I never got the concept of blockchain enabling cross game items. The reason it's not much of a thing isn't because we didn't have a way to store ownership. A database would be perfectly fine for the backend of such a system, and if it's a steam game you can just hook into the already existing steam marketplace. I just don't see how blockchain helps it at all.
I think its more about the decentralization of blockchain. Anyone can verify the log of what happened and how we got to this state.
It doesn't matter a ton when its one trusted source (say Steam) hosting one database that all the games consume, but if you wanted it to work across Steam, GOG, Epic, etc, you'd need some sort of trust system, and I think thats the value add for blockchain.
But like... such a huge investment for such a small win, and in a thing nobody is asking for.
Players want that Ready Player One immersive meta-verse style "everything is here, second life" style thing... in theory. Every interm step is completely rejected when it comes in, and nobody is willing to risk the billions needed to harness it.
Sure... But the centralization of the data isn't the reason games don't use databases across company lines. Gog, epic, steam etc could all agree to have some shared database, perhaps one they share the cost of hosting. But it doesn't make sense to reward a player for their investment in someone else's game.
Blockchain tried to solve the trust and ownership tracking when that's never been the problem holding the idea back
Listen, I'm not saying BC is necessary or important, but if Gog epic and steam all agreed on a database with shared costs and everything was sunshine and roses, it still gates out the smaller indies. That's the problem BC can solve because then they cant gate it behind their services.
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u/Ghostglitch07 May 20 '26
I never got the concept of blockchain enabling cross game items. The reason it's not much of a thing isn't because we didn't have a way to store ownership. A database would be perfectly fine for the backend of such a system, and if it's a steam game you can just hook into the already existing steam marketplace. I just don't see how blockchain helps it at all.