Fun vs Finance: Web3 Game Design Must Balance Money With Enjoyment
Fun vs Finance: Web3 Game Design Must Balance Money With Enjoyment
Fun vs Finance: Web3 Game Design Must Balance Money With Enjoyment
By Derek Lau
November 25, 2022
Summary
What Web3 game designers need to realize is that the extrinsic motivation of money can have an unbalancing effect on the intrinsic fun that players derive from a game.
In the early wave of Web3 games, we saw this focus on money go too far but this doesn't have to be the norm forever.
Video games have always had a balance of both but the introduction of digital assets that people value has dramatically shifted the balance towards these extrinsic motivations.
The natural tendency for most is to forego what is most fun about a game in order to maximize profits.
Even if a game is fun to play on its own, the very presence of an economy with extractable value means that some portion of the people playing are there for that reason alone.
The game should focus first and foremost on being a fun game, meaning the average gamer doesn't need to constantly see dollar symbols or references to 'money' or 'tokens'.
Derek Lau is Game Director for Guild of Guardians, a 'play-and-earn' mobile RPG where players turn their gaming passion into NFTs. The game is published by Immutable and developed by Stepico Games.
Reference
Lau, D. (2022, November 25). Fun Vs Finance: Web3 game design must balance money with enjoyment. Nasdaq. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/fun-vs-finance%3A-web3-game-design-must-balance-money-with-enjoyment