As crypto and gaming communities become more interested in blockchain gaming, developers are creating more options for players to have fun while also earning income while playing. One of the first and most successful NFT-based blockchain games is Axie Infinity, a decentralized game that allows players to acquire in-game items as NFTs and earn rewards.

What Is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is a gaming platform where players can earn tokens by playing and contributing to the ecosystem. Gameplay mechanics involve battling, collecting, and raising digital pet characters called Axies. These Axies are non-fungible tokens (NFTs), so each character has a unique and non-replicable value within the game. The platform runs on two native gaming metaverse tokens: Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) and Smooth Love Potion (SLP).

What Is Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)?

Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the governance token of the Axie Infinity ecosystem. Apart from governance, users can also stake AXS to earn rewards from the Community Treasury, which fills up via in-game fees and user purchases.

Players can acquire AXS by participating in various events and battling other players within the ecosystem. AXS tokens are also available for purchase across centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges. AXS has a total supply of 270,000,000 tokens allocated for various purposes, including their public sale, play-to-earn features, and community growth. There are also tokens issued to developers and project advisors for their contributions.

Use Cases and Applications of AXS Tokens

Some critical use cases of the AXS token include:

Governance

The AXS token's primary utility is platform governance. Unlike conventional games, where the developers are entirely responsible for the decision-making within the game, changes and developments made to Axie Infinity require votes from users and token holders, aligning the incentives of all stakeholders.

Payments

AXS tokens enable users to make payments for in-game purchases in the Axie NFT marketplace. Additionally, the platform uses the AXS token for admittance to certain sales or auctions conducted by the team. The number of tokens users hold determines their level of eligibility for these events.

Staking

Players can stake AXS tokens on the Axie Infinity protocol to get rewards at various intervals. Staking AXS rewards users for holding the tokens and supporting the ecosystem's growth.

What is Smooth Love Potion (SLP)?

The second ERC-20 token used within the Axie Infinity platform is called Smooth Love Potion (SLP). Users earn SLP through consistent gameplay and active participation in platform events. Gamers can use the SLP token as payment when breeding Axies. SLP is also used for the game's multiplayer battles. Intending players must wager a certain amount of their SLP tokens, which goes into a prize pool for the winners. This SLP wager creates another use case for the token and helps to increase demand as more users participate.

Other SLP use cases include:

• Incentives for reaching new levels with their Axies, completing quests, and winning battles.
• SLP holders can trade their tokens on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, Sushiswap, and AtomicDEX.

What Are Axies and How to Breed Them

Axies are NFT characters in the Axie Infinity universe. Players use these characters in the platform's battle modes - Adventure Mode (PvE) and Arena mode (PvP). Axies are classified in the ecosystem according to their unique attributes and stats. To participate in battles, users must be part of a team comprising of Axies of other gamers or their already owned Axies.

Like other ERC-20 tokens and NFTs, users can store their SLP, AXS, and Axies in their crypto wallet. Through a process called "breeding," users can collect Axies and use them to create new Axies (offspring). The concept of breeding enables the Axie population to continue evolving like animals in nature. Users can breed two Axies or pay another player for a 'date' with their Axie. Owners of the new Axies can then use them in teams for competitions or trade them in NFT marketplaces. Breeding Axies is one of the best ways to generate profits from the Axie Infinity ecosystem.

Players can breed Axies using their AXS and SLP tokens in Axie Infinity. Below is a step-by-step guide for breeding:

Step 1: Go to your inventory in Axie Infinity.

Step 2: Select the first Axie for breeding.

Step 3: Click the "Breed" button.

Step 4: Select the second Axie for the breeding pair.

Step 5: If the user has required SLP and AXS to breed the Axies, the 'Let's Breed' button becomes active. Click the "Let's Breed" button.

Step 6: Click 'Confirm' to sign the transaction.

How to Start Playing Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a potentially lucrative game, and it is also fun to play! To get started, users first need to buy or borrow three Axie character NFTs, since players can’t breed, battle, or participate in other in-game events without Axies.

Players can purchase and upgrade their Axie through the Axie Infinity marketplace, and although the initial cost might seem pricey, players can earn on the platform to recoup their initial payments. Axie offers an immersive gaming experience that allows gamers to earn passively and also interact with the ecosystem in the following ways:

Axie Infinity Battles

Axie battles use a turn-based card game system where gamers must strategically evaluate the Axies and moves necessary to come out on top. Players consider their Axies' classes and attributes when calculating which actions to take during their turn.

Gamers often buy more powerful Axies to win battles, although these are usually more expensive than standard Axies. This is because winning Axie Infinity battles means gaining rewards in the form of NFTs or SLP tokens.

There are two types of battles in Axie Infinity:

Arena battling: In this mode, players' Axies battle against each other to earn prizes and other rewards. This mode is excellent for challenging other players, earning more in-game rewards, and rising up the leaderboard.

Adventure mode: Axies battle against enemy monsters across 36 different levels. The Adventure mode is suitable for new Axie Infinity players to practice for the Arena mode and earn rewards.

Is Axie Infinity Here to Stay?

The Axie Infinity platform has paved the way for blockchain adoption in the gaming industry and has effectively increased transparency, decentralization, and player ownership through its NFT character mechanism.

The platform has also introduced real-time earnings to online gaming and created opportunities for both passive and active earning.

The ecosystem's success requires continued growth, but with its already established user base, Axie Infinity may very well be here to stray.

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