After 2 years of waiting, the blockchain version of "MapleStory" (hereinafter referred to as MSU) will finally be in public testing and TGE soon. This is the largest traditional game to enter the blockchain space so far, operating for over 20 years, with total revenues exceeding $5 billion and a cumulative player count of over 250 million. (For more details about the game's background, refer to: "Why did the classic game with over 180 million registered players choose to go on-chain?" )
Last week, the official MSU released the white paper for the game token $NXPC, detailing the economic mechanism of the blockchain version of "MapleStory". This article will systematically outline the content of the white paper and let’s see how traditional online gaming giants design a Web3 game economic mechanism.
3 different forms of 1 type of asset
The economic system of MSU is composed of $NXPC, $NESO, and NFTs, all of which can be exchanged bidirectionally.
$NXPC - is the native token used for paying MSU Layer1 network Gas fees, and can also be exchanged for $NESO or NFTs.
$NESO - is used for various functions within the game (such as weapon enhancement) and can also be exchanged for $NXPC or used to purchase items in the official NFT market.
NFTs - Characters, equipment, and consumables in the game will appear in the form of NFTs, which can be exchanged bidirectionally with $NXPC and traded in the official market using $NESO.
This does not mean that MSU adopts a dual-token or triple-token model. In fact, the entire economic mechanism is '3 different forms of 1 type of asset'.
If we consider in-game items as a type of "token", then in the original MapleStory and most MMORPGs, this type of "token" is somewhat like Ethereum - there is no upper limit on supply, rewarding contributors (dropping items from monsters in the game), and there exist burning channels (low-level items may be consumed through item synthesis and other channels).
Similarities also exist in that in-game items can be affected by "network attacks", and the studio's intervention can greatly accelerate the production of in-game items, causing severe item inflation.
In MSU, the source of all assets is $NXPC. The in-game currency $NESO and $NXPC have a fixed exchange rate and can only be minted through $NXPC. All game items (NFTs), such as weapons, armors, and decorative items, are centrally managed by the officials in MSU, stored in the official "MSU item pool". To enter circulation, these items need to be exchanged using $NXPC.
In the game, $NESO and game items (NFTs) can drop, but these do not mean they are independent assets; their source is also $NXPC.
$NESO can only be minted by exchanging NXPC, and due to the fixed exchange rate, the theoretical maximum supply of $NESO is the same as $NXPC.
MapleStory N receives $NXPC as ecological contribution rewards and may exchange some $NXPC for NFTs to distribute as in-game rewards. Players can obtain NFTs through various in-game activities, including monster hunting and boss fights.
It can be said that $NXPC is like liquid water, while $NESO is like ubiquitous water vapor, needed in all aspects of the game, especially for weapon enhancement, which can help players improve their combat power to better level up and obtain items. NFTs are like solid ice, significantly less liquid than FT, and as weapons are enhanced, price differences for the same equipment can arise.
"$NXPC Fission" and "Item Fusion"
"$NXPC Fission" mechanism refers to players using $NXPC to exchange for game items (NFTs). This mechanism is similar to the FCFS (First-Come-First-Served) process for purchasing NFTs, where players do not receive a specific item but instead receive a fixed percentage of the maximum supply of all available item types remaining in the "MSU item pool".
$NXPC and NFT exchange rates will be fixed, and the rates will only rise when new items appear in the "MSU item pool" in future game updates. Exchanging NFTs will not lead to the destruction of $NXPC.
The "Item Fusion" mechanism somewhat resembles a Bid pool in the NFT market, where if players want to sell their items (NFTs) quickly, they can directly submit them to the pool. However, players do not set their own prices on the official market and accept payments in in-game currency $NESO. The official will grab the corresponding item prices from the secondary market, taking the weighted average price's median to determine how much $NXPC players can earn.
These two mechanisms make the entire game feel very "GameFi". In fact, the blockchain version of MapleStory may not have an in-game shop or a traditional in-game purchase shop like the "Point Mall"; instead, it will have a unified consumption asset $NXPC - either use $NXPC for item exchanges or convert $NXPC into $NESO for purchases on the official NFT market (this situation is likely to be more common with enhanced, premium items).
Using $NXPC to exchange for items may force players to purchase items they do not need, which has the benefit of promoting the overall liquidity of items (such as those for less popular professions, low rarity items, and low attribute items).
The ideal effect is "Left Foot Steps on Right Foot" - players use $NXPC to exchange items, improving efficiency in obtaining high-level items in the game -> $NXPC price rises -> Returns from "Item Fusion" (gold farming) increase -> More $NXPC is reinvested in gold farming.
However, the relatively negative expectation is that the "GameFi" flavor may cause a certain decline in the fun and diversity that the game itself can bring. With $NXPC as a value anchor and the peculiarities of blockchain users, even with mechanisms like "$NXPC Fission" to prevent extreme speculation on certain specific items, players will still choose professions that are easiest to grow in the game (e.g., those with group attack skills to eliminate monsters in a map quickly, or those that level up relatively easily), leaving many maps, tasks, and dungeons with low cost-performance ratios for leveling up less sought after, greatly affecting the game's diversity. If the "Item Fusion" mechanism is monopolized by studios, it could likely lead to insufficient overall consumption power in the game.
Nevertheless, from the perspective of game profitability, this is indeed a bold attempt. MapleStory originally made money by selling costumes, enhancement scrolls, and other in-game items, but this blockchain version has no in-app purchases at all, relying entirely on the value of $NXPC. The output of in-game gold ($NESO) and items (NFTs) is also regulated by $NXPC.
$NXPC
$NXPC's total supply is 1 billion tokens. 80% is allocated for MSU ecological contribution rewards. Of the remaining 20%, 16.317% is airdropped to early community members, 0.437% is used for liquidity provision, and 0.15% is for exempting Gas fees, with a total of 16.904% fully unlocked at TGE.
Of the remaining 3.096%, 2% goes to the IP licensors, and 0.696% goes to the MSU team, both locked for 9 months and then unlocked quarterly over 3 years after the lock-up ends. 0.4% goes to consultants, locked for 12 months, and then unlocked depending on the project's development situation.
Conclusion
Since the birth of GameFi, discussions about gameplay and financiality have never ceased. If a genuinely good game emerges in the cryptocurrency circle, can GameFi escape the death spiral? This question may be answered by MapleStory’s own performance.
Additionally, as a MMORPG game that focuses more on social fun > exploration fun (personal opinion), I am curious and looking forward to whether the social enjoyment of the game and its powerful viral spread ability will change when the audience shifts mainly to the cryptocurrency circle (blockchain version).
But there is no doubt that this is truly a good game, one that can make the cryptocurrency circle happier.