Hello there, this is Galbastiann!
A new era has begun a while ago and I'm sure you've already heard about blockchain gaming, crypto gaming or NFT games.
I have been playing video games since I was 5 and only stopped for short periods of time. As a casual gamer I have to say the new trend in regards to games is a complete overhaul in my point of view. I mean playing games and making some money in the process, in the comfort of your home, while in your bed, on your sofa, while enjoying a cup of tea? It might be a small gamer's dream.
One day I heard of the possibility to earn different tokens on the blockchain by playing games and I started my research. I have to be blunt and admit that I hit many walls in terms of time, funds or just knowledge. The projects I started looking into were already established projects, which are closing in quite fast to their maturity, like Axie Infinity. Even if you haven't looked into crypto gaming, you might have heard already of Axie. I can only discuss of what I know, because I haven't joined or supported the project in any way. Why? Well, the problem is usually the time you get in. The minimum investment for most well-known blockhain based games can sometime achieve values of over 500$, which for some, including myself, is a rock-solid obstacle. Especially if at first, you want to join and enjoy the game without being interested in the financial aspect. But hey, don't let that stop you. There are projects out there where the minimum investment is as low as 10$ or even completely free (Splinterlands, Clash of Streamers, Town Star). Keep in mind, that often, investments are ways for you to progress faster or support the project. If you got the means, why wouldn't you? After all, it is a project you enjoy and have faith in. Not a financial advice.
After many failed attempts at different projects, I have heard of Gala Games.
Gala Games, and here I will talk mostly about their Town Star game, is fun. The registration process is fairly straightforward and easy. Think of something like Farmville, Hay Day, but not quite. There are two types of servers PVE (monthly) and PVP (weekly). Either one you would join, you will be starting a new town, on different biomes, depending on the tile you selected on the world map. For each item you craft, you are rewarded with stars. These stars are the points that add up on your name on the leaderboard. On the PVE server, the stars or the leaderboard does not affect your earnings in any way. Here you can only earn based on Town Star NFT's bought and placed in your town, on a daily basis, each placeable awarding a different number of TOWN tokens, depending on the NFT rarity. On the PVP server, you are not required to have any NFT to earn, although you can place them and earn as on PVE, but you are competing in terms of stars. When I joined, all the players in the top 400 were awarded GALA tokens, based on their placement in the leaderboard. I have enjoyed the game and micro-management aspect of your town, but heads up, it requires quite some time to do it. But here is one example, where you can earn with no investment. Because of the limited time I had, I parted ways with Gala Games and Town Star. There are many games still in development from the team, feel free to check their website at : https://app.gala.games/ . If you would like to use a referral code and can't find any, I will drop mine here (there are no bonuses anymore for joining or inviting players) :6197603a0a87db60e898d2ef .
Next project I have heard of is.... you might have guessed it, Splinterlands!
Splinterlands is just as easy to join. A card collectible game, we all love these. The art style is nice, the game is based on the Hive blockhain. You are greeted with basic sets of cards, which are core cards that can get you quite far but everyone has them. The collectible cards come from packs bought, from chest or bought from the marketplace from other players. What I really liked about Splinterlands is that they have a rental system in place, which is huge. The buy walls of over 500$ can crumble down when you have a good renting system set-up. I would like to see more blockhain games implement this. A minor incursion for Splinterlands, but this is for the sake of preventing bots, is that you need to buy a 10$ Spellbook which will open up the game for you (daily quests, reward chests and even DEC token for your battles once you reach Bronze II). Now that I mentioned Bronze, you need to know there are ranks in this game, like most competitive games have. The ranks are limited not only to your skill, but to your collection power as well. This makes it a bit harder for newer players to rank up. What you can do, is rent cards to increase your collection power and unlock the higher ranks, with improved rewards. Their website is: https://splinterlands.com/ You can try it out. See if you like it. Again, if you would like to use a referral link: https://splinterlands.com?ref=galbastiann .
To sum up, after some research, you can and will find nice projects to join even if you have limited funds or don't want to start investing just yet. The start is rough, I know, but it is worth it with so many great games out there!