In the traditional gaming space, guilds have served as informal communities to support players, and GameFi guilds have been instrumental in the development of the GameFi realm as they help lower the barrier to entry for newcomers and create new opportunities for investors. The potential of GameFi guilds is endless. Let's try to understand how they formed and take a look at the top largest players in this market.
It should be noted right away that Boosty Labs has been successfully involved in NFT\blockchain gaming development for a long time. Thanks to its world-class fintech and cloud engineering team with a solid background of practice that combines consulting, strategy, design and engineering at scale, the company can help implement the play-to-earn model: choose the blockchain for the game, integrate it and provide comprehensive support.
Guilds’ history
After more than thirty years of Atari, arcade and LAN gaming, the explosive growth in broadband internet has opened up new possibilities for gamers. Since then, online multiplayer games have become incredibly popular on both consoles and computers, and with that, gaming communities have spread across many different gaming categories, especially MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).
Games like Everquest, World of Warcraft and Runescape have brought together groups of players who support each other, jointly loot rare items and armor, and jointly undertake missions that are too difficult for individual players to complete.These communities of players became known as clans, teams, or guilds. Some of these guilds have become widely known in their gaming communities. An example is the influential esports organization Method.
These groups of players competed for the status of their community. World of Warcraft is well known for its The Race to World First, in which the best guilds fight each other. The spirit of competition has led to the emergence of esports and elite gaming teams.
Esports and gameplay monetization
The development of streaming and esports has added a new dimension to these guilds - monetization. With the advent in 2011 of Twitch, the popular live streaming platform for gamers, gamers have the opportunity to stream their gameplay online and generate income at the same time.
In addition, at a competitive level, monetized esports became popular in the 2010s with the release of massively multiplayer online fighting games (MOBAs) such as League of Legends (LoL) and Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA2). Many of these early gaming opportunities came from competitive video games in online or offline tournaments, which often offered cash prizes. Live streaming has added legitimacy to these competitions, which have attracted sponsors, ad revenue and new ways to make money.
Soon, some of these communities evolved into full-fledged organizations with brand names and player payroll.As one of the biggest names in League of Legends, Team Solo Mid (TSM) was one of the first to embody the idea of creating a professional team of players.
Organizations such as Team Liquid, FaZe Clan and Method quickly followed suit.
In 2012, following the release of the Minecraft treasure hunt servers, the world became familiar with the concept in which players could earn cryptocurrency or other digital assets simply by playing games. This is every gamer's dream, which is why this concept has become popular among gamers. This is how the gaming revolution called Play2Earn was born.
Play2Earn games
Play2Earn games have provided players with an even easier and more affordable way to make money through gameplay. New gaming communities have formed around Play2Earn games as players begin to pool knowledge and resources. As more players joined the industry and the prices of gaming assets continued to rise, new players had to spend quite large sums just to start playing. This led to the emergence of the first Play2Earn guilds, where players united in order to help each other, as well as to maximize their own income.
Play2Earn games give players the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency as well as own elements of the game itself through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFT), which usually take the form of in-game characters, lands, items, etc.
What is a GameFi Guild?
Just like their traditional counterparts, GameFi Guilds are organized groups of players who work together on a variety of tasks.
However, while traditional guilds are solely communities of players who help each other on various missions, GameFi guilds add monetary value to the player's gaming experience, which is achieved mainly in two ways, which we will discuss below.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)
First, these groups of players are often grouped together into Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which are blockchain-based companies managed through their own cryptocurrency tokens. Token holders can vote on DAO-related issues, such as deciding which games the guild will play. These organizations are made up of the players, managers and treasury of the gaming guild, and all members of the guild receive a share of the gaming profits.
Gaming assets lending
In addition, these organizations also own a large collection of in-game assets that lend to players in exchange for a portion of their income. This model is known as Rent2Earn. This scheme allows players to access the expensive NFTs they need to play.Otherwise, they can take a significant amount of time to collect, or these NFTs can become an expensive barrier to entry into certain games. Players can play with the new NFTs in exchange for a percentage of what they earn.
What problems do GameFi guilds solve?
Many Play2Earn games require an NFT purchase. As the popularity of these games grows, so does the cost of the required NFTs. For example, the popular Play2Earn game Axie Infinity requires new players to have at least three different Axies before joining the game. Axie are Pokemon-style NFT characters in the Axie universe and are usually bought or bred by players. In the early days of Axie Infinity, they could be purchased for a small fee, but due to the popularity of Axie Infinity, new players now have to shell out nearly $ 300 for just a few starting Axies.
