The play-to-earn scheme, or P2E, isn’t a new idea by any means. It has been around in the gaming industry for a long time. It didn’t become as popular as it is now because there was no means for its implementation. However, it became a viable idea when non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies entered the picture. Sure enough, crypto gaming was, and still is, a hit. 

However, that doesn’t change the fact that crypto gaming by itself is still a relatively new trend, and as such, people have questions. Below are some of those questions and their answers.

A Brief Overview Of Crypto Gaming

Crypto gaming refers to playing games that use crypto coins as their in-game currency. It can be for recreational purposes, but people mostly play crypto games to earn crypto. 

Every crypto gaming platform has what they call a gaming token—the crypto that players spend and earn via the game. It varies from one game to another. AXS is the gaming token of Axie Infinity, MANA is from Decentraland, and SAND is from The Sandbox. Crypto gaming platforms may have a secondary token. SLP, for instance, comes from the same metaverse as AXS.

Each of these tokens has a corresponding price, supply, volume, and market cap. Different crypto games and platforms will have varying levels of profitability according to these factors.

However, all crypto platforms will have roughly similar prerequisites.

What Do You Need To Get Started?

The primary prerequisite to playing a crypto game is a crypto wallet. It’s where you’ll store the gaming tokens you earn through the game, and though you don’t necessarily need them immediately, it’s best to get them out of the way. You must first decide what kind of crypto wallet you want to create:

• Hot wallets are connected to the internet, meaning you can access them anywhere so long as you have an internet connection. Its main downside is that it’s vulnerable to cyberattacks.
• Cold wallets aren’t connected to the internet, meaning they aren’t as vulnerable to online hacking as hot wallets. Its main downside is that it’s not accessible since cold wallets are located on external hardware, like a flash drive or any type of storage drive.

Your choice depends entirely on your preference, though creating a hot wallet is advisable since you’ll need to access it frequently. Apart from the wallet, there are other prerequisites you must deal with, but that’ll depend on the type of crypto game you intend to play.

Types Of Crypto Games

There are generally two types of crypto games:

1. Free-to-play (F2P) games are those that you can play without putting in any amount of money. You simply play the game, and you may eventually earn crypto coins. F2P games tend to be less profitable than their P2P counterparts due to the lower risks. Examples of F2P crypto games include Gods Unchained, The Sandbox, and Chainmonsters.
2. Pay-to-play (P2P) games require some form of payment before you can get into the game, which, in the case of crypto games, is usually crypto. Just like other crypto games, you can earn gaming tokens through the game. P2P games are generally more profitable than F2P games since more gaming tokens or crypto are circulating in their metaverse.

Apart from their profitability, another difference between these two types is their prerequisites. As stated earlier, P2P games require some form of payment, though it’s not raw cash or crypto.   

Instead, the payment is the fact that you need a character. For instance, Crypto Prophecies is a game centered around characters called Prophets. You cannot play the game without an existing Prophet. You can only get one by buying it from the marketplace using the game’s crypto coin.

Axie Infinity operates in the same way. To play the game, you must first get three of the game’s characters called Axie, and you can get them by buying from other players in the marketplace.

How Do You Earn From Crypto Games?

Most of the “games” you’ll find online are more of a trading platform than an actual game. That’s because to earn crypto, you must buy an NFT and sell it for a higher price.   

It’s no different from what you do in a crypto exchange. However, genuine play-to-earn games have numerous earning methods, most of which you can do without paying money or crypto.   

Below are some examples of ways to earn in crypto games: 

• Complete in-game achievements or milestones
• Win a match against players (PvP) or NPC enemies (PvE).
• Become a top-ranked player on the leaderboards   
• Sell assets (e.g., lands, characters, pets, items, etc.) to other players 
• Provide in-game services (e.g., 3D modeling, coding, designing, etc.)   

Closing Thoughts

Crypto gaming is not for everyone, especially those with full-time jobs. It takes time to make a difference, and there’s no guarantee you’ll make a profit. It also takes skills and knowledge about the game and the industry itself. Though you cannot gain skills overnight, you can learn about the idea of crypto gaming quickly, and this guide should help in that regard.

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