It’s nearly every gamer’s dream scenario: getting paid for playing video games. In recent years, that’s become increasingly doable. Whether you’re competing on the mainstage at an international competition or streaming on Twitch every day of the week, there are ways for skilled and entertaining gamers to earn some serious cash gaming.
But what about the rest of us? Not everyone wants to sit at a desk to entertain for hours on end keeping an audience’s attention. Likewise, not everyone is fit for competitive play. Though you may be pretty good at the game, it doesn’t mean you want to subject yourself to hours of training, a strict schedule, and long trips for competitions. Now there’s a new blockchain-based project coming to the market that rewards you for playing and it’s being released for CS:GO.
BUFF: ‘Frequent Flyer’ Status for Gaming
One of the newest additions to the gaming industry is coming from the cryptocurrency and blockchain movement and it’s called BUFF. Referring to itself as a “frequent flyer program for the $116 billion gaming industry,” BUFF is bringing together both the gaming and crypto communities.
The concept is straightforward: gamers earn crypto playing their favorite games. The more time gamers spend playing with the BUFF platform, the more cryptocurrency they earn. As you improve your gaming skills, so too will you improve your ability to earn crypto. That’s the type of message most gamers can get on board with, but BUFF brings an interesting new perspective to the gaming industry via cryptocurrency and the two communities seem to be a natural fit.
Besides generally attracting tech-savvy enthusiasts on both sides, there are obvious reasons why the crypto community and gaming community go hand in hand. For gamers, the concept of a new digital form of currency is nothing new. As microtransactions have been on the rise in the gaming industry, there’s no doubt that most gamers are acutely aware of the in-game economies that have developed with the digital game-specific money.
Many prominent figures in the gaming community are not happy about the direction the industry has taken with attempts at monetizing every aspect of the game, even after the consumer has spent a full $60+ on the title in the first place. One of the biggest complaints, however, is that the microtransactions can be seen as “pay to win” in nature, and therefore not fair for other gamers.
With the BUFF platform, gamers still get access to microtransactions, cosmetic items, and trading, but aren’t required to spend money to do so. Instead, gamers earn BUFF coins (the cryptocurrency for the platform) by playing, winning, and successfully accomplishing achievements. Gamers then take those BUFF coins to the market where their cryptocurrency can be used to purchase skins, items, etc. With BUFF coins, gamers have the option to also take their coins elsewhere—which doesn’t exist for other in-game digital currencies.
Why Cryptocurrency?
Another reason for integrating cryptocurrencies into the gaming industry is because of how both communities handle peer-to-peer (p2p) transactions. A more decentralized, but accountable, marketplace for gamers is complemented perfectly with cryptocurrencies. No single authority deciding on pricing, transaction time, etc. and no intermediary to slow down the process means a more open and efficient experience for all players involved.
Additionally, launching the network with a single cryptocurrency based on the platform means that one of the biggest pain points for gamers currently will be solved: game-specific economies. Rather than using digital tokens or coins that are designed for only one specific game or franchise, the BUFF token is designed to be used by all players in the network, regardless of what games they frequent the most.
The BUFF coin is a universal gaming currency throughout the entire network. That means that if you’ve been playing a lot of Dota 2 recently, but you really like those CS:GO skins too, you can use the BUFF coins earned while playing Dota 2 to purchase the skins you want for CS:GO.
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Lastly, as if those weren’t already attractive enough reasons to bring cryptocurrencies into the gaming world (and the micro-economies within the gaming world), cryptocurrencies have another benefit for gamers: liquidity.
Since gamers are not going to be earning in-game currencies like many have in the past (think ‘CoD Points’ used on old Call of Duty wager matches), the cryptocurrencies earned while playing the game can also be used for something other than in-game (or in this case, “in network”) trading. Unlike the digital coins that could never leave the realm of whichever game they were earned in, cryptocurrencies can be withdrawn and bought, sold, and traded in a cryptocurrency exchange.
The Rise of a New Gaming Economy
With an entirely new gaming economy focused on not just a specific in-game experience, but an entire gaming network, gamers will get more choices and flexibility with how they take advantage of all the time and effort they’ve put into their favorite games. As cryptocurrencies start replacing the digital tokens of the games, gamers will finally be able to capitalize on their time spent grinding it out match after match.