The core concept behind the FreeMyVunk Movement is that virtual assets can be “tokenized” so that gamers can gain REAL ownership. For those unfamiliar with the concept of crypto-tokens, the original concept of using digital objects to control ownership of physical assets was suggested by Nick Szabo. This concept was rejuvenated within the Bitcoin community as colored coins. Several protocol implementations now exist which enable anyone to issue digital tokens: ie. Ethereum, Counterparty, OpenAssets, Omni, Bitshares, NXT, etc
One of the most important aspects of tokens is that they can be issued in order to reduce the friction of trade. For that reason, most of the focus has been on translating physical assets into digital tokens, but what about virtual assets? In theory, virtual things should already be enjoying a low friction in trade, but that is not what we see in reality. In fact, virtual assets seem even more trapped than physical assets because they do not exist outside their virtual platforms and therefore must comply with whatever rules are established within their platform. At least in the physical world I can mail whatever thing I want to send, but this is not possible in the virtual worlds. So just because an asset is virtual/digital does not mean it cannot benefit from “tokenization”.
The key enabler behind digital tokens is the technological innovation called the blockchain. For those unfamiliar with blockchains, it is one of the backbone technologies which enables Bitcoin. By using a secure blockchain (not necessarily Bitcoin) to create the tokens, it becomes an immutable source of truth of who owns what. The tokens themselves, when married to the blockchain, acquire such qualities such as being scarce, durable, fungible, portable, divisible, impossible to counterfeit, easy to store, and globally transferable. Each one of these aspects could be a blog post in and of itself, but for a more detailed description of why these aspects are important look here.
What all this means is that by creating a blockchain token which represents the virtual asset (your sword, gun, magic potion, special level privileges, virtual skins, etc), it becomes free from the platform from which it was created. Plus, all the infrastructure needed to store, transfer, buy/sell/trade is enabled by existing features of blockchain technology. Tokens are stored in digital wallets which provide security and easy access to the assets, as well as enabling direct trade with other player’s wallets.
Literally anything in a game can be tokenized. The shear enormity of this statement is mind boggling, but it means that game developers have some really powerful new tools to work with in order to captivate and engage the players. The opportunities are limitless. Some examples: You can make a power up token which can only be obtained if you have gathered a set of other assets tokens first. Or maybe, there is a token which makes it so the player can interact with objects which are normally “dumb” objects for everyone else (like talking with pets for instance). How about special cloak, or skin for a weapon to make it look even cooler. Would you like to offer a loyalty program which gives a player access to bonus levels because they continue to play other games developed by your company? Perhaps you want to reward early adopters by giving privileges to people who buy the 1st edition copy of the game? Like I said, the possibilities are endless! And all these things can be traded 2nd hand from one player to another effortlessly.
The first game to “tokenize” its virtual assets is Spells of Genesis, a collectible card game (CCG) being developed by EverdreamSoft. They kicked off their project with a crowdsale of their in-game token called BitCrystals. The crowdsale raised almost 1000 bitcoins. But what is even more impressive, is the fact that they have sold about $80,000 worth (according to prices on 12-18-15) of digital cards in the first two months after the crowdsale and before the game is even released!
We are so excited by the myriad of opportunities that tokens enable. Please reach out to us if you have questions on how your game can capitalize on this revolutionary new technology. Just another reason why we call this the reVUNKolution!
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