AVAX Avatars

The metaverse game Avaxatars is a play-to-earn project built specifically for the Avalanche blockchain and features AVAX Avatars. These avatars are the virtual representations of players within the world and are built onto the Avalanche blockchain. Each avatar’s existence is recorded on the AVAX blockchain as NFTs. They are, in other words, the digital persona you can utilize to interact with others within these expansive virtual worlds. Most metaverse platforms use some kind of avatar as the bridge from the physical world to the virtual world, allowing users to buy, sell, and compete with each other. Using the AVAX token, players of Avaxtars can purchase the native token of the platform: AVXT. 

In order to accomplish this, they will need to set up an AVAX wallet and attach it to a crypto exchange. Once there, they can use their local currency to purchase AVAX coin. Then, they would head over to the recommended exchange, in this case, Markr.io (1), and purchase the AVXT tokens. Using these tokens, you can play the game and start earning additional cryptocurrency. In this growing virtual world, players will be able to go on quests, missions, and fight epic battles. The game is currently still in development but significant updates and releases are expected this year. 

As the Avalanche blockchain continues to grow, many different metaverse projects will be created on it and the number of AVAX Avatars will increase. The speed and low cost of the Avalanche blockchain will very likely draw additional developers who want to be able to provide new play-to-earn experiences powered by NFTs and blockchain technology. As a blockchain that is designed to support NFTs, Avalanche is uniquely positioned to provide just the needed features to many new metaverse projects. Plus, with Avalaunch (2), projects like these can also get access to the funding they need to take their innovative projects to the next level. 

AVAX Games

Although Avalanche is a relatively newer blockchain when compared with the old stand-bys like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the AVAX ecosystem already has a strong share of AVAX games. These games come in a variety of themes and include several different features. AVAX games include AVAX Wolf Game (3), AVAX Cells (4), AVAX Ghost (5), and more. Most of these games are play-to-earn, which means that by continuing to devote your time to play, you can earn additional cryptocurrency and other assets of value which can then be sold and turned into local currency using exchanges, thereby creating an additional revenue stream. 

Additionally, many of these games feature NFTs which utilize blockchains like AVAX to provide true digital ownership. This means that strong, secure, and unique records of ownership can always be accessed on the blockchain. These tokens form the basis of many in-game economies as they provide a specific value that allows players to engage in trades with each other and complete transactions. Another feature of many of these AVAX games is called farming. Farming cryptocurrencies is very like what people do when they earn interest on money in a savings account at a bank. With cryptocurrencies, you lend or invest your coins in a game or platform with the objective of growing your investment and earning rewards. 

AVAX NFT Games

NFTs are non-fungible tokens and they are one of the most important aspects of blockchain technology, especially when it comes to games. In AVAX NFT games, players can trade digital assets using the power of NFTs which are stored on the Avalanche blockchain. These NFTs are like deeds of ownership to a house in that they prove the identity of the owner of a particular piece of property. Especially in the ever-fluid digital world, it is basically impossible to prove ownership without technologies like NFTs. These tokens are what makes much of what is commonly described as the “metaverse” possible.  

There have been many different NFTs dropped on the Avalanche blockchain. One of the first NFT on AVAX is called AVAX Punks and consists of a collection of pixel art collectibles (6). Using that timeline, you can get an overall picture of the different NFTs that have been released on the Avalanche blockchain. Many of these NFTs have been simply collectibles, however, there have also been NFTs released on the Avalanche blockchain that are specifically for games. If you have spotted an AVAX NFT that you would like to purchase, you will need to head over to an AVAX NFT marketplace where you can use AVAX coins or other cryptocurrencies to purchase the NFTs. 

AVAX Topps

Topps is a legacy, physical trading card company that has for years focused on things like baseball cards. They have recently been jumping into the NFT and cryptocurrency world with new releases of MLB-licensed NFT trading cards. Instead of purchasing physical baseball cards, enthusiasts can now purchase NFTs and trade them using cryptocurrency exchanges. Topps originally released their first collection of NFTs in April of 2021 using the WAX blockchain which has several benefits for gamers (7). However, in August of 2021, Topps announced that they would be using AVAX instead of WAX as their blockchain of choice. This means that they will be using the Avalanche blockchain as the platform to release their next collection of NFTs, thus introducing AVAX Topps and Topps wax.

