Space Summary
The Twitter Space The Value of a Name | Press Play #63 hosted by GAM3Sgg_. In Press Play #63, the focus on Web3 Gaming highlights the crucial roles of branding, community engagement, blockchain integration, partnerships, and industry recognition through awards. The space emphasizes the dynamic and immersive nature of gaming experiences, underlining the significance of staying informed, transparent, and innovative in a competitive gaming landscape. By exploring the interplay of technology, strategy, and community building, Press Play #63 offers valuable insights for gaming enthusiasts, developers, and industry professionals, shaping the future of gaming culture.
For more spaces, visit the Gaming page.
Questions
Q: How can branding impact user engagement in Web3 Gaming?
A: Branding influences how users perceive and interact with gaming platforms, affecting user loyalty and retention.
Q: Why is community engagement crucial for gaming events such as awards ceremonies?
A: Involving the community fosters a sense of belonging, excitement, and participation, making events more successful.
Q: What role do partnerships play in the success of gaming initiatives?
A: Partnerships can provide access to new audiences, resources, and expertise, enhancing the overall reach and impact of gaming projects.
Q: How does blockchain technology change ownership dynamics in gaming?
A: Blockchain enables secure ownership of in-game assets, introduces new monetization models, and enhances player-driven economies.
Q: Why is it important to provide regular updates and content in the gaming community?
A: Continuous updates maintain user interest, offer fresh experiences, and keep the community informed and engaged.
Q: What impact do gaming quests and events have on user experience?
A: Quests and events add layers of interactivity, challenge, and rewards, enhancing user immersion and enjoyment in gaming.
Q: How can gaming projects differentiate themselves in the competitive market?
A: Unique branding, innovative features, strong community engagement, and a focus on quality content can help gaming projects stand out.
Q: Why are gaming awards significant for the industry?
A: Awards celebrate achievements, motivate developers, validate quality, and bring the community together around shared interests.
Q: How does transparency build trust with the gaming audience?
A: Transparency in communication, decision-making, and operations fosters trust, loyalty, and credibility among gaming communities.
Highlights
Time: 00:14:37
The Power of Branding in Web3 Gaming Exploring how branding strategies can shape user perceptions and drive engagement in gaming platforms.
Time: 00:27:45
Community Engagement for Gaming Success Discussing the role of community participation in the success of gaming events and initiatives.
Time: 00:42:19
Blockchain's Influence on Ownership in Gaming Examining how blockchain technology transforms ownership and monetization structures within gaming.
Time: 00:58:03
The Impact of Partnerships in the Gaming Industry Highlighting the importance of collaborations for expanding reach and visibility in gaming projects.
Time: 01:12:10
Quests and Events: Enhancing User Experience Exploring the benefits of quests and events in enriching user engagement and experiences in gaming.
Time: 01:25:55
Recognizing Excellence Through Gaming Awards Showcasing the significance of gaming awards in honoring achievements and fostering community spirit.
Time: 01:39:28
Transparency and Trust in Gaming Communities Emphasizing the importance of transparency in building strong relationships and credibility with gaming audiences.
Key Takeaways
- The significance of branding and naming conventions in Web3 Gaming is vital for user attraction and retention.
- Community engagement and participation drive the success of gaming platforms and events around gaming awards.
- Strategic partnerships and collaborations can elevate the visibility and success of gaming-related initiatives.
- The integration of blockchain technology revolutionizes ownership and monetization structures within the gaming world.
- Regular updates, guides, and reviews are crucial for keeping the gaming community engaged and informed.
- Innovative quests and events contribute to a dynamic and immersive gaming experience for users.
- Staying updated with industry news and trends is essential to remain competitive and relevant in Web3 Gaming.
- Effective branding strategies can help gaming projects stand out in a crowded market and attract a loyal following.
- Recognizing and celebrating gaming achievements through awards fosters a sense of community and encourages excellence.
- Transparency and trust are key pillars in cultivating strong relationships with the gaming audience.
Behind the Mic
Music in the Background
Am I, like, pre rugged, or am I good? St. Jin fell for the old trap, the old bait and switch. So what happens, bro, is the main account. Mos is playing music. Roughly 80% of us do not hear the music, but as soon as one of us unmutes, it stops the music for the remainder. 20%. Oh, fantastic. Then I'm glad I did it, because if I got to suffer in silence, everyone's got to suffer in silence. Eat it, people. Perfect. Every week so far. Oh, that's all there is. If it makes you feel any better, none of us hear it. Me, gaspode, none of our team hear it, except Moss. Every week, he sends us a screen recording to prove that music is being played in this space. Because we all call him out saying, bro, we're dead ass sat here inside.
Clarifying Listener Experience
What are you talking about? What about the listeners? Do the listeners hear it or not? And the panelists don't? We've had a feedback of around eight. Sorry. 20% of people that join can actually hear the music, but I think it's more the panel that definitely don't get to hear the music. I think sometimes it also depends if you have your mic open as the host. If you have the mic open and hit the music again, then everyone can hear it. I think Twitter is still, or X is still rugging us from time to time on purpose, just so we talk about it to our friends and say, like, did you see in the space again? That happened. I think that's just the word to mouth thing that they want to push.
User Experience Issues
So I'm sure he does that on purpose. There's definitely a user interface issue where you have to have the secret know how to do a simple function, because I'm sure in some nerdy developer's mind, it actually makes sense. Like, obviously that's how you should do it. Something up in one of these spaces, like, it's. It's the most unintuitive thing ever. If I don't do it, I forget how to do it. You know, the first. Speaking of that, the first time that I got entrusted to pin stuff to this top of the space, instead, I was just getting it wrong. Both Gasboat and Eliza were like, oh, you just pin it to the space. You just pin it to the space. I was like, I don't know how to do this.
