. Decentralization allows anyone to earn by participating in the network. One of the ways to benefit from blockchain technology is playing an NFT game, a game with blockchain integration that allows players to truly own their assets and earn from enjoying their hobby.
Blockchain: Giving power back to the community
Blockchain solves a simple but deep issue: most entities are centralized and users do not have any say in how they are run and can not earn from participating in them. It is easy to understand using banks as an example: when you use any bank to make transactions, that bank earns a fee from you and the money collected goes to one entity, the bank.
Blockchain technology allows the creation of various entities that give power back to the community by decentralization. With the rapid growth of technology, more people are joining in and earning from being a part of the movement.
In the beginning, it was miners who earned by validating transactions with their devices. Unfortunately, only people with powerful mining machines could reap the benefits as mining requires a lot of energy. Staking was introduced to fight this issue. It allowed lower costs when running the protocol which in turn allowed more people to take advantage and earn passively. This all applied to cryptocurrency, but soon the latest blockchain creation, NFTs, rose to prominence.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique assets put on the blockchain protocol. With the creation of NFTs, artists soon realized they too can use blockchain to earn from the technology by monetizing their skills. Now gamers are moving towards a future where players earn from engaging in NFT games, games that incorporate blockchain elements to make earning from gaming possible.
What are the core elements of an NFT game?
The main element of an NFT game is the NFT itself.
NFTs include a wide range of various assets put on the blockchain. From music to domain names - many of these things can come in the form of an NFT. The most traditional NFT is a picture that can be owned and sold to others. Owning these NFTs usually comes with various benefits: for example, if you own a Bored Ape NFT, you can enter ApeFest, an exclusive music event.
The most common benefit that is promised to NFT holders is the potential to earn from holding your asset. Most of the time this is possible due to reselling after the price of an NFT goes up, but NFT gaming is moving deeper into the technology by allowing more ways to earn from NFTs.
An NFT game is essentially a game that incorporates NFT assets, allowing players to truly own their items and earn from spending time in the game. NFTs that are offered by these games are not just a picture put on a blockchain: they are assets that are used in the game.
The first problem an NFT game solves is the problem of ownership.
In traditional gaming, you do not own any of the assets from the game: even if you buy them. Usually, you can not sell it to other players - so players rely on selling their accounts with these assets instead. This leads to an unsafe market where you can get scammed easily and lose your money and assets. Additionally, if your account gets banned, you are unable to use your purchased items anymore, even if there’s a secondary market where you can sell your items. That way they are gone forever.
NFTs are not stored in the game, they are stored on the blockchain, thus no one would be able to take them away from you and you have an option to sell them to other players without the hassle and risk of selling the account itself.
An example of how this works in an NFT game is the CryptoKitties project. All CryptoKitties are NFTs and can be purchased, traded, and sold. They are also a part of the game itself: players breed their CryptoKitties generating more NFTs. Selling these new NFTs allows players to monetize their time spent on the game.
Another important element of an NFT game is the native cryptocurrency created to sustain the economy.
CryptoKitties does not have its own currency and could be considered the first generation NFT game. Launched in 2017, it is fairly old as the technology is moving so fast. Many newer NFT games include some kind of native cryptocurrency to fuel the economy.
For example, the Mars4 Metaverse project has launched MARS4 dollars, a coin that is used in the Mars Metaverse world. You can use it to buy various resources and even NFTs in the game. All earnings from the project are also in MARS4 dollars. On the other hand, MARS4 dollars are altcoins that can be purchased and traded, thus allowing players to use their earnings outside the platform.
Sometimes an NFT game has two currencies: one is used for in-game purposes, and another one is a governance token, a token that is used to vote for proposals.
Axie Infinity is a popular NFT game that has NFTs and two cryptocurrencies: SLP and AXS. Similar to CryptoKitties, their NFTs are virtual animals that can be bred and sold. SLP is a token used to breed NFTs, while AXS is a governance token. The in-game battle winners are rewarded with SLP, thus it is a play-to-earn game.
Ways to earn from an NFT game
There are many ways to earn from an NFT game. Every project has different features and allows players to profit from different sources. This is a short list of ways you could potentially generate income from a blockchain-based game.
1. Earn from playing the NFT game
The most intuitive way to earn from crypto games is by engaging the game itself. All play-to-earn games have this function but there are different ways you could earn.
For example, in Pegaxy you own a horse and put it to a race. Winning a race sends you a small amount of PGX token to your wallet. Since starting a horse race is free (although the horse itself must be purchased), it is not gambling but comes close to it.
Mars4 is striving to create an exciting game with a play-to-earn mechanism incorporated into it. It is a 3D survival game that allows players to visit Mars without leaving the comfort of their homes. Explore the planet, collect resources and construct various buildings - all while earning MARS4 dollars.
