Saturday marks the one month anniversary Suspension of NBA coronavirus, and there is no end in sight because the league is trying not to cancel the 2019-20 season.

There was a commotion over the potential start date during the last month, and the NBA reportedly considered the beginning of September to be a date maybe the latest time to complete the 2019-20 season. But regardless of the prognostic, there is currently no way to know when the league will return, if at all.

The NBA seems to be more creative because it seems to have survived the COVID-19 crisis. League of course willing to cut his schedule, and more radical steps are not out of the ordinary Las Vegas can host the entire 2020 playoffs, creating a quarantine environment in a series of facilities and hotels. Is such a project even feasible? Taiwan Super Basketball League can provide models.

SBL continues to play through the COVID-19 crisis, relocating the game from arena to arena HaoYu Basketball Training Center, according to the New York Times’ Marc Stein. All games are held in buildings with less than 100 occupants, with only certain training and media personnel allowed along with players, coaches, and officials. In theory, the NBA can try a similar policy.

The NBA can directly follow the SBL model in a vacuum, but Taiwan’s effective response to the corona outbreak changes the picture. There are, “fewer than 400 reported COVID-19 cases and only six deaths on April 10,” per Stein. Taiwan, “has overcome the coronavirus pandemic as well as anything.”

Maybe an enhanced response in the United States could allow the game to return safely. The NBA will likely do everything it can to ensure it receives income for the 2019-20 season, especially television money through what was before form into a thrilling playoff. However, even if the game returns, the NBA might not return to normal with any imagination.

“You need fans,” said SBL striker Charles Garcia A glass of beer. “I can’t even imagine that in the NBA.”

As more and more people are isolating themselves due to the coronavirus pandemic, gaming platforms around the world have experienced a surge in traffic. One report noted that the Verizon cellular network company claimed that online gaming platforms have seen a 75% increase in traffic with a 20% overall surge in traffic across the web. Despite the fact that the increase in traffic on online gaming platforms is a result of an unfortunate pandemic, blockchain games have not yet been abandoned.

Recently report shows Microsoft Azure, a service that allows developers to operate blockchain networks for applications such as Xbox, registering high-level latency on their networks for the first time as a result of gamers quarantined to oppress Xbox applications. Although most industry observers will recognize that the blockchain game is the future, the jury is still not sure whether the future can be sustainable.

Another platform that has increased traffic

Besides Xbox, other non-mainstream gaming platforms have also gained new users. War Riders, a blockchain game where players can build and crash cars in experiences like Mad Max, is said to be owned be accepted more than 70% of new users with an increase in average time spent in the game.

According to Sebastien Borget, co-founder and COO of Pixowl – a San Francisco-based startup behind the blockchain game called The Sandbox – Cryptovoxels, which is a playing experience like Sim City on the blockchain, has also experienced an increase in the number of users recently. .

In Borget’s observations, a decentralized virtual game world such as CryptoVoxels, Decentraland and Somnium has seen “a wave of new users meeting and socializing in metaverse, organizing their own events, meeting or even festivals.” He added: “I think this is a great event and organizing and providing activities to do for gamers in metaverse is the right way to go.”

Borget also mentioned that the decentralized gaming platform Pixowl Sandbox “completely sold out its virtual land, producing 3,400 ETH in just five hours on March 31.” Other gaming platforms that have been running successfully so far include Cryptowars, which announced the launch of v2 and Skyweaver launching Season 0, among others.

What drives interest in blockchain games?

Edward Smith, founder and principal developer at Neblio, a blockchain as a service company, believes that: “Games and entertainment will be some of the biggest winners of the crisis facing our world today, including blockchain-based games.” According to Smith:

“We will start to see more and more integration of blockchain into esports as time goes by. Both industries have many of the same users, because gamers are some of the most passionate blockchain users. ”

There is a general consensus among most industry observers that interest in blockchain-based games will grow because more developers are more inclined to the play-to-get game model – as is the case with the popular blockchain game like Gods Unchained and CryptoKitties. Borget also agreed that what drives more interest is the fact that “blockchain games have pushed the playing side even further to get, offering attractive alternatives to making money while having fun and playing.”

Borget also pointed out Axie Infinity as one of the games in the blockchain game room that has benefited from “an active growing community that shares tips on how to make money with crypto games.” Apart from the opportunity to earn extra income, another factor that drives gamers towards the blockchain game is the freedom and autonomy that comes with decentralization.

