Decentralized NFT-based Evolvable Games

The popularity of blockchain games continues to grow as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) become the center of attention, contributing to the move towards Web3. We leverage the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and NFTs, backed by blockchains, to build a flexible, decentralized, and fair baseline system for trading games. Our solution creates a fully decentralized system, where new business models are enabled. In particular, we introduce and support the evolvability of ingame assets, enable their resale with dynamic pricing, depending on their rarity, and automatically provide a cut to the digital artists, without the need for a trusted (third) party. Our system guarantees that the in-game assets will remain online long-term, by orchestrating various decentralized services. Thus, users do not risk losing control over the artefacts or their value, even if the gaming company loses interest, or goes bankrupt. We considered and compared the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and the InterPlanetary Name System (IPNS) as the naming component of the system and selected ENS for our solution, despite the fact it introduces monetary cost. Finally, we validate our claims and evaluate the feasibility and performance of the proposed system through a proof of concept implementation.