Let’s start with the big one.. GameFi refers to the intersection of gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi). Using novel applications of blockchain technology such as DeFi, smart contracts, and tokens, Web3 games now allow players to truly own their in-game assets for the first time in the video game industry. In other words, GameFi takes the ownership of a project from its developers and distributes it across the community.
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Asset Ownership: The second big idea in GameFi, after financially rewarding players for their in-game adventures, is giving them ownership rights over their digital assets such as characters, skins, weapons, etc. In the pre-GameFi world, game developers withheld full ownership of in-game assets even if the users purchased them. Blockchain based games utilize tokens to provide full intellectual property rights over any in-game assets a player buys. If you buy a sword in a game like Valorant, you can trade, swap, or even use it for your own projects. That wasn't possible before GameFi.
Axie Infinity: Axie ♾️ is the OG that popularized Play to Earn (P2E) model in GameFi. Inspired partly by the anime series Pokemon, players in the game battle out their ‘Axies’. The winner of the battle is rewarded with SLP tokens, which they can trade for fiat money on crypto exchanges. In mid-2021, Axie Infinity was the most successful blockchain game in the space. However, the game’s economic design led to a rapid devaluation of its native tokens, AXS and SLP.
Avatar: An avatar is a digitized version of you. It represents your identity and attributes within a virtual environment, such as a game or a social network. Eventually, Mark Zuckerberg predicts that people will use their digital avatars for socializing, collaborating, and interacting with other people within an immersive version of the internet known as the metaverse.
Alien Worlds: Worlds is a relatively new, but well-known player in the world of GameFi. It is an NFT metaverse which runs on not one, but three different blockchains-Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and WAX. The game focuses on interplanetary exploration & mining ⛏️.
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Build and Build Chain (BNB): Binance Smart ⛓️ (BSC) is a popular chain developed by the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. The BNB chain is used by many innovative GameFi projects due to its faster throughput and affordable transaction costs compared to networks like Ethereum. In February 2022, Binance rebranded Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to Build and Build Chain (BNB).
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CropBytes: CropBytes is a farming simulation Web3 game. In-fact, it's the longest-sustaining crypto game in the market right now. CropBytes utilizes the economic frameworks developed by Tegro (Tegronomics) to maintain the stability of its economy.
Collectibles: These are digital objects that possess value in a game’s economy. Collectibles have always been a standard feature in games. A player usually gains these collectibles through purchase or by completing specific objectives within the game. Collectibles from non-blockchain games generally don’t have any value outside of the game’s economy. But in Web3, a player can trade in-game collectibles for other digital assets or even fiat money.
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DAO: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are often called the future of organizations. They represent a new form of collaboration model that is managed and owned by the community. DAOs leverage Web3 technologies like tokens and smart contracts for their governance.Think of them as communities that share a common purpose and a bank account.
DeFi: Decentralized Finance is an umbrella term for various blockchain-based protocols that aim to provide essential financial services such as lending, borrowing, staking, etc. Blockchain games like DeFi Kingdoms and Houses of Rome utilize features like liquidity staking and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) that were pioneered by DeFi protocols.
Dapps: Decentralized Apps (dApps) are web applications that are built on top of a blockchain instead of a centralized server. Dapps have several advantages over their traditional counterparts: 1) They’re censorship resistant; 2) They’re open source—meaning that anyone in the world with the right skills can improve the app without having to ask for permission; and 3) dApps allow users to own their data.
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Ethereum: Ethereum is the second largest blockchain network by market capitalisation. Arguably, the entire decentralized finance space is built on top of Ethereum, but its high gas prices are pushing developers and users to other networks like Solana and Avalanche. Since a popular game could receive millions of interactions each day, Ethereum is not an excellent platform to build blockchain games on. The network usually gets congested from that amount of traffic, which further increases the cost of the transaction for the user.
Extended Reality (XR): XR is the amalgamation of reality-enhancing technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. It’s also an umbrella term used for virtual experiences generated through specialized AR and VR headsets.
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Press to pay respects.
Farmers' World: Think Farmville meets Crypto. Farmers World is an up and coming blockchain game that’s making waves in the GameFi market. The farming themed NFT game currently ranks second on Dappradar’s most trending games list.
