Greetings GameFi.org Fellas!

On 10 MAY 2022, we’re so glad to organize an AMA panel with senior leaders who gained a profound expertise in blockchain and gaming. The representatives provided information about perspectives, some special insight into the GameFi in the current state and future.

The AMA session was held in GameFi.org Youtube Channel with the participation :

- Mr Thi - FOUNDER of ICETEA LABS

- Mr Dan Wang - CIO of YGG SEA

- Mr Hai - FOUNDER, CEO of EPIC WAR game

The AMA included 3 segments:

• Segment 1: Guest and Project Intro
• Segment 2: Telegram Questions
• Segment 3: Live Community Questions

Winners shared a pool prize of $600.

Below is section 1: Guests and Project introduction

Host: Hello hello everyone, I’m EMI from GameFi.org the host of today's AMA. It is such an honor for me to be in the panel today. First, to let our audiences who are watching the live show get to know more about you. Can you introduce yourself as well as your experience in the field of blockchain as a whole and gaming in particular?

DAN: Hi everyone, I'm DAN, my background is finance, investment banking and consulting and then I joined the gaming industry 11 years ago. I helped start games like the publisher of League of Legends, Valorent teams and in the series Arcane and led operations as a COO of Riot China. When I was in corporate blockchain and gaming, I did a lot of advisory investments into blockchain projects. Last year, we started our first GameFi and Web3 infrastructure fund called INFINITY VENTURES - which partnered with Gabby and YGG team to create the first sub DAO which was called YGG Southeast Asia. So I transferred to my full-time job here as Chief Investment/Gaming Officer.

THI: My name is THI, I have been working in the software industry nearly 10 years and started to work in the blockchain field for more than 4 years. I’ve established Icetea Labs more than 3 years with the mission to bring awareness and lower barriers for regular users to blockchain tech. We found that GameFi is an accessible use case of blockchain so we began to incubate a few games even before the explosion of Axie Infinity. We're still upgrading our children's games like GameFi, Red Kite,....the ones becoming one of the leading launchpads in the cryptosphere.

HAI: Hi guys, I'm HAI, the first creator of EPIC WAR, the 1st decentralized FPS open game platform. My background is in AI computer science and I am also a certified Big4 advisor, i used to work in Deloitte Boston and then back to Ernst and Young Singapore Vietnam. I have more than 10 years of experience creating innovative solutions for business and investors and also one of the early adapters with bitcoins in 2010. With exp in finance/investment and technology, i'm able to solve complex issues to turn EPIC WAR be the next gen of the game 752 applying blockchain.

Host: The terminology "GameFi '' has been a buzzword since 2020. Blockchain gaming has proven to be one of the hottest sectors and attracts a lot of big names and prestigious investors in crypto from 2021 till now. Everyone talks about GameFi, but not everyone fully understands it.

Can you guys share your understanding about GameFi? What do you think about the GameFi trend at this moment and in the next year?

DAN: Interesting, lots of people call it GameFi, Web3 gaming, P2E game. I personally just call it gaming - a new integration of gaming. Gaming industry has changed so many times with P2P, F2P, etc. but it's just better features that empower players now to have digital assets right for them to actually own and earn some value for their time in the game.

There are three different waves of gaming:

• Multi-IP: Multi-game mode platforms which are like social players so that players can transition from one type of gaming mode/IP/genre to another without leaving the ecosystem. their friends, their communities. For example, Summonarena, Walking dead, AAA titles
• UGC - Embracing user-generated content which puts more power back in the hands of players. As you see in Web2 gaming like Roblox, Mincraft. etc cuz they are ownership of their in-game assets so it allows them to become an in-game creator and to monetize.
• AAA - Complex SLG type games: which is much more complex. This type of open ecosystem, being like an entire universe is available, you can do anything you want in this universe such as farm, craft, P2P, PvP.

Host: As we all know DeFi 1.0, the hard fork DeFi 2.0 was born to tackle the problems that the old version unsolved, GameFi 2.0 í kinda similar.

We have Hai is currently the CEO of the Epic War - 1st FPS blockchain game, a shooting game using blockchain tech, can you share more about your understanding of GameFi 2.0 ? FPS games in traditional games have a large number of gamers, so what is the potential of it when building on the blockchain and whether GameFi 2.0 support for the game ?

HAI: Up to now, there are tons of blockchain games but most of them are facing difficulties such as poor gameplay, unsustainable economy and lacking governance so that’s what makes them fall down in the road. With the emergence of GameFi 2.0 or Web3 gaming, it is expected to solve all these obstacles.
For us, FPS games - which is a.k.a the most popular game genre in the world with a large number of players, will have a decentralized aspect, e.g: everything no longer is designed by game producers or digital assets are no longer limited in the game. So the first generation of GameFi is integrating blockchain to game, but the second wave is upgrading all the above-mentioned factors and letting players become not only a player but also a builder/creator who contributed their ideas and efforts to make the game better.