In Mars4 players get rewarded for completing missions for others. For example, driving Mars4 vehicles around the Red Planet, transporting various goods and collecting money from doing so. Cooperation is encouraged and colonists have roles that help them to find tasks and excel at them. You can find the full list of roles in the whitepaper.
2. Earn from reselling your assets
Another way to earn from an NFT game is by buying NFTs and then reselling them at a higher price.
This earning scheme is popular with all NFTs, not just in-game assets. There are many news articles about NFTs being sold for outlandish prices (for example, one of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was sold for 569 Ether) and in most of these cases, these NFTs are being sold for a way higher price than they were purchased for.
Selling your Mars4 assets is one way to earn. Firstly, you can trade and sell various in-game resources that are used for survival on Mars or to upgrade and polish up your buildings. These can be mined from your land, so to start earning you need to own an interactive Mars4 land plot. After you do, you can explore your land with an exploration vehicle to unlock various resources: all lands have different materials inside of them.
Secondly, you could resell your NFTs for a higher price to make a profit. Right now, Mars4 land plots are locked but you will be able to resell them later on. This feature prevents the land from losing its value before the full NFT game is released and is incorporated to protect early investors. While the demo is available already, the lands haven’t reached their full potential yet - but with more than half of them sold, it is a great time to purchase your piece of Mars as the prices are bound to increase when all of the lands are sold.
Mars4 is also preparing ways players can increase their land value by playing the NFT game and cultivating their lands. For example, players are able to increase the land value by mining its resources, constructing various buildings and terraforming it.
Mars4 offers other in-game NFTs such as vehicles. These assets are also scarce as they come in limited amounts. The first in-game NFT that has been launched is Caripen GPRV, an exploration vehicle that allows landowners to unlock the resources of their land. There are fewer Caripen GPRV than land plots, thus making them highly attractive for investors who are looking for a long time investment. Since they will be needed to unlock resources on land plot NFTs, they are an essential tool for Mars exploration and can generate yield for players.
3. Earn from creating assets
Many metaverse-oriented platforms include an option to earn from your own creations. The concept is similar to virtual worlds such as Second Life or Imvu as they allow players to create custom content and sell it to others.
This feature applies to many NFT games. For example, on The Sandbox, players are encouraged to create custom items and sell them to other players. In addition, players have an option to develop custom experiences on their NFT land. Owners can charge visitors and earn with little to no maintenance after completing the project.
Mars4 is planning to develop a toolkit that players can use to create various cosmetic items. These items could be used solely by you or you could choose to sell them to other players.
4. Earn from holding NFTs
The innovative way to earn from an NFT game is simply to hold the NFT and collect passive income. Keep in mind that not all NFT projects have this option.
Mars4 is one of the projects that allow holders to collect a part of the project's revenue. It is possible because of the community pool, a mechanism integrated into the Mars4 economy that allows NFT owners to get passive income regularly.
A part of Mars4 revenue goes into the community pool. For example, if someone buys land on Mars, 20% percent of the income goes into the community pool. The community pool collects funds from many sources: from sales to advertising, every time Mars4 makes money, a part is set aside for the investors. Landowners open up the community pool by voting. This leads to the redistribution of the pool's content to all NFT holders. That way Mars4 NFTs are comparable to stocks that grant owners dividends.
The amount you would receive from the community pool is calculated based on the productivity score. This score is increased by owning Mars4 NFTs: the more you have, the higher is your score.
5. Rent out your NFT assets to other players
Some people do not have the resources to start playing an NFT game while others are not interested in gaming, only in the investment potential of the NFT assets. This is where renting NFTs comes in handy.
The scheme is usually pretty simple. First, investors put their NFTs for rent and pick players they think will perform well. Secondly, rentees play with NFTs and earn tokens from the game. Finally, a part of the income goes to the NFT owner, thus investors get passive income without actually playing the NFT game. This is how Axie Infinity's scholarship program works allowing players to start earning without investing a heap of money. After all, not all who want to fly are able to purchase a plane.
Mars4 also will be adding an option to rent out lands and in-game assets to other players. For example, if you do not wish to participate in the game, or simply have too many lands to manage them all yourself, you can choose a land manager who will cultivate your land for you. You will be able to control all the actions of the land manager and will be earning passively by collecting rent from them.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology allows participants to earn money for completing various tasks such as validating transactions. The introduction of NFTs allowed the creation of platforms that give power to the communities that take part in various activities.
One of these activities is gaming: now you can play an NFT game and earn money that could be used outside the platform. This way players are moving into the future where their hobbies can be financially beneficial. Mars4 is one of these platforms that allows players to earn both actively and passively.
You can start earning by becoming a landowner on Mars4 today.