Blockchain, games and virtual city states

(Interview & author: Tang Wei; interviewee is Cocos-BCX founder Chen Yuzhi)

If the blockchain and cloud games are combined, we can see a world where 1 million people live in the same virtual scene, and each item is assigned exactly, which will make the world stronger and more "real." ". The props are the important premise that large games do not collapse and economic activities prosper. The blockchain will be integrated into the future game world in this way. It solves people's trust in prop assets.

First, the virtual game is in harmony with reality: We are heading towards the "number one player"?

Carbon chain value: If the game has a big development direction, what do you think is the big direction?

Chen Yuzhi: The game industry has a history of nearly two or three decades in China and has a history of nearly forty years overseas. The history of the entire game ecology is actually from the stand-alone game to the online game end game, to the later page tour (browser game), and finally to the history of mobile games. Now we have created a blockchain game, as well as AR and VR games that can be played with glasses. This is the latest game form.

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The development of the game industry actually conforms to two main lines. The first main line is our infrastructure: from PC platforms to mobile phones to glasses. In fact, the changes in the hardware platform are accompanied by changes in the network environment. From the narrow band at the time, and then to broadband, now from 3G to 4G to 5G. This is a change in the hardware platform network environment, we call the infrastructure changes.

The second main line is the change in business model: when boarding a plane, the gamers are a set of sales CDs or floppy disks. After you go online, you just have to log in or download it. This kind of thing is a change in the business model, and it is actually a change in the form of content. The earliest business model of the end tour is to charge a monthly fee, that is, you pay me every month to play my game, I will give you a monthly subscription; later the game is free, but you need to buy props; then in the later mobile game era, users are more More is recharge, such as buying skin, buying gold coins; now to our WeChat game, in fact, partial advertising mode, you can get these benefits in the game by just watching the advertisement.

What kind of state should the best game be? The first is that the game has a long life cycle, such as World of Warcraft, a game can play for ten years. Second, the user is not only consuming boring time in the process of playing the game, he can also get the so-called entertainment and socialism that is really effective, that is, I know friends in the game, or gain value. For example, the gold coins or props you get in World of Warcraft can be sold to make money. Thirdly, in the process of playing the game, I am not just a player. I can also participate in some decisions such as games, and even build. For example, there is a game called Mineworld, and many advanced players in Minecraft are You can make a mod, build a world of Minecraft, and then share it with other players. This model can even make money.

Therefore, with the development of time, the infrastructure of the game industry is changing, the business model brought by the form of content is changing, and then the positioning of the user is changing, or the role of the user itself is changing.

I often say that if we look at the future in an extreme way, we may live in a virtual world in the future. The virtual world is even more important than your real life, just like the "number one player." In this virtual world, whether it is property or interpersonal relationship, its experience will be more important than his real life. The game we are talking about today, the future may be a large number of people's virtual lifestyle, they can get rewards from it, and even work for it.

Carbon chain value: So according to you, I feel that the line between virtual and reality is slowly blurring. The game is slowly becoming part of the work in my life. As an individual, I can choose to live in the real world or choose to live in a virtual world.

Chen Yuzhi: Yes. I wouldn't give a very appropriate example. At present, many electric vehicles are emphasizing auto-driving. The process of auto-driving requires training. It is necessary to let the car go on the road and collect data to practice repeatedly so that the car can become smarter. But in so many places around the world, if you put a car in every place to train, the first is very dangerous, so that place does not allow you to take a real car to the road for unmanned driving. The second cost is high, so it’s true that the training vendors themselves can’t afford it. So what should I do? At present, the training scenes of self-driving cars are developed with the tools of the game, that is, the virtual road of the game is used, and then the virtual car is opened on it to achieve the training effect.

In this process, you can use the game's technology in the so-called autopilot. It also includes a fitting mirror made by many e-commerce companies recently. You can virtualize the dressing. The system has an avatar, a figure, and then you are Try to try on the clothes above. Many of the experiential new technologies in the real world today are actually derived from games. So the game and the real world are slowly blending. Behind it is not only that the game becomes more and more like reality, but the reality is also inspired by the game and becomes more and more like a game.

Second, in the fusion of virtual and reality, the blockchain may play the role

Carbon chain value: If the game is moving in the direction of reality and virtual convergence, what role might the blockchain play in this direction?

Chen Yuzhi: The blockchain is essentially divided into several levels. Last year we proposed that there will be several stages in the development of blockchain games. The earliest you only need to use digital currency to complete the payment within the game, it is a blockchain game application, which is also the most mainstream way today. For example, some spinach-like games overseas are paid in digital currency, but its essence is just adding a channel.