Fables of Fyra (FoF): This newly launched Web3 game is being called the next Axie Infinity. The fantasy world of Fyra Oyer takes inspiration from legendary games like World of Warcraft and The Elder Scrolls. The FoF economy also follows the design principles of Axie Infinity. The game features a governance token called BAAH and an in-game currency, Cave.
Fungible Token(FT): Fungible tokens are NOT unique. identical to all other units of the same token. Fungible tokens also provide proof of ownership, but are not stored separately for each unit on the blockchain.
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Governance Tokens: Governance tokens are tokens created by developers with the intention of decentralizing games by allowing the token holders to aid in molding the future of a certain protocol via voting ️ and more.
Guilds: These are organizations that recruit, train, and promote video game players.
Game Asset Marketplace: You might be familiar with digital art marketplaces like OpenSea. With the rise of Web3 games, we’ll soon see marketplaces that enable trading of in-game digital assets like weapons, skins, characters, etc.
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HarmonyOne: HarmonyOne is a chain that is used by popular GameFi dApps like DeFi Kingdoms. The network is becoming increasingly popular among GameFi developers because the transaction fee on Harmony One is 100x lower than that of Ethereum.
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IGO: An Initial Game Offering is a fundraising method where game developers auction a portion of a game's native tokens.
In-game tokens: In-game tokens are the official currency of a game’s economy. Players can use this currency to acquire various in-game assets or swap it for fiat on a crypto exchange.
J & K
It ends here. JK, let's move on.
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Loot: Loot refers to in-game items that the player can collect after completing specific objectives. For instance, some games require the player to execute another character to gain access to loot, such as in Skyrim and GTA, or to open a specially designed box, like in God of War. Loot items can include weapons, skins, powers, etc. depending on the game.
Liquidity pools: Liquidity pools are algorithmically created token reserves that allow traders to buy and sell crypto assets on a decentralized platform.
Liquidity: Liquidity refers to an asset’s reserves in the market that can be converted into fiat cash without affecting its market value.
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Metaverse: According to tech experts, the Metaverse will be the next evolution of our beloved internet. Using specialized hardware such as VR headsets, users will be able to enter this immersive virtual environment that will be used by humans to interact, collaborate, and socialize.
Marketplace: Marketplaces are platforms where users can buy, sell, and trade digital assets. Spoiler: We’re developing a game asset marketplace. Follow our Twitter to stay in the loop.
MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Game, need I say more.Web2 MMOs like World of Warcraft, RuneScape, and Elder Scrolls are amazing, but in the fantastical worlds developed by Angelic and Farsite, you can actually own your digital assets.
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NFTs: Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are another interesting application of the blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies are fungible, which means that every token from a collection in principle is of similar value and can be exchanged with one another. However, each NFT token is cryptographically unique and thus can be used to prove the ownership of a digital asset that is attached to it. In simple terms, for the first time in the Internet’s history, we now have a way of providing and authenticating digital ownership rights.
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One World Nation (OWN): One World Nation is a learn-to-earn platform that gamifies cryptocurrency trading to make it less daunting for crypto newbies. OWN turns crypto assets into fictional characters called Cryptonites. Players can use these characters to play various crypto/DeFi inspired games on OWN’s platform.
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Play-to-Earn (P2E): In the past, players were expected to pay for playing games. Thanks to blockchain technology, that dynamic is finally reversing. Now, players can accrue digital assets for investing their time and efforts in a game’s economy. Play to Earn was first popularized by Axie Infinity, and then the model was adopted by hundreds of games. However, most of these games are not sustainable.
Play and Earn (P & E): A Play and Earn gaming model basically improves upon Play to Earn (P2E). Although P2E represents a paradigm shift in gaming, its economic design basically turns a game into a job. While P & E games allow players to monetise their gaming experience, they do not sacrifice essential elements of the game, such as gameplay and narrative.
PvP: PvP refers to Player vs Player. Players in the game battle each other out. Bellum Romanum - That's Latin for all-out war.
PvE: PvE refers to Player vs Environment. Players follow a narrative through the game while playing alone or with simulated companions.
