Why Blockchain Ownership Creates Deeper Player Attachment
Ownership in games has always been more than the mere act of having something. You can grind for weeks for a rare skin to find out you are completely at the whim of a server or publisher. That's weak, but players have accepted this system as a thing of digital life. Until blockchain came along and changed everything.
Then the rise of blockchain-based games changed everything, with products that were not just licensed but owned. And after that shift I started to wonder why owning an in-game item on blockchain felt different-deeper and more personal-than owning a skin in a Web2 game.
This article considers the psychology of that experience, and how permanence, autonomy, and transparency make you feel a truly emotional commitment to digital ownership.
Assets for Web2 Games
Although you can access traditional games, you don't own them. The developer has a walled garden where every skin, mount, collectible sits. If that server dies or your account gets banned, that's it.
These assets can't leave the ecosystem; they've been built solely for that ecosystem and there's no guarantee they would work anywhere else. And even if they mean something to you, knowing you can't leave the gaming ecosystem with it is deflating. Players may love using them, but too often, there isn't a bond or attachment to them.
Another issue is one of abundance. Most of the skin items in Web2 games are mass produced and are therefore less rare. Sure, there can be limited edition items but even these are up to the decisions made by developers with regards to quantity; players understand this artificially managed scarcity.
Ultimately, the assets in Web2 offer a sense of conditional ownership, as you can spend, modify, and display the asset but never truly own it. The feeling of detachment can be oddly soothing, knowing that as easily as you acquired the item, that you could be stripped of it at any moment.
Who owns the blockchain?
Blockchain is a game changer: rather than digital goods being confined to the environment of their company, they become independent assets, recorded on a public ledger.
Users now can move, trade, or sell their digital assets across sites with ease. No developer or publisher can steal assets from users or take them back; ownership is decoupled from a central server. The blockchain makes verifiable ownership with smart contracts directly with code you don't need any intermediaries.
Perhaps most important of all is that blockchain assets are provably unique or rare. Rare or legendarily rare can be determined on-chain by anyone, providing a sense of actual value and status. The act of ownership and having a rare sword, or skin on the blockchain, is like having a collection in real life. It is made visible, it can be proven, and like real things it will last forever.
That permanence taps into something really deep legacy. A player will feel much more attached to an object if they know it can last forever, even after the game is gone. The rare sword is not just a piece of jewelry; it is a sort of digital heirloom.
Effects on the mind
Ownership is highly tied to emotions. It is not simply possession, but the ability to use or do something with the asset and be viewed as having access and ability to dispose.
Blockchain-based assets are more emotionally significant than regular digital assets. They legitimize a user's status as a virtual player and normalize the investment of time into play as an investment.
Some key emotional properties of ownership are:
- Permanence: The claim that the asset may survive the lifespan of the game adds both worth and significance to the asset.
- Autonomy: The agency to transfer, sell or lend your asset is perceived as real ownership because there is autonomy.
- Prestige and status: Both scarcity on the blockchain and transparency help provide validation.
- Trust: Immutable ownership within blockchain lends a level of community assurance and trust not perceived or felt in other Web2 digital markets.
Web2 cosmetics have more of an ephemeral feel. It is fun, but not that serious, not because of anything physical but because it is a part of an ecology that can disappear. Blockchain assets feel more serious and permanent; every transaction, every success, etc., is documented eternally.
Mechanisms that are underneath
This is more than a cultural shift; it’s a technological shift. Smart contracts and decentralized ledger technology are the new tools to substantiate property rights for your digital property using code and not company policy. Ownership is explicit, verifiable, and transferable.
The transparency creates a new form of trust. Players can verify their item is legitimate, examine its transaction history, and discover the creator of their digital asset. In traditional gaming economies, a black-box database obscures all of these details, but you can see everything on the blockchain.
Another element that is new and noteworthy is interoperability. A blockchain-based asset could reside in multiple games or worlds, creating an entirely new life for the asset outside of its original context; an NFT sword could also serve as a skin in another game (if the game enables it) or serve as a display in a metaversal gallery.
Reality sets in, however; it is not a utopia. There are risks; defects in smart contracts, wallets getting hacked, or the platform's volume disappearing and dissolving into nothing. However, as it stands today, whether you’re concerned about those risks or not, the structural underpinning of ownership on blockchain provides you with something that we could never provide you in web2: freedom from a governing authority.
What it means
It significantly affects people's feelings and the economy. Players act very differently when they actually own the assets. They value and take care of their digital items, as they do with their physical collectibles. That ownership value creates more engagement and, in many cases, monetary engagement.
Axie Infinity was a perfect example of this. After the catastrophic hack that compromised the game systems, the players still owned their NFTs, which made them incredibly valuable. They were able to effectively trade their NFTs without any limitations or restrictions, confirming that despite the platform facing penalties, asset durability was observed. The level of durability would not have been feasible in web2.
This durability creates many possibilities: the game experience may evolve into creating ownership games across various platforms, community ownership will form around the asset ecosystems that develop and operate together vs. within a singular game, and developers are no longer keepers of economies. Developers may begin to support the economies and create value from experience rather than ownership. However, game creators will now be playing into a tension where, once the NFT assets are worth any money in the world, gaming is increasingly primarily about money-making and not everyone will appreciate this switch (keeping casual players engaged may become more complicated). Designers will have to figure out how to monetize experiences while keeping players engaged.
Conclusion
Having a blockchain asset isn't just a new way to have a token; it means gaining genuine ownership in the online world. The four main differentiation factors that Web2 cosmetic has from a blockchain collectible are permanence, autonomy, pride, and real value.
Players who have safety, transferability, and utility in more than one environment invest more money into the games themselves. Web2 has taught gamers to expect immediate enjoyment; blockchain is giving them longer-term meaning.
There is still skepticism about it-but there should be. To really own a blockchain, a person still must know more, put their security above anything else, and have the growing infrastructure to support them. The difference has already begun emotionally: gamers now understand what it means to essentially own something digitally-and that will never change.
Ultimately, the psychology of ownership is more than code and trinkets, but there is a wanting for things to last in a world that will never stop changing. For the first time, maybe the blockchain can satisfy that.
This article is contributed by an external writer: Jocelyn Hamoy.
Disclaimer: The content created by LBank Creators represents their personal perspectives. LBank does not endorse any content on this page. Readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.