What the Heck is Enjin?

Remember the beginning of this article, when I mentioned that personal computers were poorly understood and were considered a quirky fad?

Same can be said for blockchain — an emerging technology that will likely disrupt every single industry.

Enjin is just that — a blockchain-based platform that’s hell-bent on disrupting the game industry.

So how can blockchain tech make sure that a game is fair for everyone?

I could talk about technical details and use industry jargon. That might bore you, or confuse you, or both.

Instead, I’ll tell you a story, a hypothetical scenario of sorts — and hope that you’ll understand “the how” while being slightly entertained.

Part I: Bonescars

Enter the science-fantasy world of Bonescars: Dying of the Star.

Set on a post-apocalyptic world aeons into the future, Bonescars is a blockchain-based MMORPG where thousands of players use magic—and science in their never-ending quest to survive, vanquish and conquer.

The world of Bonescars seems like a never-ending plane—yet, it’s actually a Dyson Sphere, a gargantuan shell constructed around a lapis-colored star.

And the star is dying.

What used to be a relatively peaceful realm erupted into anarchy and bloodshed as aeons of perpetual light were interrupted by hours of darkness. Then days. Then weeks, which brought famine.

Famine brought war.

Empires fell apart, republics disintegrated and city-states burned.

Denizens of this fragmented world banded together — some in an effort to subdue others, some in a struggle to unlock the secrets of magic.

A few walk the path alone, looking for ways to save their dying star.

Part II: The Magesmith

Joey started playing Bonescars a few weeks ago. He’s loving the game — the epic scenery, the blue star flickering in the sky, the well-thought class system.

He’s playing as a Magesmith, wandering and exploring the world while crafting and enchanting items for adventurers he meets along the way.

Joey is making a name for himself, as he’s solely focused on improving his crafting and enchanting stats, ignoring everything else. He even attaches a short and creative backstory to each item he crafts, making it unique in a special way.

Pretty soon, the items he’s crafting are extremely sought after, costing thousands upon thousands of in-game currency coins called starshards.

Joey did not spend a dime on the game, as he’s 20, broke, and has plenty of time to play. Some of his friends did jump in and got themselves cosmetic items and some upgrades that give them convenience, but not any real advantage over non-paying players.

Bonescars is a fine-tuned, balanced, free-to-play game — not a pay-to-win, money-grabbing machine, after all. And players are loving the game because of how fair it is —besides being set in an epic world.

Hell, they can even get a significant portion of the cash they spent back, in case the game bores them. All it takes is a mobile app, a few clicks and bam — they can easily convert starshards into Enjin Coin, and use them for another game.

Meanwhile, Joey is actually making money while having fun, playing his new favorite game. The game grew so popular that starshards gained an intrinsic value of their own — and the items he crafts cost a fair bit. Easy to use mobile app, couple of clicks, and Joey got himself some old-school, cold-hard cash. Obviously, as a gamer, he’s spending most of it on new gaming hardware.

To give Joey some credit, he did take out his girlfriend for a bunch of fancy dinners and got her some cool gifts.

Part III: Primordial Tales

Designing in-game economies is hard.

The crew at Primordial Tales, the indie game development studio with team members in Sweden and Estonia knew that when they set on creating Bonescars, the magnum-opus of their creative work.

It started slow, in the beginning. They were among the first to try out the Enjin Platform, figuring it might lead to some interesting design decisions.

Couple of hundreds of players wondering their virtual creation in the first week. Primordial Tales played safe, at first — letting players get 50% of what they spent back, in case they want to melt their items away.

They decided to reward all players who ask their friends to join the game with a bit of starshards, if only to see what would happen.

The game exploded, first on 9gag, then on Imgur. Went nuclear on Reddit. Pretty soon, with tens of thousands of new players registering every week, the team decided to go all in and let players get 100% of the value they spent back, if they chose to do so.

The players loved it.

True Item Ownership

What’s the catch? The big deal?

How does this blockchain thingy changes things?

See, when I get a sword, a space gun, a spaceship, a plot of land, a whole freaking planet in a game — that stuff is not really mine. I don’t have an easy way to sell it. Could be that I’ve spent 20 bucks on a rifle that nobody wants to to buy. I can get easily scammed.

If the game servers shut down, all of my hard-earned or paid stuff is gone puff in smoke.

Seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?

What Enjin does, among other nifty stuff, is make sure that gamers actually own the stuff they earned or paid for. It’s theirs. Even if the game goes bye-bye, they still own the items.

Even if nobody wants to buy what they’re selling they can still get a portion of the value back, and it’s never under 50%. Depends on what the game developer chooses, really.

Meanwhile, while game developers can build their games using the Ethereum blockchain, the platform is not really handling even the simplest of games all too well.

Besides that, building a custom blockchain solution that can support a, let's say, MMO or a MOBA would take a lot of time and resources even for AAA companies.

And have no doubts—blockchain is the future when it comes to gaming.

The Future of Gaming

So, we’re building the Enjin Platform, an easy-to-integrate, easy- to-use blockchain gaming platform that benefits everyone.

Gamers who are not being ripped off, are protected from fraud and actually own what they earn or pay for.

Developers who get an already built, functioning, well-thought blockchain gaming solution which opens up a more profitable way to monetise their game and engage and grow their user base.

Gaming communities that can thrive centered around the in-game economies.

My hypothetical story about a game, a gamer and a game studio is just one short example of the possibilities that Enjin can help make happen.

I have no doubts that talented developers across the world will think of a myriad of creative ways to apply the tech to everyone's benefit, and to be perfectly honest, that’s something I’m really excited about and looking forward to.

Thank you for sticking until the end of this article —I know it’s a long read but I hope I was able to capture your imagination. In case you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to leave a comment.