I don't write often, but I wanted to take stock of my Play2Earn games, which occupy a small part of my time.
"Small" because it has considerably diminished due to a lack of interest, both on my part and on the part of the games themselves because of their business model. But let me explain.
First, I'll reiterate that I'm only interested in games with a Free2Play entry point, allowing players to try the game from the inside without having to invest blindly.
A Play2Earn game must be profitable for both the players and the game owner; that's the foundation of a good business model.
When there are entry fees, NFTs to buy to play, and rewards in proprietary, non-tradable game tokens, you have to ask yourself: isn't this a Ponzi scheme? Will I actually make any money in the end, and when?
Even if the rewards are in tradable tokens, isn't there a risk of inflation that would wipe out my earnings? (Here, it's necessary to verify that the game model includes a mechanism for burning these tokens).
But now I'm going to give concrete examples of games I've abandoned or kept playing and why.
I won't talk about games that shut down on their own—there are plenty of those—but they clearly demonstrate that when the business model is no longer profitable for the game owner, players are left high and dry, hence the risk of investing in a Play-to-Earn game.
One current example is Wombat Dungeon Master. I'm very pessimistic about its future. It was sold and then resold and still hasn't been relaunched after several months. I think the new owners can't find a way to make money with this game.
Another game I stopped playing is Outlaw Troopers. The business model is clearly a Ponzi scheme; profits come solely from player investment. When the number of players, and especially the number of new players, decreases, the system collapses.
It's therefore essential to study the economic mechanics of a game before investing even a single penny of your time in it.
To stay positive, I have two examples of games that seem sound to me and that I play.
HARI RAID:
This is a small game on STEEM where you can earn STEEM tokens. There's no risk of sub-tokens or in-game tokens.
Why is the economic model sound, meaning profitable for both parties?
For the player, the earnings are admittedly small but predictable, as with a truly tradable cryptocurrency.
My best gain was 20 STEEM on the last raid.
For the game owner, the incentive to vote for their witness and delegate Steem Power to them ensures sufficient revenue.
The game is quite simple, doesn't take much time, yet requires a certain strategy, and is visually appealing.
ROLLER COIN:
This virtual mining game with a retro gaming aesthetic has been around for over 7 years. While this isn't a guarantee of security, it does demonstrate a good capacity for adaptation.
The business model is primarily based on money walls like Torox, Bitlabs, TimeWall, and many others. These allow players to earn in-game tokens (RLT) by participating in surveys, engaging in video games, or using applications.
I won't go into detail, as I've already introduced this game.
What's important is the mechanism for burning these RLT tokens to mine real cryptocurrencies and the competitive system between players to obtain a percentage of the mining pool.
This mechanism allows the game owner to ensure that money flows in through the money walls.
Personally, I'm no longer competing, but I've achieved my earnings goal. I'm getting around 1.5 TRX per day for just a few minutes of play, and I'm close to the 300 TRX minimum withdrawal threshold (246).
There is, however, some inequality because Money Wall rewards vary from country to country, but this is true for all systems based on Money Walls.
There are probably also Money Wall systems that are more lucrative than Roller Coin, like Freecash or Lootup, but they don't guarantee consistent earnings.