This pet-simulator video game takes animal lovers into the “petaverse” by adopting a virtual puppy in NFT form. And the more you take care of your new virtual companion, the more money you can earn.
A cross between “Nintendogs” and “Pokemon Go” would be a good way to describe “Dogami”, which uses blockchain and NFT technology to revolutionise the pet-simulation concept popularised in the 1990s and 2000s.
In this so-called “petaverse” – an immersive virtual world for pets and their owners – players will be able to take care of their virtual dogs, groom them, feed them, and even teach them tricks. “Dogami” pooches are actually NFTs, and each player is responsible for training and nurturing their crypto-pet to adulthood and beyond.
To adopt your prospective Web 3.0 pet, “Dogami” has created a marketplace, available on its website. Future puppy raisers must have a Tezos cryptocurrency wallet – the blockchain used by the game – and own some XTZ.
For now, all the puppies available have already found owners, but more adoption sessions are planned. If you can’t wait, then there’s always the resale market, but watch out for the prices!
Each “Dogami” dog is unique, with its own physical characteristics and personality. These criteria are randomly assigned, and owners only discover the “pedigree” of their dog once they have purchased it.
In addition to its properties, each dog is classified according to a rarity tier system – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. The rarer – and more expensive – your virtual companion is, the more tokens it can earn you in reward. These tokens are called Doga, the cryptocurrency integrated into the game.
“Dogami” is a play-to-earn game, meaning the more a player takes care of their virtual pet and builds a relationship with them, the more Doga they will earn. These tokens can then be exchanged for dollars or euros, after conversion into Tezos.
For now, the game is still in its launch phase. It is possible to see your puppy and sell it on the market but not to play with it or teach it tricks. The next major phase should come in July, when it should be possible to download the game onto your smartphone and access the “puppy phase”, the learning period of the dog’s life.
Once the puppy stage is over, the game changes dramatically. It’s then time for your crypto-puppy to embrace a career and move up the ranks in fields like police, firefighter, skater, farmer, space, and yoga.
To reward the best puppies and players, the game will feature a table of top puppy masters. This will be very important for one of the essential mechanisms of the game: breeding. When two virtual animals give birth to a new “Dogami” puppy, one of the masters will leave with the newborn NFT, the other one with Doga in their pocket.
Moreover, one of the most promising aspects of Dogami is that it offers a way for new players with insufficient means to access the game. Those who don’t own an NFT and can’t afford to buy one can set up a smart contract with “Dogami” owners in a process known as “Dogami Day Care”, allowing them to rent a puppy on a reward-sharing basis.
“Dogami” is an ambitious project drawing on new technology trends like play-to-earn, the meta/petaverse, and cryptocurrencies. Who knows, maybe you, too, will succumb to the charm of a cute little ball of virtual fur.