Host: With the explosion of hundreds of game projects, what do you think today's game projects need to be successful in the current market situation ?

THI: You mentioned hundreds of Games out there but i think just a few can be successful. The first thing would be fun and healthy , natural like in the traditional game. The second they need to be a part of a larger platform, you need a platform/service to convert traditional players to the blockchain game. And a robust platform will facilitate much more for the in-game assets and token can be usable across the platform, not just only in game but in the whole ecosystem.

DAN: It was good i learnt a lot from what you said Thi, I think what I will add on, to make a game successful ? The studio needs to be very adaptable, flexible because games now mirror the economy much more closely than previous games like warcraft…Now it's very real because the barriers to extracting the value are much lower, time to adapt is much shorter than beforehand. So all in all, beyond being fun to play, beyond plugging into a platform, beyond making a delight for the users, empowering them with assets and giving them creative opportunities. Moreover, we can be like traditional studios who take 4-5 years building and launching a game. That will die in this current state of the market, right ? We need only every 3-6 months, new features/ new game modes need to be coming out and also based on feedback quickly from your audience who invested their money and time spent in the game. Obviously, community is super important, if a community is unhappy, they can instantly withdraw their assets and go to another game that actually listens to them.

Host: We've talked about the criteria that game producers should focus on for their games, so Icetea Labs - a leading incubating and advising platform for blockchain projects, what are you doing to support and contribute to the blockchain game industry ?

THI: We have been working for many years to help the gaming industry in general. Last year, we had some achievement in helping the games before they launched. For example, we supported investors for their rounds and IDO launching. It's critical for games to attract the players. However, the main concern now is how to make a game sustainable. There are two ways, first one we need it to be an open economy. For example, a user or the third party can contribute the content. It's much more sustainable compared to a closed economy. Secondly, the cycle life of a game might end after one or two years but as a platform it has to be maintained. So we need to make a platform that accepts some games to die but the asset in the game is still there and will be inherited by other games in the ecosystem. That’s why we are trying to build gamefi to become a game platform, hub, like a stream for blockchain games.    

We are also working with many traditional game publishers to try to make their traditional gamers into blockchain gamers. So we are building a marketplace workforce because we believe that it's not reasonable to have both fun and money at the same time so we need to work for money and pay for fun.

Therefore, we will build a kind of a workforce for games and metaverse in order to make gamers from traditional games into blockchain games. We're also building a platform to organize the tournaments for pro level and community level so all the games can organize tournaments and attract fans. Eventually, we're trying to follow the traditional games path, but in a new way for blockchain games.

Host: DAN a.k.a one of the leading game guilds in the cryptosphere, what are the opportunities/perks that YGG brings to players as well as game makers?

DAN: In general, our main focus is to empower players and give many opportunities to players who want to play and earn at the same time. Our mission statement is to become the largest, most sustainable and lucrative guild in southeast asia. We want to help players figure out what type of games fit them the best. Therefore, we hire local experts in each region. In Southeast Asia, we have a country manager for each country along with local managers, play buddies, and game experts to help new scholars who are new to web3 or new to gaming. We provide onboarding assistance to overcome that entry barrier. I'm sure all of you still remember the first time you created a wallet, the first time you bought nft, the first time you bridged from one chain to the other chain. It must be very stressful with the thought that you might screw something up and lose a bunch of money. A part of our responsibility is to help people go through this process so that they can understand and feel more comfortable with the  entire ecosystem of both web 3 and specifically

web 3 gaming. Now the perks, benefits and opportunities we will figure out with players directly. So what we'll do is we'll based on player feedback to figure out what type of games they like, what game modes or genres that are missing. After that,we will search for those games and we will talk to the studio team to see if the project is sustainable. If the team is quick and good at listening to the community feedback, there is an incentive model in the game so that players can spend time, effort and energy to receive some rewards. After we talk to the studios, we will negotiate to get a good nft package for our scholars. So once we secure these nft packages we will approach our scholars and tailor the games for each scholar. For example, some of our scholars are nurses so the only time they can play is on a bus back home. Therefore, they just want very short game plays around five ten minutes each and no more than one hour a day to play. So we'll find a perfect game for them and  help train them on how to play that type of game. For students, they would like to spend six or seven hours per day playing games. They're very hardcore and competitive so we will help pair them to the right game for the student.

There's everything in between, the perks that we offer is that we will buy NFTs for the scholar and then we will let the scholar using those nfts, the  earnings that they generate inside the game will be splitted to scholar  and our scholars which can make up to 70 of the earning depending on which game they play.  The other perks that we bring a community of hardcore players who understand how to play and have been trained by us.

HAI :I want to add up more information. Epic is a team fight game so having a good system is important for us in order to make the game successful. Guild should be a part of our ecosystem where the developer and gamer can connect with each other directly to share ideas and contribute feedback. It's like a decentralized version of steam, each of the scholars can get their own kind of blockchain game  and own the nft game that they want. If they are the good members, they can enjoy a lot of benefits, like the early access to the new blockchain game, exclusive gift from the  game developers, game studio or rebate system from the game or even the nft trading card from the one-stop shop.

