ETH-Based Crypto Games Meet Definitions Of Gambling

ETH-based crypto games, in fact, meet the definitions of gambling according to recent research by the University of York. Let’s read more in the ethereum news below.

This week, the university published an article saying that the nine highest-ranked ethereum dapps games listed on State of the Dapps which is a directory of dapps, and found that they meet all criteria of gambling. The research paper which will be presented at the CHI Play conference in Barcelona, explains that the ETH-based crypto games are video games with a fully or partially distributed ledger architecture that runs on top of a cryptocurrency network. The players are provided with provable ownership over the virtual goods.

The studied games consist of more than 16,000 player accounts and the article says that this number is a niche phenomenon when compared to the gaming industry in general. The researchers chose Ethereum because it is the oldest-dapp supporting cryptocurrency and has the most well-established network as measured by market capitalization. The researchers investigated the gameplay mechanics and also checked the data to see the way in which these players have been spending crypto in the game. To each of the games, they applied the combination of legal and psychological definitions of gambling.

The psychological definition focuses on the behavior enabled by the activity, while the legal one focuses on the financial components of the outcomes. They also found “that all of the games in the sample meet our combined definition.”

The games allow the players to exchange virtual goods for cryptocurrency which can later be exchanged for fiat money. As in many online games, the crypto-games allow the players to trade or auction in-game items in exchange for in-game currency. Unlike most free games, the crypto ones that have in-game currencies, are often exchangeable and can be used to pay for other goods and services. As the Ph.D. student in Computer Science Oliver Scholten stated:

 “Unlike games with loot boxes, all crypto-games in the study allowed the direct or indirect exchange of in-game items for real money, making them more readily fit criteria of gambling. All this doesn’t mean that the technology should not be used to build games on, but that “designers need to think carefully about how their decisions may affect player spending.”