This is a series where I share the most interesting web3 projects that are changing how we live, work and play. Rather than explain how they work in detail, my intention is to focus on why these projects matter. Think of these pieces as starting points for your own rabbit holes. I’ll give you a glimpse of what’s going on in web3, and if anything resonates – dive deeper!
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Read Time: 4 mins
Now that the FIFA World Cup is on, I usually start my mornings by checking the latest scores and highlights. After that, I hop onto Sorare – a platform leveraging NFTs to create what I think is a more fun, fantasy sports experience.
If you’re unfamiliar, generally with fantasy sports, you assemble a team of players who each receive a score based on their real-life performance. Think of it as free-to-play, no-stakes version of sports betting, where you receive points for correctly predicting outcomes instead of money. For example, you may choose certain players based on which team you think will win a particular match. Ultimately, the aim of the game is to score the most points.
In some ways, the results are luck-based, given the nature of sports is that it’s unpredictable and full of surprises. However, there is a strategic element to it, because you still want to make decisions that give you the greatest likelihood of scoring highly.
Sorare is, for the most part, just like any other fantasy sports game. More interestingly, it’s a great case study of how NFTs allow for the ownership of digital assets, and the unique experiences that enables.
To help you see what I mean, here’s a simplistic breakdown of Sorare:
The two layers of Sorare
I think of Sorare as having two layers:
Layer 1 – a free-to-play fantasy sports game, similar to Fantasy Premier League
Layer 2 – an enhanced gaming experience powered by digital collectibles, i.e. NFTs
The first, base layer, is the fantasy sports game that’s designed for anyone to play for free. This part of Sorare is most similar to other fantasy sports. As a participant, you’re forming your team of players and trying to maximise your scores each week. Currently, if you want to play on Sorare, you can pick between football, the NBA or MLB.
The second layer of Sorare leverages NFTs to create an enhanced gaming experience. How? Well traditionally, the players you choose are just names on the screen. When the season or competition ends, those players will disappear and you’ll start from scratch when the game resets. This isn’t a fantasy sports problem – lacking ownership over our data and content is typical of our experience online.
To combat this, Sorare allow users to own digital cards of different rarities (Limited, Rare, Super Rare or Unique) representing players, which technically speaking, are NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Users can buy digital cards on NFT marketplaces, but they can also be won through weekly competitions - meaning there’s a pathway for all players to own cards without needing to spend money on the game. For those who don’t care about owning player cards, Common cards can still be used in the fantasy sports game, although they can’t be traded.
What makes SoRare special?
Owning digital cards of sports players may sound pointless and childish, but it has some interesting implications. For example:
the game is no longer confined to a specific time period, because now users can collect player cards over time to expand and strengthen their teams – it’s a more engaging fantasy sports experience
the game becomes about more than just fantasy sports, because now there’s a new element of collectibility. Some may want to collect cards of their favourite players, or rising stars, or those who perform particularly well for their historical significance
users have the option to sell the cards they accrue in-game, meaning they can be financially rewarded for their skill and performance as they play, or perhaps when they choose to quit fantasy sports and cash out
Why should you care?
The internet we’re most familiar with has conditioned us to believe that anything that’s digital cannot be owned and is infinitely reproducible. In Sorare, users get to experience an alternative which not only showcases how digital ownership is possible, but also why it’s valuable.
It could be easy to dismiss Sorare because it isn’t solving a meaningful problem – after all, it is just fantasy sports. However, its simplicity and accessibility is one of its strengths, because it makes it an easy-to-understand example of the value of digital ownership, for anyone who chooses to play. And think about it - if it works for Sorare, what other experiences can be improved and uniquely enabled by the ownership of digital assets?
Want to go deeper down the rabbit hole?
Here are a few great resources to learn more about SoRare:
🎧 Listen to this breakdown of fantasy sports by The First Mint. It also does a great job of exploring some of the skepticism around the need for NFTs in fantasy sports
🎧 Listen to this conversation with Nicolas Julia, the CEO and Co-Founder of Sorare
📖 Read this deep-dive into Sorare by Alexandre Dewez. While this was published in Nov 2021, it’s still a great read