New games are emerging expressly to support blockchain technology, while traditional games are being updated to incorporate blockchains.

As of October 2021, crypto gaming accounted for more than half of the blockchain activity over thatquarter.

At the same time, atreasury inquiryhas led to consumer groups calling for regulation in the crypto market.

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Video games have a history of sophisticatedvirtual economies.

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The other is a utility token, which is used to perform certain actions within the game.

But its questionable whether they have any fundamental value.

Many gaming tokens are at bestvolatileand at worst worthless.

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Yet proponents of crypto gaming take a stab at sell it as the future.

In essence, he says people would no longer need to waste time gaming for leisure.

Players can play to earn (commonly referred to as P2E).

Like the gig economy, P2E promises convenience, flexibility and prosperity at a time of widespread immiseration.

Also like the gig economy, its deeply exploitative in practice.

All but the best players end up earningbelow minimum wage.

Responses from industry

Some traditional game developers have embraced blockchains.

Last year, French gaming giant Ubisoft launched its own crypto gaming platform calledQuartz.

Others have been reluctant.

Big distributors includingValvehave rejected blockchains, whereas Epic Games has embraced them understrict conditions.

Yet this hasnt deterredfervent investment.

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