Nowhere is the benefit of blockchain technology more obvious than in the gaming industry. With blockchain game developers are going to be able to do all sorts of cool things that were never possible before. With that in mind let’s take a look at three of the most exciting use cases for blockchain and how it’s going to take gaming to the next level.

1 – Provable and Transferrable Ownership of In-Game Items

Traditionally in-game item purchases have only been recorded on the gaming company’s servers. That’s meant that ownership can be altered at the whim of the company or an item could be lost if the servers crashed or were hacked.

Also, if a player wants to sell an item there is not always a definitive way to prove to prospective buyers that they actually own what they’re claiming to. Blockchain is going to change all of that.

With a blockchain enabled game, when a player buys something in-game that purchase will be recorded on a ledger and preserved forever (in the cryptocurrency ecosystem this is referred to as immutability). A player will never have to worry that their item will be lost and if they want to sell it, proving and transferring ownership will be simpler than it is now.

2 – A Common Currency

Many games have one-off proprietary currencies. For example, Linden Dollars from Second Life cannot be used in Fortnite which uses V-Bucks. However, there’s no reason why a game’s money has to be limited like this. What’s likely to happen in the coming months and years is that game developers begin to adopt a cryptocurrency as their in-game money.

Once that transition has taken place it will be seamless to transfer money from game to game. Furthermore, players will no longer have to leave money on the table if they want to stop playing. They’ll be able to instantly transfer their cash reserves to a new game or, since they’re using a cryptocurrency, spend it on the internet.

3 – The Enabling of Microtransactions

Unlike traditional credit card purchases blockchain is not limited by price. Because it enables free or nearly free transactions, gamers will be able to send microtransactions.

For example, two players could bet $0.05 on the outcome of a match or they could play penny slots at an in-game casino. With blockchain gaming the minimum amount of money that could be sent back and forth would be dramatically lower than what it is now. That would open up gaming to more people, bring more wealth into the ecosystem and ultimately improve the gaming experience for everyone.

Blockchain technology stands to benefit gamers everywhere as they’re able to immutably prove ownership of an item, use the same currency in different games and spend a few cents at a time. With these advancements, and more that we haven’t even imagined yet, it’s never been a better time to be a gamer!

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