Exploring the world of the Hive blockchain games, features, and NFTs - Newbies Initiative Task 6

Why do we play games?

As children, we discover the world by playing different games, from hide and seek, catching, building sand castles, or climbing trees, whatever we do, we gamify it so it’s fun for us and our friends with whom we are playing. As we grow older, the desire to play games remains, but the games themselves evolve and are becoming more and more challenging.

When I was young, if I wanted to play any game I had to do it with my brothers, parents, or friends. There were no computer games, and mobile phones could only be used for calling and texting. Nowadays, the situation is completely different, there are so many online games, children don’t even meet to play.

Blockchain technology has opened up new possibilities in the gaming industry, advancing and revolutionizing the way games are developed and played. In this post, we will examine some of the unique features of blockchain games, explore some games within the Hive Ecosystem, discuss the meaning and the importance of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and finally review one of the games built on the Hive blockchain, called DCrops.

What makes blockchain games different from the other games you can play online?

With blockchain games, a new model was developed called P2E or Play-to-Earn. It allows players to earn coins and tokens that have a certain value in the real world by playing different games and performing tasks within them. This monetization allows players to get something in return for the time spent playing, except for the fun of the game itself.

Another distinction between normal online games and blockchain games is that players are allowed to truly own their assets (regardless of whether we are talking about new skins for your avatar, the equipment you can use, cards that you can hold, or other in-game elements). With blockchain technology, games that are built on top of them offer secure ownership that allows players to sell, buy, or trade among other players. Nowadays, it’s becoming more and more popular the ability to use these virtual assets across multiple platforms (blockchains and games).

What games exist on the Hive blockchain?

There are several games that have been built on top of the Hive blockchain. Here is the list of some of them and their in-game currencies.

1. SPLINTERLANDS - It's a collectible cards game where you make a deck and battle other players with the cards you have, the game has two tokens SPS and DEC
2. WRESTLING ORGANIZATION ONLINE- it’s a game simulating wrestling where you need to create your characters and battle other players, the token is WOO.
3. DCITY - it’s a card game where you develop a city and its infrastructure, the game has a token called DCITY
4. PSYBER X - it’s a shooting game that has a token called LVL
5. CRYPTOBREWMASTER - it’s a simulation of brewing and the token is none other than BEER
6. EXODE - it’s a space exploration, strategy game where you need to develop a settlement with gathered resources and battle with other factions, the game has a token EXOFUEL
7. RISING STAR - is a music-themed game where you manage virtual musicians and make them into stars, and the token is STARBITS
8. DCROPS - it’s a simulation of agriculture where you grow and manage different crops based on the season of the year, the token in the game is CROP.

The importance and use cases of NFTs in Blockchain Games

As mentioned previously, NFTs are a very important component of blockchain games, because they provide ownership of unique digital assets. They can be bought, sold, and traded with other players.

1. IN-GAME ASSETS - NFTs can represent valuable assets such as equipment, buildings, characters, weapons, or land. They have verifiable scarcity and ownership. They allow players to own them and utilize them within the game or across multiple games.
2. PLAY-TO-EARN MECHANICS - players can earn NFTs by playing the game and accomplishing certain achievements, as they can be traded and sold they allow players to monetize for the time spent playing the game.
3. COLLECTIBLES- as a digital collectible within a blockchain game, it can be acquired by playing the game itself, traded, and displayed. They also have different levels of rarity and based on it, different values.
4. VIRTUAL LAND- In some games, NFTs represent land ownership that players can own, build on them and develop as they like (or farm them). In some games, they can be used to build buildings and rent them out to other players.
5. CROSS-GAME OPERABILITY - in some cases, NFTs can be obtained in one game and used in another. This utility expands the use case of NFts and their value.

DCrops Introduction

It’s a Hive blockchain game where you can grow different plants, herbs, and trees virtually. I chose to try out this game because it allows players to make a move (plant something) and then they need to wait until the plant has grown enough in order to be harvested. You can play it once a day or once every couple of days, it’s not necessary to be all the time attached to the game and make sure you don’t miss something. I like that about this game, since I don’t have time to be playing any game for hours, every single day.

When you start the game, I recommend you check out the WIKI. It will explain to you what you need to do, where, and how.
The first step is to buy a plot of land or as it’s called in the game “average farmland” in the market, you can do it with SWAP.HIVE or CROP. I used SWAP.HIVE, because it means I only do one transaction (from hive to swap.hive) and I save money on the swap.

The next step is to buy seeds for any plant that grows in that season. There are 4 seasons, just like in the real world, however, in the game, each season lasts for 15 days. Keep that in mind when you are buying your seeds.

When I started playing the game (a few days back), it was summer. So I bought some oregano and basil and planted them on the farmland. Both plants are NFTs that I now own and can use every season. Oregano is ready to be harvested within 24h and basil is ready within 48h. Once the planting was done, I left the game, I can back the following day to harvest the oregano and I bought one more to plant it again. The reason why I didn’t use the same oregano I bought previously is because each seed has a cooldown of 15 days, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t reuse it in this season. I will have to wait for the next summer to be able to use it again.

With different plants, fruits, and vegetables you can create different products. For example, with tomatoes you can make ketchup, with wheat, rice, or corn you can make flour, with sunflower you can make oil, etc.

Within the game, there is also different equipment you can use, like an oven, furnace, fridge, etc. In order to build them you need to use different resources, like wood, iron, copper, etc.

I think the game is well developed and for now, I like it a lot and I look forward to exploring more and more of the game.

One more thing that I think is important, and I didn’t mention so far. Instead of buying individual items you need (like farmland, seeds, equipment, resources, etc.) you can buy different packs that include 3 cards, although you don’t know what you will get, at least one card is rare or better (epic or legendary) which is much more expensive and more valuable. Keep that in mind if you will start playing the game, and I hope I see you there.

^{All the images are taken from their respective websites, sources are mentioned below each image.
DCrops screenshots are taken from their website, here is the link.
The dividers used in the text are the property of thepeakstudio}