Reasons to Use Blockchain in Gaming: Tech Peculiarities of DMarket and DreamTeam

Such new technologies as AI, VR, and blockchain provide a lot of opportunities for mobile and computer gaming. Blockchain opens the new way for people to interact with games — sell and buy in-game items for real currencies.

According to platform Newzoo, there are 1.8 billion gamers all over the world without considering mobile gamers. Also, this resource claims that in 2018 the gaming industry is going to be worth $137 billion.

In this article, we’ll discuss how the blockchain operates in the gaming field as well as consider two projects based on this technology. Keep reading!

As it was mentioned above, we are going to discuss two projects that in some ways use blockchain technology. To be more precise, Ethereum blockchain.

This platform was chosen because of the opportunity to create smart contracts.

What are smart contracts? They are programs that are stored on the blockchain and executed on the nodes of this network.

There are two main properties of Ethereum if all important conditions are fulfilled:

1. There is no opportunity to change or delete data.
2. Everybody has access to the data of the whole chain.

According to the properties mentioned above, code of the smart contract, operations it does and their results can’t be changed. It happens because all the transactions mentioned before are stored in the blockchain.

Smart contracts are programs, so they can contain variables that can be temporary or permanent (their condition is stored in the chain). As a result, developers are able to create any function. For example, there can be permanent variables that tell about tokens and their owners.

Let’s speak about tokens. Nowadays there are several ways to use them in smart contracts. These are ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. In the table below, you can see their specifications.

So, now we know some general information and can move on to the discussion of projects based on blockchain technology.

DMarket allows its users to choose what to do with their game items: keep, sell or trade. In the past, there was no opportunity to sell/buy any in-game items to or from other gamers. Now, with DMarket, users have such a chance.

Every day 2-3 billion people play computer games on different platforms. But there are only several titles that provide an opportunity to sell in-game items and only 6% of all players use this opportunity. Their profit is insane — $4 billion. So, the question is how to engage all the gamers into this process?

DMarket’s creators have found the answer. They’ve decided to develop a unique platform that allows selling and buying in-game objects. During the last 12 months, they’ve been selling virtual items from several computer games. 12 million in-game items have been sold since that time.

So, DMarket is the first decentralized global marketplace for trading virtual items. This marketplace is based on blockchain technology and smart contracts.

In fact, the developers have created a new economical segment. DMarket allows gamers, developers, and entrepreneurs to evaluate and trade virtual items. As a result, gamers are more interested in collecting unique objects and developers have an interest in creating new and relevant game content.

All users (gamers as well as developers) can get profit from their achievements and time spent. DMarket is also a good place for players to show off.

Now it’s high time to discuss the technologies used more precisely.

There are two independent system parts — decentralized blockchain database and trading platform.

DMarket uses smart contract technology that guarantees security for all members of the deal.

The main function of these contracts is to manage certain conditions, virtual items, and internal cryptocurrency while a smart contract is an independent intermediary. Payment and delivery processes are based on conditions written in smart contracts.

As you can see, these contracts are able to provide a better security level than simple contract law. They can also reduce different transaction expenses.

There are some functions that DMarket does by means of smart contracts:

1. Check the in-game items (based on HASH) and their available amount.
2. Check the users’ ability to pay if they want to buy any item.
3. Other functions that are set by the user beforehand.

The smart contract starts to work after calling the purchase function and is responsible for the settlement of accounts.

The DMarket system also uses an independent service to store all necessary information. This service cooperates with the blockchain as well as with a trading platform. Due to the architecture of this storing service even if it is completely disconnected the integrity of data in the blockchain is save.

DMarket Coin is the only currency on this platform. So, all operations (including commissions) with digital items can be done only using this coin.

Every member gets ERC-20 DMarket Token in the Ethereum network.

DMarket Token issue happens only once.

DMarket Token. It is an in-game item.

In the blockchain, there is a connection between DMarket Token and DMarket Coin.

Every game element is represented as a DMarket Token. Moreover, it is marked as the company’s or user’s property as well as fixated in the DMarket blockchain utilizing a unique symbol. All these functions allow tracking the item in the system, its specifications, etc.

Only the creators and owners are able to show virtual items (DMarket Tokens).

So, wrapping up this part, we can say that this project is quite good for both game developers and players. It provides a lot of functions to connect gamers and let them sell their virtual items.

It is also a good marketplace for players, so now they are able to buy/sell in-game items.

Vital technologies that were used to achieve these results:

• Ethereum ERC-20 Token to create an ability to pay.
• Exonum (blockchain platform for smart contracts) to store data about in-game items, their owners, price and so on.
• API Server to connect users and blockchain.

Every person likes competitions, especially gamers. That has led to the creation of cybersport. So, people play videogames and compete with each other on the Internet. This field is constantly growing and has more than 1.4 billion users all over the world. There is a tendency that cybersport will become #1 sport in the future. Of course, its development can be slowed down with such factors as lack of security, fraud during transaction processes, lack of proper instruments, and so on.

In order to solve all the issues mentioned above, the developers have decided to create DreamTeam. It is the first unique platform and payment system in the cybersport.

The creators claim that DreamTeam is a secure platform for any financial operations or communication. This platform is constantly developing, so there are a lot of new features and improvements.

The tech stack runs on AWS Infrastructure with Docker containers, Kubernetes orchestration, and a CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous deployment) infrastructure. The testing was done using the Gatling tool. The developers optimize the code, queries, and infrastructure permanently.

Smart contracts based on Blockchain are actively used in DreamTeam. They protect users from all possible changes. As a result, the players along with teams can sign smart contracts and discuss terms of cooperation beforehand.

The developers claim that the blockchain technology along with integrated smart contracts will bring new perspectives to the cybersport. Due to the DreamTeam tokens and smart contracts, this field will be developing quite fast. As a result, every cybersport fan gets an opportunity to earn money from gaming and develop their business.

So, DreamTeam is a perfect platform for gamers, teams, sponsors and so on. It uses the blockchain technology as a payment instrument inside the system.

Vital technologies that were used in this project:

• Ethereum ERC-20 Token in order to create payment instrument inside the platform and provide smart contracts.
• API Server to provide the connection between clients and blockchain.

The blockchain technology is becoming more widespread nowadays. According to the projects discussed above, we may claim that in near future blockchain will change our perception of the financial system and gaming industry in particular.

Smart contracts give a lot of opportunities to make deals more secure and comfortable. As for the gaming world, the blockchain allows buying and selling in-game items conveniently and fast.

If you have any questions about blockchain technology, feel free to contact our managers and discuss them.