Those who are old enough to remember the early days of the internet will recall a wild west of creativity, innovation and oftentimes suspect design; a blank canvas for users to build on. Then, almost like a mirror to the real world, Web2 came along and corporatized the internet, bringing with it an era of social media, ads and data brokerage. Today, the tides are turning, as the flash, exciting and potentially volatile world of Web3 rallies against the old status quo.
Blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs and AI, all children of Web3; innovative and disruptive technologies seeking to decentralize the web. Few groups are leveraging these tools more interestingly than gamers. Here’s how Web3 and AI are revolutionizing gaming communities.
Web3: A Brand New Field of Play
To understand the revolutionary potential of Web3 in the gaming industry, it’s first important to understand how this new iteration of the internet differs from the old. The web as we know it can be split into 3 eras, Web1, Web2 and Web3; with each version adding more to the last.
Web1: The early days of the internet, a read-only landscape characterized by static on-page content created and maintained by users, a free-for-all of personal creativity. Web2: The corporatization of the web, read-write abilities bring an era of interactivity via social platforms and blogs, along with the monetization of digital content creation. Web3: The decentralized internet, blockchain technologies give users more freedom to control their data and build tools online, bringing a new era of creativity to the web.
The ability for Web3 technology to both pass ownership of data back to users and empower creators to self-monitize their projects is helping to spur creativity in the gaming space. Just one example is the rising popularity of blockchain-based games like Axie Infinity and Crypto Kitties, projects that empower users to build communities and make money while they do so.
The Web3 in Gaming market is growing fast, specifically at a CAGR of 18.50% projected to eclipse $131 billion by 2034, but success isn’t all about money. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Chris Dixon of the venture capital firm a16z suggests the ‘vast majority’ of fruitful Web3 projects are better-defined as ‘smaller-dollar things’ built around ‘communities’.
The new freedom that Web3 brings to users is best leveraged by active communities. When this is coupled with related tech like AI, truly revolutionary gaming projects can be developed.
AI’s Role in Revolutionzing Online Gaming
Much like Web3 technologies, AI promises to give more freedom to creators and gamers online. The ability for AI tools to remove skill gaps from game creation, as well as help users do more with less, is helping to revolutionize gaming communities and games themselves.
With support from novel AI tools, even first-time creators can leverage top-end features like:
Procedural Content Generation: Worlds, characters and key assets that previously absorbed significant time and resources can now be created more efficiently. Intelligent NPCs: LLMs and AI chatbots can be seamlessly integrated into active game worlds to generate immersive experiences for gaming communities to explore. Adaptive Difficulties: AI systems can track and analyze user inputs to adjust game parameters as required to create a digital world that reacts uniquely to every player. Asset Creation and Ownership: AIs can assist in the creation of collectible in-game assets and blockchain-based ownership contracts to help facilitate active economies.
But AI isn’t only revolutionizing gaming via content creation, it’s also helping to create more active and fulfilling gaming communities by fuelling discussion across novel social platforms.
Building User-Focused Gaming Communities
The consensus among experts seems to be that Web3 and AI in gaming are best received by gamers when they empower communities to take ownership over their games. The most obvious space where such discussions are prevalent is Discord, with the release of the site’s Embedded App SDK presenting a new avenue for users to create in-app games themselves.
However, as Web3 becomes a more integral part of online gaming, new platforms are being launched to bridge the gaps between real-world and online communities. Given that the success of Web3 games relies on community engagement, this convergence is an exciting prospect.
Platforms like the soon-to-be-launched Nerd Culture set out to help gamers bring their online communities into the real world, spurring innovation by bringing like-minded people together and helping people to find friends online and locally.
Nerd Culture uses Web3 tools to help members build custom communities, find people who share their unique interests and plan safe meetups in the physical world. Speaking about the genesis of the project, Co-Founder Steven Weingarth says:
“When I moved to LA, I was shocked by how difficult it was to find a D&D group. Sites upon sites, Discord invites, bouncing between Reddit threads and Meetup and Facebook groups. It felt like yelling into a void. So our team set out to build the platform we all wish existed — a single place to connect and share stories with people over the things we love.”
Summing Up
If Web3 and AI are to revolutionize gaming, developers must pay equal attention to nurturing community engagement; novel services like Nerd Culture offer an ideal space to do just that.
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