Somnia Could Make Tap-To-Earn Even Better

Tap-to-earn is the newest hype in Web3 gaming, bringing millions of users into some of the top applications. Tap-to-earn games are very simple, you send a message to a telegram bot which opens the game window, and then you just need to tap a coin on the screen to earn tokens or airdrop points.

Tap-to-earn games are a great way to easily onboard new users, and potentially test mechanics for more complex Web3 game concepts, however, most of them are still not fully on-chain, even though they are extremely simple. If we can’t get tap to earn games on-chain, then there’s not much hope of bringing more complex games onto the blockchain.

Better Web3 Games

The game developers aren’t to blame for this problem, they are doing the best with the tools that they have. There currently isn’t any blockchain that will actually allow for everything, including the game logic and rules to be moved fully on-chain because they just don’t have the throughput requirements. This is why most Web3 games, except for the most simple ones, are mostly off-chain, with some on-chain economic elements like tokens and NFTs.

This is one of the main problems in the industry that Somnia is seeking to solve with our high-speed, low-cost blockchain. Somnia can achieve speeds of higher than 300k transactions per second and has been optimized for non-financial use-cases like games, which will allow for all of the elements in a game to be brought on-chain.

On-chain Benefits

Tap-to-earn games would be relatively easy to bring onto a high speed blockchain like Somnia, and they could benefit greatly from the transition. It would also be possible to build messenger services, similar to Telegram where many of these games are played, entirely on the Somnia blockchain. This provides additional security, but it also makes the games even more fun.

Provably Fair Mechanics – Players will be able to verify the odds of winning and other mechanics on the blockchain, giving them confidence that they are playing a fair game.
Unstoppable Gameplay – No central servers means the game can’t be shut down. As long as the blockchain exists, the game remains playable, which reduces the risk of data or value loss.
Fully Community Governance – A hybrid approach can accommodate community governance but when the game isn’t fully on-chain there are usually still some elements that are entirely controlled by the team, but with fully on-chain governance, this responsibility can be handled by the community.
Innovative Reward Mechanisms – High cost blockchains are typically limited in how many features they can offer, especially when it comes to streaming rewards and microtransactions, both of which would be possible with Somnia.

The Future of Web3 Gaming

The Future of Web3 gaming is fully on-chain and community owned. When this threshold is crossed, people outside of Web3 will finally begin to understand the value that blockchain provides.

As it stands right now, people just think that adding blockchain elements to a game means that you’re turning it into a casino, since the actual gameplay mechanics, logic and rules are still off chain, so they really do perform a lot like financialized versions of the games people already play, but not as high quality. This is where a lot of the negative perceptions about Web3 gaming comes from, a lot of hardcore gamers just can’t see where the value is being added, and it really isn’t obvious yet for most people. When the technology actually starts to make the gameplay better, then people will start to look at how the economic elements also improve the experience, and that time is coming very soon.

If you want to learn more about what we’re building at Somnia, join our community, check out our Betanet and keep up with our events!