First of all, I would not recommend you to use the ethereum network, as my friends said. Because the network fees are very high, the number of players and your products will be very expensive. But on the other hand, the ethereum network is also seen as a reliable network for investors. This is because the investment fees are high and fraud is not possible. But if you are not going to start as a professional, I recommend you to start with alternative networks, namely bsc network. Or you can integrate the bsc network with the ethereum network.
What I want to create here is a silly basic game on blockchain, well-optimized, and secure, then we build a basic client that other developers can fork to build their own versions of the game.
As your friend said, the ethereum network is reliable, if you want to create a long-term project, ether is the answer, also the interaction with the contract can be optimized to pay less fees because the game has no ERC20/NFT or swaps, and since the resources can be sold, front-end developers can add a new contract to pay fees in exchange of resources, the possibilities are endless.
I think the real challenge is how the game contract is built, once the contract is in the testing phase, we can determine how the fees impact the game economics and how to deal with it.