Understanding the Jumbotron
It sounds simple when you guys say it like this, but I don't know how to achieve what you're telling me to do. You know, one time someone called me in the beginning and said, yeah, just. Just pin it to the jumbotron. And I was like, what the fuck is a jumbotron? Where do I pin stuff? I was completely overwhelmed, and then I read up on it, so. Yeah, I feel you on that. Oh, that's hilarious. I'm just in the taxi because I was actually speaking at an AI conference, and I was a keynote speaker, and it ran very late, and so I'm rushing over to my friend's place, so. But luckily I'm in Bangkok traffic, so I might just be in the car for the entire time of the space.
Implications of Traffic
But if I get disconnected, I will reconnect. It means I made it to my destination. This is easily the wildest start to our space ever, just because it's three people that already speak to each other in general. And I can't believe you're in Bangkok again, bro. You need to let me know these things. I'm back down here now since the last couple of months. Oh, where are you now? Still in Bangkok? I'm not going to dox my precise location, but living back in Bangkok, so I'll have to let you know whereabouts. Monday, Tuesday, I'm in Bangkok for meetings. Let's go for a korean barbecue lunch and pick out. Sounds good to me, man.
Exploring Connections
Sounds good to me. Actually, I'll speak to you after the space because there's someone else I think you should meet as well. But, yeah, I'll start this space properly now that Chris is here, and we'll do the actual stuff that people came to listen to and not me and you. Me and you setting up dinner dates. Sure, sure. All right. I'll mute myself. No one wants to hear about our dating history. I think that's the most interesting topic today, most likely. So I would join if I would be there. I know you need to abandon the fatherland and come over here. That's what you need to do if you want to be hitting up this korean barbecue.
Plans and Discussions
It's almost like I need Singapore altogether. And then get thrown in jail, and then we'll have a really good story. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna get. I'm gonna go back into presenter mode, starting properly. Chris, I have approved you to come up as a speaker. I do see you down there, and I know you're the third guest that's meant to be up here. Ideally, while I'm doing my intro, Twitter finally decides to allow you to join us. If not, I will continue doing nonsense on my end to make it possible. But welcome, everybody that has come to listen to us talk about web three stuff and not just our dating lives and the fact we're all pals. This is press play episode 63.
Engaging the Audience
The title is the value of a name. We are aggressively aware that a lot of you will be listening to this. Not right now, because Gamescon is going on. That is why you will notice I am not joined by my lovely co host Gaspodius, as he is actually there right now. He had a haircut and shaved so you might not recognize him. He is looking sprightly and young. Apparently he looks like hes twelve. I saw the picture. I was like, whos that dude with this small immutable t shirt? And I was like, thats the new immutable intern. Don't tell him I said that. But that's the intern they picked up from high school, correct?
Introducing Guests and Projects
Correct. So, as per always everybody, we have got some big brains up here. We are trying to get the third big brain up here. But it seems he has also disappeared. So maybe we are continuing to have x issues, but we will power through. I am joined by two people that I've spoke a lot to. So this is not new conversations. Well, it is a new conversation, but not new people for me to meet. I believe Shinjin has come up with us twice already, but I believe this may actually be Luke's first actual time one of these ones. So I will let. Oh, he's giving me a thumbs down, so I could be wrong, but I'll.
Contributions from Speakers
Let you go a couple of times. Even as a scheduled speaker. Sometimes I just infiltrate. But we've been here as a scheduled speaker, I think two times already, but. In the beginning, my memory is terrible. Okay, Chris, I'm allowing you up. And while I'm trying to do that, Luke, if you want to tell us a little bit about who you are and the project you are with, and I will continue to endeavor to try and get Chris up here. Yeah. Hey, everyone, I'm Luke. I'm here with two accounts, so on my screen is right next to me, Luke.
Luke's Introduction
But most likely for everyone else, the setup is different. Thanks X for that. But yeah. I'm the BDN marketing for medieval empires. We are a mid course strategy game. You can fight invaders, put on an armor, shop some wood, and shop some invaders in the game. We are free to play in open beta, so you can directly jump in. Takes three minutes and you're in. We have a custodial wallet from immutable means you can use your Google login or your apple id in order to enter the game. So even if you don't have a clue what crypto is. We're here for you.
Focus on Gaming Names
And. Yeah, that's me. Happy to be here to talk about names, I guess. Yeah, we're going to list the best names. I think George is a pretty solid name. Luke spelt with a k is probably up there as well. Probably at least c tier. And next, someone who does have a solid name, we're going over to big Papa Sinjin. Let us know who you are and the product you are with if people somehow are not aware of you. Hi, I'm Sinjin and I am a game designer. And the game that I have made is not for any of you because it's for hot, crazy, rich asian moms.
Game Overview
And so you don't all qualify. But if there are any in the audience, I'm happy to send you an NFT and get you into our game. And our game is called my angry yakuza girlfriend, or Meiji for short. Pleasure to be here, gentlemen. Fantastic. Always a pleasure to have you up as well. And let's see, we have got Chris up here. Hopefully the twitter gods are smiling down on us and you are allowed to speak as well. So, Chris, tell us a little bit about who you are and the project you're all from as well, please.
Chris's Introduction
Yeah, I'm the CEO. Thanks for having me. I'm the CEO of great big beautiful tomorrow.