This is exactly the problem GameFi guilds are trying to solve. Guilds bring together investors and players for the benefit of both. Investors wishing to make money on Play2Earn games can purchase NFT and other in-game assets. If NFT owners do not have the time or desire to play, or they simply no longer need a certain set of assets, they can provide these NFTs to players through guilds.
On the other hand, most potential players are unlikely to be able to pay $ 300 to enter the game. Instead, newcomers can borrow assets from the guild. It simply means that players are provided with NFTs of certain characters or items for use in the game.
However, this does not mean that fellows do not pay for renting NFTs from guilds.Players usually have to pay a certain percentage of their future income to the guild in exchange for these NFTs. In addition, certain games allow players to "pump" their NFTs as they play, thereby increasing the potential profit from these assets. In this case, the fellow may spend a significant amount of time playing and improving the rented NFT in order to return it when it is no longer needed. This creates a double benefit for guilds that generate income while increasing their portfolio of more powerful assets through NFT leases.
Major players in the GameFi market
Yield Guild Games (YGG)
Yield Guild Games was one of the first blockchain guilds. The guild was originally created based on Axie Infinity to support players and drive the Play2Earn trend. YGG is partially credited with the incredible success of Axie Infinity, as the guild was founded by some of the first players to join the game.
The guild itself was created in the Philippines in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Due to Covid-19, unemployment was at an all-time high, resulting in a large influx of players looking to make money online. YGG helped organize and educate new players and provided support for gamers looking to make money.
Currently, the guild operates as a DAO and the YGG token acts as a governing token. The guild has expanded to many other NFT games such as The Sandbox, Ember Sword, and other popular Play2Earn games. The guild now boasts a huge collection of NFTs across a variety of games and ecosystems.
Merit Circle (MC)
Merit Circle is another major blockchain guild run by the DAO. The guild uses the MC token as the main control token. It currently boasts a market capitalization of over $ 4.19 billion. Merit Circle focuses on Axie Infinity but also expands to Star Atlas, Illuvium, and Hash Rush.
The Merit Circle community has over 1200 players and fellows, and more and more people are joining them every day. The guild offers educational content and one-to-one training to help new and experienced players increase their income and improve their knowledge of the game.
Avocado Guild (AVG)
Avocado Guild is another fast growing blockchain guild. With over 10,000 players and a market cap of over $ 1.77 billion, the guild offers players and investors an excellent environment to join the Play2Earn trend.
The guild has partnerships with a variety of games and ecosystems including Axie Infinity, Cymbal, Big Time, Epic Battle, and more. Avocado Guild is backed by several big investors like Three Arrows Capital and #Hashed. In addition, the guild has proven itself well across multiple blockchains and supports players on Binance SmartChain, Polygon, Solana, and more.
Good Games Guild (GGG)
The Good Games Guild (GGG) is relatively new – it was created in mid-2021. Like other guilds, the guild operates through the DAO structure with its GGG governing token. The guild currently supports several games including Axie Infinity, Mytheria, and Happy Land. She has also partnered with Titan Hunters, Gamestation and several other well-known brands.
The guild compares itself to communities or play centers rather than the more profit-oriented guilds described above. Nevertheless, it also provides many opportunities for earning cryptocurrency. This includes a Lease Asset for Earning Program, through which players can rent out their NFTs to guilds for profit. And of course, it also gives players the chance to become a fellow in exchange for a percentage of future earnings.
GameFi Guild – сommunity of players or ATM?
The Play2Earn model has opened up many new possibilities for gamers and crypto enthusiasts. While these opportunities can be quite lucrative, players who were unable to join early will likely have to pay a lot of money to start playing. GameFi Guilds are a natural phenomenon in this new ecosystem as they address the skyrocketing cost of entry to a game and provide opportunities to expand access to GameFi for newbies.
Through guilds, investors can take advantage of the earning potential of Play2Earn games, while gamers can avoid the high cost of entry and go straight to what they love: gaming.
Guilds are an integral part of the GameFi ecosystem
Guilds have come to play a very important role in the GameFi ecosystem. Without them, many players would not be able to join the game due to the high cost of entry. However, many of these guilds offer more than just playable items or high-level characters.
Oftentimes, the guild offers additional resources to help players learn about the game and even share some of the best ways to earn cryptocurrency. These educational resources come in a variety of forms, from articles to tips from experienced gamers.