While the gaming industry offers blockchain technology a user-friendly way to mass adoption, in turn, technology can contribute through open source, transparency, and decentralization to the gaming world.

Decentralized and autonomous alternatives – but is this ready?

Last year, the decentralized digital card-based game, Gods Unchained, generated significant income against the backdrop of Hong Kong protests after defending a gamer who spoke out against the actions of the Chinese government. With a promise to give gamers freedom through true ownership and autonomy over their collections and victories, the Heartstone-based game sees a surge in traffic, becoming one of the most popular blockchain games in 2019.

For some reason online sensor is on the rise, especially among centralized applications, more gamers are looking towards blockchain games to provide a much needed reprieve. For years, blockchain developers have been waiting to be adopted en masse. Although Bitcoin (BTChas been the center of attention for years, nothing is close to mass adoption.

Therefore, to compensate for the increasing demand and appetite for entertainment among major gamers, especially during quarantine, the blockchain gaming platform is forced to adapt. The Blockchain game has gained traction and acceptance, but scalability and capacity are still a problem for most blockchain networks.

While scalability is less a problem for private blockchains, gaming platforms that want to support massive multiplayer online games must increase the capacity to manage and store large volumes of data. Tension has been felt by companies, such as Microsoft, Azure which provide blockchain as a service.

Azure’s strange case

At the United States Securities and Exchange Commission recently filing, Microsoft Azure, a platform that allows users to deploy blockchain networks in the cloud without having to invest in hardware infrastructure, reports a decrease in network capacity typical as a result of quarantined gamers putting pressure on their cloud platforms.

In a statement, the company acknowledged that “the spread for certain types of computing resources” has fallen after “receiving significant requests” for its services in several regions including northern Europe, western Europe, southern England and southern Brazil, to name but a few.

Because the Microsoft Xbox application is among the clients served by Microsoft Azure, the increase in the number of Xbox gamers quarantined is said to have strained the Azure Blockchain network. However, Mike Brusov, founder and CEO of Cindicator, a fintech company that offers predictive analytics for crypto investors, begs to disagree:

“Capacity may not be the main problem for blockchain games. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud and is a rival of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. So, the increased tension experienced by Xbox Live on Azure may be because 65 million gamers spend more time playing, and not always associated with the blockchain. “

On the other hand, Carlos Roldan, founder and CEO of Satoshi’s Games, the blockchain gaming platform, paints a different picture when asked about the ability of blockchain technology to handle mass adoption:

“There is no blockchain gaming platform, whose infrastructure is distributed or on-chain, which will start in a very attractive spectrum to supply the huge demand that is currently happening due to the scalability problems currently occurring with on-chain gaming infrastructure. “

He added that some games were based on Lightning Network still “can supply current demand despite low demand on the Bitcoin network.”

Prepare for mass adoption amid a global pandemic

As the world continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic, putting more people in quarantine, industry observers such as Brusov, Roldan and Smith expect growth in the token economy in games, as more gamers use game blockchain to earn extra income.

Responding to the question of how blockchain games can best prepare themselves for increased mass adoption during this pandemic, Roldan said: “To increase and ride traditional gamers into blockchain games, the onboarding process must be minimal and without friction.” He points out that “any blockchain game that can achieve the minimum skill-based gameplay can achieve” mass adoption, adding:

“Right now, we are seeing blockchain games with high volume with around 80% blockchain integration and around 20% gameplay (fun). It only supplies requests to players inside blockchain users, which is a small niche. ”

According to Brusov, game companies can “use tokens to manage access and reward gamers” as a way to attract more gamers during this global pandemic period. Meanwhile, Borget argues that the natural way to increase mass adoption is through the adoption of competitive and collaborative games that will encourage blockchain-based games to be played “the way video games are played: built and shared across communities.”

It’s time for the blockchain game to develop

In addition to experimenting with different consensus protocols, the blockchain game platform can start thinking beyond offering NFT-based games and start learning interactive and interesting games on the blockchain. As demonstrated by industry participants such as Roldan, this can be achieved in off-chain LN.

Related: NFT Floodgates Opens with an Impressive Blockchain Game Lineup in 2020

It’s also important for game developers to think outside the box and produce games that are just as interesting as traditional games. In addition, instead of building blockchain games from scratch, game developers can build on pre-existing networks such as Microsoft Azure or Neblio which provide a highly scalable and general-purpose blockchain capable of handling mass adoption.

