Yield Guild Games: Creating a New Era of NFT Sharing Economy

With the outbreak of COVID-19, more and more people around the world are trapped in their homes. Some have lost their jobs, others have wiped out their savings, and each is looking for a better way to live in the world.

Have you ever thought about playing games for a living? In the traditional game industry, the only "players" who could make money were esports players at first. Later, the development of live streaming enabled players who were also highly skilled but not professional to make a lot of money through live streaming, and the rest were players who lived in the "gray zone".

When you want to quickly increase your level in a game, or you want to earn a lot of in-game currency quickly, but you don't have the time or the laziness to play by yourself, a lot of people turn to a "goon". Some gamers hope to make money while enjoying the game, so they will take orders and become "hatchet men". Although this practice has been banned by several game companies, the lack of effective supervision has led to the rapid development of this "grey industry", which has now evolved from a single "goons" to a "game guild".

Have you ever played blockchain games? Blockchain games tend to be less polished than traditional games, but they can also attract a large and loyal following, thanks to the ownership of game assets that NFT gives players and the unique "earn as you play" model. The "earn as you play" model has given anyone the chance to make money or even make a living playing Games, and has spawned a number of "chain game guilds", one of the best being Yield Guild Games.

Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a decentralized gaming association of players and investors that invests in NFT assets from different Games in its ecosystem and lends those assets to its community of gamers, who can earn money from playing Games, in an effort to accelerate the growth of the "earn as you play" model. On June 16, YGG announced that it had closed a $4 million funding round. According to YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon, this $4 million round will be used to purchase additional NFT and support additional games. The guild has invested in games like Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, F1 Delta Time, Guardian of Guardians, Illuvium and League of Kingdoms.

Yield Guild Games was interviewed by Rhythm Blockbeats to discuss the blockchain Guild, the future of the "earn as you play" model, and the future of the meta-universe.

Rhythm Blockbeats: What are the differences and advantages of blockchain game guilds compared to traditional game guilds?

YGG:Guilds like YGG invest in NFTs for different games, like Axie Infinity and Zed Run, and lend the rights to those NFTs to our players. The cost of NFT games may be out of reach for most people, so our "guild" format not only allows our players to participate in these games "at no cost", but also allows them to be guided in all aspects. In a blockchain game, the game assets are NFT, the revenue is usually cryptocurrency, and these currencies can be easily cashed into ETH or directly into fiat currency, which is a core component of the Play to Earn economic system.

Rhythm BlockBeats: What Games are currently available to members of the Yield Guild Games Guild, and what criteria did you use to select them?

YGG:Our current game partners include Axie Infinity, League Of Kingdoms, The Sandbox, Zed Run, Guild Of Guardians, Illuvium, and more.

The core of our screening is to look for games that have a good "earn as you play" economic model and that fit into the "guild" module. We invest in games for the long term and don't choose to sell or resell our NFT assets in the short term. We want our player base to play these games for the long term and make good money from them.

Rhythm BlockBeats: During the epidemic, many unemployed people made a living by playing blockchain games like Axie Infinity with Play2earn mode, and many unemployed people chose to join game guilds. Now that the epidemic is getting better, how do you think this will affect game guilds? Will there be fewer people making money from chain games?

YGG:We think we're just at the beginning of the growth of virtual online work in Metaverse. Although this time it's the new coronavirus outbreak that has brought a lot of players to games like Axie Infinity, we believe these games will continue to grow rapidly over the next 2-3 years, and we'll soon see millions of Metaverse players coming in.

BlockBeats: When the price of a coin rises in a bull market, the player's revenue will increase dramatically, but when the price of a coin rises in a bear market, the player's revenue will decrease dramatically. How can you ensure a steady revenue flow for the player, or what can you do to help the player remain patient during a bear market?

YGG:The game economy is not directly connected to the broader cryptocurrency economy, and in fact, most of our player base is new to cryptocurrency because of the interaction with the games that YGG is involved in. We are more concerned about the internal gameplay of the games we play that can earn substitutions, rather than the general sentiment of the cryptocurrency market. If the game economy and token economy are well designed, then we think they will perform well in both bull and bear markets.

Beat Blockbeats: There are some blockchain-based games that offer very high revenue but very poor playability, such as NFT mining games; There are some blockchain-based games that are extremely playable but don't make money, like Dark Forest. Which do you think is more important for blockchain games: Play2earn or playability? Will Play2earn become a must-have for blockchain games in the future?

YGG:Not all blockchain games require a "earn as you play" economic model, but we think the "earn as you play" model is a good fit for blockchain games. A game must still be fun and have very good playability to be a good "earn as you play" game, plus a good economic model, and it will really grow the game, as we saw in the case of Axie Infinity.

Rhythm Blockbeats: There are a number of similar guilds out there. How does Yield Guild Games approach their relationship with these guilds, and what makes Yield Guild Games special?

YGG:We are friendly with other "earn as you play" guilds and want to work with them to grow the entire "earn as you play" economy. We are also developing a general "guild" platform of YGG itself. If other guilds are not well-funded enough to support the community, they can be our partner and use our NFT assets. For guilds with sufficient funds, they can also carry out the whole commission system without developing and using our "guild" platform API. Any kind of cooperation is most welcome.

Rhythm Blockbeats: How do you understand the MetaUniverse and how will the MetaUniverse drive the development of chain games and NFT?

YGG:For us, Metaverse is a collection of connected, social artifacts and virtual worlds where players own their assets and are able to move freely between worlds. We believe that an open Metaverse, where assets are interoperable and built on a public blockchain, will be the economic backbone of Metaverse.

Rhythmic Blockbeats: What role will Yield Guild Games play in the meta-universe?

YGG:YGG will become the largest source of users in Metaverse as it allows players to participate in the game and earn money without having to invest in NFTS upfront. This democratizes access to the gaming economy, allowing people to invest their time and energy instead of money, and be able to earn income from playing these games.

Insurate Blockbeats: Congratulations to Yield Guild Games on closing a $4 million round of funding. What are your future plans? What new business will be launched? What are some of the ways Yield Guild Games can continue to grow its presence?

YGG:We plan to continue to expand our investment in Axie Infinity and add more "mentors" so that more people can earn income from playing the game. Building on this, we will actively invest in the NFT assets of our upcoming "earn as you play" games to provide a diverse gaming experience for our community. Finally, we are building a world-class NFT esports team to compete in tournaments and establish a competitive environment for NFT games, which will also be a very exciting development!

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