Blockchain gaming is supposed to solve the problem of players creating “black markets” for digital items in traditional games, as trading tokenized, user-owned weapons and skins are a key part of open crypto economies. But ahead of the launch of its Avalanche-based GUNZ L1 mainnet and the on-chain item trading and token that’ll come along with it, Off the Grid—one of crypto’s biggest games to date—has found itself in a very familiar “Web2” kind of situation.
The battle royale shooter has a bustling black market where players trade skins and GUN tokens for real money. This underground economy has spawned due the game currently not allowing players to trade their items freely on-chain, as its mainnet launch looms. Avid skin collectors gather in clan Discord servers or trading-specific groups, spamming the chat with messages like “Want to buy GUN tokens with USD,” or offering to sell their rare skins in exchange for cash.
This kind of activity is strictly prohibited in the game’s terms of service, but for players aiming to secure some of the game’s best loot before on-chain trading is implemented, it’s apparently worth the risk. Two of the game’s largest skin collecting whales, Money Magician and torToro, don’t engage with what’s called over-the-counter or OTC trading, because they believe the skins will be worth much more once the GUNZ mainnet launches and items can be freely traded on OpenSea. But they said they’ve received offers.
