What is gamefi? Why are people engaging in it? How is sandbox dominating the market.

Imagine you found a perfect game with excellent gameplay and a flawless storyline, and to top it off; you can make money from it. Yes, real money can help gamers pay their bills, have amenities, and bring food to the table. Apart from that, imagine the in-game assets like skins, outfits, and weapons can be bought or sold in the real world and hence can be seen as an investment too. 

What we are describing here is the concept of GameFi- one of the hottest trends in Web3. 

GameFi, in simple words

The term GameFi itself refers to the play to earn blockchain-based, mainly decentralized games that offer economic incentives to players; this can be in the form of NFTs or cryptocurrencies that players can either hold, sell OTC, or in a crypto/NFT exchange for fiat. Typically, players can earn these rewards by completing predetermined tasks, battling other players, or progressing further in a game. 

All GameFi projects include a blockchain network that offers distributed ledger. With a distributed ledger, players can obtain verifiable ownership of digital assets they acquire from the game. GameFi is a unique combination of Gaming and Finance.

Many P2P services support many gamers to monetize their assets and experiences from the game. As of now, in its infancy, GameFi is widely referred to as all types of blockchain-based games or DApps. Many new and excellent projects are shaping the industry, capitalizing on the power of blockchain and creating fascinating value benefits for players. 

Industry leaders like Meta and Microsoft have already dived deep into the Metaverse. Since the rise of Axie Infinity last year, the concept of GameFi has seen real traction and adoption from gamers, investors, and institutions. Interestingly enough, the Play 2 Earn concept of GameFi spread across various platforms across consoles and phones. 

While the mainstream media continues to share the Metaverse part of the GameFi space and the stake of big traditional gaming and tech companies, they fail to mention DeFi, an increasingly vital part of the ecosystem. 

Role of DeFi in GameFi ?

The 'Fi' in GameFi comes from DeFi; GameFi takes finance into the meta territory were playing, creating, investing, and staking will be a rewarding experience thanks to DeFi. In addition, DeFi in the GameFi equation helps non-investors experience the incredible technology of blockchain and its values. 

Below are some of the most prominent use cases that DeFi brings to the table:

• All the vital DeFi features, including yield farming, lending/borrowing, and token minting

• Staking coins and NFTs

• DeFi's rewarding features can influence the direction of a game through the building part of a game.

• Since decentralization encourages control to be shifted to the users, DeFi helps gain governance rights by accumulating underlying tokens. 

Why are more and more players opting for GameFi instead of traditional games?

The Play-2-Earn concept

As mentioned above, gamers can earn money while enjoying what they do. The financial modeling of these P2E games is the biggest thing that makes them different from traditional games, where the primary source of income is through in-app purchases and advertising. Many GameFi games that offer in-app purchases also burn a percentage of these tokens making the tokenomics inflammatory.

Little to no cost to play the game

Most of the GameFi games are either free or very cheap and hence it makes them accessible to the general public instead of the traditional games, which mostly have upfront costs. 

Ownership and security

GameFi can ensure the security of its assets and NFTs as they are stored in the blockchain. In traditional games, the autonomy of all the gamer's purchases belongs to the developers/operators, and hence the players don't have a say on these matters. With GameFi, players can have governance or votes on the lifecycle and development cycles of the game. 

Moreover, in the event of a hacking, gamers won't be able to retrieve their purchases; this can't be the case with GameFi as these are blockchain-based decentralized games. 

A good way to enter the blockchain space

The blockchain, NFT, and crypto spade can be very complicated for many to enter; GameFi is a simple way to enter all the major blockchain trends while experiencing firsthand the power of blockchain. 

How to get started with GameFi?

       Create a crypto wallet

To access a specific game, you need to check what crypto wallet and blockchain network it is compatible with. Most games are generally compatible with MetaMask or Trust Wallet. Download it, make an account and store the seed somewhere safe.

       Connect the wallet to the game

To play a GameFi game, you will need to connect to your wallet

       Meet the prerequisites 

How is Sandbox dominating the GameFi space?

Sandbox, one of the oldest players in the game, is an interactive game where land ownership is the key theme. Sandbox enables players to make money from virtual properties. Players can buy digital real estate and develop those properties in order to make money. They can charge visitors as toll, host events, create content and rent out the customized land to others. 

Sandbox also has its own cryptocurrency: SAND, which was mainly created for GameFi. Sandbox was even reported to have $4 billion by Bloomberg; it has 300,000 active monthly users. 

What makes Sandbox different from other games is that it is built on its own blockchain. Hence, this blockchain lets users create their own DApps (decentralized apps) that can then be applied on the platform. The sandbox blockchain supports many transactions per second and is cheaper than most blockchains, making it perfect for games. 

Both the Sandbox game and its token have experienced a boom in the last couple of years since it displays potential for both players and developers, hence the massive market capitalization. 

Conclusion

Everyone in this world aspires to do something they enjoy as a job; GameFi provides a perfect opportunity for gamers to do what they love without worrying about putting food on the table. GameFi is not just another trend in crypto; it is here to stay.