While they are still in no position to overtake their Xbox or PlayStation counterparts, games built on blockchain platforms have seen a steady rise over the last 10 years. One of the major reasons they have yet to go mainstream are some of the technical hurdles that players need to deal with to play them, which considerably diminish the quality of the gaming experience. However, one blockchain platform, the Vara Network, has now introduced some revolutionary innovations that could prove to be a game-changer for the blockchain game industry.
One of the biggest inconveniences gamers have to endure while playing blockchain games is the need to provide a digital signature to complete each action so that they can be registered on the blockchain. The Vara platform eliminates this hassle by introducing signless transactions, which can be made if players assign a certain amount of gas, which Vara has dubbed ‘vouchers’, to a smart contract.
These vouchers also fulfill a second and perhaps more important function: they make it possible for gamers to get started for free. By making gas reservations, players can begin playing without paying and then make in-game purchases later. This feature should greatly aid blockchain games in quickly attracting a player base, as it essentially eliminates the entry barrier, much like in the model typical for mobile games.
These two innovative features may significantly accelerate the adoption of blockchain games and prove to be a disruptor in the industry, as they bring the gaming experience closer to that enjoyed on traditional platforms, while still securing all transactions on the blockchain. The Vara project has put a few sample games based on their platform on the main net for users to try out.
So, how does the Vara Network achieve this? A report by Messari goes into detail in showing how Vara utilizes an actor model in parallel computation, which provides a technical foundation capable of significantly boosting execution and scalability. A Binance report from December 2023 takes this a step further, illuminating how the Vara Network’s unique approach to enabling parallel computation stands out compared to those adopted by other platforms, including Solana and Aptos.
The innovative features that the Vara Network has introduced give reason for crypto investors to pay attention. The project’s coin, Vara, was listed on the Coinbase exchange on September 20, 2023. After spiking to an all-time high of $0.33 per Vara on its opening day, the token’s price plummeted to $0.05 as initial profits were taken – a pattern typical for newly released coins. Having bottomed out, the coin then began to slowly rise as new buyers came in and then shot up again in December before hitting a roof at $0.14. From December, Vara’s price fluctuated in a range from $0.06 to $0.11 before skyrocketing to $0.14 again towards the end of March. The price subsequently fell sharply but found support and consolidated again at $0.10. However, in the last week, the coin’s price has been rising again and now appears poised to penetrate the resistance at $0.14 and grow to the next target of $0.175, with the next expected target prices at $0.20, $0.24, and $0.29.
Another factor that makes the Vara coin a potentially interesting investment is that the Vara Network’s staking rewards page reveals that its real reward rate is practically two times its nominal rate, with an APY of 14% or more, depending on whether the tokens are restaked. This means that, by staking now, investors can double their rewards. This is due to the approach that the Vara project takes towards controlling inflation, which is a constant problem for blockchain applications. To deal with this issue, Vara has introduced an ‘inflation offsetting pool’ to its token economy. According to this scheme, during the first year, tokens will be burned in an amount equal to the number of coins generated as validator rewards. This should keep inflation in check, but the value of tokens that are staked will actually increase. After the first year, the community will vote to decide whether to replenish the pool.
To sum up, with the Vara project’s innovative technological features for streamlining the blockchain gaming experience and unique approach to tokenomics, not to mention its impressive and experienced leadership, which includes Nikolay Volf, a pioneer and founder at Parity Technologies and Gavin Wood, a Parity founder and the creator of Polkadot, the Vara coin is well worth considering as an addition to crypto portfolios. It also doesn’t hurt that the token is listed on Coinbase, which ensures that it meets very high US regulatory standards and will not be subject to pump and dumps or artificial price manipulations.
Time will tell whether the innovations that Vara has introduced will radically increase adoption rates once incorporated in blockchain applications. If so, they could prove to be a gamechanger that revolutionizes the blockchain gaming industry.
