Play to earn is definitely getting mainstream and there are probably quite a few around the world making a living, or some really nice side income from playing blockchain games, earning crypto and exchanging that for cash.
I was a bit interested in this concept lately and had an #askleo post that was supposed to collect information on Splinterlands so I can have a better understanding on the game and decide whether I should play it or not. The information was delivered by some of you around here and am grateful for that.
I'm not gonna play Splinterlands though. It's not because I consider it a back game, but rather because I would be a bad player and I'd definitely waste a lot of time on it having no fun at all. NFT games rely upon these so called cards that can "boost one user's power", thus it's not often that the best wins.
It's like playing an old school video game with cheat codes and beating the hell out of everybody, but your success not relying at all upon strong skills or experience. Nevertheless, you're beating the hell out of some folks by using the codes.
Same goes for blockchain/NFT games. Some do make good money out of this thing and my opinion is that currently those games are doing exactly what they're designed to do:make their users money. Not all of them will win, of course, but the ones "developing the kills" can jump from one game to another and put some nice powder aside.
Such games though are lacking "the fun factor". I checked Splinterlands and I checked Axi Infinity to, I have even showed them both to a gamer friend of mine and he asked for "the trigger". What do I shoot in here and what makes them fun? Well, you don't shoot anything, it's a different kind of game and this breed is still in its early phase. They look more like cartoons tbh.
I have no doubt that from an "earning point of view" these games are an opportunity, but at the same time they're proof that often times blockchains and what we do on the blockchain is too much oriented towards the financial side of things and less oriented towards that fun factor.
That doesn't mean though that blockchain games are bad for the industry. On the contrary, they're good "advertising banners" for both gamers and developers. The right persons will find out about this concept and will start working on it to make it fun too. The Metaverse will probably fix that.
It's fun to make money on the blockchain, otherwise I wouldn't still be active around here, but without the fun factor, many gaming oriented projects will fade out. Speculators, the ones that have the funds and invest early in NFTs that would grant them wins in the game will bounce from one game to another, collect their profits and move on.
Once the rewards will go beyond NFTs and any type of crypto that a player can earn, touching that fun factor in a soft manner, things will radically change and even I might turn towards gaming. I played quite some games when I was in high-school, but they were all fun. I wished I could win real money with them, but unfortunately haven't achieved that.
There will come a time, not so distant in the future, when gaming on the blockchain will be fun and rewarding at the same time. We're still early "in the game" though. Not everything has to be an NFT or cryptocurrency, although these shall be essential. The industry is still early, but that doesn't mean it's also wrong.
Thanks for attention,
Adrian