Introduction to the Mystery Society Game
And we make a game called the mystery society, which is a social deduction game. Kind of think of it as among us meets clue. And we did that game because we think that casual games, casual multiplayer games, are going to be really important way to onboard the masses into web three and lower the barrier of entry. We run in a browser, we're on mobile, we're on the immutable platform. So very easy wallets, so you don't have to know anything about crypto. And we've been doing a lot of interesting stuff with watch to earn, which is a way to incentivize streamers to basically promote our game by streaming and then allowing players to watch streams and earn money in our play to earn tournament or earn points in our play to earn tournament. So, yeah, we're gearing up right now for we're going to announce the tournament today and gearing up for our first qualifying round for the play to earn airdrop.
Casual Games and Audience Engagement
Sounds great. I swear I've been watching someone play this as well. Coming up on the timeline a lot, I think I've taken a look at it myself, but I don't know if I've put too much time into it. But that's a great idea you guys are having around the idea of the watch to earn and bringing people on through casual play and being browser and mobile. I've had plenty of people tell me they're doing casual play and then they're only on the browser. And I always have a little bit of a qualm with that because I think if I'm going to boot up my PC, I'm going to probably play a game that is mainly for the PC unless I'm working. So I do like being on the mobile as well. And if you're trying to stream out to Thailand, let me know. I know quite a big deal in Thai. TikTok. It's me. And. Yeah, there you go. I can attest to that.
Marketing and Web3 Challenges
We should talk. Yeah, no, we're looking to get streamers engaged around the world. I mean, you know, look, you got to figure out how to leverage these social farmers to move to help you market in web two. I mean, this is what we've realized is that you can't just keep marketing the same web three people over and over again that are being divided between being pulled between all these different games. We've got to grow the pie. And the thing that watch to earn allows us to do is it allows us to get these folks that are willing to engage in order to participate in an airdrop to boost our metrics on web two platforms that then can get the message out. And that flywheel seems to be working. Yeah. Excuse me, sorry. Yeah, that does sound like a solid plan you've got there.
Investment Insights and Industry Challenges
And it's always something that seems surprising to people, but isn't that you can't just market to the people that are on Twitter because there's a finite number of people. More people might be joining the space, but it's never going to match the amount of people that exist globally. So that's great to hear and great to hear around the plans you have. Okay, guys, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to do a summary of the article, which is the main theme of today's topic, and then we're going to speak broadly about it as well. The article is brought to us by the lovely Eliza. Is she in the crowd? She is not. She is actually on holiday at the moment, out office, but I still want to make sure everyone knows she's the one that wrote it. As I say every week, I do not do her articles justice.
The Landscape of Startup Investments
By the little summary I'm about to read, you guys. So if you do want to learn more about the article we are talking about? Hopefully Nada, who is cosplaying as Eliza for me, will have put it in the comments below and then I can pin it to the top and you guys can go over to the games website and actually read the full article for yourself. But as a summary, xrite Games alumni have launched 25 startups, securing over 450 million across 35 funding rounds between 2020 and 2024. These companies mainly focus on PC and console gaming, have significant investment, particularly during the 2021 to 2022 period. Despite strong initial funding and follow up investments, most projects are still actually in development. To be fair, this doesn't seem too surprising to me because that's only, what, a year and a half two years ago?
Investor Confidence and Project Challenges
With a few release projects achieving notable success. The trend highlights investors confidence in the alumni's expertise, but underscores the challenges of turning investments into a successful project. So I think this is something that comes up a lot in our space and it comes a lot in gaming in general. So I'm not being specific for web three, but I know I have seen games which will always be flagging. We have got X, Y and Zenith who has worked on Game X, Y and Z as well. And you've got to sometimes think about the idea of what have those people done at these previous places as well. There's one of my favorite reviewers always talks about the old school days when Doom was coming out and Quake was coming out and everyone was accredited to working at these places, but not necessarily giving you details of how much they did work on X Project or X game.
Confidence in Team Credentials
So I'm going to throw this over to you first, Shinjin. When it comes to basing your confidence within a gaming product, do you put more confidence in ones that can flag all these names of people who have had previous experience in different places, or oh, we've got Chris. I'll let Chris go first because you raised your hand so politely, or are you more in touch with what the team has shown they could do or are doing at the moment? Yeah, I posted about this on LinkedIn yesterday. I mean, I think the pedigree of all these people is fine. I think, though you have to recognize that when you're in a company like riot and you know, they've been on a tree on a rip of success for, you know, a decade or whatever, and you know, money is just raining from the sky, that it's not the same pressures that a startup studio is going to be under.
Resource Management in Startup Environment
You know, they have a lot. They're used to having a lot of resources they're used to having, you know, a lot of associates and assistants and, you know, and people to, you know, people to, you know, get their laundry and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And so, you know, it's definitely a culture shift and a different way of working when you have scarce resources and scarce money. But I think that, you know, part of the problem is just that these VC's, you know, during the, you know, during the 2020, you know, really 2021 2022 period when, you know, money was, or sorry, no, during the like, you know, 20, yeah, 21, 22 period, you know, they just loaded these startups with too much cash. You know, like giving a startup, you know, the thing about giving a startup a limited amount of seed cash, it forces them to prove the idea and it forces them to do it with a core team before they go spend, before they go hire 100 people and you know, go crazy.
