Autonomous World and Full-Chain Games

Written by: WILLIAM M. PEASTER

Compiled by: MetaCat

Two Meanings of "On-Chain"

In the crypto space, "on-chain" has two different meanings. Generally speaking, it refers to using blockchain in a broader sense. For example, putting music on-chain (minting your songs as NFTs on platforms like sound.xyz) is a common practice. However, note that you are minting NFTs on Ethereum while still storing the media files or other resources of that NFT off-chain, such as on centralized servers or the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

Thus, the second, older, and more technical meaning of "on-chain" refers to all content of NFTs or blockchain-based projects being stored directly on the blockchain.

While this on-chain storage method is relatively expensive compared to off-chain alternatives, it offers significant durability and openness, as on-chain projects will exist as long as the blockchain exists and can continue to be built upon.

Of course, there is a spectrum; some projects have a low dependency on the blockchain, some use a combination of off-chain and on-chain storage, while others are entirely on-chain. This spectrum also applies to the blockchain gaming scenario.

Fully On-Chain Gaming

Thus, autonomous worlds emerge in the "fully on-chain" aspect of gaming. In such projects, the logic and state of the game are entirely on-chain, meaning that their rules and progress are executed in smart contracts, and all game data is on the blockchain, paving the way for interoperability. Therefore, autonomous worlds are client-independent, meaning anyone can create their own interface to interact with the underlying game. Let's talk about the dream of game modders!

Why Are Autonomous Worlds Important?

Autonomous worlds can be infinite games (independent of creator operation), open to anyone, and evolve over time. The games themselves become protocols and their own worlds, allowing users to build accordingly on their foundations.

The open system + always-online nature of these games is a huge boon for interoperability, fundamentally changing traditional games, which are closed systems controlled by their creators. In autonomous worlds, players can create their own extensions in their own ways, forming a continually evolving bottom-up ecosystem.

Moreover, games made in this fully on-chain manner can themselves become economic systems. They can have their own currencies, markets, and economic rules, creating new forms of economic organization that can coexist with traditional economies. Thus, these games are not just entertainment but also represent a pathway to new economic + social structures in the metaverse.

Autonomous Worlds Game Engines

Source: https://lattice.xyz/blog/making-of-opcraft-part-3-what-happened-in-two-weeks-of-OPCraft

The scene of autonomous worlds is currently small but will grow significantly over the next decade. To this end, some of the most important early work currently underway revolves around the development of "on-chain game engines," which are frameworks for launching one's own or building around autonomous worlds. For example, here are a few on-chain game engines you should pay attention to right now:

• MUD: Developed by the Lattice team, this "Multi-User Dungeon" framework simplifies the creation of complex on-chain applications on the Ethereum network. In 2022, this framework was used to create the voxel game OPCraft on the Optimism chain.
• Keystone: Developed by the Curio team, this framework is essentially an Optimism-based L2 chain with a built-in game engine specifically for parallel gaming activities. Curio is currently building its own on-chain diplomacy game, Treaty, based on this tech stack.
• Dojo: An on-chain game engine and "toolchain" based on StarkNet, supporting Rust and Cairo programming languages.
• Argus: Argus is a game publisher dedicated to developing its own on-chain game creator studio stack, World Engine, which is an L2 that supports sharding so that games can build horizontally across the network.

Conclusion

In December 2022, in Zora Zine, writer and entrepreneur Yancey Strickler predicted that the on-chain era had begun, forecasting that this period would be defined as a time when "many creative cultural outputs, shared histories, and information infrastructures will be built, stored, and accessed on-chain."

I completely agree with Strickler's view; however, I do believe that the rise of autonomous world types is part of the thriving on-chain era. When we look back a decade from now, these types of games will be obvious, but right now we are standing at the beginning of this field, which is truly exciting!