How GameFi will Emerge From Fusing Gaming with Finance by Contrarian Obssesionistas

Contrarian Obsession : Fusing Passion with Popular

Great investing is not just how many dollars each current dollar generates in the future, but also the opportunity cost of not using those current dollars today. Great investors may sacrifice future earnings by paying medical treatment for a sick family member or vacationing in geographic areas threatened by climate change.

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, empathetic good people are therefore better investors on average even if their dollar stack may not equal that of investors with a laser focus on growing dollar stacks.

Balancing current with future expenditure is something all humans share in common and to become a great investor in terms of maximizing dollars to increase future purchasing power, the single most important factor is placing capital in areas with huge growth opportunities, which in turn are areas driven by capital owners with a passion.

Apple Co-founder and marketer supreme, Steve Jobs, once said that “people with passion can change the world”.

I agree with Mr. Jobs that the optimal approach for generating higher dollar stacks tomorrow is to invest today in areas where entrepreneurs are likely to demonstrate future passion, but that are also untapped almost like pissing against the wind.

Investing in future passion, while also pissing against the wind is what I call contrarian obsession.

Entrepreneurs driven by contrarian obsession are not only passionate about the area of innovation and building process, but they also obsess over creating products so supreme and difficult to replicate that their companies become capitalistic monopolies; they love proving people wrong! In addition, if a majority of people believe an idea is bad then the probability of capturing the entire market value generated by executing on that idea increases.

Musk is passionate about climate change and space so he drove electric car and Rocketship innovation, Gates loves automatization so he created the number one computer software company in Microsoft and West obsessed enough over fashion to establish the Yeezy brand.

Contrarian obsessionistas needs to eat a whole pie because a slice is just not enough and when the pie has been created they love flipping a bird to the majority. I mean, there is a reason why Gates, Musk and Bezos run into antitrust issues and conflicts with uncle government. The good thing is that products created by these entrepreneurs generates enormous benefits to society!

A great question is asking yourself what future area is most likely to attract passionate entrepreneurs and at the same time suffer from untapped potential?

My reply is investing in new areas created by fusing two unique areas to release energy and a product that the public unknowingly needs and desires.

Contrarian obsessionistas combine popular with unpopular ideas to invent both companies and markets by fusing two industries together like blockchain and biology, computer science and finance or retail and technology.

A great example is biotech. In the past, biology was an area that in the past was considered untouchable, but spearheaded by people with contrarian obsession like RNA sequence Jennifer Doudna. Merging Doudna’s obsession with technology created an entirely new gene editing space producing over billions of dollars in market value.

The next contrarian obsession explosion in crypto is GameFi, which is a fusion reaction involving popular gaming with an unpopular blockchain industry. By fusing blockchain and video gaming, the release of energy, just like our dear sun, is endless.

Why is that and what is GameFi – well that is what we will investigate.

GameFi

Exponential improvement in computing power leads to high speed Internet, quality graphics and capacity smartphones and therefore also explains why an already 130 billion dollar gaming industry continues to experience rapid growth.

In fact, gaming is now so popular among high and middle school students that gamers and social media savants are piece by piece stealing popularity from athletes. With emerging billion dollar professional gaming leagues for games like LOL, Counterstrike and Fortnite, status is no longer an athletic monopoly!

Thanks to natural progression in society, gamers are now in positions of influence either as chief executive officers or as entrepreneurs. With newfound power comes capital, which implies money will likely continue flowing into gaming.

I believe that contrarian obsession entrepreneurs with a passion for gaming that, although against the belief of the majority, also believe in the revolutionary properties of blockchain technology is setting up a potential fusion reaction between unique areas that the world has ever seen before.

That fusion reaction is what I call GameFi!

But really though…What is GameFi?

GameFi is the result of fusion between video gaming and decentralized finance as blockchain technology allows connection of digital economies with the real world without dependence on the traditional financial system.

In GameFi, creators can leverage blockchains to set up incentive systems for gamers without relying on banks for custody, payment providers for transaction settlements or property laws for ownership. In GameFi, users earn tokens, NFTs, virtual lands, skins and avatars in return for achieving tasks, beating other players in battle or progressing through various game levels.

· Before blockchain technology, all in-game features were owned by game developers through centralized servers rather than by individual players, which remained isolated on a game by game basis. However, since decentralized blockchains lets users prove digital property ownership, the in-game features can be transferred between games and create a Metaverse. The property ownership is represented by NFTs, so in-game features like virtual lands or avatars can also be sold to users on markets like Open Sea.

For Web3 videogaming to become more successful and provide superior user experiences than Web2 video gaming, GameFi products must carefully develop a plumbing system that allows for an intuitive user interface with high quality graphics, speed and security. A great plumbing system will generate both user adoption and long-term sustainable profits.

· The foundational pipe in the Web3 GameFi plumbing system is the blockchain. I believe, only flagship blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Thor, Avax and perhaps some others meet the requirements regarding speed, security and flexibility necessary for a great user experience in GameFi.