The Pressure of Deadlines
The tendency of these big company, whether it's like Blizzard or riot or whatever developers, is that they don't like deadlines. They want a lot of resources and a lot of money and they believe in making video games. They believe video games need to be expensive. I think that you have to have a mentality in a startup that's around how do I do more with less and how do I move as quickly as possible towards product market fit instead of taking a long time and cooking in the basement and then hoping when I come out people are going to like it. And so I think that ultimately I blame the VC's for giving these companies too much money that then allowed them to not have the discipline that they needed at a very crucial stage of the product, which is where you're trying to define product market fit, you know?
Critical Reflections on Game Development
Yeah, I think that's a great point. And I always talk about my favorite reviewer. If you guys haven't gone to watch a guy called Yahtzee Crochet, he used to do zero punctuation. He now does another thing called fully ramble holic. And one of his main points is along the sort of lines you're speaking here, Chris, about a game that came out, I want to say nine years ago, where they put it on Kickstarter, they asked for $100,000 and they got given, I think it was $6.2 million to make a game. They had only asked for 100,000 and it took them forever to release it. And his main point is if you give someone that much money, their first thought isn't going to be, oh, I better make that game I promised people I'd make, it's more likely going to be, wow, this cocaine smells wonderful. Because they just don't have the drive to have that proof of concept out there or the proof that this money that has come in is going to be worth it.
Evaluating Team Experience
So, yeah, I think that's a fantastic point you're making there, Chris. I saw Shinjin's hand went up first, so I thought over to you, Shinjin, next, what's your take on having this sort of people with these prior names behind them coming into a project? Does this give you more confidence or how is this making you feel? I think what's more important than the company name is the role that they played. And that's to say that also, even if you're not from the gaming space, I don't take it away that you couldn't make a great, fantastic game if you're passionate about it. And you look at a lot of indie developers and they may slave away as a sole developer for four or five years by themselves and make it work. I think more importantly though, is that when these guys are presenting to VC's or to the greater community about getting investment, what was their role there?
Defining Roles in Game Development
I mean, I was the regional director of a major gaming company for all of Asia, right? Or if I put my name down and I say I'm representing this company and this is the past, that's really different than a customer service guy or Q and a guy who's in the same company and saying, hey, I worked at this company as well. Well, also, you know, the team that you bring together, like if, you know, they were both working at Riot and or, you know, they came with three or four people from Riot and they've been a team that's been working together for three or four years. Absolutely. That gives me so much more confidence in them because at the end of the day, you know, it is a really difficult business.
The Reality of Game Development
And I got to push back on something that Chris said. I mean, like game development, I don't care where you're at, but it's so fucking hard. And when your scope is so much bigger, the crunch is just as bad or even worse. And so it's not like I'm sure they get special perks and they have a little bit more security here and there, but also the responsibility and the expectations and the deadlines are very much there. But in terms for a ride itself, again, it's been a couple of years or even three or four years where they've gotten funding and, you know, the amount of funding that they also get is also going to dictate the scope of their game, which probably will be like, you know, four to five years from now.
Prototyping and Funding Challenges
I recently was presented on an RTS game where they had to recreate the whole engine and what they had done was they actually did the prototyping, just like how Lol had used Warcraft to do prototyping to show off, you know, before, to riot, you know, what this game was going to be all about, you know, Lol, you know, that's what they've done as well. Now they're getting into the unreal engine and they're raising, you know, 10 million. The game's going to cost 40 million, and they're just at the proof of concept space and it's been a year and a half and so, like, I wouldn't rule anyone out, I think in terms of investment wise, yeah, it's a hard space.
The Importance of Team Composition
I mean, like, if they're seniors and they're coming in with a team that they used to work well together and they're not just like the guy who made the wing on a character, you know, I think it's a much smarter bet than just, you know, any old bet. Yeah, I think there's definitely some merit to it. And I like your first overall point of what it was, of what did they do at this company. Because like, if we say bring people on, that was the coffee boy, they're x, right? As well. It's technically true, but it doesn't give them scope to then become your lead game designer at your thing whilst twerking the idea that they are x ray.
The Value of Experience
I see your lovely hand up there as well, Luke. I'll pass it over to you. How is this making you feel? Yeah, just thinking if the intern of Blizzard would say, like, hey, I worked at Blizzard before as well. That happens a lot. Like, if you check actually what they did on the games, then they basically just handed people coffee. But I see it from two perspectives. So if I pitch my game or our game to a gamer, I tell them, for example, hey, we have this great game, the economy and how we set up the blockchain stuff and everything. And there I purely focus on the game.
Balancing Experience with New Talent
But if you pitch to MVC, they actually want to hear that. Like, I pitched them. Our game designer worked at Wooga, our huge CPO candy crush. CTO was it king. We have an actor with millions of fans in the show that's bigger than Game of Thrones or history advisors from Harvard. So I name drop the shit out of everything. And I just do that because that gives them reassurance. Okay. They have people that they know what they do. They've worked on bigger companies before. They most likely know how stuff works, because if you get someone that is fresh, they make a lot of. In Germany, we call that childhood diseases.
Maintaining Quality with Core Teams
Right? They make a lot of mistakes in the beginning that you wouldn't make if you're experienced in a space. What I think is you need to have a core team of people that know what they're doing and then have a team beneath them that can be fresh. People like juniors or people coming into the space because they are often eager to learn. They have lots of time because they don't have kids and family, so they can spend more time on developing, for example. But at the core position, I think it makes sense that you have people that understand how the stuff works, that have a track record or at least success rates in other games.
