By Amanjot Malhotra
What are Move to Earn cryptos?
Move over play to earn blockchain games, the current trending topic that is quite the talk of the town is now the move to earn games powered by the revolutionary blockchain technology. The concept has become popular only in the recent months with several well-known projects coming up. They mix important elements of both the gaming finance (GameFi) along with the fitness apps to provide incentive to participants for exercising.
One of the rapidly growing segments of the third-generation Internet (Web3) is the “FitnessFi” concept that empowers participants to regulate and also make money out of their personal data. It is not surprising to see the gamification of exercises as there are several projects that had come in the past such as Pokemon Go and Wii Sports that are designed on players’ movement. However, operating the move-to-earn cryptocurrency games on a blockchain lets users add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as well as cryptocurrencies as monetary rewards. Given that the cryptos are involved in the move-to-earn blockchain games, players can now enjoy the chance to receive in-game currencies and have them exchanged for the fiat currencies. Thus the participation of the players in the move-to-earn games provides them with tangible rewards instead of having to make them pay to play games.
Gamification involves adding traditional game elements into non-traditional activities. They include rewards, points, and achievements to recognize action. We have seen this booming as technology has advanced, accompanied by the rise of video games. This tactic has been used across a variety of industries, including banking, self-help apps, and marketing strategies – research indicates that this approach has a direct influence on motivation and thus higher levels of engagement. With the addition of blockchain technology, the introduction of digital asset distribution programs can be revolutionary. The goal is to produce direct distribution of digital assets with financial value to users instead of things like vouchers or discounts.
Rewarding gamers with attractive financial incentives and using amazing game elements is extraordinarily effective, establishing the overall term GameFi. Entrepreneurs and organizations have already begun to see the emergence of the Play to Earn (P2E) economy, stemming from games. In seeing this logic with other games in mind, conventionally boring and unentertaining content such as activities could be adapted to reward physical activity. The Move-to-Earn game (M2E) is an approach in which new programs, like Genopets, STEPN, and WITUAL, maintain that logic in order to increase interest in active games. Hence, methods for delivering traditionally unentertaining content, such as exercising, may prove effective with projects like MOBEL, STEPN, and GAMEIFE. Move to earn was most recently coined for these frameworks that make gameplay more accessible by rewarding users with points for prolonged physical activities.
The idea of gamification has been around for years and it’s not a novel concept. Nintendo popularized motion-based mobile game titles through their Pokémon GO series, which recently launched with dedicated fitness controllers to help players find balance in physical activity without having any extra equipment needed outside what you’ll have already handy at home! You can also look back as far as the Wii console where many people enjoyed playing sports games like “Wii Sports” on that system too – thanks entirely to M2E. M2E is reaching new heights with the introduction of sports as a form that can be monetized. Professional players are earning money through sponsorship, winning tournaments and so on- all because they’re following their passion! Now you could even get paid for playing your favorite sport professionally too. If it’s something which appeals to you then go ahead and start taking part in these exciting events today.
Businesses benefitting from M2E
The distinctive feature of getting into a healthy body is not just appealing to users who might require a little ‘gamification push’ but also a number of businesses that can take advantage from a more physically energetic community. The company AIA is creating an incentive program for its customers to be more physically active. The Vitality of the insurance provider offers rewards like vouchers that can help people redeem food or shopping trips when they reach certain milestones in their steps count, as well as reducing premiums if you meet higher levels on this path!
With the emergence of sports as a financial reward churning activity, M2E has been gaining popularity. Businesses can explore the rich financial rewards they can make out of providing professional players with a chance to participate in tournaments. In fact, it is not just businesses but professional players too can make huge gains through tournament wins, sponsorships mean while following their passion for their favorite sports.
A concrete example is Zombies, Run!, a mobile game that features a narrative-driven, movement-based, walking experience. Comparable games are Zombies, Run! and Zombies Run Rescue.
What’s particularly noteworthy is that out of the 300,000 million users, 50% pay a subscription fee (roughly $40 per year). People are willing to pay to use an app that enables them to be more active, even if Nintendo isn’t here with its Pikachu.
Overall, the essential parts of the M2E model have consistently proved beneficial to a healthy product fit and quality. The real question is how cryptocurrency projects can pave the way for an interconnected and robust ecosystem. We will look at three potential projects, Genopets, STEPN, and WHILTUEL.
How does the concept of move to earn (M2E) differ from play to earn (P2E)?
Play-to-earn (P2E) games allow users to earn points for their progress in the game, such as defeating opponents, reaching new levels, and exploring the play space. Move-to-earn apps use data provided by the user’s mobile device, these devices can track their movements and reward them automatically for physical exercise.
Some M2E games are cost-free to play, whereas others necessitate a NFT to be purchased to begin. However, the spike in prices of NFTs and increasing value of it in games with increasing popularity, this can turn out to be a costly expenditure before the user may start seeing any returns.
M2E provides the financial incentives offered by blockchain-based rewards for a healthy lifestyle by enabling adoption in non-gaming areas. This has coincided with the growth of fitness trackers and wellness programmes that offer benefits to employees to work out. Fitness-based M2E can bring down the medical insurance premiums and also cut down the employee absences because of illness, which saves organization money. As a result, M2E can help an organization reduce health insurance costs and their employee absenteeism, thereby showcasing its potential to reach out to a wider market than the P2E model.
The author is country head – India, Bitay