Why casual gaming is crucial to Web3
Casual games have proven to be the “Trojan Horse” of user engagement and adoption of new technologies and platforms. When the iPhone first launched, the popularity of gaming on the device caught Apple by surprise. It was (and is) the number one app category. Hyper-casual games have dominated the app game charts for years. When Facebook launched to a wider audience than college campuses, it was casual and social games that helped them breakthrough to wider audience demographics that became crucial to their future.
The appeal of casual games has always been in their ability to provide a welcome diversion, a few minutes of focused distraction as a way to de-stress. It's a way to pause, decompress, a snackable digital reward. This interest extends to Web3 casual gaming, which has all the features of traditional casual gaming and also features decentralisation and improved monetisation options. While a lot of the buzz and attention in Web3 gaming was focused on bold metaverse ambitions, the secret to onboarding a wider population into Web3 resides in simple, familiar and instantly rewarding experiences that casual games provide.
Winning NFTs in casual games
It can be a thrilling and rewarding experience for players of Web3 casual games to earn NFTs as a form of digital reward. NFTs are desirable due to the fact that they are unlike other types of virtual goods; they can grant you membership to an online tribe, they can give some bragging rights, they can be staked, they can be sold.
When players win an NFT in a game, they receive not just the satisfaction of a job well done, but also a real-world asset that can be utilised to flex and flaunt their gaming ability and enter Web3 communities that may have previously been off limits due to price. Winning and holding NFTs from a Web3 casual game increases the fun and satisfaction of playing by a significant margin. Awarding NFTs as prizes also democratises NFT ownership, by giving anybody the opportunity to obtain a digital reward that may have previously been economically out-of-reach.
Web3 technology could radically alter casual gaming
Casual gaming on the blockchain also has the potential to shake up the established gaming industry by giving players greater control over their play sessions, lowering entry barriers, and giving game designers more freedom to produce new and exciting content. It also provides players with true ownership of the assets they earn and purchase, whereas in non-web3 gaming, these assets are fundamentally the property of the publisher.
In Web 3, the owners of these assets can trade, sell them, trade them, and use them in other games. These features make Web3 casual gaming an appealing choice for people in search of a fun, interesting and in some cases, profitable diversion.
Web3's emphasis on user control and community building may give gamers a means to get more out of the games they love. In the case of casual games, spending time to beat the high score is a fun challenge, but when that high score can win a prize, it makes that investment of time seem all the more worthwhile.
Web3's potential to democratise casual gaming is also exciting. By eliminating game distribution and platform intermediaries and creating a fairer system, it changes the playing field. Without gatekeepers, developers and players can interact directly. This creates a more transparent and fair system where a game's value is based on its popularity and user engagement rather than a single entity. With Web3 technology, players can invest directly in their favourite games, which helps developers and makes sure that everyone gets a fair return.
Casual gaming is for everyone
Casual gaming is an excellent way to introduce the general public to Web3. Building games on the blockchain lets players win, trade, and sell NFTs, creating a thriving in-game prize market. This improves gameplay and opens new monetisation and investment opportunities in the virtual world. Players not only enjoy the game and the challenge of competition, but winning NFTs can open up entire new communities to them.
The future of casual gaming is full of innovation and growth. As Web3 technology matures, and players become more comfortable in the space, casual gaming will surely become more popular. Decentralising the gaming industry could allow developers and players more control over their experiences and new ways to interact and engage. As developers experiment with new ideas and push the limits of what's possible, NFTs, digital collectibles, and decentralised finance will likely spark a creative explosion. Casual gaming in the decentralised ecosystem has limitless growth and innovation potential.