The Game to Save Life on Earth — Part V: Why Web3?
There are lots of ways to help save life on Earth. Building a Web3 game in the metaverse probably isn’t the first idea that springs to mind for most people. Yet that is exactly what we are doing. Read on to explore why, and how you can join this exciting journey. So far in this series, we’ve already covered:
- How we got started with QuestaGame;
- How we faced the challenge of gamifying the unpredictability of nature mapping;
- How we have built a system that values the sharing of knowledge of nature; and
- How games have immense power for positive impact.
Now let’s explore how Web3 fits into the Guardians of Earth game; how it supercharges our mission. Firstly though, what even is Web3?
To put it very simply, you can break the evolution of the internet into three distinct phases so far. The first phase of the Web was largely about allowing users to ‘Read’ content published by the few (e.g. think Britannica Online). The second phase opened up opportunities for more users to ‘Write’ or ‘create’ content (e.g. think Wikipedia). One of the most exciting aspects of the third phase of the Web, or Web3, is that it begins to allow users to truly ‘Own’ their digital content — be they financial assets, gaming assets, memes or other cultural contributions.
This ownership is enabled through the underlying technology being transparent, immutable, decentralised ledgers, i.e. ‘blockchains’. There are many other Web3 benefits including around data privacy, and security, as well as opportunities for permissionless innovation and collaboration at scale. Of course there are many challenges as well — not least in the space of user experience — which we can return to another day, but for now let’s focus on this idea of how Web3 enables greater digital ownership, and why this makes us excited.
Guardians of Earth is on a mission to save life on Earth by mapping and accounting for every species on Earth. It’s clear that we are never going to do this alone. We will only ever succeed if we can excite, engage, and ultimately empower immense untapped human potential. Potential to make meaningful contributions supporting biodiversity mapping from all corners of the planet.
If our keys to success are the ability to Excite, to Engage and to Empower… then how can web3 help?
To be honest, we don’t need to leverage the power of Web3 to excite, nor to engage our audience. Humans have been using emotive stories and fun games to captivate crowds and channel productive energies for thousands of years. We’ve already got a powerful mission/story, ‘saving life on Earth’, and around that we’re designing a game with a focus on fun above all else. As exciting as they are, Web3 opportunities won’t distract us from getting these fundamentals right.
Where Web3 really comes to the fore is in providing new ways to empower an already excited, and engaged community. Guardians of Earth was never going to be ‘just’ a game. We are serious about our mission to save life on Earth. There is no point captivating players with a fun game, if we don’t offer them a deeper journey of empowerment where they can clearly see a role they can play within our mission — saving life on Earth. We don’t need humanity to simply support this mission. We need humanity to OWN this mission.
That’s really the key. Web 3 helps us use ownership as a path to empowerment — as a form of responsibility and also as an enabler of reward.
Right now so many people are disempowered by a sense of not being able to help in the face of global existential risks like climate change or the biodiversity crisis. If we, humanity, have any chance of coming together to solve these challenges, we need to be empowered. We need to know that there are many ways that we can contribute; and that our contributions, in their myriad forms, are valued by others. We each need to own the idea that we can be a part of the solution. We need to own our contributions. We need to own our future.
There are lots of ways to help save life on Earth. We are all Guardians, with our unique experiences and skills. We can each bring these to the mission. You don’t actually have to be an ecologist to start contributing to meaningful biodiversity mapping. Indeed, you don’t have to be an experienced nature fanatic. Whoever you are, wherever you are, your adventure starts with one step, and a willingness to slow down and observe the magic that is the life all around you.
In our next blog, let’s take a look at Guardian of Earth’s game design and core experience.
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We are Guardians of Earth — building the first ever Play-Earn-Protect game where your real world knowledge and in-game actions help protect life on Earth.
- Visit our website to learn more — https://www.guardiansofearth.io/
- Head over to our Whitepaper and read a summary of what we are up to.
- Follow us on Instagram (@guardiansofearth) or Twitter (@GuardiansofE) and join the conversations
- Join us on our Discord server for exclusive updates — https://discord.gg/3NEDbsgdSK
