How to pick the best Play-to-Earn NFT Game for You?

Let's get real, Axie Infinity, the most popular Play-to-Earn (P2E) game, is not the best P2E game in the market today, gameplay-wise and profit-wise. There are better P2E games in the market. Either you hate or love us for posting this, but there are tons of awesome games in the market, depending on what genre you are interested in. Traditionally, there are tons of non-P2E games to choose from; from first-person shooter games like Call of Duty, role-playing games like Final Fantasy, arcade side-scrolling games like Super Mario, and more, but these games don't make money unless; you are a streamer, content creator, sell rare in-game items (from MMORPG games) to a 3rd party market. In e-sports, however, these games are fun and entertaining. As a gamer, you understand the value of these games from playing them for more than 150 hours to clear the game, unlock side stories, etc.

However, Axie Infinity's case generates money; thus, it creates lots of eyes and people interested in earning a profit. Many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic. It offered a lucrative reward at its peak, but this is the biggest issue in P2E, which we will cover later.

We also posted if P2E is about Ponzi; https://www.memetaverse.net/2022/03/is-play-to-earn-nft-game-ponzi-scheme.html

Before we start, how does a game developer earns? We buy their games or pay a subscription to play the game, and with the advent of mobile games, it evolved from subscription to free-to-play with freemium and/or pay to win games mechanics. Without money going in, games won't survive, and there is no point for game developers to invest their time, money, and energy to create AAA games. Some legendary games like Final Fantasy took more than a decade to make. You can't imagine how much money they spent to develop legendary games with a fantastic storyline. Hence definitely worth every dollar in buying the game.

A quick teaser from Aurory's battle system

How does P2E change the game? 

• P2E games use blockchain technology and are decentralized by nature, making you "partially" (which we will cover in a bit) the owner of your in-game characters or items, as you can store them in your personal digital wallet it is under your custody. However, when you play the game, it's still centralized as you need to "deposit" your characters in the game; hence we call it "partially" also, its utility and all rely on the developer if they decide to kill everything or end the project, the value of your NFT goes down or worst it will be totally useless and untradable.
• As for the reward system, since its using blockchain and cryptocurrency as its reward token, this is tradable, and you can quickly liquidate your in-game rewards into real money.

What to expect in P2E?

• P2E is a niche and should not be mistaken as a stable job regardless of how other game developers and media are trying to market it. WRONGLY, P2E, in general, is still at its infancy stage. As long as people keep cashing the rewards out and no money goes in, the game economy will collapse as it's not sustainable unless the game has multiple streams of revenue that can tank the reward pool and the game can stand on its own.
• A game will have winners and losers. It is not Christmas every day as people advertise on social media and video-sharing platforms.
• During the peak of P2E games last year, most P2E can generate a return on investment in a month or two. Still, with the current bear market, it may take up to 3 months or more depending on the performance of the project, as you also have to consider the rate of its token, e.g., Smooth Love Potion (SLP) from Axie continuously dips, the number 1 Binance Game "Bomb Crypto" (BCOIN) value was at an average of $3. Hence you can quickly recover your investment in a month and start earning in the 2nd month. Still, with the current market condition, BCOIN is currently at an average of $0.40 (as of this writing), and it will take months to recover. One way to get a better profit is to HOLD your rewards if you believe the project will go to the moon once the market recovers, but if not and you are already in the game, we created quick tips on how to survive the bear market from this link.
• You need to understand what network the game is going to use (e.g., Binance Network, Solana, Ethereum (ETH), Harmoney, etc.), as this will affect your game experience and earnings significantly, e.g., if it is in Ethereum, the gas fee can be very high (I've experienced around $30 for a gas fee when I was making a withdrawal). In contrast, if it is in Binance, the gas fee is less than a dollar. However, popularity-wise, games are more successful in Ethereum due to their rate, volume, and user base. Axie Infinity is also in ETH.

How to pick the best P2E?

• Look at your budget, and this should be the money you are willing to lose at some point. Depending on your budget range, start reviewing what network you are comfortable using, how to deposit, cash out, etc. If you're new, we suggest checking guides on YouTube about Metamask, NOTE: Don't get Fear of missing out (FOMO) from "influencers" or promoting games with very high income on YouTube and TikTok as most of these are paid by the developers, and sadly most of these are not valid.
• Are you here to play for fun, earn as a bonus, or earn 100%? Depending on your goal, you need to add a heavyweight on this as this will dictate how long you can play and or you will be in the game, don't get FOMO with high earnings as it will reach a peak. It will die down fast; hence it is not sustainable, but if you want to earn a passive income, you need to have fun while playing the game, so you won't get stressed with the payout, and you can save it until the value of your token is worth enough to cash out.
• IF you are looking for a fun game that's sustainable, you need to check the following;
• Review the whitepaper; is the game audited, and are the developers doxxed or publicly verified? Are they involved in the community like conducting Ask Me Anything (AMA), Townhall, etc., and what's their achievement in the past? Are they an actual company, and can they replicate it in the future based on their success?
• Check its community. Are we dealing with bots? How's the community manager or moderator? Would you fit in?
• Review the game if it fits your style and schedule. Will it allow you to play at your convenient time and have a work-life balance? Some games are grindfest by nature and built for bots, e.g., to get a return on investment, you need to play every hour, 24/7
• Check the use-case of their tokens. Will it have enough burning mechanism to keep the game going? We also reviewed games that rug pulled or scammed their investors from this link. If you missed this article, we strongly suggest taking a quick review as it may help you avoid getting scammed by developers and save you money.
• IF you are here for money, it's best to invest your money somewhere else (for now), as there are no guaranteed earnings in P2E. It fluctuates every day. It would be best to invest in top cryptocurrencies like Cronos (CRO), Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, and stake to earn passive income or learn to trade. Playing games, in general, is to have fun and be entertained. Still, as gamers playing online games, we usually invest and dedicate most of our time to play. Hence earning is a bonus, and if the economy is stable enough, a game job might be a reality.

 

Tips in P2E and crypto:

• If you are earning lots and can see P2E as a potential side hustle, investing in a hardware wallet to store your hard-earned money is best. We strongly suggest getting a Ledger or Trezor for maximum security.
• Never provide your seed or passphrase key to anyone. No admins and game developers will ask for your keys. Take note that you can't recover anything once your wallet is compromised. Nobody can help you unless you can trace and report them to your local authority.
• Don't ever click nor entertain anyone asking you to verify your game account or wallet. All of these are BS. The same goes with airdrops; ultimately, they will ask you to sign in to your digital wallet and steal your assets.
• Avoid using public wi-fi and invest in VPN or use your own internet. 
• Invest in good anti-virus security for your Desktop and Mobile devices, continually learn, and don't be a victim 😊Cheers!