Expanding the Market – Secondary Uses for GameCredits

(Above is a snapshot from an in game-item/account auction site)

Gamecredits’ primary use case at this point will be to move funds in and out of the gaming sector, allowing gamers to buy in-game currencies and services without having to deal with the frictions of fiat payments. But it will inevitably see wider adoption in the secondary markets around the gaming world.

In-game item trading is one of the obvious use-cases. Games often have associated marketplaces where gamers can create stalls and sell in-game items – digital bazaars where users can browse and buy whatever they want, if they have the money.

An example of this is www.playerauctions.com, a huge marketplace where players can use PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and other methods to buy items for different games. The site provides a service much like eBay, so as well as managing the transaction there is dispute resolution. It’s a natural development to use gamecredits for this kind of application, especially if gamecredits is already being used for in-game items in the first place. For example, once the GAME market is established for gold in Fragoria, it’s likely that a decentralised marketplace will also ultimately arise – reducing fees to near zero, and allowing successful players to cash out their gold or sell items to other players.

That’s just one application. Fantasy sports is another sector in which we will likely see a surge in cryptocurrency payments, due to the advantages that blockchain-based payments offer for this. Players will be able to engage with the website or platform wherever they are in the world. Similarly, there will be video game tournaments, where people can join and play each other for winnings in GAME. Those hosting gaming servers may offer discounts for GAME purchases, since chargebacks are a common problem.

Once a market is established within the gaming world, via a number of popular games, then gamecredits has recognised value that can go far beyond its original purpose. There’s no reason it shouldn’t see application as a currency of tipping on gaming forums and on social networks. Since it’s a real currency with real value, it will have appeal beyond the gaming sector – money is money, after all.

That’s all within the gaming sector – and there are plenty of other use cases, too. Once people are holding GAME or at least using it on a regular basis, it becomes like any other currency. It will be possible to buy games for gamecredits, to use it to hire developers on a short-term or freelance basis, to pay for bits of work, website design and so on. Basically anything for which you’d pay regular money can be paid for in GAME, so long as those receiving it recognise its value. More, in fact, because regular money isn’t suited to applications like tipping and microtransactions.

This is why building network effect and a strong GAME-based economy is vital as a first step. Once GAME is established and reaches critical mass, there’s no telling where it will find new uses. ‘Integrating gamecredits into new games’ is the close-up view. Zoom out and you will see this looks something more like ‘Creating a whole new GAME-based economy’.