The company also stated that this decision was due to the AVAX platform being so “fast, low cost, and eco-friendly” (8). In other words, AVAX TPS is considered by some to be unmatched. The speed they are describing as one of their reasons is clearly a big factor among blockchains. According to benchmarking, the Avalanche blockchain network currently supports over 4,500 transactions per second (tps) and the production-ready version of Avalanche has the potential to achieve over 20,000 transactions per second. These speeds are also before any kind of optimizations which can provide a big boost to the blockchain’s performance. 

Avaxtars

Avaxtars is an AVAX metaverse project that we’ve already touched on, but we will now go into more detail. The game is a browser-based, play-to-earn, NFT-powered experience where players start by purchasing AVAX tokens and then use them to purchase the game’s AVXT currency. Using this currency, players can then start farming new NFTs in the form of new AVAX avatars called Avaxtars. The project is being supported by several partners including the popular crypto exchange YetiSwap and the new online card game, Heroes of NFT. 

Avaxtars also allows players to earn additional AVXT tokens within the game by playing. They can also use AVXT to purchase another Avaxtar NFTs. The game features another token besides AVXT called DGC. DGC is short for the “digital genetic code” which each Avaxtar contains. Their purpose will become clearer as the game reaches later stages of development. The third token within Avaxtars is the Energy Token (ENXT). Players spend these tokens to go on both quests and player vs. player matches. Like AVXT, ENXT can also be earned within the game. The project is science-fiction themed and also features Avalanche as a major element of its backstory. Finally, the game includes marketplaces where players can purchase Avaxtars for use within the game using AVAX tokens. 

AVAX NFT Projects

AVAX NFT Projects are any kind of application that’s been created on the Avalanche blockchain and utilizes NFT technology. There are many of these kinds of AVAX projects within the AVAX ecosystem. First, there are the AVAX NFT games we have already discussed where players can trade, earn, and mint NFTs that represent in-game assets. Other similar games within the Avalanche ecosystem are Chikn and Snail Trail, a racing and breeding play-to-earn game.  There are also marketplaces on Avalanche where collectors can go to purchase Avalanche NFTs for collecting purposes such as art collections or music collections. 

Some of these marketplaces and exchanges are decentralized and some are not. With decentralized NFT marketplaces like Curate (12) or Niftyx (13), there is no single organization or entity managing those exchanges. This makes them more resistant to censorship. However, there are also several large centralized marketplaces where you can purchase NFTs on the Avalanche blockchain including Topps (14) and NFTStars (15). Centralized marketplaces are more traditional in their structure, but can also have the benefit of being easier to manage and more flexible to changes in the market. On these websites, you can use cryptocurrencies such as AVAX to purchase collectibles such as trading cards, images, or even video clips. 

AVAX NFT Drops

AVAX NFT drops are release announcements that include the specific time the NFT will be released. Those who watch NFT drop calendars closely are interested in being as close as possible to being the first to purchase a potentially popular NFT. If demand rises after the purchase has been made, the value of that NFT will then rise and the owner can sell it for a profit.  Drops like this occur all the time on the AVAX NFT market like the ones we have described above. You can use an NFT calendar like this one (16), to help you keep track of the latest NFTs being released onto the AVAX blockchain. NFTs are just one important aspect of the latest innovations in gaming that include metaverse, play-to-earn, and blockchain technology. 

Sources Cited

(1) https://markr.io/#/swap 
(2) https://avalaunch.app/ 
(3) https://avaxwolfgame.io/ 
(4) https://avaxcells.com/ 
(5) https://avaxghost.com/ 
(6) https://medium.com/@avalanchepunks 
(7) https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/08/31/topps-switches-from-wax-to-avalanche-to-launch-new-baseball-nft-collection/ 
(8) https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/08/31/topps-switches-from-wax-to-avalanche-to-launch-new-baseball-nft-collection/ 
(9) https://support.avax.network/en/articles/4136568-how-many-transactions-per-second-does-avalanche-support#:~:text=Current%20testnet%20benchmarks%20report%20over,over%2020%2C000%20transactions%20per%20second. 
(10) https://www.yetiswap.app/
(11) https://heroesofnft.com/ 
(12) https://curate.style/ 
(13) https://niftyx.org/ 
(14) https://toppsnfts.com/ 
(15) https://nftstars.app/en/ 
(16) https://nftcalendar.io/b/avax-network/