The Importance of Track Records
So I think it makes sense to name drop from time to time, but I don't think that is the quality, or should be the main quality of your game. We have someone that worked at whatever company, but your game still is shit. So I think the main focus, that's why I pitch, for example, to other gamers. They don't care if we have an hysteria advisor from Harvard, but if a VC looks at it, they're like, oh, they have someone from Harvard. That's really great. They must do something good over there. So I think it makes sense that you see what kind of track record people have and that they actually understand what they're doing, but only if they haven't been the intern who just brought people coffee.
Researching Team Contributions
So a deeper research, most of the time shows, hey, those guys actually did something or nothing. So, yeah, that's my take on it. Hey, one last point I would make is if you take $40 million in a seed, that implies a $200 million valuation. So part of the challenge that I think AAA has with the VC model is that just the valuations that you have to hit round to round, right? Because you only get around or two based on really, it's that seed round where you're gonna get a, you know, where the. Where the criteria is going to be, the background and the team, the body, blah. The next time you go back to get money, it's going to be about metrics, right?
Challenges in Securing Future Funding
And it becomes very hard to go from zero to, you know, evaluation that's going to, you know, be 300 million or 400 million. You know, you're going to like it's. Just a, it's a really high jump. Right. And I think that hasn't necessarily, the amount of money that these companies were allowed to take has not necessarily set them up for success in later rounds. I think that's a fantastic point to add onto the back of it as well. And I think that's kind of like, I guess, things that we miss out on or don't focus or look into too much. And I think it kind of slightly ties into the way Luke was explaining his answer as well, of the only way I'd.
Investor Perspectives
When I posed this question to all of you, I was thinking of it more as someone that has the ability to invest in these games and be part of these games.
The Nature of Web Three Involvement
Right. Because that's kind of like a lot of what web three can be is getting in on these games early the same way you couldn't actually do it within the traditional one. But then Luke's point around, that's not how you present it to a player. Like I can see the idea of presenting, we have people from X, Y and Z game and telling a player about this because it might give them the social recognition of, I've played this game from that company, I might like this game because it's from the same people. But outside of that, I think the weight that we might put on it as people that are trying to make some sort of profit or be within this game as more than just a player that I do see from that angle as well.
Understanding Different Gamer Categories
Oh, we've seen Luke's hand go up. Luke, you've got a point, sir. Yeah. There we also have to divide the gamers into two categories. Like real gamers or we have three gamers investors. Because if I pitch it to an investor gamer, like most of the guys in web three are not there for the gameplay, they're there for the games. Then I still take out half of the pitch of a CPO candy crush and stuff like this because they are looking for reasons why they should invest in the token. For example, if I pitch it to a normal gamer, then I just tell them, hey, look at this awesome gameplay. Look at the game economy, look how we set things up. That's different from other games. So even in web three, there are still two kind of gamers in my perspective. And there I would still, if you want to reach the web three gamer, go down that road where you say like, I mean, that's the first thing everyone tells you in web three.
Critical Elements for Web Three Gamers
First look at the team, then look at the rest. Right? Because if it's a docs team and they have experience, that's what every crypto dude tells you. Look at the team, look at the tokenomics, look at, you know, they always count like three or four things. That's why in web three that's still really important to have that apparently. But for normal gamers, they don't care. Like, I mean, when I played World of Warcraft in the beginning, like, what is it? 15 years ago, I didn't even know like who made that game. I just knew everyone was playing. It was cool. It's fun. I want to go in. I didn't even know who built candy crush. Like, I didn't care. I just played it because it's fun. But when I entered web three, I was like, oh, they have a token. I better check out the team. So in web three, it's still a little different, I think.
The Concept of 'Real Gamers'
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And I definitely mildly agree with your split. I'm very much against the term real gamers. I know you like it, Luke. I'm pretty certain Shinjin likes it as well because I've seen him use it previously as well. I just hate it as a fucking term because I've never been given a certificate to say I am a real gamer. And I can assure you that a lot of people wouldn't put the same amount of time into Rimworld, which is the one I've got one of my most hours in. So maybe I'm not classed as a real gamer because it's just a management sim, right? So there is that before I move. You're a real gamer. Don't worry, George. It's okay. You don't have to. You don't have to share that cross, buddy.
The Importance of Gaming Background
And we know I make you a real gamer just because of the name. Thank you, boys. Thank you. And before I go on, obviously, before I go on to my next point around the article, I want to just go onto one other thing that Luke said. There are two people in, two types of people in web three. Those that want to just play the game and those that want to are an investor gamer. I would tell you that is false, sir. There is no shot. Someone has got into web three without the slightest hope that they want to make money. No one is just in web three for the games. If they tell you this, I personally believe they're just lying to try and, I don't know, seem cool.
Gaming Experience and Transition
There's so few games that are in a complete enough state that I feel people will have come in here without some sort of underlying ulterior motive. That might just be me being cynical and jaded at the world, but that's what I believe. So before I go on to my next question, I didn't start within gaming. I've mainly been outside of gaming, just someone that played, someone that was a fan of games, someone that watched lots of reviews, lots of breakdowns of how games were made, stuff like that. Then three years ago, I entered the space I entered with the team, I moved into designing their game loop, that sort of stuff as well. So I've never been in the web two traditional industry of gaming. But my example is that I did eleven years in the army.
Challenges in Adaptation to Web Three
I then stopped being in the army, and then I had to work with civilian people that obviously hadn't been trained to the same level as I was around. Routine, timings, respect, stuff like that. And it was a very different shift for me in the way I had to work. A lot of you have touched on it slightly already, but do you feel that some of these people that have these big names that are coming across from riot might not be prepared and might not excel the way they could do in the same sort of teams they would have within traditional gaming as they do have in web three? And I'm kind of thinking about stuff that we've seen recently around games that then had to either leave web three or drop part of their web three out.
