Blockchain technology continues to transform and disrupt several industries; it has the potential to radically change the future of the gaming industry in particular. Many label it as the gateway to the future, and possibly the biggest revolution of the 21st Century.
The blockchain space is mainly led by leaders who understand its systems and complexities. This however may lead to the creation of a barrier of entry for the majority of people who are not familiar with the technology.
Blockchain today is still in its infancy; a user’s experience with it is similar to that of users who were introduced to the first generation of the world wide web. It’s there, but not necessarily user-friendly to the average person.
The gaming industry is no stranger to the space, with the recent meteoric rise of blockchain-based gaming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). After all, the average gamer is likely to be very familiar with the concept inventories (wallets), in-game currencies (tokens), unique in-game items (NFTs) and in some cases, in-game auction houses (marketplaces) are a given.
So, as the adoption of blockchain grows from a highly technical demographic to a more casual one, how do we cater to this inevitable shift?
Typical gamers these days that choose to interact with blockchain-based gaming may need to battle through complex terminology, an overload of information and most crucially, a poorly designed user experience. A good user experience entails subtlety and seamless interaction between both the end-use and the blockchain product.
The average gamer is looking for accessibility and a level of usability that is generally similar to the platforms they are already used to interacting on. In order to cater to this and allow blockchain technology to be effectively integrated into the gaming industry, the technicalities of blockchain need to “disappear” into the background; this way, users would be able to derive all the utility and benefits without any barriers to the on-ramp to mainstream blockchain adoption.
Take Lepricon for example; Lepricon decided to capitalise on the mass adoption of blockchain in the gaming industry. Lepricon is reimagining the possibilities for entertainment through blockchain technology and seeking to establish the general acceptance of player-owned economies in games. It aims to provide technology and essential knowledge that will enable mainstream game developers to incorporate blockchain into their games to not only improve player utility, but also user experience.
Lepricon’s primary vision is to focus on the need of the consumer; to make it about the game, and not blockchain. The company believes that players should not notice the difference when getting into a new game for the first time from any game they have played before. Instead, players should just notice the extra things they can do in their new player-owned economy.
The strong foundation of Lepricon stems from its technology stack, Leprichain which operates without any gas fees; this is demonstrated in the first game deployed to it, Lucky Wheel.
Besides Leprichain, Lepricon is in the midst of developing a series of technology plugins that solve other issues. For example, they are developing a custodial wallet to replace in-game sovereign wallets such as MetaMask that tend to be detrimental to a player’s experience. This wallet will be offered in the form of a JavaScript plugin for web-based games, C++ code for the Unreal Engine, and a Unity SDK. The wallet will facilitate the gas-less transactions and seamless experience on Leprichain, with L3P as the base currency.
More information about Lepricon’s roadmap and development plans can be found on their medium page.
In essence, it is time to pivot development towards a user-driven approach rather than being only technology-driven. If more firms focused on user experience and end-user satisfaction, blockchain technology will be at the forefront rather than the end to escalating the much anticipated gaming revolution.
