The Web3 Adoption Hack: Why Gamification is the Best Way to Onboard More Users

How Web 3.0 Gamification Is Revolutionizing User Onboarding

The concept of Web 3.0 has been around for almost two decades now; however, while there has been significant adoption in recent years, this nascent area of innovation is still lagging compared to other niches such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).  

For context, the number of digital asset users is projected to hit 861 million this year; while it is a significant figure, it cannot be compared to AI adoption rates – close to half of the internet users around the world are now interacting with AI on a regular basis. 

On the brighter side, Web 3.0 has cutting edge which seems to be under utilised or used in the wrong ways, gamification. Think about an ecosystem where new participants are onboarded through gamified models, a good example of such an approach is Ambire’s wallet extension campaign, which is being rolled out through on-chain adventure game dubbed Ambire Legends. 

The idea of gamifying Web 3.0 onboarding introduces the aspect of psychological triggers, which means a more rewarding experience for the prospective users. Most people would be willing to try out a Web 3.0 innovation if projects were to include competitive structures such as quests, experience points (XP) and valuable rewards as part of the onboarding journey. 

A Lesson from the Success of Web 3.0 Games 

Although arguable, the inflection point in Web 3.0 adoption was in 2020 - 2021; at the time, we had new innovations spanning Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

The latter would go on to set the stage for the Web 3.0 gaming ecosystem, which recorded 7.4 million daily Unique Active Wallets (dUAW) in 2024 as per the latest report by DApp Radar. More importantly, Web 3.0 games have consistently ranked first in on-chain activity until recently when AI DApps started attracting more on-chain users. 

A major part of the success of the Web 3.0 gaming ecosystem can be attributed to the core idea itself – gaming. Crypto users who flocked the ecosystem in 2021 were after NFT-based games such as Axie Infinity which was the most popular game at the height of the bull run. But what exactly was the catch? While there was the thrill of completing certain quests such as breeding the Axies, most of the gamers were after ecosystem rewards, Smooth Love Potion [SLP] tokens. 

On-chain Rewards 

Let’s start with on-chain rewards; this approach to Web 3.0 gaming has been a topic of discussion, with some embracing it while others arguing that it focuses on speculation more than the gameplay. Both camps have a valid argument, but for the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on how rewards and the concept of true ownership have played a role in adoption. 

The reward model in Web 3.0 is different from that of Web 2.0 games; in this new realm, gamers fully own the in-game rewards they receive. This means if one was playing a game like Splinterlands and they receive the Splintershards (SPS) token, they have the flexibility to sell it through several CEXs and DEXs that have already listed SPS. In traditional games such as CoD and Fortnite, the game publisher retains the monetization rights to the in-game assets. 

Structured and Competitive Quests 

Competition is another factor that has kept players coming back to Web 3.0 games such as Gods Unchained – one of the most played games at the moment, with a transaction volume of $17.9 million over the past month. This trading card game includes several competitive quests, featuring 6 domains and 1800+ cards. Given the wide range of options, it is easy to see why Gods Unchained has been pivotal in the larger Web 3.0 adoption effort. 

Gamification Beyond Web 3.0 Games  

Can the concept of gamification be applied across other Web 3.0 niches to achieve similar if not better results? The simple answer is, yes. All it takes is for a project to gamify the onboarding experience like what Ambire is currently doing with its wallet extension campaign. 

To provide some more context, Ambire is the only non-custodial wallet that features hybrid support for Externally Owned Accounts (Metamask, Rabby, Zerion, etc) and smart accounts, otherwise known as smart contract accounts. This wallet recently launched its browser extension, alongside an on-chain game ‘Ambire Legends’ that is designed to give early testers of the smart accounts exclusive access to exciting quests. 

In doing so, Ambire hopes to make the onboarding journey more interesting by incentivizing the users to complete on-chain quests or tasks such as adding an existing wallet, bridging tokens worth at least $100 using the Ambire bridge, buying the $WALLET utility token and interact with a new contract. These are just a few of the gamified concepts that Ambire is incentivizing users to explore and learn; in return, they will be rewarded with XP points.

The higher XP level one climbs, the more chances they have of receiving a portion of the 195 million $WALLET set aside for this initiative. 

Conclusion 

As highlighted in the introduction, Web 3.0 usage is nowhere close to where it should be given the value proposition of decentralized technologies. Part of this is because of the existing gaps in UI/UX and the knowledge gap on how to approach Web 3.0. But more importantly, the process needs to be made more fun which is why gamification could be a solution to some of the current challenges in onboarding. After all, it is now evident that this concept doesn’t have to be limited to Web 3.0 games as it can apply across the larger crypto innovation space.