With recent shifts towards decentralization, the future of minting virtual money looks shinier than ever as blockchains push the digital world towards embracing new methods and strategies. Yet, we are often left to wonder precisely what the future has in store. This piece takes a look at how virtual reality in its ubiquity could broaden the horizons for monetization like never before.

Why Monetize?

The year 1999 saw the release of a bizarre film involving a celebrity game-designer whose invention of a rather terrifying video game so effectively plugs players into its virtual world that they lose all definition of what is real and what is video game. Players interact with the game with the help of a game pod — an organic kidney-shaped device grown from amphibian DNA that plugs into a BioPort at the base of the spine using a cable that closely resembles an umbilical cord, and plunges them into the lucid depths of their own psyche.

Unsurprisingly classified as body horror, eXistenZ, as the game and the film are called, features a fictional yet distinctly troubling premise in which biotechnology and virtual reality are at the violent receiving end of fundamental fanatics — realists who proclaim “Long live realism!” while venting against the distortion of reality caused by these games — a critique that has historically been handed to all forms of art, and not merely video games.

The strangest part of the film, however, is its almost prophetic revelation of a world only a few decades into the future. A brief glance at the technology we have at our disposal today reveals only the ability and potential to craft our own simulations, create our own worlds, and forge entirely new realities. Call it what you will, but as we progress through time, there will come a stage when our version of the world will be akin to being encapsulated in a virtual world — perhaps without even our knowing.

But how does this have anything to do with monetization?

A still from the film

When video games gave us virtual worlds, our relationship to the digital domain was built upon our relationship to the real world. Thus, a mental possessiveness with virtual avatars, objects, and roles came only naturally. Virtual communities only served to solidify this relationship between player and game, sometimes giving digital bits of information far more significance than the real world.

Whether this relationship is cause for concern is a matter of constant debate but to the chagrin of realists, there is much evidence that points to the benefits of virtual reality.

Video games have always excelled in their ability to seduce us and blur the line between what is real and what is virtual. Most people may have a very clear line of distinction when it comes to defining the two, but ever so gradually, that description has turned increasingly challenging. When we do cross that fine line, we better have a good reason, and the promise of profit for everyone involved seems to be the best reason of them all.

Monetize Everything

The monetization of video games is not a new concept. While games and the concept of play have existed far longer than mankind itself, the commercialization of games has been a facet belonging only to human civilization. Before the age of video games, micro-transactions, and coin-operated arcades, games required specific materials and objects, all of which required tools to craft. Think of the work that went into creating intricate chess pieces. Since crafting often required the abilities of skilled labour, it meant an opportunistic source of income for the craftsmen involved.

Historically, games have always been not only a source of entertainment but also a fountain of value. In the likeliest of scenarios, this will not change. What will change is the form our games take and the way they generate income. Not many people who played the first iteration of a coin-operated version of Tetris or Pacman would have guessed the future variations the games would take, nor the blossoming economic incentives to produce those variations.

Today, we have only to look at the dozens of different avenues for game developers to generate income to realize that these paths all branch out; from traditional sales, in-game purchases, trading, marketing, subscriptions, advertisements, merchandising, and from all of their permutations and combinations — if it’s a playable game, it will make money.

With cryptocurrencies and blockchains, there are now more ways than ever for developers to chart new business models and test new avenues for success and growth. The obverse of which is, of course, the player who makes a living purely out of gaming. As we’ve seen earlier, there is no reason to doubt that the professional players of today will find an expanding circle of individuals to inhabit digital worlds. The possibilities opened up by decentralization and blockchains only seem to make gaming more and more viable.

Minting the Future

When David Cronenberg was writing eXistenZ, he evidently had a clear vision of where virtual reality was headed. In his words, “all reality is virtual,” and whether you choose to buy that or not, it is no longer a question of if but when our confrontation with immersive virtual reality will truly be realized, though the outcome will likely be far more utopian when compared to what the film has conveyed.

In a future where virtual reality is omnipresent, a generation of human beings already adapted to the ebb and flow of binary information may find it utterly indistinguishable from the natural world. With that may come a time when the so-called “Leisure Economy” becomes not only essential, but a grave necessity.

For all this to work, however, a robust system of monetization is of utmost value. Platforms such as Blockhub are working on opening the doors and bridging the gap between traditional gaming and future economies. With its use of cryptocurrencies for direct and instant payments, integration of multiple games, applications, and services onto a single platform, and native support for virtual reality, Blockhub looks more than capable of laying down the foundation for the future of decentralized virtual reality.

However, to soothe the nerves of any radical realists reading this, let me end with an excerpt from a recent scientific study:

“Our study highlighted the positive aspects of purchasing virtual assets for the gamer. They are able to feel connected socially, feel confidence in themselves and their success, express their inner and ideal self without constraint or fear, build lasting relationships, impress people, and generally benefit from gaming…” — Dr. Mark D. Griffiths [Source]

… all the while making a quick buck.