What Is a Blockchain Grand Strategy Game? A Merfolk Games Answer

As the video game industry expands, so does the list of acronyms and modifiers needed to explain them. Many of these terms we’re familiar with as certain types of games have been popularized over the years. World of Warcraft popularized the MMO, though it’s technically an MMORPG if we’re being specific. Starcraft brought the RTS into the public consciousness. Final Fantasy bequeathed to us the hallowed JRPG. The Sims and SimCity opened the door to the Simulation genre; these days we even have the Goat Simulator or American Truck Simulator. Minecraft gave us the Sandbox. DotA and League of Legends gave us the MOBA. Civilization unearthed the Grand Strategy Game.

So what is a Blockchain Grand Strategy Game?

Knowing that Civilization is also a Grand Strategy Game, that should give anyone familiar with the game a few clear ideas: empire-management, city-building, training armies, choosing policies and researching technologies. That iconic screen where you have a capital city and your surrounding towns encapsulated in a colorful border that shows the limits of your empire. Within those limits are resources that the cities harvest to fuel the empire. Outside of those limits, there’s an entire globe with many empires all competing to be the best civilization. The game is global, and that’s what makes it Grand.

There is a lot of strategy a player needs to gain an edge over competing civilizations: balancing economic issues, religion, the military, and often much more. What makes a Grand Strategy Game often so much fun is that the player can choose where to focus. Even small things like food and housing are necessary for things like population growth.

So let’s put those puzzle pieces together to create a quick definition.

Grand Strategy Game: A global empire-building game where players compete to be the best civilization.

There is much variation within this definition, but it’s a start.

Now we get to the word “blockchain.” Now this one is a doozy. Most people at this point would close their eyes and ears because of how confusing it is, so we’re just going to have a simple definition: A blockchain is a decentralized digital database that records transactions.

So why is blockchain technology so exciting for grand strategy games? First of all, there is the convenience of a fully integrated in-game wallet for spending and earning. Instead of having to go to third-party websites to buy and sell, players can avoid the hassle of creating accounts and paying external transaction fees by accessing their actual wallets directly.

By having your wallet integrated into the game itself in a transparent manner, it also gives players the luxury of true ownership. In CryptoCrusades, for example, players don’t just play as London or Rome—they actually own those cities in their wallets as a token. And land isn’t the only thing that can be tokenized on the blockchain: players can sell the resources they’ve harvested, the skins they’ve crafted, and the Gold they’ve earned.