[LargeWu]

If you invested hundreds of hours into a game and accumulated a significant pile of rare items with in-game utility, and then decided you were done with the game, would you rather a) have the option to sell them for real money or b) have the option to sell them for in-game currency (which you will never use) or c) not have any marketplace options?

[nerdjon]

You're talking about a closed system for a single game though, what exactly does a blockchain actually give you in that example?

All 3 of those are possible with a traditional database.

Even if they wanted to provide a system for sharing those assets and other marketplaces being able to built on top of it, a blockchain still doesn't actually provide any benefits.

[bobthepanda]

A lot of them intentionally are not supposed to be sold for real value because in many jurisdictions, combining that with lootbox or drop mechanics would immediately make the game subject to gambling regulations.

Game dev companies don’t want that, they want to keep selling you stuff. See: games like the Sims

[duskwuff]

c). I play games to have fun, not to make money. And I'd rather not play games where success is determined by how willing you are to open your wallet.

[cogman10]

A real-world market attached to a game would be the fastest way imaginable to suck all the fun out of a game.

I don't want to play games where 90% of the players are using the game to try and beat capitalism somehow. There are 100 reasons why this'd destroy gameplay.

* The majority of players would be concentrated on the highest value grind tasks.

* Scams would be rampant. They are already rampant in games without this mechanic. Now imagine how bad they'd be if your items had actual monetary value hooked up to them.

* Gang like behavior is pretty much guaranteed to emerge. So, it wouldn't be just one player grinding like crazy, but groups of players dedicated to making the game miserable for anyone grinding on their turf.

* It would encourage actual real-world problems/crime. Now instead of being able to meet up with people and talk about the game, you run the risk of being mugged or stalked for game currency.

Just a really terrible idea.

And these things I'm talking about aren't imaginary. There're already more than a few articles about games like EVE Online and WoW where the marketplace of those games has led to the problems I listed.

EVE's "Real life threats" policy didn't show up because it wasn't a problem [1]

[1] https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/856270680092...

[gs17]

> Gang like behavior is pretty much guaranteed to emerge.

For example, one of the times it happened to RuneScape (which also has constant scammers too!): https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/imnp0g/every_sin...

[gs17]

I'd rather not have the marketplace, honestly, and I'm someone who got more than I paid from TF2. Trading items for items isn't so bad (maybe), but we don't need to make things even more pay-to-win.

Games should be about having fun, not second jobs, unless you're playing a simulator where your fun is doing the job.

[ClassyJacket]

Blockchain helps none of those things in the slightest.