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When it comes to gaming, brands (and gamers) should think big and focus on fun and engagement rather than monetization. GAMING NEEDS TO CHANGE Web3 could be the answer, but only if it’s used

in the right way. The days of buying video games on floppy discs or CDs at physical stores, and taking them home to play alone in front of a console are long gone. The development of

broadband internet and virtual multiplayer gaming spaces opened up a whole new world for gamers interested in everything from fighting monsters to roleplaying as guitar gods. There’s no

denying that a modern massive multiplayer gaming experience is lightyears away from the 2D arcade game experiences that I grew up with, but I can’t help feeling that along the way, some of

the simple fun of gaming has been lost. Especially when studios realized that they could make money by creating sellable in-game items and essentially forcing players to buy them in order to

advance through the games.  A trend that started with “loot boxes” in games like _Overwatch_ eventually led to the controversial “play-to-earn” model used in NFT-based games like Axie

Infinity. Perhaps you remember Axie Infinity? For a while, it was considered a success story until it became clear that the game was being used as a primary income source by players in

developing economies. Not a great look. Missteps like these have given Web3 technologies (specifically NFTs) a bad name in gaming and for a good reason. Gamers are wary of having their

experience ruined, and many game developers are afraid of the sort of negative publicity that has resulted from poor or cynical implementations in the past. But ironically, if integrated

correctly, gaming and Web3 are a natural fit. A NEW VISION FOR NFTS IN GAMING It should be obvious by now that gamers hate it when studios take a traditional gaming experience and add NFTs

to it. For one thing, that kind of simplistic layered implementation turns them off, and it’s also far too short-sighted and risks appearing as a cynical monetization strategy (which it

usually is). That doesn’t mean that NFTs have no place in gaming, though. Instead of using them to simply facilitate in-game payments, why not employ NFTs as the building blocks of the game

itself? The _whole game_ could be made from layered NFTs, from backgrounds and environments to playable characters. I can hear gamers grinding their teeth right now, “mooore NFTs?” But bear

with me.  EDITOR’S PICKS What about making profile picture (PFP) NFTs playable in games? Animatronic NFTs (aNFTs) could be the answer. The aNFT format is something I’ve personally been

involved in for a while. It’s a novel approach to NFTs, allowing the artwork (structured as a matrix sprite) to be assembled and overlaid over a framework in order to seamlessly animate a

full-body character in a game.  In video game jargon, aNFTs can be thought of as “sprites.” Designed to be interactive and animatable, aNFTs can be programmed to move and have specific

properties and actions. They can be used in various ways, such as avatars for video games or custom NFTs for specific communities. A player could even create their own avatar and then

generate an animatronic, playable aNFT version to use in a game – most importantly, players can bring their characters from game to game, since they own them and the format is built for

compatibility — this is the actual promise of Web3 gaming. A FAIRER DEAL FOR GAMERS AND CREATIVES In addition to the creative potential of animatronic game sprites, NFTs can provide players

with genuine ownership over in-game items, unlocking a secondary market that they control and can benefit from. Contrast that to the popular Web2 game _Fortnite_, where players might spend

hundreds of dollars on “skins” that have no value outside of the game.  RELATED CONTENT The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and

Creatives. _DO I QUALIFY?_ On a Web3 gaming platform, video game artists get a better deal, too. An artist’s work (whether in the form of character designs, environments or backgrounds,

etc.,) could be tokenized, to be owned and sold by players as NFTs, programmed so the artist collects royalties in perpetuity.  Once in-game items like weapons, special powers and high-score

awards are tokenized, they could be used to unlock access to exclusive spaces, such as Discord servers for high-scoring players or special in-person events. Players could even create their

own private groups or guilds using DAOs. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the possibilities are virtually limitless.  EMERGING COMPANIES POISED TO CREATE MARKET-DEFINING EXPERIENCES The

“holy grail” of Web3 gaming is games that run entirely on-chain. Once this is achieved, game developers could completely control in-game economics and provide true interoperability between

games. Right now, most blockchains don’t have enough throughput to run games, but this is changing. Metaverse gaming company Star Atlas is currently testing _Escape Velocity_, a new on-chain

gaming experience based around loot-hunting, built on one of the fastest L1 blockchains. Meanwhile, several “layer-2” (L2) solution companies are actively working on ways of providing app

developers access to greater throughput beyond L1 blockchains like Ethereum. This could allow blockchains to support very data-intensive experiences like gaming, and free both game

developers and players alike from traditional gaming models. TRENDING STORIES In the short term, the kinds of games that would benefit most from being built and run on a blockchain are

“black box” contests like roulette or poker, where players need to trust the “house” that the game mechanics aren’t being manipulated, hands are recorded accurately and nobody is cheating.

Because a blockchain is an immutable ledger, it provides an ideal platform for trust and arbitration between strangers. Even away from the traditional models, Web3 gaming represents a

valuable opportunity for customer engagement in general, and not just for established gaming brands. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first truly market-defining Web3 game comes not from a

known developer, but from a brand with a fresh perspective. Such a game can’t just be a stunt; it will have to be gamer-centric and enjoyable to play. Once such a game hits the market and is

embraced by players, I predict that Web3-powered gaming will become a major growth area for brands of all kinds.