Mir 4's Play to Earn Elements are Kind of Cool, But the Game itself Sucks

Mir 4 is easily the most popular blockchain based 'play to earn' MMO out there. It's also one of the only blockchain games that actually resembles a game. Many of the play to earn titles on the market right now are throwaway browser games with little to no actual gameplay, which is why Mir 4 has been so successful.

Mir 4 averages 39,400 concurrent players on Steam alone (as per Steamcharts) and many more players (upwards of 350,000+ concurrent if you look at the game's official website (which counts mobile users as well). Even if we ignore the huge mobile playerbase, the Steam numbers themselves are impressive, with the game regularly appearing in the top 15 most played games on the platform.

What makes Mir 4 interesting is that the 'play to earn' elements are actually kind of cool. The gameplay though is bad. Irredeemably bad. It's a generic auto-play mobile MMORPG with absolutely no soul, style, or substance. The core gameplay here is that of an auto-play mobile MMORPG, so if think of a game like Lineage 2: Revolution (but much worse, because at least L2R has decent production value).

In fact, I don't think ANY of the Mir 4's massive userbase is actually playing Mir 4 for fun. They're playing to power up their characters so they can make money selling virtual items to other players. Who purchases these items if the game itself sucks? Other players trying to speed up their own progression so they can sell even better items to other players of course. If this sounds a bit like a Ponzi scheme of sorts, it kind of is, but that's only because the game itself sucks and has no real 'end user'. A game like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV could employ similar mechanics without being a ponzi as people actually play these games for fun.

But anyway, we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here. Let me explain Mir 4's core 'play to earn' mechanics.

Mir 4's Play to Earn Mechanics

There are a few ways to 'earn' money playing Mir 4. The primary way is to obtain a valuable in-game currency called 'Dark Steel' which can be converted to a crypto coin called 'DRACO' which can either be used in-game to speed up progression OR sold for real money on a crypto exchange. Draco can also be combined with another valuable in-game resource called Septaria to create a more valuable crypto token called HYDRA.

Hydra can be used as cash to purchase gold and other items in the Mir 4 cash shop, so it derives value from its utility in game. Both Hydra and Draco can be converted to WEMIX, a different crypto token that serves as the primary currency between WeMade's blockchain MMOs (WeMade is the developer behind Mir 4 and numerous other play to earn games). That WeMix token can also be used to purchase characters on Mir 4's NFT marketplace.

Every character in Mir 4 is also an NFT which can be bought and sold on the game's marketplace. The more powerful the character, the higher the price it will fetch as stronger characters can earn Draco and Hydra quicker as well as more easily complete in-game content. The NFT marketplace is essentially an RMT market place for characters (including all their equipment), with the most powerful characters selling for upwards of $100k+. This character for example was sold for 78,000 WEMIX on May 11th, 2022 (~$117,000 at the time).

Mir 4 Hydra Payment System Explained by WeMade

The goal of 'play to earn' is to ultimately let players 'own' their in-game assets. Whether that's their character, their items, or their currency. As-is, players do not 'own' their virtual characters or assets, they are the sole property of the game developer. In World of Warcraft (and just about every MMO) players are granted a limited license to access these games, but their characters never truly belong to them. For most people, this doesn't really matter, but players retaining real ownership of their in-game assets seems like it can only be a benefit for players.

Technically every game is already 'play to earn' to a degree as secondary markets like Player Auctions already exist to sell in-game currency and accounts, but the difference here is that these mechanics are not only permitted, but encouraged in 'play to earn' games. Selling currency or accounts on regular MMOs is usually against the terms of service, so participating in these secondary markets is risky business.

While many consider RMT marketplaces or even World of Warcraft tokens / RuneScape Bonds as inherently bad for the gaming ecosystem, I don't think they have to be. What makes RMT in World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV problematic is that they distort the in-game economy because practically all the in-game currency being sold for cash are obtained by either botting or dupe exploits. This creates a hyper inflationary situation for others which ultimately hurts the game for everyone.

Mir 4 is definitely not immune from these issues. In fact, marketing the game as 'play to earn' has only made the Mir 4 worse for the average person as the game is totally plagued by bots and cheaters. A quick Google search reveals countless people complaining about these issues.

Still, I think the idea of players actually 'owning' their characters and in-game assets is interesting. The problem with Mir 4 and every other 'play to earn' game is that these games were designed first and foremost as a 'play to earn' game rather than just a 'game' that's actually fun. For 'play to earn' to succeed outside of the ponzi economics of games like Mir 4, the actual game itself has to be fun, and so far we haven't seen any such game.

Further Reading: Prices of Mir 4's Various Crypto Tokens, Mir 4 Character NFT Marketplace, Mir 4 Steam Store, Mir 4 Playerbase