Navigating External Feedback
And how much exposure some of these people making the games have to people that can give them such open and easy criticism. And a lot of the time it's not constructive. They're just throwing poo. I'll go over to you, Luke, first, because you got your hand up. Yeah, I just wanted to mention, I spent 15 years as an officer in the army before. I've never entered a space where stuff is delayed that often, where people are not on time, you join meetings and they don't show up. So web three is definitely a little different when it comes to that.
Evolving Standards in Gaming
But besides that, gaming changed so much over time. I still have my Nintendo here, then my PlayStation, then went from console games to computer games. Changes are in every industry where you are. That's a common thing. I think that new technology, even in traditional gaming, comes out all the time. New developments that they have to adapt to. The only thing is I have the feeling, and just the feeling I don't have numbers to it, that web three changes a lot because it's really new or sounds stupid really new. I mean, we have it since a couple of years now, but we are on the forefront of something.
Differences in Web Three Work Culture
But the same thing happened in traditional gaming. There were also new technologies that came in and everything. But 100% agree on web three is different from outside world, at least when you have a military background. 100% that's completely different. But also it's more relaxed. We had interviews with people that didn't even show up with a cv or something like this. They just said, I worked there before, check it out. So it's a little different. But I actually like that because you judge people often in web three based on the work that they have done and not based on their resume or their qualifications.
Evaluating Skills Beyond Formal Credentials
Because you can have someone that is really good developer, but he has zero certifications for anything. But if you can check the work that he did on his GitHub or something like this, you see, okay, that's really good that you did. So I don't care if he has a degree or nothing. The only thing that I care is that he passes the KYC and the background checks in order to be good for the company. Yeah, I think that's a great thing that is here as well. And that's one of the things I do like about it. I see Shinjin's hands up, so I'll send it to Shinjin before I throw over another point around this as well.
Navigating Perceptions of Web Three
So Shinjin hands up, sir. Yeah, well, like, if you're from riot, generally speaking, like, you're not gonna come into web three, right? Because if web three, a majority of people think it's just dumb money, right? And they just want to fundraise, right? And, you know, they just want to look at it as a different avenue for me personally, like, I love the fact that in web three you can be whoever, and you can be a Twitter profiler, an NFT, and then just kind of do your thing, right? And then kind of, you know, get your props.
Experience and Respect in the Web Three Space
But on the other hand, for old fuckers like me, I rely on my background to, like, get me a leg up. And the web three is horrible because like, all my 50 years of experience just is fucking in the toilet. And I got to talk to, like, these peons who like, think that I'm like 23 until they meet me in real life and they realize, oh, he's an old fucker and he's big, and then they're respectful online. So, you know, yeah, there's a go give and take there. I thought people are aware of your age, but could be mistaken.
Reflection on Age and Experience
Just kidding. No, I wouldn't be surprised if people were not aware of Shinjin's age, I have people that think I'm in my early twenties and then they try and do the math of my prior experience and something isn't math in there. If I was actually in my early. Twenties, if you take off the beard, you definitely go as your early twenties. I get that a lot. And a lot of thai people tell me I should take off the beard as well, but I kind of am reluctant to because of how many years I spent having to take off the beard.
Embracing Change and Vulnerability in Web Three
Now I'm keeping it as a rebellious boy that I am. So I'm just going to tack one bit before I pass the question over to Chris. And I might revisit Shinjin as well with this same idea that whilst there are these differences that both two other guests have mentioned already, do you think it kind of opens people up to a vulnerability they're maybe not used to due to how transparent and open web three tries to be? I know as someone that has done streaming previously I was a Minecraft streamer, only 5000 followers or some stuff. And people were kind of that.
The Challenge of Online Feedback
Well, they would. There was trolls. It's the Internet. There was trolls. But it's never been as bad as some of the stuff I get now that I've been doing streaming and content creation for web three. And if a developer is not used to this kind of feedback so early on within their process, do you think web three can make that harder for some of these traditional people? Chris. I think that how you develop your community in web three is really important and who you develop it with.
Community Development in Web Three
And I think one of the mistakes that people make, and I don't know that we've made this one, but we made a lot, is to think that all community is the same. And I think that really what you're trying to do is identify people who are, you know, who want to be there to play the game. I think you're right that, like, it's naive to think that. That people are there just to play the game and they don't want to make money. And, you know, look, we're making web three games.
Motivation of Players in Web Three
So I think we're. We're committed to the idea of people being able to, you know, to make money off of their gameplay. But, you know, not everyone, but people who, you know, who are competitive and win things, people who collect rare things, you know, but. But I think that, you know, and I think the money aspect also, you know, makes people a lot more, let's call it passionate. You know, gamers have always been very opinionated. And I think that whenever you know, people's money is on the line, it kind of gets, you know, it gets even hotter.
Attracting Authentic Community Members
But, you know, you want to attract people who are, who actually want to authentically be part of your community and not, and aren't just there to extract. And I think that's one of the big things that people are starting to learn from the last cycle is all these play to airdrop campaigns came out and a lot of people did bots and engaged growth hacking metrics that brought in arguably the wrong users. And people came in, took the free stuff and then bolted.
