Are Competitions the Future of Gamefi?
Blockchain gaming projects have breathed fresh life into the crypto world, throwing up an important use-case for digital assets at a time when wearable VR/AR technology is finally starting to mature.
Thanks to a succession of addictive mobile and web-based games, a generation of new users have become familiar with Ethereum, BSC, Avalanche and other distributed networks, competing to explore immersive worlds, acquire curious collectibles, and trade NFTs with other gamers.
Despite being in its infancy, gamefi has attracted a legion of players so far, with the most successful projects fully integrating earning mechanisms into their native economy, giving users a long-term stake in the project and creating a pipeline of revenue for blockchain networks and gaming studios.
Studios like Gamefox, which has partnered with software firm Kaopiz to create what it hopes will be a viral hit in the gamefi realm: Himo World.
The Heroes of Himo World
Himo World is a feature-rich NFT game built on Binance Smart Chain and available on web and mobile. A release that combines plenty of earning opportunities for intrepid players, Himo World is set in a mystical realm and offers match-3 gameplay complete with a strategy deck-building mechanism that ensures a tremendous amount of variation in terms of what players can create and earn.
There are four basic gems’ colors in the game – red, yellow, green, and blue – and every time you match the gems having the same color on the board, a hero representing the corresponding colour is summoned. A skill is duly bequeathed to the hero, and players can then use skill cards (each containing 4–5 different skills) to equip their legends with new abilities.
Multiple modes are available for gamers including PvE and PvP, and a native token ($HIMO) enables everyone to participate in the Himo World economy, trading heroes, items and skill cards on the open market. After winning battles, players also receive gold, which can in turn be used to purchase loot boxes that contain additional heroes, skill cards and items. Gold can even be ‘bundled’ with other assets and sold to the highest bidder.
Many gamefi projects are simply about locating items, claiming prizes, and trading. With Himo World, though, there are several unique dynamics. Because heroes themselves are tokenized as NFTs – and because their rarity and power depends on which skills the player equips them with – the game introduces the concept of create-to-earn. Thus, gamers can set about constructing the most formidable hero possible before selling it for a tidy profit on the marketplace. In turn, buyers can use the hero they acquire to generate more revenue for themselves.
Himo World’s Compete and Earn Model
As well as create-to-earn, another major source of income for gamers will be tournaments. In this “compete and earn” model, players do battle with each other to earn a share of the prize pool. A league format, meanwhile, will ensure that people of differing abilities can compete with their peers and still earn rewards.
The compete and earn concept leans on the popular esports model which sees fiercely competitive teams and players lock horns, sometimes in stadiums packed with spectators and live-streamed around the world. For Himo World, the focal point will be its tournament structure that brings together the best guilds in an attempt to both stand out and strengthen each team’s respective war chest. Additionally, tournaments will even allow participants to observe the battles, creating a fun and engaging competitive gaming environment for the whole ecosystem.
Himo World’s tournaments are open to both free-to-play gamers and their play-to-earn counterparts, though the biggest earning opportunities are understandably reserved for the latter. In point of fact, high-stakes players have greater opportunities to earn than others because their odds of receiving valuable skill cards are increased.
Incidentally, the brain trust behind Himo World refers to its model as play and earn, rather than play to earn. The Gamefox team’s belief is that the latter puts too much emphasis on earning, whereas Himo World is intended to be a platform that provides entertainment, enjoyment and interaction, in addition to its various earning mechanisms. In any case, tournaments provide an opportunity for gifted gamers to strut their stuff and have fun in the process.
Himo World demonstrates just how fast-moving the gamefi scene is. And a casual glance at the project’s ambitious roadmap reveals major plans for 2022, including the expansion of its ecosystem to include virtual real estate, staking systems, tournaments and extra missions. This is definitely a metaverse worth monitoring.
