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ChainGuardians is an anime-inspired, role-playing game (RPG) built on the Ethereum blockchain. It's also been called a superhero blockchain game, and is cited as the first NFT mining platform.
Players can earn income through mining, staking, RPG battling and more. Additionally, early-adopters of the governance token are eligible to join the Guardian Initiative — a multi-tiered program offering special rewards.
There are numerous features in this game, so let's crack into it.
Highlights:
Two tokens
Free to play
Requires MetaMask wallet
Transparent development team
Upcoming metaverse
PvP, mining, staking, farming, play-to-earn and more
What is ChainGuardians?
ChainGuardians wants to help the mass adoption of blockchain games through imaginative and engaging gameplay. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world around 2070, and there's not much left "except death and decay: decay; decay, disease and famine."
You'll see anime, fantasy and superhero themes throughout ChainGuardians, and its NFT mining is well-developed. The RPG side, with an ever-evolving storyline and features, is continuing its improvement and development.
ChainGuardians is built on the Ethereum blockchain, but the ChainGuardians world is several worlds each based on a different blockchain: BTC, Dash, ETH and more. Its Initial Dex Offering (IDO) for ChainGuardians Governance Token (CGG) launched in March 2021.
Image source: ChainGuardians
There was a ton of effort in creating the game's lore — artists and writers even created comic book panels and expansive first-person narratives for character backgrounds. It's very anime- and superhero-inspired. And as a side note: The art is wonderful in our opinion.
Image source: ChainGuardians
In terms of player community and engagement, ChainGuardians Twitter has 79.2K followers, over 10K members on its Discord server and a reported 17,000 monthly active users as of September 2021, stated by ChainGuardians. While we couldn't nail down a more recent player count, the overall follower count is impressive.
ChainGuardians was cofounded by Emma Liu, Robbie Cochrane and Idon Liu. All are entrepreneurs and blockchain enthusiasts.
Playing ChainGuardians
To get started, you need a crypto wallet. Currently, ChainGuardians only supports the MetaMask wallet. With the wallet, you can create a ChainGuardians account by going to chainguardians.io on a Web3-supported browser.
Complete your account registration and you'll be able to select PLAY RPG or START MINING. There's also a new project in the works called Cryptoverse, which is ChainGuardians own metaverse.
Image source: ChainGuardians
RPG
If you select the RPG option, select your language, then proceed to the next page. The RPG campaign takes place in numerous worlds, each based on a different blockchain. When you choose a world, like the Bitcoin world, you begin a sequence of missions.
It's a pretty standard RPG battle. Pay close attention to your opponent's status bar, which indicates the attack they're using. Each attack type is vulnerable to a specific attack type of your own — figuring out when to use each one powers up your attacks. It's real-time, turn-based combat.
The Guardians can charge, slash, dash, thrust and more during a battle. Each Guardian also has its own skills, including standard skills such as intellect and stamina.
Mining and hash wars
If you select the NFT mining game, you'll get a screen like this where you can sign in:
Once you're signed in, you can start staking your owned NFTs — up to nine at a time. Staking your NFTs earns you the in-game currency, CGC.
You'll see that each NFT has a hashrate, which represents how many calculations it can perform. The higher the hashrate, the more miners that are verifying transactions — a high hashrate is good. The higher the hashrate, the higher your chances of earning CGC.
Image source: ChainGuardians
Cryptoverse metaverse
Still in the works, but set to be similar to massive multiplayer online (MMO) games like World of Warcraft, with social features and virtual reality gear support.
ChainGuardians' tokens
There are two tokens in ChainGuardians: ChainGuardians Coin (CGC) and ChainGuardians Governance (CGG).
Play the game directly to earn CGC to purchase in-game items, pay the minting fees for NFTs and purchase physical merchandise. But while CGC is useful, the token and cryptocurrency at the heart of the game is the ChainGuardians Governance token (CGG).
CGG rewards players for participating in the ecosystem, encouraging them to engage with the token's use cases and earn more rewards.
CGG can be traded on exchanges like Gate.io or Uniswap, but first, you'll need to get ETH and transfer it to one of these exchanges. We've highlighted a top pick exchange for ETH.
It looks like CGG may not be available to purchase on an exchange in the US.
You can still purchase CGG by using a decentralized exchange (DEX) instead. Decentralized exchanges are web applications that run on blockchains like Ethereum and allow users to trade any asset directly with one another.
Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are unregulated and run using autonomous pieces of code known as smart contracts. To use a DEX you must interact with the blockchain directly, which is not recommended for novice users. Please learn about decentralized exchanges first if you're unfamiliar.
How to purchase CGG using a decentralized exchange.
Find CGG on a decentralized exchange and make sure CGG can be traded for ETH which is the native asset of Ethereum. Popular DEXs include Uniswap, SushiSwap and 1INCH.
Buy ETH to trade for CGG using an exchange like
Gemini. You will need to purchase enough ETH to swap for CGG as well as ETH to pay for transaction fees on the Ethereum network (known as gas). You can use a service like Etherscan to get an idea of how much gas fees currently cost.
Trade ETH for CGG on the DEX of your choice, following the instructions on screen. Make sure to leave enough ETH in your wallet to pay for gas.
