Found: An Actual *Game* on Blockchain

Ah, blockchain gaming.

Within the (semi) recent explosion of cryptocurrencies –one so massive that coverage has expanded from rarely-read tech blogs to serious outlets like CNN and NBC– lies the tiny sub-sector of blockchain gaming. And while some have profited greatly from selling Donald Trump or a $113,000 virtual cat, the fact remains that games built on various blockchains live mostly in the shadows outside the mainstream, known only to the small, albeit intense, community that plays them.

This is hardly a coincidence. Having worked exclusively in the blockchain space for the past year and a half I’ve spent days reading about various games that pop up sporadically. And I’ve observed relatively low adoption rates of these games among the general public. And at the end of the day, this stems from one quintessential problem: These “games” are not games.

Before delving into this, first let me clarify “low adoption rates” before everyone gets their knickers twisted. There are likely thousands upon thousands of you who have played one or more blockchain games over the past year or two. Some of you have probably turned a decent profit selling some of your crypto-collectibles. Some did it just for fun, some to offer support for a blossoming technology. And while all this was going on, 53 million people played fantasy football. And the Call of Duty players scoffed at those numbers, because there were 100 million of them.

Now of course part of this differential is the newness of the technology. Things take a bit to catch on, I get that. But there’s a reason that these blockchain projects haven’t taken off with pre-existing gaming communities in bulk, and that’s a lack of actual gaming aspects which would draw that specific crowd.

Some of you more enthusiastic blockchainers will get mad at me for what I’m about to say, and I’m prepared for it. But CryptoKitties, one of the original and more popular of the blockchain games, is no more a game than a bunch of kids trading baseball cards. CryptoCelebrities and CryptoCountries are nothing but glorified Ponzi schemes. And PoWH straight up described itself as a Ponzi scheme! All of the above are merely platforms for trading crypto-collectibles, and that seems to be relatively par for the blockchain course thus far.

This is not to say they aren’t fun. I “played” CryptoKitties and found it somewhat enjoyable, actually. And in following the crypto-gaming scene, I’d been seeing a lot of collectible platforms like CryptoKitties along with, of course, an overwhelming mess of hot potatoes. But not too many real games. Then along came EtherStrike.

The game (http://etherstrike.io) describes itself as such:

“EtherStrike is a game of strategy in which players go head-to-head in planetary battle as they attempt to conquer the crypto-universe. Like many predecessors, planets are collectible tokens which may be bought or sold; however, unlike games before it, EtherStrike planets are functional war machines! Use them to attack, or harvest their resources and sell them on the marketplace for ETH! Will you Own the Universe?”

Skeptical, I gave it a try. And finally…a eureka moment. An actual game.

Having read through the rules, EtherStrike at first appears to be a little complicated. Everything is explained in depth, and without actually playing seems overwhelming. They all make sense (and are quite helpful) after interacting on the platform, but maybe not where to begin. If I had to do it over I’d probably start at the FAQs.

The first thing I needed to do was buy a planet. No big deal…you can get cheap ones for between .01-.05 ETH, which (given the current state of the market) is pretty reasonable. Much like CryptoKitties, once you submit a transaction it sends you to MetaMask, you edit your gas if you care to, then you send off for validation. Buying a planet was overall painless. Then came the fun part.

Your planet exists in a Universe full of other planets, sorted by size. (As of writing this there appear to be around 50-70 planets, but they release more daily, up to 5,050 according to the website.) The planets all display their owners, not unlike other blockchain games. The difference, though, is that you can take those other planets through battle. Which is exactly what I did.

First I scanned the Universe, found a weakling worthy of my domination, and clicked “Attack!” Attacking pulls up a prompt that allows you to select different planets and choose which one you’d like to use. You can compare resources (food, energy, and population, all of which are needed for attack) and decide which of your planets is best suited to beat that specific enemy. I submitted my first attack and waited patiently on blockchain validation.

Within seconds I had an email giving me my result, which I could also see upon refreshing my page. I’d won! Instantly I was hooked. After a few more attacks (I did lose a couple), I had crushed this poor sap and his planet was mine. And akin to some other games such as Clash of Clans, my new planet came with a 24-hour shield.

The other interesting aspect of this game is the buying/selling portion. You use resources with every attack, and, especially if you’re on a losing streak, you will run out. Luckily, however, other players are happy to sell you more resources. Similarly, if you are not planning to attack nonstop, you can put resources up for sale from your own planets. And of course, as with any crypto-collectible game, you can buy and sell the planets themselves.

On the downside, this game suffers from a lot of the issues common to blockchain games generally; namely a lot of page reloading, having to submit through MetaMask, etc. Problems, I assume, that the industry will address in time, just maybe not tomorrow. But all in all EtherStrike was a blast to play, and I’m excited to continue playing as the authors release more planets and the game grows in popularity. The platform combines strategy, PvP battling, and an element of straight-up luck all into a universal competition that could entertain for hours. But what really did it for me was that one simple epiphany:

I’ve finally found a real game on blockchain.