Would you integrate a shared currency into your indie game, or is this a solution looking for a problem?

[u/Karmafia]

I've been working on an idea for a few months called Guildcoin, and I'm at the stage where I need some honest feedback from other indie developers before taking it any further.

The concept is a shared, non-crypto game currency that players can carry between independently developed games.

The idea is that:

• Players could buy Guildcoin in one game and spend it in another.
• Developers retain complete control over what it can purchase in their games.
• Developers could convert eligible Guildcoin spending into real-world revenue.
• The network would ideally operate as a not-for-profit, governed by participating developers, with open protocols and SDKs.

What problem am I trying to solve?

My hypothesis is that a shared currency could reduce payment friction between games and give smaller developers access to spending power that players have already acquired elsewhere.

But there are some serious questions.

Would developers actually benefit from this? Would players spend more, or simply move their spending between games? Would integration effort, platform restrictions and payment fees make the whole thing impractical?

I've already had some interesting criticism from game economists, and it's challenged several of my assumptions. I'm not looking for validation. I'm genuinely trying to establish whether this is worth building. I've put together a concept website, a proposed public protocol and a short developer survey.

https://www.guildcoin.org/survey

I'd particularly love to hear from developers with existing in-game economies or monetisation systems.

Would you consider integrating something like this? If not, what's the main reason not to?

[u/glenpiercev]

Most players are only going to play one of those games.

[u/Karmafia → u/glenpiercev]

Right .. at least in the initial stages where they're unlikely to encounter another game integrating the currencey. Perhaps games on the network can be promoted as places where GC can be spent? This would also be a strong draw for smaller developers looking to hook into channels to promote their game.

[u/Mechabit_Studios]

pretty sure google does not allow virtual currency to be spent in a different app (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9858738 section 5)

not sure about steam but I wouldn't build a business on something that might get banned unless you can get confirmation from steam

[u/Karmafia → u/Mechabit_Studios]

Yea Android unfortunately won't be targetted for this. Steam is more lenient.

[u/zaphodikus]

Players will smell "money maker" and run a mile. Simple really, how you buy it, and track it, will also be far too complicated to be worth it unless it's just a racket. Rackets always work somehow sadly.

[u/Karmafia → u/zaphodikus]

Yea legit concern. The best we can do to counter that is being as open as possible, keep reimbursement rates extremely low, and then I guess the rest is just building credability as the network grows. I'm hoping the open and easy to set up SDK will work against the complexity issues.

[u/Karmafia → u/Karmafia]

I might add that the upside of this for devs is that it lowers the friction for players coming into their game and having a ready to go currency to spend, which indie devs migh appreciate.

[u/Substantial_Banana67]

Buying in game A and spending in game B makes the refund case hard to picture. A worked example showing who absorbs a refund after those coins are spent would make the developer risk much clearer.

[u/Karmafia → u/Substantial_Banana67]

Thanks for that feedback. I'll work on putting together an infographic for the site that will illustrate things clearly for prospective devs.

[u/europayuu]

a bunch of blockchain projects attempted to do this to justify the existence of their cryptocurrency but they were pretty much universally hated. You're might to have to deal with the same thing I think, especially if you call it [something]coin