Without mass adoption crypto currency will end up being a feat of engineering never used.
Path to mass adoption is not just about finding “use-cases” it’s about identifying the use-case with the least resistance and widest appeal.
I think these guys are onto something:
Particularly the point they make about “gaming being a very smooth on-ramp for crypto” – I may not own any crypto, but if I play a game that has in-game-assets plus a marketplace to sell them, it’s only a matter of time before I “find” something in the game I can sell for crypto. At which point I own some of the crypto currency used by the game.
I don’t know how Emurgo or CF feel about gaming, obviously IOHK is more about building the underlying network. I hope someone is thinking about and promoting use-cases (even if they don’t agree with me about this particular one), otherwise there is the chance of ending up with a wonderfully engineered white elephant.
I can think of two (kind of) distinct use-cases for crypto in gaming 1) buying/selling in game items 2) gambling (casino style, or player-2-player style; http://corp.skillz.com).
For a game developer to use a crypto currency, it would have to be made very easy for them… I’m thinking you would need a simple wallet that they could integrate into their games. Not a wallet like we think (daedalus, infinito) but a simple plugin for their platform. All it needs to do is receive, spend and remit funds. No passwords. Just one address.
Games can be made for desktop or mobile, I don’t know anything about desktop games; for mobile these are the platforms: unity, corona, unreal, GMS. Each one would need a plugin.
That’s a minimum, ideally you would also have the tournamenting functionality, like skillz or amazon-gameon, there are probably other things - I haven’t really thought about it beyond this.
What do you guys think?
Is gaming the on-ramp for mass adoption in crypto - or are there better use-cases out there?