Background
Nov 2017 — As Bitcoin was soaring to its first ever $25,000 price point and news of cryptocurrencies were getting plastered all over the internet, a small tremble shook the gaming world. CryptoKitties, predecessor of now industry leading Axiom Infinity, emerged out of nowhere and gave everyone a glimpse of the future of gaming. CryptoKitties is known to be the first game that adopted the use of blockchain technologies and NFT. However, not a single “blockchain game” achieved breakout success by the end of 2010. The table is now turning, with major game publishers including Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and others stating their serious considerations for blockchain and NFT-based games.
On the other hand, table-top games are as old as civilization itself. Card games, especially, have been a prominent leisure activity. The actual Poker game is said to be first introduced in New Orleans in 1829 by French settlers. The 52-card deck poker we are familiar with today was introduced in 1837. Poker saw an unprecedented spike in popularity in the beginning of the 21st century with the emergence of online poker platforms and poker tournament broadcasts that made poker into a spectator sport.
There is a cutthroat race taking place in the gaming industry; a competition to clinch this new era of gaming with the introduction of cryptography-based blockchain technologies and NFT. What about the classic games? Will this new trend affect the comparatively ancient Poker? Before we get to the answer, we need to know what “GameFi” is.
GameFi — also known as “play-to-earn” — is the marriage of gaming and blockchain-powered finance. In conventional games, in-game assets purchased by players do not have value outside the game’s universe. And these assets purchased by players are usually controlled by the game developers. GameFi means the blockchain-based game comes with its own in-game currency, marketplace and token economy managed and governed by the community — Players will own their in-game assets. This new concept allows the game to offer the players an opportunity to generate income while playing, thus “play-to-earn”.
Coming back to the question of poker in this new age, there will be a significant disruption to poker as we know it. Just like how the landscape of poker has changed with the advent of internet and poker tournament broadcasts, poker is about to transform and evolve once again.
MetaPoker is a passion project started by poker professionals and enthusiasts. Its goal is to bring the game we know and love to today’s new standard, so the game will receive the attention it deserves into the future. MetaPoker is designed with three prominent concepts integrated to its platform– decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens(NFT), and blockchain-based Poker game. This unprecedented combination allows MetaPoker to employ both “Play to Earn” and “Engage to Earn” models to maximize rewards given to its dedicated users. MetaPoker platform is to only act as a hub for poker players to interact and socialize; in-game economy and policies will be governed by the community using Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Within MetaPoker’s ecosystem, the users will be able to take on a variety of roles such as player, investor, influencer, and shareholder, and enrich the MetaPoker experience while engaging with the platform and its community. Thus, allowing the entire ecosystem to self — sustain and operate.
The New Economic Model
Two tokens are used in the MetaPoker ecosystem: the utility token CHIP and the governance token MPC.
CHIP is the most commonly used token. It serves as the in-game currency and is used in poker games. It also serves as the utility token used to purchase tournament tickets, social gifts, initiate launchpads, and other items needed in various game scenarios.
MetaPoker Coin (MPC) serves to facilitate the governance of MetaPoker, giving the users the power to shape the community as they desire. MPC can be earned through participating in events, and being active on the MetaPoker platform.. MPC can be traded in both centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges.
MetaPoker Philosophy
MetaPoker doesn’t build a game to make money, our VISION is to earn user support to build a better decentralized poker platform that is jointly owned by our users.
How does MetaPoker differentiate from the conventional online poker platforms?
MetaPoker operates in a very different manner compared with other online-Poker platforms. First and foremost, MetaPoker is a decentralized poker platform which means it is able to operate in a more anonymous way while maintaining high levels of security and safety for players.
Moreover, the introduction of DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) eliminates the traditional hierarchy system, in which game developers at the top of the pyramid dictate the direction of the game, allowing both the MetaPoker developers and players to have an equal voting power to manage the entire ecosystem. Therefore, all voices matter in the MetaPoker community and this is what motivates all users to continuously perfect the community since each one of them is the owner of this community.
Furthermore, with the implementation of “Play to Earn”, players have stronger motivation to participate in MetaPoker. This has allowed MetaPoker users to earn a full-time income by contributing time and effort to the game. In a broader sense, MetaPoker as a community will also benefit from each member’s engagement, thus heading to a brighter future.
Additionally, MetaPoker allows players to obtain digital assets through their engagement. Each digital asset on MetaPoker is a unique piece of NFT, in which players claim 100% ownership instead of only the right to use like what conventional online poker platforms do. All assets are stored on a distributed network, which ensures the safety of these assets. All digital assets can be freely traded on the in-game Marketplace, which not only adds monetary value to the digital assets but also reduces the risks and costs of going to the third-party trading platform.
Last but certainly not least, trust issues, which have been the biggest obstacle that both game developers and players are facing on the conventional online poker platform. To overcome such an obstacle, MetaPoker utilizes the smart-contract to ensure that every move on MetaPoker is being monitored and can always be reviewed upon requests.
Our value
MetaPoker is an ENGAGE TO EARN SocialFi Poker platform that aims to serve as a hub for users to interact and socialize. The platform will evolve as a self-sustaining ecosystem where users engage and contribute to the sculpting of the said platform. Users within MetaPoker will take on a variety of roles, such as player, investor, influencer, and shareholder, and enrich the MetaPoker experience for all users while engaging with the platform and its community; whether through creating poker rooms, hosting tournaments, creating tables, participating in DAO, or simply playing poker, every user will find an engaging role to play in MetaPoker.
Conclusion
For the moment, we define MetaPoker as a social game, we encourage the right mix of playing for joy and engagement, whilst also making profitable financial decisions. Hopefully, in the near future, MetaPoker will be totally owned by the MetaPoker community and managed by millions of worldwide poker enthusiasts. The ideal image MetaPoker is aiming to paint will be members continuing to engage with MetaPoker as it is fun, and it is an engaging community. With governance tokens initiatives, all members feel like they have a stake in this community and are able to actively influence the direction MetaPoker is heading and collectively make MetaPoker a better place.
MetaPoker is already on its way to the public and is being constructed by all users, community organizers, and developers around the world. Let us salute to the birth of the next GameFi sensation.
