A New Business Model Where Gamers Earn a Living Doing What They Love Best

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Today’s blog comes from Dean Anderson, commercial director at Dialect Inc.

As every entrepreneur knows having a true passion for something means knowing it inside out – becoming an expert. This is a worthy skill, particularly if the knowledge gained is used to improve the art itself. Anyone who’s tried to nail every challenge in Myst, complete the epic journey that is Dark Souls, or get the better of Mike Tyson in Punch Out!! on the NES, will understand the skill and dedication gamers have.

The Vital Role of Players in Games Development

Developers need dedicated players with the insight and experience to review their work and provide crucial feedback at different stages throughout the creation of their games. Players are also needed to create game mods and additional in-game content to extend the life of titles, and, increasingly, to help in the promotion of games themselves.

Adding Value Should and Can Be Rewarded

The time, attention and skills of players add significant value to the games industry, and I believe it’s time this value was fairly recognised and rewarded across the board. There are many sites that reward users with virtual currencies for various activities such as playing and reviewing online games. However, without being pegged to cryptocurrencies, these rewards can be used only on the site itself, or, at best, be converted into retail vouchers.

Thankfully, some platforms working to change this system by allowing anyone to sign-up and start making money. For example, Steemit is a blogging and social networking ecosystem fuelled by blockchain-generated Steem and Steem Dollars for creating and engaging with content.

Here are some existing businesses and platforms addressing the collaborative development and cryptocurrency rewards:

Platforms for collaborative game development:

Game Jolt: Allows individuals and teams to share their game prototypes and collaborate on development.
Cocos Creator: An engine and community platform for collaborative 2D game development.
Roblox Studio: Enables user-generated content within the Roblox platform, where anyone can create and publish games for others to play.
Gamechuck: A platform for developers to connect with artists, musicians, and writers to collaborate on game projects.

Platforms with player rewards and cryptocurrency integration:

Axie Infinity: A blockchain-based game where players collect, breed, and battle digital pets called Axies, earning the platform’s cryptocurrency (AXS) through gameplay and token ownership.
The Sandbox: A metaverse platform where players own virtual land and assets, podendo criar jogos e experiências próprias e ganhar os tokens SAND por participação e transações.
Decentraland: Similar to The Sandbox, Decentraland offers a virtual world where players can own land, create experiences, and earn MANA tokens through gameplay and trading.
Gala Games: A blockchain gaming ecosystem with various titles where players own in-game items and can earn GALA tokens through gameplay and participation.

Platforms that focus on building play-to-earn gaming economies:

Guild of Guardians: A mobile RPG where players own characters and earn $GOG tokens through gameplay and token ownership.
Illuvium: An open-world monster-collecting RPG built on the Ethereum blockchain, where players capture and trade Illuvials and earn tokens through exploration and combat.
Blankos Battlegrounds: A blockchain-based action brawler where players collect vinyl toy-inspired Blanko figures, each with unique abilities, and compete to earn BLANK tokens.

Finding Skilled People

To make it easier for developers to connect with the right players, players will be listed in a directory that details their skills and expertise. So, whether a player’s forte is in finding bugs, exploring every inch of a map, or knowing exactly how a game engine can be used to its full potential, they’ll be listed as such. As players make a name for themselves on these above platforms, they’ll attract more and more opportunities to work with developers.

Think about all that goes into the creation and promotion of a game, and it’s clear that a connected global talent pool of players could make all the difference. Experienced players are already making masterful additional content that can be used in a variety of different games, and players are constantly sharing social content around their favourite titles, but they have, until now, rarely seen financial rewards for their efforts.

The time, attention, and skills of players add significant value to the games industry, and I believe it’s time this value was fairly recognised and rewarded across the board.

A New Model

Players are able to establish themselves as third party developers, playtesters or micro influencers, and earn a living doing so. Communities have always been the lifeblood of the games industry and rewarding such community action is long overdue. This new model will be a revolution for the industry, and for the millions of dedicated players who have fuelled it for decades. Although there are already a number of ways for players to monetise their gaming skills and insight today, they all come with limitations:

Livestreaming – as soon as internet speeds allowed it, players began broadcasting their play sessions to thousands of transfixed users. Twitch is the most well-known platform, but it’s being rivalled by YouTube gaming. Charismatic players can also make ad and subscriber revenue through podcasting, vlogging, or creating detailed game guides. However, players can only make decent money by building a huge following and allowing ads to be run off the back of it. And due to the masses of competition, only the most popular commentators manage to make a living from such activities.

Tournament gaming – another way to make money solely from playing games, but you’ll have to be world-leading to beat the competition and win any cash prizes.

In-game currencies – these could be seen as evidence of players getting paid, but they are often redeemable only inside the platform and lack any real-world value. One of the few exceptions to that rule is the Sims-esque SecondLife. In this online virtual world, players are able to get a job or set up digital businesses to sell clothes, property and everything in between for Linden Dollars, which are exchangeable for real world currency. Amazingly, this really paid-off for one person, Anshe Chung, who became a millionaire via her SecondLife virtual assets.

Playtester – arguably the most sought-after way to make a living from gaming is by becoming a playtester. Its popularity makes for fierce competition, and jobs are offered only by multinational studios, or in piecemeal form by agencies. Playtesting is also quite an isolated process, with no real opportunity to work directly with developers to co-create and promote games, or even interact with them in a positive way.

In the future, I imagine a system where players are financially rewarded for their contributions to the video games industry as a standard – a worker’s right. The fruits of their labour, such as additional content, will be protected by smart contracts, securing the ownership and licensing of such digital assets.

Eventually, skilled players will benefit from financial rewards offered for playing and promoting games, creating content of all kinds, and also for collaborating with developers. It’s a fairly new model that’s picking up pace, with many players making a good living, just by playing games.

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