Cryptocurrency is disrupting many global industries. This has been the case ever since crypto giants such as Bitcoin and Ethereum started to gain mainstream attention. As for the respective disruptions and changes, these have been particularly significant in the online gaming/betting world. We’ve witnessed crypto being integrated with games of all kinds—it has even become integrated with online sports betting.

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You may have heard of these recently, but if such gaming forms are foreign to you at the moment, we’d like to explain three key characteristics that you must familiarize yourself with before diving in.

They All Work Through Cryptocurrency

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to explain this as it serves as a key distinction between crypto games and regular games. In crypto play-to-earn games, the entire concept is underpinned by a designated cryptocurrency. This means that when you are participating in the game, you may encounter transactions that must be performed using cryptos such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others.

Note that these are essentially the digital currency of choice for whatever game you are playing. In short, you can pay for things with the designated crypto coins or you can be rewarded in cryptos too. This brings us to the next characteristic, which is arguably the most important of all.

Players Are Rewarded With Real-Life Incentives

In the real world, we all transact with other individuals and businesses by using traditional money. However, in the crypto world, it’s digital currencies that rule the roost, and these play a critical role in the functionality of play-to-earn games. To make things clearer, let’s cover a hypothetical example using Ethereum as the specified currency for your chosen game.

Let’s say you’re engaging in a shooting game with specified missions to complete. As you work your way through these missions and complete the various tasks, you will be rewarded with Ethereum. The sizes of these rewards will vary, naturally, but you will receive a set amount of this digital currency by simply playing the game.

When you earn Ethereum for completing tasks in the game, you can then cash out these rewards and convert them into cold hard dollars.

Paid vs Free Play-to-Earn Crypto Games

For the final characteristic that must be identified, you should know that play-to-earn games come in two main forms. On the one hand, there are games where you can get involved without any up-front investment. On the other hand, there are play-to-earn games that require you to purchase some form of digital asset before jumping in.

Of course, if you are new to play-to-earn games, it’s advisable to participate in the former as opposed to the latter, at least until you feel comfortable making the initial purchase.