The Complexity of Transitioning from Web Two to Web Three
I think with this company, I forget the name of the game, but these guys that pulled out of web two, out of web three to web two, I mean, I hear all their arguments and they're not, you know, they're not invalid. I mean, web three is a tough space, right? And right now is not exactly a boom time and not everyone is going to be able to, you know, I think one of the big assumptions that we all made coming into this space is like, oh, there's a bunch of players, and if I give them token, I'm going to be able to, you know, get a bunch of people to play my game without having to spend a real money.
Challenges and Realities of User Acquisition
And it doesn't really work out that way. You wind up having to hire a lot of kols and, you know, and agencies and create a lot of content and, you know, there's a lot of money and activity that goes into giving away free money. So, you know, there's that aspect of it that just like, it's hard and expensive, you know, to a certain degree, and the ROI isn't necessarily there, you know, in web three, if you look at it strictly from the perspective of the game, it may better to acquire users in web two.
Conclusion on Web Three Player Demographics
And so I think that my conclusion has been that there are players in web three, but you have to think of crypto, Twitter as like, mostly token investors and some of whom are players.
The Struggles of the Web Three Gaming Scene
And ultimately there just aren't enough players in web three to sustain any of these games. So we're going to have to bring people from the outside, right? And so that's that. You can't. If your thesis is, you know, web three is going to bring me all my users, then you're probably going to bust out. And I think that's what these guys found. And, you know, for a lot of games, that means choosing between steam, which won't let you do web three stuff, or you know, or continuing down some path of, like, you know, trying to do both, which is really hard, you know.
Technical Difficulties and Communication Issues
Oh, did you cut off or did you finish your sentence with you? No, I finished my sentence. Okay. Because it wasn't letting me unmute. Stunned silence. No, it wouldn't let me unmute at the same time that your sentence abruptly finished, I was like, perfect. I've been kicked from the stage. That's going to be great for the rest of the show. Okay, we see. Shinjin, your hand has come up. Hopefully you're going to talk about how people are a bit mean in web three, but they're just gutless wanks.
Reflections on Expectations and Reality
No, you know, like, I want to like being old. You know, I always, like, have a perspective of, like, looking at the beginning of things. And the reason why, you know, we ended up in this situation was originally with Axie infinity. There were these massive player numbers from guilds and from emerging markets, and we all thought that there's a huge player base here that's available if we have a model that's going to provide incentive for them. When you're looking at Axie Infinity only. And then the way that the industry has evolved over the last couple of years is that the greater market that wasn't there with Axie Infinity have been these investor, gamer, NFT holder types of which have ended up dominating the conversation because guilds themselves had to pivot because the play to earn model was no longer valid.
The Evolution of Gaming and Community Dynamics
And they've pivoted to, like, ecosystem funds or their own chain and so on and so forth. And then we're left in this situation exactly what Chris has said, where giving away something free or whatever like this, or having this community is actually a massive cost. And I think one cost that we don't talk about enough is that, you know, if this is a massive, like, investment relations kind of community, you know, kind of project, who do people really want to hear from? They don't really necessarily want to hear from the community manager. They want to hear from the founder or someone quite senior. And this is extremely tasking for a lot of founders. And I think for the older founders, like myself, I'm pretty much the last one who's still regular on a lot of spaces in my age group, like, you know, whatever, late forties plus, because it is brutal.
Navigating the Challenges of Communication and Presence
It is brutal hanging out with you guys. It is brutal like, you know, going to these Twitter spaces. It's brutal being on, you know, Twitter where, you know, I've had to join three times now because the connection sucked. And I finally got to my destination and it's the mental health aspect of it too is brutal. Let's put it this way. Like, I'm talking to my senior devs and my producer and I'm talking to my core investors and I'm setting up my marketing and I'm like dealing with the tokenomics and the listing in the future and with our chain and I didn't mention it. Thank you, Xi blockchain. I love you guys. We're on Xi blockchain on arbitrum now. There's all this stuff and then I have to represent our company in order to be legitimate in this space as a founder, you know, in my generation, and I'm really aging myself here.
Understanding Social Media's Role in Web Three
Okay, social media is like optional, okay? Like, I don't interact with my friends on like Instagram. Yes, sometimes I'll find my old, like ex girlfriends on Facebook and stuff like that if it really comes down to it. But, you know, it's quite optional. But, you know, crypto, Twitter is web three. Twitter is not optional. If you're in this space and, you know, finding things to talk about and, you know, interact, it is a really unique skill set. You know, I've tried to make a meme and I have failed. I have failed for like three years. I can't make one fucking meme. That's actually funny that I would laugh at. I look at it, I'm like, this is such a pathetic meme.
The Trials of Being an Older Founder in a Fast-Paced Environment
I can't even pick the fucking graphics to of a meme that exists to reply to somebody else. And I ended up like having to put the same emoji over and over again because I don't know what the fuck to do. I don't get it. Right. So, you know, for the older founders or the founders who are spending a majority of their time in dev, it's extremely difficult to be in this space. And the trade off used to be you're in this space and there's these massive guilds who will bring in whatever 1020 thousand players like on the day, and they will play and the guilds themselves will invest and hold your assets. And that's no longer true because the model wasn't sustainable.
Shifts in Web Three Fundamentals and Game Development
And we're in this kind of transitional period. And I think a lot of fundamentals of what we all believed, what made web three unique and what gave us value, namely community and, you know, an instant player base and a model that is going to work just because, you know, there's just so much liquidity that's gone out the window and we're left with our games really going to ship right now? Or are games backed by still these massive funds? Or are they coming from riot or something like this? So as things have changed, they've also come back to being the same as they were before. And it's just hard.
