Axie Infinity (AXS): A Blockchain-Based Game To Earn While Playing
The gaming community has started to realize that blockchain technology is a new paradigm positioned to shake up the entire industry. In fact, as per a report, 23% of gaming respondents stated that blockchains have made games more secure and reliable. The growing popularity of blockchain-based gaming platforms can be learned through the success of several games that have continued to grow despite the bearish market sentiments. One such game is Axie Infinity, which has the maximum impact in the crypto gaming industry as it hits $1 billion in trade. In this blog post, we will learn more about Axie gaming, how it works, and touch upon My DeFi Pet, another blockchain gaming platform revolutionizing the space.
Axie Infinity — A Pokemon-Inspired Game
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based Pokemon-style game created by Sky Mavis. The game revolves around furry creatures called Axies, which can be acquired, trained, bred, and used for completing online challenges. However, it is much more than just an amusing and fun game; it allows players to earn real and tangible rewards that can be exchanged for money.
The game runs on the Ethereum network with the help of a sidechain called Ronin, which helps in minimizing fees and transaction delays. Due to its play-to-earn concept and near-zero fees, Axie Infinity has become a popular name among crypto games. Within a short period of two and a half years, the game has over 423,264 daily active users and a volume of $1.443 billion, with the maximum number of users from the Philippines, Venezuela, and the US.
The game also has a native governance token called Axie Infinity Shard (AXS). These tokens can be used for paying for breeding fees, as well as, staked for earning staking rewards. However, in the near future, as Axie Infinity gradually shifts into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), AXS holders will be able to participate in the governance mechanism of the platform.
How does Axie Infinity Work?
The game is built around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Axies. These items are essential to play the game. Users can buy them on Axie Infinity's official marketplace for a few hundred dollars. Once bought, players can use those Axies for battling the in-game enemies, just like in the legacy Pokemon game. Since this is a turn-based battle, players must play strategically to secure more chances of winning.
Additionally, to ensure the population of Axie continues to evolve and grow, the game allows players to breed their in-game pets (Axies) to create new offspring. Axie Infinity offers two ways of breeding —
- Two players can get in an agreement to breed their Axies.
- A player can offer to pay other players for taking out their Axies on a date.
However, for this particular process, players need to obtain small love potions (SLPs) tokens, which should be spent along with Axie Infinity's native AXS token to initiate breeding. These SLPs can either be purchased from a crypto exchange or earned by playing the game. Players also have the option to exchange their SLPs for money on crypto exchanges.
Furthermore, the game also incorporates the concept of tokenized plots of land. It has built a homeland called Lunacia, which consists of 90,601 plots of land, with each plot representing an NFT. Though the concept is still under development, once fully functional, users will be able to upgrade these tokens using multiple in-game resources and trade them with each other.
How to Play Axie Infinity?
A player needs to download the game from the official website. It is available for PC or MAC, although only the Android version of the game is available on smartphones. The team is still working on deploying the iOS version after the beta release turns out to be a success.
Once the game is downloaded, connect your Ronin wallet to your account.
Ethereum-based wallets are no longer supported since the platform has migrated all assets from Ethereum blockchain to Ronin sidechain. As soon as the wallet is connected to the account, you can transfer ETH over to Ronin utilizing Ronin bridge. This will allow you to buy three Axies that are required to start the game. After buying the Axies, you can use them for battling or breeding.
Anything Beyond Axie Infinity?
My DeFi Pet is another crypto game that combines the concept of NFTs and blockchain technology to add spark to the play-to-earn gaming genre. In the game, players can collect pets by either buying them from an auction house or breeding the two different pets to acquire their offspring. In addition to being the integral characters of the game, these pets can also be used to avail different DeFi services like yield farming, trading, swapping, staking, or more across KardiaChain and Binance Smart Chain (BSC).
Conclusion
The blockchain-based gaming scene is growing as more and more platforms are being invented and collectible in-game items are being built. Games like Axie and My DeFi Pet not only make mass adoption of crypto possible but also offer an easy way for everyone to learn and understand how blockchain technology works. As the in-game items become increasingly popular, we will see an influx of mainstream users to the space.