Did you ever think to yourself as a kid or a teen "Man, I wish I could just be paid to play video games." That dream has arrived but reality has come with unpleasant lessons. I want to share my journey of painful loses and incredible wins so you don't fall for the same pitfalls I did!
Its important to promote some sane perspectives for when eventually all of us will experience the manic euphoria of P2E going mainstream.
Gods Unchained wasn't the first P2E game I came to, but so far it has been the most rewarding to me. WARNING: This piece isn't meant to hype you up for GU and any potential GAINS, if you feel hyped please remember to check yourself. This is also not financial advice, I'm not qualified to give such advice. This is all for entertainment purposes only.
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-I'm planning to record some videos on my experience doing P2E sometime in the future
Axie Infinity
Totals:
- Loss of ~$200 in ETH due to bad market timing, and transfer fees
- (1500 SLP stranded in Ronin)
Time spent:
- 1 month of grinding dailies 2 hrs a day
I gave Axie a try because at the time it seemed like the leader in the space and at the time its P2E was fully operational (unlike GU which at the time seemed like a game that was all promises but no rewards).
What drove me away from Axie was the lack of fun in the core gameplay loop. Even with good Axies it just felt like a slog and the gameplay wasn't diverse enough to keep my attention. Ultimatly I couldn't force myself to play daily or invest the time, money and energy into breeding and building a scholar base that would have helped me get better Axies.
Lost Relics
What happened:
Playing this game was like being lured by some wicked good looking sirens only to crash into the rocks and drown. I find it extremely easy to get adicted to ARPG's/MMOs and I went off the deep end with LR for sure. The market for Blockchain items tanked significantly when the game introduced easier "L2" solutions for trading items. So I bought the dip so I could be a badass baller with high tier gear - because for most of my life I've been F2P trash.
My investment thesis was that the game is still "early" in development and that when the game got out of pre-pre-pre-alpha that the awesome fun gameplay in subsequent patches will make people want to pay premiums for items to run higher tier dungeons and be able to earn more Block chain items and Shadow Stones .
The reality was that the games creator released several patches that DECIMATED the utility of most NFTs needed to play the game up to that point by introducing crafting of weapons for in-game resources/currency (so then why own NFT items?). OK granted virtual weapons don't have any effects that NFT items do - that still killed the market. The bubble burst though and the dip kept dipping…
I'm extremely soured on this game, not because its bad, it could still improve and go viral. But because my time investment was astronomical compared to the rewards being dished out.
I also found it essential to have an audio book/tv show playing while I grinded - or else
I would advise everyone avoid games that encourange "grind more" game design. They encourage bad lifestyle habbits, and it can be hard to walk-away.
I have a lot of thoughts on LR; if anyone wants a follow-on I'll be HAPPY to write an essay rant on my experiences
Gods Unchained
Time spent:
- 6 months around 20 hours a week; mainly playing ranked weekends and more regularly in Blessings of the Gods
Phenomenal. Mind you its nothing to live off of but considering I never made a cent playing Hearthstone or every game ever for that matter. I've been content to just hand companies my money unconditionally for years with no chance to get any resale value back from it. It’s a significant step up.
What sets this game apart from the others I've mentioned is that very rarely does this game feel like a grind. The core gameplay loop is enjoyable, I get a rush everytime I do well in weekend ranked, and the E-sports scene is ballin. And the engagement time the game demands for making impressive rewards is more than reasonable for people who want to play casually.
I would consider myself to be a bellow-average case in terms of earnings. I'm sure any people who've been here since Genesis have amassed a new Tesla's worth of money.
I have high hopes for GU's future and am continuing to hodl my GODS and IMX in anticipation of a moon mission in the future.
If you liked this write-up and want to hear more of my perspectives on P2E, follow me on Hive!!!
Special thanks:
All of the longtime supporters of my Twitch channel: CopperPitch, Flexrifle, ||otter||, TheProffessorF, BlackGaston, Lion_Unchained and others!