Blockchain Gaming Interview: pixEOS CEO
As cartoonist and rare digital art collector, Joe Chiappetta has been writing about creative blockchain solutions since 2015. He’s also a team member of the art/gaming company, pixEOS, and presents a fresh interview with its CEO, Fred Nogueira.
pixEOS: Meet the Man Colliding Games with Art
Art and games usually stay in their separate, yet related corners — that is until pixEOS came along and continues to challenge the boundaries of art, gaming, and how these two worlds can collide beautifully. In an enlightening talk with one of pixEOS’ founders, Fred Nogueira, we explore these areas and more!
Hello Fred! Please tell us a little about your background.
I´m a gamer, musician, traveler, and collector of Pop Art, Pop Surrealism, and Surrealism pieces. A few years ago in fell in love with the creative potential that blockchain and cryptocurrencies bring to the table. Shortly thereafter, I started working in blockchain-related projects and met some great people. I also still own and run my own event management company, and I’m a co-founder and CEO of pixEOS. In any company, the team needs to focus on the customers and community while offering unique products that may start in a niche and then go mainstream because the innovation is so compelling. This is what we’re doing with pixEOS. It is gratifying to grow this business since it merges three of my passions: blockchain, art, and games.
What are your origins in the blockchain space?
I started as an blockchain enthusiast and investor a couple of years ago: worked for some blockchain projects as business developer and community manager. Eventually, I decided to break into the cryptocurrency and blockchain space as an entrepreneur when we saw a need that had yet to be fulfilled. In addition I saw an enormous opportunity to bring value back to artists through rare digital art… also known as digital goods or cryptogoods. It was with these things in mind that started pixEOS.
Can you give us an overview of pixEOS?
The platform is really an expansive art/gaming ecosystem. In fact, pixEOS is much more than just a collaborative canvas (known as pixEOS Paint). That game/graffiti wall/community art project is just our first of many art and gaming tools.
In fact now we have 7 multiplayer blockchain games out in our Game Center. We’ve created a smart economy on the EOS blockchain, and when we integrate the standard for digital goods encompassing gaming assets, as well as rare digital art, we’re going to take the project to the next level.
Imagine being able to play a game, earn cryptocurrency with it, and use that crypto to buy art — all in the same integrated environment. That’s what we are building. The games are already there. The art market is coming this year too! We call that the Grand pixEOS Art Gallery.
We also have plans to open up a freelance market where developers, collectors, anyone really, can commission artists to produce artwork for hire. Artists can also be commissioned to release one-of-a-kind artworks substantiated by a blockchain based token. These provably rare digital goods can then be transferred between creator and buyer in a seamless environment — with reliable provenance baked into the system. Our Know-Your-Artist system will entwine with the digital goods standard creating a counterfeit-resistant environment for collectors to acquire their favorite pieces of art or gaming items from verified creators.
Once people understand all these intermingled elements, what is their response?
There is a clear anticipation about what we are building. We’ve seen enthusiastic responses to many of our existing games, including pixEOS Paint FE and Blockatrix 3000. In addition we’ve been organically building momentum from day one, constantly solidifying our user base. Our online community, which includes gamers and those in the art industry, is about 3,000 strong. Plus there are currently over 35,000 different people who have collected our PIXEOS token in their portfolios.
Many artists and collectors are also increasing their engagement with us, since our art market will be live soon. We are on track to have one of the first serious full-scale rare digital art galleries on the EOS blockchain. Since EOS has no transaction fees and it’s a very fast chain, we are expecting a nice surge in activity once our gallery is live.
What is your approach to collaboration with other EOS projects and even other blockchain communities?
We all exist in the same universe. Partnerships have really allowed pixEOS to thrive. The EOS ecosystem has some of the best and brightest teams working together. Our website lists our many partners and that just keeps growing. These partners have similar goals, and it’s a very non-adversarial environment, because we’re building our projects around the idea of a whole new world.
The same goes with other blockchains. We’ve recently partnered with EverdreamSoft, known for their pioneering work on Counterparty and a multi-chain wallet that hosts cryptogoods on Ethereum as well as Counterparty. Instead of fighting over intellectual property, or which blockchain is better, we’re moving forward with a collaborative sense of exploration. This really helps to diminish the toxicity that occurs when competitive attitudes overtake the desire to make breakthroughs with technology. We really are stronger together.
A great example of this within EOS is our pixEOS Avatar Maker. We’ve seen bloks.io, EOS Payout, and Dice integrate it into their platforms. This means the blockchain-backed graphical assets behind your avatar can be read by these platforms in a manner that allows each site to display the avatar associated with the EOS account you’re logged in with. We expect to see much more of this type of collaboration with avatars and other digital goods in the future.
What else can we expect from pixEOS?
New games that make art items even more a part of the game than has been done before. Plus, our art market/gallery will become an influential destination for rare digital art to be created, traded, bought, and sold. There will be more use cases for the PIXEOS token too. But that’s just the beginning. We are working on more ways to gamify the art creating and collecting process so that the art market becomes more fun and appeals to a wider audience.
What’s the best way for art collectors and creative people to get more involved?
pixEOS has formed a vibrant art collective comprised of art collectors as well as Featured Artists who create media, painting, digital art, sculptures, and other materials for our community. We’re always interested in growing this family and we invite folks to introduce themselves to us through our Telegram. For all newcomers who want to grow with pixEOS while making or collecting amazing art and playing games, there are plenty of ways to connect, like Twitter and more. So follow us on social media, post what you like about pixEOS, tag us, and start connecting with our global collective.
The enthusiasm of our community is really part of the bright shining light that is pixEOS. We want to provide tools, footholds, and opportunities for artists, gamers, and collectors to advance in this industry. Along the way, we expect that many will also have an absolute blast where games and art collide.
