“The year is 2300 a child is at his grandfathers death bed, the old man with his last breath reaches out with a small piece of paper and hands it over. The child with a tear in his eye opens up the paper, it contains a code, scanning this code with his {insert futuristic alternative of smartphone here} the legendary rare and thought to be lost SWORD OF SATOSHI blockchain game item is revealed (and it’s in mint condition)”

I enjoy developing games but if I am honest I don’t always enjoy playing them.

Life is short, time is precious and although games are fun and I want to play I can’t justify the time and effort needed to play them when it could be spent on something more productive such as sport or music. I’m not here to criticize games or gamers but there is a missing piece to the puzzle.

I have a friend who often plays a popular MMORPG although he doesn't seem to enjoy it. On asking him why he is still playing he responded “Well I can’t quit now I will lose all of my achievements”.

These games are making a transmission from the digital space to the real world. Like the real world people can socialize, people can earn value in the form of experience points, items etc. Unlike the real world this value is non transferable, every gamer has to make the choice to abandon all the work they put in when leaving the game for a new one.

This is understandable, it is impossible to give digital items value as they can be copied, the only way to ensure a digital item has value is to keep this digital item in a closed system a walled garden that is regulated by a central party. An online game regulates and controls the amount and ownership of a game currency and the game items. This works in ensuring its value but it also has the added consequence that the game currency or game items are only been available in that game.

Bitcoin and the Blockchain offers a solution to this problem.

Most readers may see bitcoin as a currency, but that is the analogous to saying that the internet is email.

Bitcoin is a way to have valuable digital items that are not controlled by a central party.

Now for the first time you can have a game item, that is rare, that is valuable and that it not controlled by a single game company meaning it can be used in other games. A sword you earn in Final Fantasy could be used in League of Legends, a currency you earn in SaruTobi could be used to buy a coffee at Starbucks, your rare cards in Spells of Genesis could be traded and sold.

It is still early days and I don’t want to be guilty of “Bitcoin is revolutionizing X” click bait, but I am optimistic. Although I am not sure how this will exactly pan out I imagine that it could start with games rather than copying popular titles, will instead try to attract their users by allowing them to use the same game items.

These seeds have already been sown.

Spells of Genesis is an upcoming blockchain based card game, all the game items are blockchain assets. In order to attract SoG players I have allowed the use of SoG cards in my own game SaruTobi. SoG players can also use the blockchain based SaruTobi game currency SARUTOBI coin to buy the SaruTobi SoG card. Although I admit it is a rather primitive and messy implementation this cross integration offers extra gameplay to the SoG and SaruTobi players as well as acting as a proof of concept.

With the emergence of smart contracts and Bitcoin 2.0 protocols I think we can expect a new wave of innovation which will help players monetize their gameplay and also relieve the frustration of losing value and justifying time. Games will be forced to keep players interested by gameplay and enjoyment alone rather than holding players “hostage” through experience points and levels.

In the not so distant future we may see the first digital antique dealers, rare item collectors and treasure hunters.