Concluding Thoughts on the Current State of Gaming
And I'm not saying that to whine or anything like that. I just like to say that, it's just difficult. And the entire blockchain space where, you know, we're looking to abstract the, you know, the blockchain aspect of it, that only brings us to parity with web two. And if that's parity with web two, then God damn this game got to still better than what's in web two. And building an open and doing this in like less than three years, which is just a fucking hard ask. Yeah, I think that's a very good point you make throughout your whole monologue.
Final Words and Closing Remarks
The only thing I would pick you up is the suggesting you're in your early forties. I believe this may have been a fabrication, but everything else, I think you're making some fantastic points about that as well. We are actually running out of time we have here today. But what I like to do at the end of it is allow you guys just a little bit, just to tell people what they need to be looking out for, for your project as well. So anyone that is out there can find out more about it. I know everyone always likes to discover more stuff.
Showcase of Upcoming Projects
I know already. I'm now ready to discover more about Chris's project. I'm the host of the thing that brought him on, so it's working already. So I'm going to start with you, Luke. Luke, a little bit about what medieval has coming up. I normally say a quick 1 minute, but I realize a quick 1 minute is the same as a long 1 minute. So a little bit about medieval, please. Yeah. We recently cooked the commanders with the next release. Use them in game as well to generate real cool heroes with even better stats. Then we are currently cooking also on the mobile version, so you can expect us to be on mobile by the end of the year.
Engagement and Playability in Upcoming Releases
Also integrating PvP and I would just recommend everyone checking it out. Takes like three minutes and you're in the game. And in order to keep my minute, I just want to thank you for being here today and not on your TikTok live streams for once here live with you. Happy about that. And yeah, thanks for having us. Just to clear up, Luke was with me on the live stream. I was doing prior to this space where me and Tan have now put in roughly, I think, 15 to 20 hours in ranch simulator.
Community Engagement in Affordable Gaming
So guys out there saying you need to spend lots of money in games to make games good, go check out what ranch simulator looks like. And I bought that for $3, by the way. So if any of you are worried, go see that. That's got a lot of playtime as well. And it was ridiculously cheap and looks like garbage. Next, let's throw it over to Shinjin. A little bit about my angry yakuza girlfriend. Sir. Yes, I'll keep it short. We're on in our beta, and we are rolling into our open beta and full tge in a couple of months.
Innovations and Upcoming Features
We've been in optimization hell for the last six months, which, you know, it's a pure physics game, and so we're totally original. There's nothing in web two or web three like it because we are exceeding the physics capabilities of our multiplayer sync system. And so other than wanting to shoot myself, you know, I'm very happy that, you know, we're at this point with Xi and arbitrum. They've been a fantastic support. We love them to death. And in terms of upcoming things, yeah, we're in our play to air drop period.
Navigating Challenges with New Releases
Unfortunately, because we're not stable enough, it hasn't gone as well as we'd like, but hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll get it up to full launch stability and I will come out with my guns and welcome everybody. Sounds fantastic and sounds like something to be looking forward to and checking out when it's fully optimized. And that whole club's crashing around me, throwing champagne bottles at fools and such. So I'm looking forward to that as well.
Community Connections and Future Announcements
Okay, Chris, finding yourself a little bit about what people need to be looking out for? Yeah, I'm. I feel your pain, Sinjin. I've been chasing around a nasty network bug for the last month, so it sucks when. And we're up against our plate airdrop tournament as well. Fortunately, we're gonna ship a big update today, actually, that introduces new matchmaking and introduces a lot of bug fixes and should speed up the game and also introduces scoring. So now you get scores every time you play around.
Enhancements in Gameplay Experience
And it introduces NFT costume bonuses. So you get a bonus every time you play with rare avatar items. NFT avatar items. So we're shipping that today and then. We'Re gearing up for our play to airdrop tournament that I think we're going to announce today is on the 12 September, so looking forward to getting that going. Sounds interesting and good as well.
Encouragement to Explore New Projects
So everybody out there that is listening and anyone that lives listens later in the future, make sure you go and check out all three of the people we've had up here. Thank you everyone that come up with us today. And thank you everyone that is listening. If you didn't catch it all, maybe you joined late, maybe you've left already. If you've left already, you won't be hearing this just yet.
Information and Resources for Future Engagement
But you could if you went to check this out as a podcast. It is on the foremost reputable podcast places where you can find out and listen to everything that we have been doing on this press play and all of the other 62 that we have done up until this point as well. Obviously Gamescon is happening at the moment, so all of you should be out there with your eyes on Twitter, YouTube, all those places and see what's coming out in Gamescon. Just gaming world in general.
Excitement for Future Announcements
I'm super excited about a lot of the things I've been seeing announced. I think the one I've been most excited for so far was a new age of mythologies, which looks like it could slap because I was a big fan of that when I was a youth, which I am no longer reminder that if you are looking for anything around web three gaming in general, head over to games GG. We've got users guides, reviews and all that sort of stuff.
Field of Opportunities in Web Three
We also have our nfts, our vault, our g three token. We've got lots of things. Go check out what we're doing as well. We're cool. Don't have my co host so I don't need to talk anything about that. So that means all of you have a nice time. Play games you enjoy playing. Make sure you're not just grinding games for the sake of grinding it.
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
And I will see you, I believe, next week for the last time before I head out to Korea, blockchain week followed by token. Next month is going to be a busy month for all of us and I believe a lot of us will be traveling. So I hope you have fun while you're at home now playing all the games. Till next time everyone.
