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The recent merging of gaming and blockchain technology is a trend that’s been sweeping through the crypto industry rapidly. That’s why in this beginner’s guide, we’ll be discussing what this new trend entails and how new players can start gaming on crypto platforms.
Understanding Cryptocurrencies
For beginners, the first thing they need to know before gaming on crypto platforms is the different terms used on these sites and apps. Let us see some key phrases beginners must know below.
BTC
The first term that beginners must understand is BTC. BTC is the name of the famous Bitcoin token invented by an anonymous group or person called Satoshi Nakamoto. It is also one of the most widely used currencies in crypto gaming.
ETH
ETH or Ether is what Ethereum’s currency is called, and its native blockchain network has enabled many game developers to launch decentralized applications (DApps) to offer a wide range of playing options for gamers.
Altcoins
All cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin are called altcoins. Most altcoins are low market cap crypto coins, with some described by crypto expert Kane Pepi as hidden gems because of their market potential and the innovative approaches their development teams take. A low market cap simply means that these coins are sold at reasonable rates. Altcoins with a low market cap are a great choice for crypto gaming because of the reduced initial investment cost to buy in.
Wallets
Another important term that beginners need to know is crypto wallets. These wallets store users’ private keys that allow them to receive, send, and manage their digital assets safely. Users have a wide range of wallets to choose from, ranging from mobile wallets, software wallets, and hardware wallets.
Exchanges
In the crypto space, exchanges are the intermediaries that connect sellers and buyers in the crypto market. That’s because they are used to facilitate the selling, buying, and trading of blockchain-based digital assets.
Crypto Gaming Platforms
The crypto gaming sector includes a variety of ways to play with crypto. Let’s explore just a few ways to game with crypto:
Play-to-Earn
Play-to-earn games allow gamers to play games online and earn crypto as they achieve in-game milestones. This type of gaming is relatively new, but quickly gaining popularity.
Crypto Casinos
Crypto casinos are basically traditional online casinos, with the exception that they use cryptocurrencies to facilitate transactions. These platforms offer casino games like poker, slots, and blackjack, but with extra benefits such as faster withdrawals and anonymity. Crypto gambling is quickly becoming a popular way to play using crypto online.
Decentralized Gaming Platforms
Contrary to traditional gaming platforms that operate on centralized servers, decentralized gaming platforms utilize blockchain networks. By doing this, they eliminate the need for intermediaries and ensure security and transparency while advancing player ownership by allowing them to purchase game assets and keep these in their wallets.
NFT-Based Games
NFT-based games incorporate NFTs as in-game items such as collectibles and character skins. What has drawn many players to these games is that they can run on some of the best gaming PCs and mobile devices, which has made them accessible to more people.
Provably Fair Gaming
One aspect that has made crypto gaming intriguing is the concept of provably fair games.
Here’s how this concept works:
Randomness and Transparency
Traditional gaming platforms with games that provide players with randomized outcomes generate these on their centralized servers. Contrarily, provably fair games hosted on blockchain networks utilize cryptographic seeds and hashes to create random outcomes. This means players can check the game’s data to verify how fair each outcome was.
Verifying Results
To verify fairness, crypto gaming platforms provide a server seed and let players create client seeds. These seeds are then combined to create an outcome during play. After a gaming session, players can use these seeds to see if the results they received matched the expected outcome.
Setting Up Your Wallet
Now that we know what is involved in crypto gaming let’s see how beginners can start participating by exploring how they can set up a crypto wallet.
Choose a Wallet Type
To set up a wallet, beginners must choose between getting hardware wallets, which are physical devices, and software wallets they can access online or on mobile apps.
Create Your Wallet
After choosing a wallet type, beginners can go to a reputable wallet provider’s website or download the provider’s app. Once they’ve accessed the platform, they can follow the registration process steps.
Understand Private Keys
Once a crypto wallet is set up, users get a unique private key that they must keep safe, as losing it will mean losing access to their digital assets.
Once they have their wallets set up, beginners can now start choosing which games they will play.
Making Your First Deposit
After choosing a game they want to play, new crypto gamers will need to know how to deposit crypto coins. Here’s how they can do it.
Create an Account
Once new gamers have chosen a platform they want to play on, they will have to create an account on it which they can do by following the instructions on the site or app.
Deposit Crypto
After creating an account, gamers can transfer their crypto from their wallets or use an exchange to top up their gaming accounts.
Transaction Fees
Before transferring funds into their gaming account, new players must familiarize themselves with crypto deposit transaction fees. These fees differ on each blockchain network and are based on the amount a player wants to transfer.
Confirmation Times
After making a deposit, players will wait for the gaming platform to confirm it. The time it takes to confirm deposits and the number of confirmations needed varies across platforms and depends on the cryptocurrency used. However, after this process, the transferred funds will be available on a player’s gaming account.
