Every day is a new day in the NFT metaverse. As the world is seeing a significant shift towards the next stage of Internet evolution – ‘the Web 3.0,’ virtual assets are receiving critical acclaim from enthusiasts across the globe. Per a JP Morgan report, monthly NFT sales have spiked fivefold compared to January 2021, driving the sector’s total market cap to over $7 billion in mere months.
The non-fungible token market roused from its long hibernation after buffs converged to ride the so-called ‘NFT wave’ and brought into hype numerous NFT-based gaming projects like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Splinterlands, Cryptopunks, amongst others. While blockchain gaming has emerged as a good source of income, it is gaining an overwhelming response from people living in developing countries like Vietnam, India including several others.
Splinterlands, the Most Played Game of the NFT Metaverse
From crypto kitties to mafias, blockchain games have bestowed gamers with hundreds of different interesting concepts. Splinterlands is another such interesting NFT based trading card game (TCG). This unique concept has become so popular within the metaverse that Splinterlands witnessed growth like never before in 2021.
The platform topped 500,000 daily active users in October 2021. However, at the time of writing, the daily users stood at 360,000 Per Dappradar. The game has rapidly grown into the most played blockchain game in the world. It is worth noting that in just four months, Splinterlands' daily users grew 36 times from 10,000 in July.
Unlike other NFT artworks that have no utility, Splinterlands Card NFT can be used to fight and earn monetary rewards. To be noted, the P2E platform has so far distributed $4.4 million rewards in inter-player tournaments. Splinterlands NFT can also be rented out to other players through third-party rental markets if a player is not actively using them and prefers to generate passive income.
Given this huge growth, Splinterlands is poised to expand its services. The latest of which is the Chaos Legion Card Pack expansion which gives users more choice and variety in play. Splinterlands is releasing the Chaos Legion card pack in December 2021 using its new Anti-Bot and Scalper mechanism - Vouchers. This will ensure that the cards only go to people who are truly associated with the game.
DappRadar posted in the July 2021 blockchain adoption report:
"The success stories of play-to-earn (P2E) games are an optimistic indication for the entire blockchain space. Currently, the industry is represented by different blockchains in contrast to DeFi or NFTs, where the focus is on the few. The involvement of NFTs in gaming dApps will positively affect the space."
Starly, the New Kid of the NFT Metaverse
While the world is undoubtedly fascinated with the concept of card games, platforms like Starly are emerging where artists from across the world can create, upload, launch and sell their unique NFT card artworks.
Ilja Terebin, the CEO of Starly, noted:
"Although the NFT ecosystem is still in its infancy, projects are already becoming set in their ways. It’s hard to find true innovation from the same NFT issuing and reselling market; however, Starly is different.
At Starly, we have cultivated something truly unique. A platform where NFTs can be instantly minted, gamified, given rare status and used as both part of a collection and as something users can enjoy."
Witnessing the massive burst of card games and the hundreds of NFT cards spread in the market, Starly has come up with a unique idea to organize and streamline the user experience of managing them. The platform will organize NFT cards into randomly sealed packs with three different rare classes. Each set will include 21 cards — 11 Common, 6 Rare, and 4 Legendary, which is known to be the perfect combination for an ultimate collection game.
These cards can later be traded on Starly’s marketplace. The top collectors will be rewarded by the creator for achieving certain collecting milestones along the way. "This engagement will be a prime driver for bringing their relationship with users to a new level," according to Starly. To be noted, the latest listed card collection on Starly is an artwork on modern goddesses created by Igor Skaletsky.
In simple words, Starly is a novel launchpad and marketplace. It is designed to organize the massive collection of NFTs that users hold. The platform is built on the FLOW blockchain by the same developers who were behind successful projects like F3 and Ask.fm.
The Shift to ‘Everything Decentralized’
As players understand the benefit of blockchain-based decentralized gaming, they are shifting from the traditional gaming space to blockchain games. Besides this, the rise of non-fungible tokens is inevitable and may not scale down anytime soon. It is also safe to say that the world is nearing a state of mass NFT adoption.
In such a scenario, NFT marketplaces need to be easier to understand and well interactive with users. However, the current NFT marketplaces are boring to use and lack a healthy customer relationship. Starly has stolen the spotlight while resolving this problem. The platform has launched a more accessible end-to-end marketplace for all kinds of creators and their loyal audiences.
Interestingly, NFTs are much more than just digital artwork; they can represent bulks of data, including tokens, liquidity and much more. Moreover, NFTs have evolved as the basis for various new concepts like fan tokens and crypto bonds, including others. It’s worth noting that via crypto bonds, NFTs have integrated with the space of decentralized finance.