Open Meta Dao and QGlobe Games are both on a mission to solve the same interoperability problem for game and metaverse developers, but both projects address the solution with different approaches. In a twitter spaces panel both QGlobe Games and Open Meta DAO hosted speakers that included Plai Labs, the creator of Champions Ascension, Final Frontier, a major gaming guild association, and Dr. Deeban Ratneswaran, a Venture Capitalist in the space. We came together to discuss how ownership and storytelling is made possible by unique technology that drives demand for the best in class AAA games.
Some of the topics covered include thoughts on what NVIDIA is doing to push open standards forward, the impact of blockchain and crypto, the importance of solutions addressing the interoperability problem including standards, protocols, payment solutions and the unified frameworks these systems entail as well as cross-collaboration between different virtual environments.
Why Interoperability Now
The problem of interoperability is felt when game services don’t interact with one another. This can be felt from the gamer when they can’t take their game skins from one account to the next or from one game to the next. Gamers are crying out for solutions, and game developers are rushing to solve the problem to capture the massive audience that will follow. QGlobe Games aims to solve this problem of interoperability with decentralized finance (DeFi) and centralized finance (CeFi) solutions whereas Open Meta DAO aims to solve the problem with new open standards for open gaming architecture as it can be applied to game engines.
The growing focus on interoperability in the blockchain space is having a significant impact on blockchain game engine development and design. Interoperability refers to the ability of different blockchain networks to interact with each other seamlessly, allowing assets and data to be transferred between them.
Blockchain game engines that prioritise interoperability are designed to enable seamless interactions between different games, regardless of the blockchain they run on. This means that players can move assets such as in-game currency, tokens, or items from one game to another, and even use them in different games.
This approach provides numerous benefits to game developers and players alike. For developers, it opens up new monetisation possibilities and creates a larger pool of players for their games. For players, it enables them to use their assets across different games, providing them with more flexibility and control over their digital belongings.
Sarah Austin, co-founder of QGlobe Games explained that to enable this interoperability, blockchain game engines need to be built with certain standards and protocols in mind, such as the ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the ERC-20 standard for fungible tokens. These standards ensure that tokens can be transferred between different blockchain networks seamlessly, without any loss of functionality.
Overall, the growing focus on interoperability is pushing blockchain game engine developers to design more flexible, open-source platforms that can communicate with different blockchain networks. This, in turn, is driving the development of more seamless, cross-game experiences for players, and a more interconnected blockchain gaming ecosystem.
The Five Challenges to Interoperability
Creating interoperability between different online game worlds or game engines can be a challenging task due to several factors. Here are some of the most significant challenges:
- Technical incompatibility: Online game worlds and game engines can have different technical architectures and protocols, which can create compatibility issues when attempting to create interoperability. This can make it challenging to transfer assets or data between different games.
- Platform-specific restrictions: Different game platforms or ecosystems may have specific restrictions or limitations that make interoperability difficult or impossible. For example, some game engines may not allow external assets to be imported into the game world, or may not allow certain types of data or tokens to be transferred.
- Intellectual property rights: Game developers may have intellectual property rights over their game assets, which can limit their ability to make them available for interoperability with other games. This can create legal challenges when attempting to transfer assets or data between different game worlds.
- Security concerns: Interoperability can create security challenges as it involves the transfer of assets and data between different systems. This can create potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors.
- Lack of standardisation: There is currently a lack of standardisation for interoperability in the gaming industry, which can make it challenging to create interoperability between different games. This can create difficulties for game developers who want to create interoperable games and for players who want to transfer assets between different games.
Overall, while interoperability between different online game worlds or game engines is an exciting prospect, there are several challenges that need to be addressed to make it a reality. These challenges require collaboration between game developers, industry organisations, and regulatory bodies to create a standardised approach
Solving The Interoperability Problem
Open standards and shared protocols play a crucial role in facilitating interoperability in the gaming industry. These standards and protocols provide a common framework for different games to communicate with each other and allow assets and data to be transferred seamlessly between them.
One example of an open standard in the gaming industry is Open Meta DAO which is a part of the Kronos Group’s Open Gaming Architecture (OGA) as the only voice for blockchain and the value that blockchain brings to games. OGA is an open standard for online gaming that provides a framework for game engines and platforms to communicate with each other, enabling interoperability between different games. The OGA standard includes protocols for matchmaking, game session management, and data transfer, among others.
Another example is the Ethereum blockchain, which has become a de facto standard for interoperability in the gaming industry. The Ethereum blockchain provides a standardised approach to creating and exchanging fungible and non-fungible tokens, which can be used in different games and ecosystems. The use of Ethereum-based tokens has become increasingly popular in blockchain gaming, allowing players to transfer assets and data between different games and platforms.
To promote open standards and shared protocols in the gaming industry, it is essential to have collaboration between game developers, industry organisations, and regulatory bodies. Industry organisations such as the Open Meta DAO and the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) can play a crucial role in promoting these standards and protocols and encouraging their adoption by game developers. Ryan Gill the CEO of Crucible and core contributor to Open Meta Dao believes that NVIDIA that created the Standards Forum (that is part of the Kronos Group that’s housing most of the groups, will contribute to metaverse environments. Dr. Deeban believes that major fashion brands and e-commerce will be impacted by shared standards
In addition, regulatory bodies can provide support and guidance to ensure that interoperability standards are aligned with legal and regulatory requirements. This can help create a more transparent and secure environment for game developers and players alike.
Reinventing open standards and getting closed games in the traditional AAA gaming space to adopt is an uphill battle. QGlobe believes that the fastest way to solve the problem is to support DAO’s like Open Meta and to create tangible DeFi and CeFi products. One such product is the QGlobe pre-paid cards that allow gaming communities and gamers to access two way merchant services. Right now gamers can only buy Xbox points, where they can put money in to buy skins or level up, but they can’t apply the points to other accounts and they can’t take their money out.
QGlobe aims to continue to collaborate with Open Meta Dao to move the standards forward as a collective whole. QGlobe sees the immediate opportunity to solving this problem with purpose built pre-paid gaming card infrastructure that’s customisable to the needs of each unique gaming community so that gamers can really own their own assets instead of the game owning their assets for them. It’s a similar concept to banks.
When bank customers deposit their money into banks, technically they no longer own their money, because they rely on the trust of the system, but with the recent bank failures customers are beginning to go bank to the basics and are open to becoming their own bank, taking control of their money, and having custody of their own assets. That’s why pre-paid cards are seeing a boom. However, no one is building a pre-paid card infrastructure to solve the needs of games for both crypto and fiat on and off ramps.
Overall, open standards and shared protocols are crucial in facilitating interoperability in the gaming industry, pre-paid cards purpose built for interoperability and their promotion and adoption can create more seamless experiences for players and new opportunities for game developers.