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Roadmap: The map is a way to inform the community about how the project will proceed and what its future plans will be. The probability of a project's success is greater when it has a strong and detailed roadmap.
Royalties: NFT creators can programme their digital art to automatically pay them commissions (royalties) upon resale. Simply said, a lot of dough for NFT artists in the game.
Reward Pool: Most Play to Earn games maintain a reward pool of their native tokens that pays players for their efforts.
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Skins: Skins are in-game items that can be used to augment the appearance of a character. Characters can only be aesthetically altered by these items, not their other attributes. .
Staking: Staking in the world of crypto means locking an asset for a predetermined amount of time in exchange for a reward.
Sandbox: ⌛ Sandbox is a metaverse platform built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. The SandBox provides players with the option of buying a virtual plot and customizing it to their liking. Adidas, Gucci, and Warner Music Group all purchased plots in the SandBox to host custom immersive virtual experiences for their customers.
Splinterlands: Splinterlands is the leading trading card game on Web3. The game utilizes blockchain technology to put a new spin on the card battling games enjoyed by millions.
Sustainability: Sustainability is a word that is not found in many GameFi/Crypto glossaries. Most projects overlook sustainability in an attempt to grow absurdly fast. The end result, as we have seen multiple times in the past, is that these projects fail miserably. According to Investopedia, sustainability is the ability to maintain, support, and grow a business over time. Regardless of how awesome we think the technology is, Web3 projects are still businesses, and it takes time to build a business that can survive the test of time.
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Tegro : Tegro is developing the world’s first game asset marketplace. Here, players and investors will be able to buy, sell, and trade in game assets. Tegro’s upcoming marketplace has the potential to tap into a $2 trillion market by building a whole ecosystem of Web3 games that use its native token, TRG. However, who wants to be alone at the top? That’s why Tegro is creating a series of economic frameworks that will help the next generation of Web3 developers easily build sustainable Web3 games.
Tokenization: Tokenization refers to the process of putting in game assets on a blockchain. Tokenization unlocks novel ways of interacting with in game assets such as trading, lending, etc.
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Utility tokens: Utility tokens are the in-game currency which can be purchased and traded like a real asset on the game market. It can also be used to facilitate interaction and more in-game activities.
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VR: Virtual Reality refers to a simulated digital environment that can be experienced through specialized equipment like VR headsets.
Voxelized: Voxelized images are 3D pictures based on squares that have a pixelated feel to them. This style is often used to create an old-school feel and a fun user experience.
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Wallet: Wallets store the private s of a user. Private keys are like passwords that the user needs to access his/her crypto assets. A crypto wallet also serves as a gateway to the world of web3.
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Yield farming : Yield farming is a popular investment strategy among DeFi traders. Instead of simply hodling their crypto, savvy investors put it to work by lending it to protocols in exchange for yield (more crypto). Several blockchain games include yield farming, which helps players compound their crypto while the game gains liquidity for itself.
Yield Guild Games(YGG): YGG is a Web3 gaming guild that recruits, trains, and promotes video game players who play for money. The organization has created an impressive community of Web3 players spread across the globe. YGG also has a scholarship program that lends NFT assets from various play-to-earn games to its community members in exchange for a small percentage of the player’s gaming income.
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Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP): Zero Knowledge Proofs is a cryptographic technique that allows a user to prove the legitimacy of a statement without revealing any personal information in the process. Basically, it's a privacy enhancing technology that is used by blockchain systems like Zcash and Monero.
Zed.Run: Zed Run is a digital horse racing platform based on NFT. The platform has reportedly created a novel form of digital asset called the breathing NFT. According to ZedRun’s head of partnership, Roman Tirone, a breathing NFT essentially has its own DNA, can breed, has a bloodline, and can pass its ‘genes’ to its digital offspring—yes, you read that right, players can breed their digital horses on ZedRun.
This is the most extensive list of GameFi terminology that we can muster up at the moment. We will routinely update it to include any new terms that pops up in this ever-growing industry of ours. . And that’s a wrap. Time to rest up. In the meantime, Slide any suggestions you have into our DMs here
See you soon.
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