CAN GUILDS HELP WEB3 GAMING TO MOVE TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE SPACE?
On Wednesday, June 29th we held a panel discussion on the role of Guilds help drive sustainability in web3 gaming. The panel consisted of one game creator: Oren Landberg, head of Marketing at Monkey League, and two Guilds: Alfonso “Cholo” Maputol, CEO & Co-founder of Play it Forward, Mariano Rubinstein, Co-Founder of Sura Gaming, and moderated by the BGA’s Community Manager, Flavien Defraire.
This is a summary of the information shared during the live stream. To view the recorded discussion please go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HPxkv9k3oQ
The panel’s moderator, Flavien Defraire, shared his observation that sustainability is “massively” important for blockchain games and asked the panelists to share their insights on the following questions:
Why do web3 gaming studio need to consider partnerships with Gaming Guilds and Guild Hubs as part of their launch strategy?
Oren Langberg explains how partnerships are the cornerstone of web3, and Guilds are an integral part of web3 gaming. Web2 studios use advertising to bring players to their game. In Web3, Guilds provide that massive injection of gamers into the game economy and player ecosystems. With Web3 being more decentralized, transparent, and community focused, Guilds can play a big role in bringing together the gaming communities.
Do Guilds provide the best partnership for production games in terms of player retention?
While Cholo Maputol doesn’t think Guilds are “the best” partnership, they are a key initial partnership for games in their early stages of development and growth. Guilds can provide value through their treasuries that can invest in game tokens and NFTS. And with their larger communities, Guilds can act as large focus groups and help games model player behaviour through development. Games and Guilds can develop symbiotic relationships over time.
Gaming guilds have existed for a long time as communities playing games. Mariano Rubinstein adds that although Web3 has turned these communities into financiers for games, the model is evolving. As we move from “Play-to-earn” into “Play-and-earn” Guilds act more as organizations that can connect games and players. Guilds provide their members with games, and they provide games with feedback/insight on how their games perform with the community. Guilds play a big role with player retention through community and a sense of belonging.
Are there other ways for Guilds to partner with games and bring long-term value to a game’s economy besides direct investment in the game economy?
In the current scholarship models, Cholo Maputol shares that players have a higher inclination to cash-out their earnings because that is likely their income and Guilds may or may not have the incentive to re-invest. Moving forward, guilds could play a larger role in managing the overall game economy by providing more incentives for players to re-invest in the game, and being more active in re-investing guild earnings to grow the game economy
Oren Langberg believes the current down cycle in the market is helping speed-up this process of creating longer-term, deeper collaborations. Purchasing governance tokens are only one aspect of the game economy. Mariano Rubinstein agrees that guilds need to participate in alpha testing, beta testing, onboarding players and providing metrics on game performance. This type of partnership between game and guild form the basics for the sustainability of gaming economies.
Do you feel blockchain games will need to capitalize more on guilds to learn more about player retention?
Guilds are collecting and analyzing data and games have the ability to run A/B/C/D testing by partnering with different guilds and getting their analytics. The analytics are not there yet, but the industry is going to catch up to web2. Guilds are looking to use this type of data to help them make better decisions for their players and decide where they direct their player’s attention. Guilds will learn how to optimize their player’s time and point them to where they get the most benefit and games will need to understand this data to capture and retain players.
Question for Oren Langberg: Does Monkey League plan to involve its guild partnerships in the early stages?
Monkey League looks at Guilds as a strategic partnership, not just for announcements. All guild partners are encouraged to participate in each of the stages through play testing and get their feedback. We have a series of play tests running right now with our guild partners which is a great way to show progress of development but also to get feedback from a diverse group of skilled gamers.
How can Guilds level-up the sense of competitiveness for blockchain games?
Guilds can create the necessary environment to increase competitiveness in blockchain / web3 gaming. Mariano Rubinstein shares that he is seeing a fusion between blockchain gaming and traditional e-sports. For example, Axie Infinity introduced Sayori to create an esports division they are growing. But it will be the Guilds that will hire most professional full-time players and provide training and coaching to best develop them as professional gamers. There is already a huge base of scholars where guilds are trying to assess skills for people that have the potential to become a professional player. Guilds can provide schooling and training to develop new players and establish tournaments as part of their training.
Which aspects of Guilds can benefits games?
Guilds can provide not just access gaming communities but also access to gamers from partner games and insight into research and analysis data. Cholo Maputol outlines that Play it Forward is specifically looking to share data and insights with other guilds so we can help each other and be able to give games a lot more information and access. There are benefits to partnerships rather than competing.
Question from audience for Oren Langberg: Will Monkey League have a special guild next gen monkey nft? Like their own guild jerseys for example?
Some partners have limited edition branded nfts. Could be a football club, professional player, or a specific partner. It is definitely something that we can do. Community members should not be concerned about the total number of guilds and limited edition drops diluting their position. These drops are small, and they add a lot more value. Guilds will take part in breeding. We have been able to learn from the other games, so we have a more controlled approach to breeding to ensure the health of the game economy. We are here to build this community to millions and millions of players.
Guilds can be seen as ecosystems of players trying to maximize their returns by playing the game instead of focusing on the fun aspects of the game. How do you respond to this criticism from the outside world?
Mariano Rubinstein states that It’s foolish to deny that everybody is in here to make money but there are many ways to make money without squeezing the players. Thinking long term Guilds can help bring new opportunities for everyone by creating and growing the community and giving them a sense of belonging through tools, education, training, special access to parts of different games and creating competitiveness. This bear market is the right time to grow, to build, and to invest.
Cholo Maputol agrees and adds that play-to-earn is not unique to web3. Diablo2 had players repeating the game and selling loot in the black market. Web3 just enables a way to scale this model in a more meaningful way. Until now it has been used to serve players in the developing world. That model is here to say. But there will be more models developed and the guilds will evolve to encourage different types of earning. Scholarship models will stay, but there will be esports guilds, guilds focused on funding and nurturing creators, guilds that provide gamers-as-a-service to games. All this helps to provide players with a better and more varied experiences via the guilds
With the current market situation, are we in the “build market”?
Oren Langberg reassures that Monkey League is always building, bull or bear. We have a timeline, and these cycles are normal. From a practical standpoint, every emerging industry has transition periods and down cycles. Some good projects suffer due to lack of funding but it also helps to wash things out. Its survival of the fittest. We are beyond the small project with basic web3 making it. Projects now need to be able to survive in web2, with top quality entertainment value and emphasis on the playing aspect. The question to players is: “If you didn’t make money, would you still play?” And the answer should be yes. We are in it to build games that last a lifetime. Not just a few years.
About the Panelists:
Monkey League is a quick, turn-based, Play-to-Earn, arcade, soccer game offering a high-production-value gaming experience.
Sura Gaming is one of the largest Latam gaming guilds with +50,000 community members, scholars and pro-players.
Play it Forward is a large scale guild focused to bring more players and guilds into the metaverse and play-to-earn gaming.
