Blockchain studio rep laments that ‘Not all gamers are crypto traders’

With the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFT), gamers and crypto enthusiasts are coming together, but gamers may not even know they’re using cryptos before they understand the decentralized nature of NFTs, an expert said. 

During an interview with Cointelegraph, Mac Ocampo, head of growth at blockchain entertainment studio Virtually Human Studio (VHS), said that NFTs and gaming platforms complement each other well, as there are “good NFT products out there like Sorare and Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot which introduces more mainstream users to the world of NFTs.”

Ocampo summarized the concept that the NFTs industry should adopt and it’s “cryptotainment,” where both segments, crypto traders and gamers, can play – for example – a horse racing game while earning crypto at the same. That’s why he thinks that the industry faces a challenge: 

“The high cost of owning and maintaining a racehorse in the real world creates a distinct gap between its profit-hungry customers and the privilege of ownership.”

“Not all gamers are crypto traders, and not all crypto traders are gamers” is one of the major hurdles that the NFTs gaming sector should overcome, Ocampo said. However, he tells a personal story which he considers the proper one to highlight NFTs benefits:

“I recently caught up with my high school pals during the lockdown. One of my friends, Jimmy, had this $12k Michael Jordan chase card he bought a few years ago. However, when he had time to organize his collection, the inevitable happened – termites raided his trading card collection.”

And that’s where the value of NFTs comes in, added Ocampo, clarifying that if that valuable piece of Michael Jordan memorabilia was converted into an NFT, “then there’s a high possibility that it could have retained its value.”

Ocampo also talked about how the COVID-19 pandemic is helping in some way to boost NFTs adoption in recent months:

“NFTs have always been associated with gaming platforms and most people were playing games during that time. While it’s quite insensitive to say that it has contributed to the growth and sales of NFT platforms and blockchain games, we have to admit that more users are now familiar on how in-game purchases work and the value that NFTs give to the gaming space.” 

Ocampo explained the critical role that the NEAR protocol can play in the NFT industry, using a recent VHS project called the ZEST Play Platform that’s based on NEAR as an example:

“There are several blockchain protocols now that say they have higher TPS and lower transaction costs, but we are confident that the NEAR protocol will solve roadblocks which enables us to provide a great user experience to our customers. Since ZEST is the first NFT mainnet product on NEAR blockchain, we aim to be a great case study for the next wave of NFT platforms and games on NEAR.”