Minecraft, one of the world's most popular video games, has a new plug-in enabling players to place blockchain assets directly into their servers.
Built by gaming startup Enjin, EnjinCraft is an open-source blockchain plugin that enables players to spawn assets in the Minecraft Java Edition without the need to write any code.
The tool works by dropping the EnjinCraft file into a player's server "plug-ins" folder, where they can then begin integrating and distributing blockchain assets in the form of tokens.
The plug-in marks the second release by Enjin for Minecraft after it initially released DonationCraft in 2013 in collaboration with Bukkit. Now downloaded 5.1 million times, DonationCraft allows players to grow their Minecraft servers by creating a server website and donation store.
The new offering allows server hosts to create their own localized Minecraft economies by providing their players with tangible ownership over in-game items and currencies. It also allows for players to securely trade their assets in peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion through the server or via external chat rooms and digital trading platforms like the Enjin Marketplace.
“EnjinCraft is the beginning of a new era for sandbox games. Players now have a tangible stake in their gaming worlds, and server owners can create new kinds of addictive experiences by using branded collectibles and items with scarcity and value in the digital universe,” said Enjin's co-founder and CTO, Witek Radomski..
Enjin has also released an open-source software development kit (SDK) for Java, allowing developers to implement blockchain in Java-based mobile, desktop or web apps.
The gaming-focused project has been active this year, having launched its development platform on Ethereum in February. The launch enables potentially millions of developers to integrate crypto assets into games and apps without prior knowledge of coding for blockchain.
In April, Enjin announced it would be opening its crypto wallet to Chinese users ahead of a planned expansion into the Asian nation after it sought approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.