My Mobile Gaming Confession

There are certain things it’s embarrassing for a 30-something-year-old man to have to admit – a few things a grown man might want to take to the grave with him and leave forever unexpressed. One of those things, for me, is that two years ago I had a serious Pokémon Go addiction.

Yep, for a 4-week period in 2016 I would tell my wife I was just going to the shops, and I’d run out into the streets with my iPhone, channelling my inner Ash Ketchum while desperately hunting for new fictional Japanese animals to add to my growing collection. I’d say I was just going out to the shed to do some ‘man stuff’ – and I’d head out into the garden where I could just about reach a “Pokéstop” and nab me some free Pokéballs… I still haven’t admitted it to her; I don’t know if our marriage would survive the revelation ^^.

But it wasn’t just me that caught the bizarre poké-hunting bug – Pokemon Go was a runaway success; one of the biggest breakthroughs in mobile gaming during 2016, if not the last 5 years combined. And it clicked with a lot of different demographics. Sure you’d see kids everywhere playing it, but also shifty-looking and half-embarrassed adults. Moreover, it wasn’t just the hardcore gamers – casuals, parents, average looking dudes (including yours truly) all got hooked during that long lazy summer following its release.

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Yep, still married... somehow.

So, what lay behind its mainstream success? In my opinion, it wasn’t about Pokémon; strong brand though it is – but rather, the simple act of overlaying of the real world with a game world. The blend of Google maps and AR turned the world itself into a playground. Temporarily, it transformed the mundane streets on my commute to work into a wilderness teeming with strange creatures I could hunt. The little river near my house had sea serpents swimming in it, rather than just a bunch of rusty shopping trolleys and the occasional floating condom… It turned the pub at the end of my road into a Pokémon dojo where local trainers would battle it out for supremacy. (I remember, I used to have a turf-war with one kid on the Yellow Team called StonedPimp2000 who used to always capture my gyms – I sincerely doubt he was stoned, or a pimp, because he was probably about 12 years old max, but it still boils my blood just thinking about the smug little bastard!). Unlike the majority of games which tend to push people towards sedentary and introverted behaviour – shutting themselves away in their bedrooms for hours – Pokémon Go encouraged people to go out, socialise and get some exercise. It was cool for those 4 weeks, but it was shallow, and the player base quickly dropped off when they ran out of things to do.

Crypto and Gaming

Back in 2017 we had another breakthrough game that piggy-backed on a very different quantum leap in technology. CryptoKitties was one of the first games to successfully leverage the transparency and decentralised nature of the blockchain – and it was so popular that in December last year it brought the Ethereum network to a virtual grinding halt thanks to a record spike in transactions. Since then, some pundits have actually referred to CryptoKitties as one of the first real-world use cases of crypto assets! However, in the long run it was pretty shallow and crude, and certainly didn’t have much in the way of game mechanics asides from basically ‘collecting stuff’. When the novelty wore off, it lost its appeal – but it certainly did garner a lot of attention for the concept of crypto gaming.

So where do we go from here?

Enter Worldopoly, an innovative new ICO coming out of Switzerland/Germany that recently caught my attention in a BIG way.

Worldopoly bills itself as a real-time multi-player strategy game that harnesses blockchain technology, geo-positioning and AR to create a collective world building simulation. Yeah, so a little bit more sophisticated than chucking balls at animated rats then.

When I first read that, the gamer in me got pretty excited: they are basically offering a mash-up of Pokémon Go, Sim City and Mafia! What’s not to like? Worldopoly players will be able to buy real streets in real cities, just like in the classic board game from which it takes its name. They will then be able to construct businesses and properties and start building up their own global empire – and the really cool thing is that the AR element will make it possible for players to actually ‘see’ their progress overlaid in the real world via their smartphones.

They have all kinds of fun mechanics in the pipeline too, such as the ability to upgrade and auction properties, or even sabotage other players’ businesses by chucking Molotov cocktails at them or paying the local gangsters to go round and pay them a visit! Looks like I’ll definitely be reigniting my turf war with StonedPimp2000 then…

Embrace your inner shark...

So, it’s a cool premise, but there’s even more exciting stuff going on under the hood, thanks to the fundamental blockchain element – which, if you’ll excuse the lame pun, is a gamechanger.

Because, here’s the thing: Worldopoly won’t just pay you Monopoly money… it will offer a genuine economic incentive in the form of their unique ERC-20 token, the WPT. Think about that for a second: players could actually build up their thriving property empire and see that translate into genuine real-world returns. I guess I wouldn’t have to hide it from my wife if my secret gaming addiction could actually help pay the bills!

I know gamers often get a bit spooked by the intersection of gaming and real-world economics – particularly in “pay-to-win” scenarios where merit and talent get trumped by people just chucking money at the game. However, in this instance, it’s much more of an incentive system – rather than a money-grab. In fact, the creators actually see it as a way for inexperienced investors to get into the market without having to stake their money: an introduction to crypto for newbies, with no financial risk. That seems pretty win:win to me.

Practicalities

So, when are you going to be able to get your hands on a copy of Worldopoly? Well, the simple answer is that they have a beta planned for August this year – so stay tuned. However, they have their ICO to take care of in the meantime – with the public sale pegged for April this year. They have a comprehensive roadmap and a very sensible looking post-ICO strategy mapped out:

However, as with any ambitious project, they are likely to have their fair share of obstacles to overcome. Gaming is, of course, a very competitive and congested market. That being said, the core team of 25 looks solid and experienced - and they have been developing the concept for the past 3 years. And the appeal of the concept, if they pull it off, is undeniable.

So, whilst this is certainly not investment advice, I would say both the gamer and investor in me are looking at this as a very exciting prospect. If you’re interested in finding out more, I would recommend you read the whitepaper and watch their cool explainer vid. Do your due diligence and read up on them – if you’re anything like me, I can guarantee you’ll end up feeling pretty inspired.

And hey, if this project finally lets me legally throw a Molotov cocktail at StonedPimp2000’s house and send the boys round to smash up his shops, then that would be the icing on the cake.

Further Reading:

Website
Whitepaper
Twitter
Facebook
Telegram

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IСO [26 Feb, 2018 - 17 May, 2018]
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