If the blockchain and the game have a deeper integration, then the props generation phase is reached. The virtual props in the game, in the past its ownership is determined by the developer, because it is on the central server. The game props are valid or invalid today, or the game itself is run and not run by the developer today, but after the props are generated through the blockchain, it becomes decentralized and can effectively exist in the wallet. In addition, there is no problem with the ownership of the item.

For the future, we believe that the entire operating environment of the game will be placed on the chain. The blockchain has a concept called a node, and this concept is particularly good. It is about a main chain with many nodes, nodes involved in the main chain version release, technology updates and other directions. In fact, the game is the same. Looking at today, how to develop a new scene of a game, whether new content is delivered, and whether the version is set up properly, who decides these factors? In fact, big players have a great influence on the direction of the game. Now there is a trade union role in the game, it may be equivalent to the nodes in the blockchain, can participate in the direction of the game. This is the deepest level of blockchain and game integration, which will fundamentally change the business model and production mode of the game.

As far as today is concerned, most blockchain games are only in the first stage, with digital currency currency for payment. But what really matters is the second stage, whether the props are really decentralized and whether they are permanent. This situation did not exist in the past, because all servers in the past were centralized.

In fact, in other areas besides games, everyone is already preparing. Whether you use mobile or Unicom, you have points. Today, banks, airlines and operators have begun to chain the bottom block of his points. Although we still can't feel it from the user's point of view, this bottom layer has quietly changed. Essentially this is a way for the world to move forward.

Carbon chain value: Now that we feel that the game world and the real world are distinct, there is a reason that cannot be ignored. It is difficult for users to realize virtual assets in the real world. For example, I am a game player. I got a Qinglong sword in a game. If this Qinglong sword can instantly become a rice ball or become an umbrella, then the whole world will have a big concept. Change. Do you think that the blockchain may change the concept of value and assets between reality and virtual world?

Chen Yuzhi: Actually, this kind of thing is very easy. It requires two preconditions: the first premise, if Bitcoin rises to 100,000 US dollars, more and more people are pouring into this field, then I believe that someone will accept virtual assets. Direct exchange of real goods; second, large-scale commercial promotion. It is not difficult to change things. For example, NetEase realized the token of Netease Planet for Netease Black Pork. As long as your token can have a place to consume, someone will accept it. There will even be some over-the-counter markets in the future.

In my opinion, virtual assets are inevitable. I have a Weilai electric car, just take it for example: Weilai has a point system. For example, if you buy a car today, you can get the points from Weilai, and then you can use this point to change clothes in the mall or Small cups, etc., you can also change some of its charging service. There is a very interesting phenomenon in the Weilai community, you will see that users have 20% off points. In fact, everyone does not care whether it is a blockchain, as long as you know how many services this point can be exchanged according to official rules, it automatically forms pricing. For example, in a real society, the single price for charging external services is 280 yuan, and for points, it is 1000 points. I assume that 1000 points in this way can reach 280 dollars.

However, the current impact of blockchain games in reality is far less than the scores of these large companies, mainly because the threshold for user entry is too high, resulting in too few users. The problem with the blockchain industry is that most of the blockchain public chains and the founding teams of games are not commercial in nature. Frankly speaking, these teams may have a good coffee position in the past two years, but they are relatively limited in business trials. So today's question is not whether the blockchain can help break the gap between virtual assets and real assets. It is whether the mainstream blockchain team has enough accumulation in business experience today to enable the exchange of virtual assets and real assets. Pass.

Third, the era of technology-driven is about to pass, the next wave of opportunities belongs to the operation-driven team.

Carbon chain value: I agree with you. We have talked privately before. If the public chain is to stand out in the next round, it is definitely not about technology and performance. It is the business mind of who is fighting, who can make their community bigger.

Chen Yuzhi: There are generally several driving methods in business: one is technology driven, like Tesla. The other two are often mentioned by game companies. A company called operational drivers, such as chess and happy music, just like to play the game at a point, this game is more popular, so as long as the game team Constantly expanding the scale of users, constantly filling in effective content, and constantly doing market, can continue to increase revenue. The last one is content driven. Like the Avengers 4, which was a bit of a while ago, it essentially accumulates decades of content, eventually converges into a product, and then detonates around the world. For example, "Top Player", its most attractive thing is that it builds a wonderful world view, these are content-driven.

No matter how the blockchain game develops, it can't change its own driving style. The development of the current public chain ecology is also subject to performance constraints, so we believe that the blockchain company is more technically driven. At present, there are many outstanding public chain companies in China, and the underlying technology is solid and welcomed by capital. That is to say, technology-driven companies are not lacking in this industry.

