[ApolloX News Station] Gamifying exercise on the blockchain: StepN

Disclaimer: This article is for knowledge-sharing and does not represent an endorsement or financial advice from ApolloX.

In the Web3.0 world, behaviors are valuable assets. Everyone will be able to earn something based on their daily activities. Recently, a new “Move-to-Earn” model, STEPN, is gaining popularity not only among blockchain players but also among runners. GMT, the governance token of STEPN, has performed 20X since its launch.

What is STEPN?

Within the STEPN app, other than the game function, there is a default Solana wallet and Swap function. The mechanism for STEPN is simple:

1. Players choose NFT sneakers. Sneakers are divided into 4 categories (Walker, Jogger, Runner and Trainer) and 5 qualities (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary). Each sneaker has 4 attributes (Efficiency, Luck, Comfort and Resilience). The grading of the 4 attributes, qualities and categories will affect the exercise and return of the tokens.

Image credit: STEPN

2. Once players purchase a sneaker NFT, they can earn GST (STEPN’s in-game currency) through completing different exercise activities (refer to the 4 categories). GST can be used to repair, maintain and upgrade sneakers.

3. If players have two level 5 sneakers, they can choose to forge a new sneaker. There is a possibility that ordinary shoes can produce high-quality ones. In this case, players can sell the latter for some profit. More scenarios will be launched; for example, Sneakers Borrowing & Lending.

STEPN Tokens: GMT/GST

Similar to other GameFi token economies, STEPN also employs a dual currency design in its ecosystem. GST is their in-game token while GMT is their governance token.

There is no maximum supply of GST while the output of governance token GMT is restricted in the game. Only when the sneakers reach the maximum level of 30 can players earn GMT as well. At that time, users will be able to use GMT for certain sneaker upgrades and gems (in-game feature).

Why is STEPN so popular?

We can all agree that GameFi is promising. However, if GameFi is solely restricted to a group of people, it would still remain a niche market.

There are two directions for GameFi. One is similar to traditional 3A games, which can give users a fully immersive gaming experience. 3A games, or AAA games, is a term to describe high-budget, high-profile games produced by well-known game publishers and which are extremely popular. However, the current on-chain GameFi infrastructure is not mature enough to support development models like physically based rendering, which give games a realistic lighting environment and contribute to high quality graphics. This would be difficult to realize in the short term.

Another direction GameFi has adopted is to create easy, casual games. STEPN is one of them. STEPN starts off with a common concept: exercise. The concept is able to reach a wider audience compared to other GameFi projects, allowing non-Web 3.0 people a chance to experience GameFi with low barriers to entry.

The views expressed in this article are the author's alone and do not necessarily represent the views of ApolloX.

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