· Successful GameFi growth also needs decentralized blockchain for censorship resistance purposes. Otherwise, Web3 is no different than Web2. Currently, only bitcoin and ethereum are decentralized enough to maintain censorship resistance.

· Developers are ultimately responsible for generating games in web3 that are sustainable. In addition to great plumbing and decentralization, GameFi games therefore need developer activity, which is driven by profit incentives. Profit incentives are currently funded by VC’s and public initiatives to attract talented developers on their preferred blockchains. Centralized blockchains like Solana or Near are mostly funded by VC’s, while more decentralized chains like ethereum depend perhaps slightly more on public initiatives. I prefer the latter, but it’s hard to know currently what chain is the best.

All I know is that successful GameFi projects will lean on tokenomics that incorporates long-term sustainable rewards to both prevent fraud and incentivize talented developers to remain. Web3 games built on top of the best blockchains will likely attract the best game creators so it all comes down to plumbing!

Immutable X

My first investment in GameFi was the ImmutableX project developed by the creators of a game called Gods of Unchained. For this investment, I purchased both the ImmutableX token and two additional NTfs without really considering anything other than that the NFT designs looked dope and that these two projects had the lowest floor price at the time of purchase.

My hope is that the IMX token and the value of the two purchased NFT’s will increase exponentially in value as Immutable X expands as both an NFT market platform and as a videogame creator.

The value of the IMX token will hopefully increase by earning a higher return through capturing some of transaction fees through staking as people expand trade on Immutable’s NFT marketplace. Secondly, my purchased NFT’s may soon be incorporated into games using Immutable X scaling solution for cheap and carbon efficient facilitation of goods and services, which should increase their value.

How does Immutable X Work?

Currently, Immutable X is used by firms like GameStop, TikTok, and ESL for NFT collectibles and crypto-powered video games, which means that ImmutableX already hold significant partnerships with large corporations in the videogame space.

Immutable X is built on top of the Ethereum chain and is a layer two scaling solution, but not a sidechain like Polygon meaning the token does not have its own blockchain.

The scaling solution is a Validium ZK roll up enabling Immutable X to process 9000tps at almost 0 fees compared to Ethereum’s current 30tps and up to 100 dollar transaction fees, while relying on the Ethereum blockchain’s superior decentralization and security. The Immutable X scaling solution therefore allows games using Immutable X to both verify and safely track historical ownership like anything else on Ethereum’s mainchain, which is useful for creating value.

For example, just like Jordan shoes worn by Jordan are more valuable than other Jordan shoes, certain NFT’s will be more valuable if it’s possible to track famous previous owners. Immutable X was also the first project to launch using ZK proofs for quick scaling solution on Ethereum meaning that first edition NFT’s on Immutable X will at minimum have a value similar to first edition Pokémon cards if the Immutable X project is successful.

Personally, I believe the first NFT collection on ImmutableX will be legendary if Immutable X reaches its potential. Especially, if Ethereum becomes the most adopted blockchain in the digital asset economy.

Near Future of Immutable X

Immutable X token holders may soon stake native IMX tokens to capture profits in proportion to transactions generated on Immutable’s platform.

I believe that Immutable’s ecosystem provides excellent plumbing for game creators preferring ethereum over other blockchain competitors as a basis for developing video games. In terms of plumbing, native IMX tokens and NFTs are smaller pipes useful for connecting users in different games in a sort of Web3 spider network, while the ethereum is responsible for ultimate security and censorship resistance as the big pipe.

Fungible tokens like IMX or ETH allow users to transfer value and secure the network, while NFTs, as proof of digital property ownership, serve as a mechanism to ensure fair trade.

On June 6, 2022, the immersive role playing game lluvium sold land to investors and potential players for around 72 million dollars using the Immutable X scaling solution and the fact is that as more and more games use Immutable X, the more valuable the network should become for early NFT and token holders.

Finally, outside of the already 100 million dollar fund launched in partnership with GameStop, Immutable X launched another 500 million dollar fund to boost web3 gaming adoption. The fact that Immutable X provides plumbing to developers on the most decentralized and secure Ethereum chain is a huge advantage when attracting talent outside of funding.

Building games in Web3 takes time, but as the Immutable and Ethereum world expands so should the value of my NFT’s and native IMX tokens.

Conclusion

Passion makes GameFi a more attractive area for innovation than DeFi. Many talented developers love video gaming. As a result, GameFi has great potential to attract contrarian obsessionistas.

Unlike a majority that may love gaming, these developers understand blockchain at a technical level, which is setting the stage for a merge between gaming and blockchain.

In GameFi, entrepreneurs with contrarian obsession can become game developers and at the same time incorporate finance into actual game play. The economic network effects from potential GameFi inventions are huge and only time will tell if GameFi becomes the next big thing.