Follow the fun

Web3 gaming hasn't taken off yet because it puts money first. Look to the most successful video games of all time and you see a common thread: they put fun before profit. The development teams just built a game that captured their own imaginations. Something that they wanted to play. Even successful game franchises can be killed by too much emphasis on the business over the game itself (looking at you Halo). If web3 games want to succeed, they have to follow the fun.

Profit is still important, but you have to consider with each decision whether your method of generating profit harms the fun factor. This is why the traditional model of just selling the game cartridge/disk/download enables maximum fun. There's no profit seeking baked into the game. Developers and business alike have the same motives. Fun games sell.

But if you're going to build a game for the fun first, why would you choose to build on blockchain? Isn't blockchain just about money?

Blockchain gaming is about partnership with players.

You don't have to launch a game with a one time fee and static content. Your game can live and grow beyond its initial state whether or not you're still involved. The power of web3 for gaming is giving control to the players.

Play-to-earn is the wrong approach because it puts profit over fun in the mind of the player. Let your players enjoy the game without making it a job. Certain players will naturally gravitate toward improving the game for everyone--possibly by creating content (think Halo Forge, Super Mario Maker, Dota, etc.), coding, or creating art. Share revenue generated by consumers with creators.

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-Luke

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P.S. I'm basically describing a YouTube-like creator economy, just applied to gaming instead of video.