A play-to-earn protocol, but in Minecraft. This is the project run by the Satlantis server, which now allows Minecraft users to earn Bitcoin (BTC). How does it work?
Play Minecraft to harvest Bitcoin
It’s Bitcoin’s scalability solution, the Lightning Network, that has been integrated into this Minecraft server. The payment startup ZEBEDEE was at the helm of this integration. To collect their BTC, players must use the ZBD wallet, available on Android and iOS.
@Minecraft, meet Bitcoin
Introducing @PlaySatlantis, where you can earn real bitcoin in the world’s most popular game.
All powered by the ZEBEDEEapi
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– ZEBEDEE (@zebedeeio) July 10, 2023
The Satlantis server is run by the players, and it is they who have decided on the Bitcoin distribution parameters. At present, the game distributes around $300 worth of satoshis (the equivalent of pennies for BTC) per week, but this figure is set to grow. The server is visually based on Bitcoin, with themes related to mining. In particular, there are mining ‘pools’
Minecraft historically hostile to the sector
Satlantis sees it as “redistributing profits” to its community, based on a “Play to Earn” model. It is specified that this is a Minecraft server, but that the project is not backed by Mojang or Microsoft.
It’s worth pointing this out, because Mojang hasn’t been particularly kind to this area: a year ago, the publisher banned NFTs on Minecraft servers. The new rule also barred the use of “blockchain technologies”, but so far the bans don’t seem to have materialised.
Mojang believes that NFTs – and blockchain – can create financial inequalities for players. This is also a wider criticism of video games in general, which tend to over-monetise aspects that a few years ago were free.
But the fact is that play-to-earn models continue to be popular. That said, the winnings are for the most part moderate: you can expect to earn a few cents per hour played. Beyond the winnings, however, it’s the models used that are innovative. Systems based on cryptocurrencies or NFTs are creating new economic rules that are less publisher-centric. So this is an area that is probably still in its infancy.
