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AI in gaming is nothing new, but recent AI advancements provide numerous new ways to enhance games and their user experience ven if gamers themselves don’t particularly love it.
Whether leveraging AI to produce realistic enemy behavior and motion matching in ‘The Last of Us‘ or more accurately depicting real player skills and tactics with hyper-realistic animation in EA Sports’s ‘FC 2024,’ new AI use cases are subtly augmenting the majority of the gaming series we love.
It could go from what some veterans call a ‘necessary evil‘ to a feature that both players and developers value.
So, it’s no surprise that AI technology would also be applied to the world of Web 3.0 gaming also commonly referred to as ‘blockchain’ or ‘NFT gaming.’
But can it be done in a way that doesn’t try to put digital duct tape over a messy game experience?
AI can play a (supporting) role in Web 3.0 gaming
When compared to the traditional gaming sector, Web 3.0 games are still infants, and like the broader crypto industry, have experienced their fair share of volatility.
The sector gained significant prominence during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people were on unpaid leave, due to its introduction of play-to-win mechanics with popular games like ‘Axie Infinity’ uniquely blending nostalgic gameplay with ownership of in-game NFT assets.
In attempts to replicate the success of ‘Axie’ and a few others, many new Web 3.0 gaming projects began launching.
However, it soon became clear most of these projects would fall short for one reason or another.
As the crypto industry imploded during the summer of 2022, Web 3.0 gaming and NFTs lost much of the little allure they had left, causing even the most popular games in the space to suffer by association.
This led to a steady decline in users, value and venture capital, forcing three out of every four games to shutter.
Without the cover and easy money of a bull market, the industry’s structural flaws and long-term sustainability became glaringly apparent.
Fair or unfair, critiques of first-generation Web 3.0 games were harsh hey are boring, lack compelling storylines, focus too much on the in-game economy and employ ‘pay-to-win’ mechanics.
Web 3.0 gaming’s main focus should be on correcting this narrative.
As Bitcoin settles at over $60,000 while the wider crypto industry continues its comeback almost two years after its crash, many gaming projects are turning to AI to garner interest and legitimacy from crypto enthusiasts, mainstream gamers and venture capitalists.
As with regular gaming, AI should be used where necessary to enhance the overall quality of Web 3.0 games.
For example, using AI to enhance interactions with NPCs (non-player characters) can make the game more rich, authentic and dynamic something severely lacking in the first generation of Web 3.0 games.
Furthermore, AI can be creatively leveraged to regulate in-game economies, detect bots, generate NFTs and more.
These types of use cases can benefit the entire ecosystem by showing skeptics of Web 3.0 gaming that the new generation of developers and games have different priorities.
However, this doesn’t mean Web 3.0 game developers should use AI as a marketing ploy or gimmick to gain attention, as this resembles shallow tactics used during crypto’s 2021 bull run, which saw companies making exaggerated and misleading claims constantly.
These practices only backfired to generate much mockery and led to the sector being widely delegitimized.
As the industry embraces AI, gaming studios and developers must not fall into old habits by relying on AI’s hype to attract users.
Rewriting the script
As Web 3.0 gaming tries to mend its reputation, it’s paramount that the sector recognizes and fixes the mistakes and shortcomings that led to its widespread criticism.
Even for gaming studios and titles taking the appropriate steps to address the industry’s flaws, the focus must not be on using AI.
Just as early Web 3.0 games overly focused on token launches and crypto aspects such as staking and rewards, hyping up the use of AI or using it where it’s not beneficial will leave a bad taste in gamers’ mouths.
A more mature Web 3.0 gaming environment grants a second chance to the sector but this time it can’t be squandered by employing superficial tactics in attempts to appeal to broader demographics.
You can’t use it to cut corners.
The only way to redefine the industry and take control of its narrative is through building better games that appeal to both mainstream gamers and crypto enthusiasts.
This means prioritizing storylines before token launches, quality graphics and audio over economic mechanisms, and an advanced physics engine instead of insignificant AI integrations.
At the same time, it is important to balance factors that will lead to higher quality games with the need to nurture the more promising aspects of Web 3.0 gaming wnership and interoperability of in-game assets, transparent gameplay, community building and user participation in development.
Luckily, it appears that the industry is taking a different approach and addressing its flawed model.
As VCs show renewed interest in Web 3.0 gaming, it seems the new approach is paying off as more games have prioritized gameplay and gaming tokens’ market cap rose by nearly 25% in March.
All this is further boosted by better infrastructure in the form of more blockchain networks for developers to build on.
While the industry appears to be headed in the right direction, it needs to be cautious regarding how it uses AI ultimately what is going to attract more gamers to Web 3.0 is the development of fun, high-quality games that smoothly and creatively integrate the best Web 3.0 features.
Without this, it doesn’t matter how much AI a game uses because no one will play it.
Dmitry Bychkov is the head of gaming development at Exverse, specializing in Unreal Engine and network programming. Throughout his career, Dmitry has contributed to projects with notable companies such as Holmgard Games and Darkness Squad.
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