Carter began his insistence in late 1979, with the Soviet Union pressing a military campaign into Afghanistan.

In his 2010 memoir, Carter called it “one of my most difficult decisions.” Perhaps more clearly, as former USOC spokesman Mike Moran wrote in the recap of events leading to the boycott, was an exchange made by 1984 Olympic champion wrestler Jeff Blatnick with Carter on a plane a few years later.

“I’m leaving, ‘President Carter, I’ve met you before, I’m an Olympian,'” Moran said in retelling the story of Blatnick. “He looked at me and said, ‘Are you on the hockey team in 1980?’ I said, ‘No, I’m a wrestler, in the summer team.’ He said, ‘Oh, that’s a bad decision, I’m sorry. “

Forty years later, there was almost no debate about that conclusion. And the remaining irony from this year’s game was postponed for one year because the coronavirus pandemic did not disappear in Moses.

“As an athlete, you lose one of the nine lives of your cat,” he said.

There will be some 2020 Olympics that may not reach 2021, because of age, injury or modified qualification procedures.

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Trushar Patel

“One of the things I do to lift my spirits is to eat, because I can’t go to restaurants. So I take the nearest sweet drinks and sweet foods like cakes. I will eat cakes at midnight, or soft drinks for breakfast.”

Trushar Patel, 33, a photographer from London said he did his best to stay healthy during the lockdown but was very difficult.

He and his fiancé Deepa Ragwani, 28, usually travel to work often. But locked in the house, he said that his feelings about time had disappeared and he returned to his vices to remain sane.

“We don’t drink alcohol, but I will watch Netflix until midnight and watch YouTube shows and social media. I play computer games for a few hours every day – once a week.”

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Getty Images

As much as we are encouraged to use this forced isolation to stay in shape, learn a second language or work on creative projects, many of us will also turn to less virtuous entertainment to get through the stressful weeks of the future.

Even the government has acknowledged that we need the valve, adding a license to the list of “important” stores that are left open, after supermarkets find their liquor shelves empty.

“There’s something about not being able to control the situation, we don’t know how this will work. So people might turn to things like alcohol as a coping mechanism,” said Lesley Ludlow, an advisor who leads the private arm of practice from the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy .

“Then there is boredom. People have taken their social lives from them, so they are looking for quick fixes to make life feel a little more normal for a while.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, companies that serve our personal desires seem to be running quite well, when many other businesses are struggling.

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Getty Images

Pornhub, a popular adult entertainment website, reports a spike in traffic of more than 10% after offering free premium access – or what it calls “additional incentives to stay at home and level the curve”.

And online betting company 888 Holdings said this month that prospects for 2020 were not too bad, even though gambling on traditional sports had collapsed along with live equipment. That’s partly because customers are turning to alternatives – and some say it’s risky – online games like casinos and poker.

Such things can help temporarily, but the dangers are also clear, said Ms. Ludlow. Without a boss or schedule telling you not to drink, smoke, or bet, we mostly depend on self-reliance. “But not everyone has that internal power,” he said.

MPs have urged gambling sites to set a £ 50 per day limit to try to stop people becoming addicted and make financial problems worse. And the World Health Organization has warned that alcohol is an “unhelpful coping strategy” for possible stress caused by coronavirus lockdown.

Smoking is another pillar to watch out for, said Deborah Arnott, head of the Charity Action for Smoking and Health (Ash). He is working on a “Quit for Covid” campaign urging smokers to protect their own health and those who live with them.

“There is pressure, because you feel isolated, to smoke. At the same time, if you get Covid-19, you will need more time to recover and tend to lead to more serious effects,” he said.

But while some vices will make you more dangerous than others, others are practically completely harmless.

Online retailer Sextoys.co.uk and its rival, Ann Summers, both say that demand for toys has risen by about 25% since the lockdown began, because people are looking for ways to add time at home.

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Lust

Adult boutiques based in Brighton, Lust and Taboo also see a last minute rush of customers who accumulate before closing, before switching to online orders only.

“We do the non-contact drop in an hour,” said owner Tim Richardson.

He is optimistic that his business can get through the lock, but thinks his High Street store should be on the list of important retailers – though not for reasons you might expect.

“You can get a high level of admission to the hospital [of people] use objects as sex toys that are not designed as sex toys. We do not want that. “