But unlike traditional industries, all public-chain projects are open source, and technology delivery is very fast. As long as the BTC, ETH or EOS team has made one thing, this technology is open. Well, if the blockchain industry is completely technology-driven, this is not appropriate. And as the performance bottleneck slowly breaks through, the role of technology in the success of blockchain companies is smaller.

In this case, the operation driver is becoming more and more important, but unfortunately such a company has not appeared yet. If you don't want to find an example, the wave field is a bit like an operation-driven company, but his operation is not fine, and the reason why the wave field can do this is because it is rich enough. In addition, the wave field is not completely based on the needs of developers or even the needs of users, it is more to configure operations based on the price of the currency. A company that is truly operationally driven should focus on the needs and pains of users, or on the basis of activity, but in fact it does not exist today.

If the operation driver has a little bit of shadow, then the content-driven blockchain company can be said to be completely absent. This is the current status of commercialization of the entire industry.

Fourth, the blockchain x cloud game: a virtual city state living in a million population

Carbon chain value: The game is supported by content, and content drive is the ultimate driver of the game. Do you think that the blockchain can create new content that could not be born before?

Chen Yuzhi: Actually, nothing is new but not new, because the content form does not have so many so-called innovations in essence. For example, what is the difference between live broadcast, news broadcast and live broadcast? All of them are on the stage, and there are a bunch of people watching at the bottom. There are only a few problems with the people watching, and there is no change in the form. The second is the issue of autonomy. You can't say who wants to go up with news broadcasts, but today you will find that it is not a magical thing for a person to have 10 million fans.

What can be innovated is the operational mechanism of content, which is the business model. For example, news broadcasts can't be a bit like, there can be no so-called rewards, but this thing is very easy to implement under the current mobile Internet conditions. The original anchor is a teasing mode, where a girl sings and dances, and then fans reward. Now the current live broadcast, especially like vibrato, in fact, short video, you can bring goods to Taobao sellers. From this point of view, the business model is changing constantly, but the content is only changing in length, and the content form is difficult to change. It is all people, stories or IP.

The blockchain has to solve the pattern change, not the content problem. For example, in the past "My World", you built a Forbidden City on it. In the traditional mode, you may have opened this model, and whoever wants to download will give five dollars. But today, if the Forbidden City is on the chain, it is a completely private asset, and you can sell the Forbidden City at a high price.

Beyond that, we also need to pay attention to the direction of the game and how the blockchain resonates with these directions. We originally had an obvious technical limitation. Let's take chicken as an example: eating chicken is a game with only one hundred people, one hundred people are watching who is dead slowly, whoever lives to the end who is a chicken, it is this One hundred people. But with the new technology, we can accommodate 10,000 people or even 1 million people playing games in the same scene. This is a cloud game or a streaming game.

We can think about it: If 1 million people can play a game at the same time, what does this mean? It means that a small city has emerged. In this small city, there will be a relationship between supply and demand. Some things can enhance your sense of honor in the city or the so-called show-up effect. Then the value of this thing is higher; some are necessities, very common. The value of things is relatively low. One million people have been in the game for a long time, and people are joining and leaving at any time, so the props in this game will have strong trading needs.

If the blockchain and cloud games are combined, we can see a world where 1 million people live in the same virtual scene, and each item is assigned exactly, which will make the world stronger and more "real." ". The props are the important premise that large games do not collapse and economic activities prosper. The blockchain will be integrated into the future game world in this way. It solves people's trust in prop assets.

Carbon chain value: Blockchain is an essential part of future virtual games.

Chen Yuzhi: We can call it the key technology in the future game field. It's a bit like a cell phone and 5G. Without a mobile phone, there is no mobile game; there is no fair e-sports without 5G, because 5G can minimize the delay of each person, there will be no stagnation, not because the network wins high, the network wins. The rate is low.

The product is a complex, not a solution to the problem, but to integrate various technologies and ideas. "Together with the demon" was very hot some time ago. It claimed to use some blockchain technology at the bottom, but it is essentially a product, which is a product of pokemon go. In this game, blockchain technology is only an aid, maximizing the user's revenue of "getting together to catch the demon" and creating momentum for the game.

Technology ultimately serves the product, and the product ultimately serves the needs of the user. A blockchain technology alone can't do anything. But the blockchain and other technologies will form the picture of the next generation of games. This idea is very attractive and worthy of our constant attempts and efforts.

Source: Carbon chain value

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