How 'Pixels' Guilds Will Massively Change Crypto's Hottest Game

Pixels is undoubtedly the hottest game in crypto right now following last month’s token launch and airdrop, with the Ronin farming game pulling in hundreds of thousands of daily users. Given that success, why then is the gameplay “completely changing” in the coming months?

It’s all to do with next week’s initial introduction of in-game guilds, a social finance (SocialFi) feature that takes cues from last year’s crop of buzzy protocols like Friend.tech and Stars Arena. Essentially, players will be able to form in-game guilds via NFT membership passes, which can be resold and granted unique perks and benefits.

But guilds will be more than a simple social mechanism or status symbol, and more than a way to get into an exclusive “club” of sorts. In Pixels, guilds will tie in closely with a “massive” overhaul to the way that resources are generated, founder Luke Barwikowski said on an official livestream this week.

Ahead of last month's PIXEL token launch, Barwikowski shared some perspective with Decrypt’s GG on how he envisions guilds functioning within the updated Pixels economy. Click below to watch this part of the video interview:

In short, in-game resources in Pixels are going to become more scarce through what he described in this week’s stream as a tier system for rarity. And as he explained in our interview last month, he expects that user-run guilds will form around certain resources, specialize in them, and ultimately help control and disperse such resources into the economy.

“These guilds are gonna be tightly integrated into our gameplay, and they'll control all of the resource generation inside of our game,” he told Decrypt’s GG. “They're going to help the distribution of these resources. We expect guilds to form around land and [...] other rare resources. And we expect guilds to help facilitate and group players together.”

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With some changes to resource gathering and generation already in effect in Pixels, particularly around trees in the game (which can be chopped down), Pixels has “become almost competitive overnight,” Barwikowski said, adding a new edge to the experience.

Guilds will only amplify that new angle, it appears, given the ability to buy and sell passes and potentially profit from their resale over time thanks to bonding curves that gradually push prices upward.

Barwikowski said this week that guilds will eventually be able to set certain roles for members and even require the ownership of multiple passes to access perks. Guilds will also earn a cut of pass sales, building up group treasuries that can be spent however they please—to reward members, target potential recruits, or amass even more resources.

Granted, the idea of industrial competition over pixelated items might not be the vibe that everyone in Pixels is looking for. That’s fine, Barwikowski said: Players who don’t want to engage with the guilds and dip into SocialFi can keep playing as they have been. Just want to chill and enjoy your solo gameplay? It’s still there.

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But he views these changes as another way that Pixels is embracing gameplay mechanics that only make sense in a crypto economy, all while giving new utility to the PIXEL token and allowing players to have even more options and agency in the game world.

“All of this basically funnels back into PIXEL and what we're doing with this token, so it's really complex. It's super exciting,” he told Decrypt’s GG in February. “I've never been more excited about the gameplay that we're building here than I have in the last month or so. I really think that we're onto something when it comes to sustainable economics and Web3 gaming.”

Edited by Stacy Elliott.