Gaming and cryptocurrencies share an uncanny resemblance, both flourish unpopularly like weeds, arousing passion and disdain from various quarters in equal measure. Interestingly, collaboration between the two industries will be able to make the idea of a productive gaming culture a reality for millions around the world. In this article, I look over how the project, Buff seeks to leverage blockchain technology to enable gamers to make more productive use of their time while doing what they love.
Gaming market was valued at $116 billion at the end of 2017 and projected to surpass $180 billion this year. Despite this, some of the most prominent drawbacks about gaming economies are
❌Divided into huge isolated sub-economies. Or in the worst case they are
❌Virtual economy
Monetization of gaming economies is created through the sale of games and in-app purchases of skins, mods, and unlocking achievements. Buff leverages blockchain technology to create an inclusive transparent overlayer ecosystem for all the gaming economies. Think of it like the Euro currency, which is the unifying currency for international trade for different European nations. Each game still has their unique economy but their players can earn BUFF coins which is for use in the overarching economy. BUFF’s economic model will require a good number of partnerships to strengthen the emerging economy. To achieve this, Buff has partnered with Overwolf, a game appstore with over 15 million players and more than 200 games.
Buff will empower the small-time gamer to earn from his hobby similar to professional eSports gamers. Level of skill set is not a barrier of earning rewards, any gamer is able to earn BUFF coins simply by playing the game. It is important to note however that there are privileges that come with rise in rank to make it more attractive.
Why Blockchain?
Blockchain optimizes the operation of the gaming ecosystems through the use of smart contracts and p2P interactions that increase the value rewards to gamers. Once deployed, blockchain technology is self-running and will be cost-effective over the life-cycle of the game.
Buff's integration of blockchain with the AI enabled BUFF Analytics Service, an inbuilt defense mechanism that detects any anomalies (fraud) in the system, will ensure any anomalies are settled through pre-coded blockchain arbiter mechanisms.
By reinvigorating the gaming economy, blockchain can be able to encourage newer players to take part and older players to continue.
Any gamer who joins the Buff ecosystem by signing up the Buff form can track his progress on any Buff-integrated title, and earn bounty tokens for that. Earning the Buff tokens will happen seamlessly in the Buff wallet in the background. It is important to note that the process of earning BUFF coins cannot exert a toll on the system, like what PoW cryptocurrency mining processes exert.
Tokenomics| Tokensale
Consensus mechanism : Proof of Play (DPOS)
Ticker: BUFF
Platform: Ethereum
Throughput : 3000 TPS
Total tokens are 300, 000, 000
Private sale in June
Public sale in August
Soft cap is $10M
Hard cap is $30M
Token uses:
✅To purchase in-game digital assets/ goods across many platforms PC, mobile, PS4
✅Can be exchanged for other crypto or money
✅Can be exchanged for wolf coins, which are used to purchase games on Overwolf
Tokens will be released September
Overwolf
Overwolf has a fully stacked appstore with game apps, skins and free games. It's unique value proposition is facilitating addition of new features to games via overlays, greatly improving the gaming experience
15 million gamers who form the Overwolf user base will upon launch of Buff platform, be the first to earn BUFF coins by playing their favorite games on Overwolf.
This partnership has two main benefits to Buff:
📌Access to the platform’s 15 million gamers and the system’s real time statistics
📌Build reputation amongst the biggest publishers in the game
BUFF can take advantage of Overwolf’s unique role in gaming ecosystems to develop unique reward models for gamers in various games.
Fortnite, Dota 2, Counterstrike, League of Legends and many other games that are on Overwolf
ROADMAP
What to expect from Buff this year?
Buff alpha has already been released in May 2018, launched on top of Ethereum. A desktop application of their mvp featuring the five hottest titles from Overwolf which will be available to the 15 million gamers. Supports major gaming economies from tier 1 publishers and major eSports brands. The Buff mainnet will be a private blockchain launched on top of ark framework.
2019 will focus on mobile application development
And 2020 is the home run, the launch of BUFF SDK to empower developers with the ability to self-integrate BUFF.
My takeaway
There are many blockchain projects venturing into the gaming space so this shows there is an opportunity there. I think gaming culture will be one of the most powerful fields to be impacted by blockchain. To be able to be successful, BUFF really has to ensure a lot of partners are on board. That is the only way to effect adoption. In addition to having an exemplary team, which you can access from the website, Buff coin has also brain-drained talent from some of the biggest names in gaming such as Activision, Wargaming America and Disney to be part of its advisory board. The team is fantastic. However, looking at the overall market sentiment this year it will be interesting to see how the crowdfunding goes because as we know ICOs and bear markets don’t go well. Hopefully, a lot of effort that has gone to marketing on media platforms and blockchain conferences will be able to pay off.
Buff official website: https://buff.game
$buff seems like a better gamer coin than egretia $egt, will take a deeper look. Also check out $zth, it's an online casino running on ethereum where you can stake coins and be the house.
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Egretia is more focused on integration with HTML5 games I think, and they have already launched a blockchain based soccer game. I cant pick the winner between the two, both have their strengths. I think Buff's blockchain deployment will be easier so I feel it will hit the track faster
embarrassed, I cant find anything online with the $zth ticker, full name please?
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That's my real name, Donald Porter. I'm pretty active on #cryptotwitter as well, follow @ http://twitter.com/donaldporterjm
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Aye, cool, on twitter am @Cryptocalypto
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