Challenges in Web3 Gaming

Sharing high-level Web3 gaming problems that we have discovered through our research, & Tevaera 2.0 experiences.

Introduction

Web3 gaming, also known as crypto or on-chain gaming, is an emerging, & one of the most promising sectors to drive the mass adoption of crypto. The sector aims to bring transparency, fairness, and player ownership to the gaming industry. The adoption of Web3 gaming is still in its early stages, & there are several key issues that need to be addressed for it to reach its full potential.

Our Tevaera journey started with a focus on “fun and engaging” games, but through our research and product development experiences, we quickly realized that there were other pivotal interlinked problems with web3 gaming. Tevaera 2.0 aims to solve these problems through a gaming ecosystem that is focused on “fun & fair games” and “on-chain gaming infrastructure.

We will introduce the Tevaera 2.0 ecosystem tomorrow, but for today, lets focus on the 3 keys themes that we have used to bucket these interlinked problems. Additionally, we will also share our guiding principles that have influenced the design & development of our gaming ecosystem.

3 key themes

1. Gaming Experience

Lack of fun and engaging games with complicated onboarding & user experience. The question we have constantly asked ourselves during the design and development of our games: Would you play this game if it was not web3?

1. Lack of fun and fair games, which are boring & tend to provide instant power to players with more capital. Web3 games lack experience in game design driven by player behaviors compared to web2 gaming studios.
2. Complicated interfaces and game mechanics for Web3 games make them confusing for new users to get started and navigate the technical maze, and there are limited to no options for web2 users.
3. High costs of entry act as a major barrier to mass adoption. The cost of acquiring assets, such as NFTs for playing the game, or the cost of executing transactions on the blockchain, can be prohibitively high for some players.
4. Lack of meaningful player progression. Most on-chain games lack meaningful player progression, which leads to a lack of player retention.

2. Gaming Economics

Poor economy design, volatile crypto market & unsustainable incentives are the three biggest problems with web3 game economics. The question we have constantly asked ourselves during the design and development of our games: how do we solve the problem of unsustainable play & earn economy?

1. Inefficient game economies. Many on-chain games have economies that are poorly designed, leading to unsustainable play-to-earn dynamics.
2. Short-term value extraction economic models. If all the sinks in a game increase the earnings of participants in the game, the economy eventually has to collapse.
3. Unclear revenue models. It can be difficult to understand how on-chain games will generate revenue, making it challenging for developers to make sustainable business decisions.
4. High volatility. The value of assets in on-chain games can be highly volatile, leading to unpredictability and uncertainty for players.

3. Gaming Infrastructure

Lack of gaming infrastructure to support real-time and multiplayer games is a major challenge for Gaming Studios. The question we have constantly asked ourselves during the design and development of our games: how do we solve the problem of hooking a unity-based game to an on-chain matchmaker?

1. Lack of practical & “plug & play” on-chain tools for gaming. It's super challenging for Gaming Studios to build real-time and multiplayer on-chain games today.
2. Currently, the existing blockchain infrastructure cannot support large-scale gaming experiences.
3. The performance of Web3 games is often slow and expensive, which negatively impacts the player experience.
4. Lack of compatible infrastructure with major game engines such as Unity. The tools and infrastructure available for developing on-chain games are still in their early stages, which limits innovation and creativity.

Our Guiding Principles

We believe the new Web3 Gaming world should always be fair and minimize the friction between players and the extraordinary things they can do in the game. To enable this, all adventure games and experiences in Tevaera will be guided by the following key principles:

1. The core gameplay and progression will ALWAYS be free. Anyone can mint a free character to compete in the game and earn rewards and status based on their skills.
2. Design fun games that are well-balanced and engaging. The core features and mechanics of the games should always encourage player interaction and retention.
3. Every Game is fair & the powerups are equitable. Experience points and skill ratings are the keys to success, and they cannot be bought or sold.
4. Utility and dynamic NFTs. The asset ownership needs to be meaningful and progression based. Not every asset in a web3 game needs to be an NFT.
5. User-friendly experience & community-first approach. We will always prioritize simplifying user experience & “genuine” community feedback.
6. Democratic world. We desire to become facilitators and builders that the Tevans govern. We will embrace and integrate meaningful and practical decentralization use cases.
7. Player-owned economy. The value (revenue) from the games is invested in the platform's development and shared with the players who drive the economy.
8. Build native Web3 Infrastructure that is easy to integrate. Develop an EVM-compatible multiplayer solution to enable easy development of on-chain games and autonomous worlds.
9. A sustainable game economy that is based on streamlined monetization strategies. Build innovative tools to facilitate the exchange of all in-game money based on fundamental economic principles.

Next steps

We are just 2 days away from Tevaera 2.0 launch on zkSync 2.0 testnet. Tomorrow, we will share a post on the Tevaera 2.0 gaming ecosystem that is ready to take the world of on-chain gaming by storm.

Onwards and as always, thank you for your continued support and patience.

To learn more, please visit https://tevaera.com and connect with us on Twitter | Discord | Telegram | Medium