Wait for the transaction to finalize and the CGG tokens will arrive in your wallet.
You may now keep the tokens in your web 3.0 wallet or transfer them somewhere more secure like a hardware wallet.
You can follow the same process when you want to sell your tokens, or come back to this page to see if they can now be traded on an exchange in the US.
Token economics
Below is a screenshot of the token economics of ChainGuardians:
Image source: ChainGuardians
Guardian Initiative
The Guardian Initiative is a program for early-adopters of the ChainGuardians' token, CGG. The entry rank is 500 CGG (Soldier).
There are multiple reward tiers, each determined by how much CGG you're holding. Rewards, dependent on your tier, include:
Discounts on merchandise — 5% to 40% off depending on rank
Play-to-earn. ChainGuardians uses a turn-based RPG model. Battles are player vs. environment (PvE) or player versus player (PvP). Battling unlocks rewards like gear, artifacts and more. As players invest time in ChainGuardians, playing the game and leveling their characters, they earn CGC as well as in-game NFTs that can be sold.
Staking NFTs. Players stake up to nine of their NFTs. Each NFT is assigned a hash rate. Players stake NFTs to mine CGC. The rarer and more powerful the NFTs, the stronger the player's stake is and the more likely they are to mine CGC.
Staking CGG. Players can stake CGG tokens to earn POWER LPT (liquidity provider tokens) that unlock NFTs.
Players can use both regular gameplay and the mini-game to build and develop characters, and earn in-game NFTs. Those NFTs can be staked to generate CGC, or used to obtain CGG and unlock even more ways to earn while playing.
What are ChainGuardians NFTs?
The majority of the NFTs in the game are ERC-721 tokens. ChainGuardians also released the first "NFT Portal" which allows players to move their ETH-based assets to the Binance Smart Chain.
Guardians are the playable NFT characters, but not all characters are Guardians. The Guardians themselves are the rarest characters and NFTs. Players can create (mine) them through the NFT minting process, or can buy them.
All Guardians are ERC-721 tokens. A limited number of Guardians are produced for each blockchain, and once they're all released, are only available for purchase on secondary marketplaces. Each Guardian is based on a specific blockchain, like Bitsee (Bitcoin).
The average price of a ChainGuardians NFT is around 1 ETH — approximately $2,882.21 at the time of writing — as reported in ChainGuardians' white paper.
Image source: ChainGuardians
How to get NFTs on ChainGuardians
While on the main site, players can select BUY NFTs, or can select a specific guardian while exploring and be redirected to the various versions of that Guardian listed on OpenSea. Or, players can buy the Guardian NFTs directly on OpenSea.
Image source: OpenSea
How to sell NFTs from ChainGuardians
Players can list their official ChainGuardians NFTs on the secondary market with OpenSea.
Many of the Guardians go for well over 5 ETH — or $14,411.05 at the time of writing. So if you get your hands on a valuable Guardian, it could mean a profit if the NFT appreciates.
About the ChainGuardians developers
Emma Liu is a cofounder of ChainGuardians and its current CEO. Robbie Cochrane is another cofounder and is the acting COO. And last but not least, Idon Liu is a third cofounder,
Emma Liu has 20+ years of experience managing multimillion-dollar projects, and Cochrane states he's been a gamer for over 30 years and has a background in journalism. Idon Lui is known as the NFT Professor with 20+ years of experience in Fortune 500 tech companies.
The majority of the ChainGuardians' team has financial and tech expertise, and many call themselves blockchain enthusiasts. One name that stuck out to us was Noi Sackda, the Chief Creative Officer, who has experience with DC Comics, Nintendo and Disney.
We appreciate the transparency on who's behind this game — ChainGuardians made it clear who made, funded and directed the game. Not only does this clarity offer security, but it shows investors and gamers their pride in having their names on this project.
Unique features: ChainGuardians merchandise
It's not something we see often with blockchain games, but ChainGuardians has its own merch that players can buy, mostly featuring clothing.
As mentioned, members of the Guardian Initiative can earn discounts between 5% to 40% off this merch. Which is good, cause the merch isn't necessarily cheap — we spotted $125 sweatshirts.
Image source: ChainGuardians
Other crypto games and NFT projects
Bottom line
ChainGuardians is impressive and well thought out. It has multiple features and ways to play and earn — and ways to earn without active gameplay.
It's free to create an account, but getting your hands on valuable Guardians isn't free. Many of the Guardians run for hundreds or thousands of dollars. However, just by holding CGG and joining the Guardian Initiative, users can get quite a few perks.
We're most excited for the Cryptoverse, ChainGuardians' own metaverse. Metaverse games are starting to look like the future of gaming. Social features, ownership over in-game assets and sandbox building has become popularized by metaverses like Decentraland and The Sandbox. Additionally, the Cryptoverse is set to have VR support — something that both aforementioned metaverses lack.
ChainGauardins has set itself up to be successful, but only time will tell how far it goes.
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Bethany Hickey is a personal finance writer at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto.
Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt.
Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others.
Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine.
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Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: ChainGuardians
Image source: OpenSea
Image source: ChainGuardians
