P2E

  With cryptocurrencies on the rise, there are a lot of people who want to incorporate the value of the blockchain into a lot of things. From Art, and the internet, to Video games and Central Bank Digital Currencies. 

The blockchain can do so many things to help us in our everyday lives. From securing our passwords to securely send payments over the web. 

There are a bunch of benefits that the blockchains can do. One that I am very interested in is the play-to-earn or P2E aspect of it.n As a person who saw something like this happening back when I was like fifteen years old. I never saw the blockchain. What I did see though were people getting paid to play video games. I thought it would have been something like a, sponsorship or someone who worked for the company and played games professionally.

Yet, here we are I am 34 years old and I never would have guessed that the blockchains of cryptocurrencies would have brought my dream into reality.

Some of the biggest players in the crypto world have been brought in to flex their muscles with the video game world.  From Ethereum, and Solana, to Cardano and Binance. Along with many many others. 

The thing that makes this all a reality and not some form of fantasy. Is the fact that the blockchains give you the ability to own in-game items and it allows you to do whatever you want with them. Use them on your character, sell them, or even delete them. It is all in your hands.

Now there is a bad side to this. Like any new trend, many gaming companies are rushing for the cash grab and creating subpar if not scammy games. That they say are play to earn but are just a means to get you to pay real money. 

My partner and I have ran into this issue with a few 'play2earn' games. We didn't do much research, nor did we look into the companies which we should have. 

Yes, this is all new and exciting but don't throw a bunch of money at a game hoping it will pay off in the end. Since we ended up doing that and ended up getting nothing so far. I will discuss what happened. 

My partner and I found out about play2earn games through a website called play2earn.net It is a great site I would suggest having a look at it. 

We came across some mobile games (This was my first red flag) on of which was a tower defense game called Cazy Defense Heroes. The gameplay was fun and entertaining. Overall, if it wasn't a p2e game it would have been a great game. 

Then my partner and I decided to support the company and the game. We threw 400 real dollars at the game and grinded from level 1 to 21 in about four days to see if we could get into the prize pool which was 1 million Tower tokens. Which also should of been a red flag for me, but I didn't really pay attention like I should. 

The goal was to get to level 21 by the end of September to be eligible for your part of the prize pool. My partner got to level 23 before the end of September. Now that is all well and good, but here is where it gets interesting. 

We had joined the discord server for the game and had been asking some questions about things because we had seen that even if you did get any winnings from the prize pool you couldn't claim them as your own. Due to the Gas fees on Ethereum. This makes sense but there were some other questions we had asked that the information just seemed to come out of nowhere and made no sense. 

My partner did some research and discovered that this game had some really interesting reviews on Reddit and other sites. So, I decided to poke and prod the Mods and Admin. By this point my partner was frustrated and had gotten kicked from the server due to "Trolling" She called a mod out for not doing their job and ended up getting kicked due to that. 

I stayed in the discord because I was told that on the tenth of October they would be releasing the Tower tokens. Well, the tenth rolled around and nothing. ( I should clarify here, I wasn't told the tenth until the fourth I believe. Before that, it was said that the Tokens would be distributed within the first week. Then that it would be distributed whenever...) I contacted an admin and was asked a bunch of questions that shouldn't of pertained to the game at all. Since my partner had gone from 1 to level 23 in less than a month.

The admin asked if "I" (My partner) had watched videos and paid money to get to that level. I said yes. To which the admin said Oh the it all should be okay I will see what I can do. 

So, to clarify. The reason they said it took so long for the tokens to be distributed is due to them looking for cheaters. So that they don't have to pay them. Now my partner and I spent 400 bucks and played this game non-stop for four days. 

The company had no idea we even did that even after we gave them our user ids and the other information that they "Needed" 

As of the writing of this we have not received any of the Tower tokens that we have earned. The admin say that by the end of the month the tower should be airdropped to us, but what about all those people who actually got their tokens the day that the company said they would. 

Well, they will be sitting there taunting you till the day that you can claim them. Say you have been playing this game since it launched, well you have nothing to say for it except a bunch of towers sitting on their website. I mean it says that the tower tokens are there, but are they really? Why is it locked up away from you?

Call me paranoid but when you earn something you should have access to it. Correct? After doing some research on who made the game. We realized that Animoca Brands is the one who made it and they are a huge part of the play2earn gaming world. They have developed and invested in some of the biggest games out there. Yet, they can't pay those who have earned it?

There was also a conversation on the discord where Animoca couldn't find the Tower to allocate to the players. Which makes me wonder about some things. As a millennial, I don't trust anything until it proves itself. Animoca Brands has proven that they jump from game to game and don't finish the last one. 

The first game to try and incorporate NFT's was a game called Crazy Kings. Which at one point had NFT's. So did Crazy Defense Heroes. You can buy the NFT's on OpenSea. Yet, they can't be used in the game.

After being lied to by EA and many other game developers. I have to say that Animoca Brands is just as shady if not more from what it looks like.

They are making a butt-ton of money off of their investments and games. Yet, they can't find the Tower token that they created to allocate to the players that earned them???

That seems shady. Then seeing if we watched videos and paid money in-game is the only way to be considered not a cheater? 

You have all the money from the in-game stuff we bought and the videos we watched which was at minimum 5 a day. Plus the money from the investments and other ventures Animoca has. 

You start to see a clearer picture. Crazy Kings was dropped the devs aren't even developing the game anymore. The same thing seems to be happening to Crazy Defense Heroes. The Dev team jumps from game to game adding little pieces and parts of the P2E gaming model in order to lure us in with the idea of being able to play games and make money. 

At the time of typing this the Tower token is worth three cents. Most people got 200 from the prize pool in September. So a little math

.03 x 200 = 6

Now, six bucks a month isn't much but it could be a coffee or something. Yet, there is another problem on top of that. Right now Tower is on the Ethereum blockchain which means that there are gas fees and in order to convert it from Tower to something usable it will cost you something.

So you are maybe making off with 4 bucks. Along with the fact that there is no guarantee that there will be another prize pool for either Crazy Kings or Crazy Defense Heroes.  

In conclusion, I would give Crazy Defense Heroes a 0 out of 5 due to the lack of NFT support that the website lied about. Along with the fact that until the claim option is enabled you have no access to your winnings. (They say it will be at the end of October but they have been saying that since February) This game seems to be a scam in the best way, promising you a reward only to keep you from having it and giving the company more liquidity in the long run. Doesn't that sound fun. 

The reason I say this is because there is actually no real proof that the Tower tokens you have earned are actually in your account. Until you can claim them. (If they do fix it this month) Think of all the people who have been playing since the beginning and the fact that they can't claim any of their winnings at all and haven't since February. I had heard that some players have over 3000. 

Now is Animoca using this issue as a front to say they gave you your prize earnings or are they just putting numbers in on the website and using the Tower as some kind of liquidity for other games? Honestly, I don't know. It could be in your account on the website, but it could also be in the owner of Animoc's bank account.

No transparency at all with the company. The Discord is a joke. No one does anything to help you and seems to know everything but tells you nothing. I had people in the chat try to tell me how securities work and what a Ponzi scheme is. 

Animoca seems to be running a multi-game Ponzi scheme is what it looks like to me, and no one from Animoca Brands or any of the Devs from the games would talk to a player. 

The toxicity of the community and those running it. The lack of transparency and the lack of actual answers serve to prove to me and many others that anyone looking into play-to-earn games should steer clear of Animoca Brands.