The web3 blockchain MMO Blocklords announced that they’re accepting pre-registrations. No word on an actual release date yet, but given the ambitious nature of the game it’s likely far into the future. Blocklords bills itself as an MMO grand strategy game with play 2 earn and NFT elements.
“What we’re trying to do is have the first MMO grand strategy game with features from turn-based strategy and also real-time strategy,” Johansson said (CEO & Founder).
The studio behind Blocklords, MetaKing Studios, raised $15m in funding in May from notable investors including Makers Fund and Bitkraft Ventures.
Those interested in learning more about Blocklords can do so by checking out the game’s Whitepaper which describes the design philosophy and core gameplay loops in more detail. None of the videos on the game’s website show off any gameplay yet, but there’s some in-game screenshots in the Whitepaper.
While Blocklords has some notable investors backing it, I remain highly skeptical of the project given its ambitious nature. One aspect that I like though is that characters in the game are NFTs which can be bought and sold. This isn’t exactly a new concept as players have long bought and sold accounts in popular MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV, but building a game with players actually ‘owning’ their characters and facilitating transactions is a good idea.
“In Blocklords, NFTs are the ultimate value. Because YOU are the NFT. You play the game. You rule your land. You vanquish your foes. You use your skills. You define the value. That’s right. Your value is defined by your actions. And so are your NFTs. It’s 100% defined by your deeds.”
WeMade’s blockchain MMORPG Mir 4 also has NFT based characters and its NFT marketplace for playable characters is already fully functional. This concept makes a lot of sense and is essentially just an official marketplace for buying/selling characters. While it’s definitely ‘pay to win’ because players can just buy powerful characters, they’d be purchasing these characters from other players. This already happens every day in WoW and FFXIV, but it’s happening ‘unofficially’ on marketplaces like Player Auctions.
Further Reading: Blocklords Whitepaper