In segment 2, the team picked best questions from GameFi.org Global Telegram Chat to answer in this panel session.

Host: ​​Adoption is a headache for every blockchain project so especially in this sensitive period of the whole market when many GameFi projects are dead since only few uses their platform. What is your strategy and vision on this problem?

HAI: We know the GameFi objective is to build a bridge between the blockchain and the mainstream users. In order to do that, GameFi has to be a sustainable ecosystem and earn users' trust. We have several strategies. One of them is to make our game more playable. It means the game has the best gameplay, high profit; it's convenient, uses fair mechanics and has high security. That's why we are developing a product that will bring a seamless user experience, so for us, the customer journey is very important. We also make the game funner than ever beside the multiple earnings function etc.

Secondly, we want to create a sustainable ecosystem that includes the developers, gamers, KOLs, game guilds. We can build a whole comprehensive ecosystem like win-win benefit that meets all requirements for all sides in the play and earn, and the whole infrastructure. Basically, GameFi should be designed for gamers and by gamers. It's a new way for the community to make a difference in their favorite games so for us, the player is the more important factor. For example, the traditional game like DOTA2, The International (TI), Dota TI competition, they use the community to smack the tournament, tournament bonus, it's mostly like all the lead applications. You can see the TI or even international tournaments, the prize is always more than 30 million, like super high and it makes my community excited. Nowadays, each year TI competition has become like one of the popular e-sport events for all the traditional gamers, even the officers. They also spend time watching it on Twitch. I think that, by following e-sport route funding mechanics, GameFi should be built with more engaged player communities and turn it into a self-rewarding ecosystem for the player, for the fan and for partners to cooperate and make the user-centric design philosophy. In summary, if GameFi doesn't only pay attention to the financial attributes but also focus more on the community and user side, this will make the evolution of the GameFi 2.0. We want to retain our users and continue to develop the product in the long term. That's why we want to focus on building a product more sustainable and give the users more enchanting game, and focus on community development.

Host: What do you think about playing games for a living? Is this a good culture or a bad one in the real world? I see the guild game model is quite flourishing lately but i still wonder how the guilds operate and make revenue. What if the nft is overpriced compared to its real values?

DAN: I think playing games for a living already exists. It was only this last 10 years that this became possible, but in the last 10 years, you're starting to see more and more viable careers in the gaming industry as a player, whether it's esports opportunities, competitions, maybe coaches but what it does is that, very few players can actually be professional esports players, just like very few people playing basketball can be professional basketball players. However, web 3 allows anyone who plays and creates value in a game. The value could be social interaction value, the play style or gameplay value whether it's pve pvp, the value could be monetary they contribute time and maybe invest some of their own money or tokens into a game to build something better. All of that value is now able to be extracted so i think being able to be rewarded for doing something that you enjoy and if you happen to enjoy gaming, now there's finally a way to receive some values outside of it. Because in the real world, if i like playing basketball and i bought a basketball hoop, a basketball and i didn't want to play anymore, in the real world, i can sell the basketball, the basketball hoop or whatever gear that I had for playing the sport. You never used to be able to do that in gaming but now you can. It's not like I'm playing there to earn something but it's because I'm playing and I have put value into something, I've created something from nothing, I'm able to receive some sort of value out as well and this happens to be viable enough. Therefore, a lot of people can make this a decent living just from the value creation that they have inside games. I actually think that's a very good culture because it opens up the opportunities for people around the world that maybe didn't have those great opportunities either for work or careers etc to be able to still do something they love because it's digital. They're not constrained by the region that they're in. They can do it on a great level playing field with players all around the world, add value together and they'll be able to receive something for the value that they add in an even playing field. It's flourishing because finally, people are realizing the opportunity of this. They realize the power of owning assets digitally and it's the future of gaming. For guilds like us, we are here to help to ensure that the transition into web3 is smooth and then we are here to help players overcome that initial hurdle into web3 via the purchase of NFTs. Because of that, we are able to share in some of the revenue and value creation that the players do create on their own behalf, that's how we drive revenue, that's how we've been so sustainable so far.

Host: How does the GAMEFI trend affect other trends? Will the emergence of a new trend like the metaverse or Web3 make the GAMEFI trend abandoned? What should investors pay attention to when investing in a game?

THI: The GameFi in metaverse is kinda overlapping and we don't consider metaverse as a different kind or a different trend compared to GameFi. You may consider metaverse a super game or an open game world. From my point of view, the gaming including metaverse and other kinds like move to earn the most suitable use case for blockchain. Beside DeFi which is a kind of a fundamental level, I can see that only gaming is most suitable for blockchain applications because there are two main reasons. First is that with games, you have an internal economy and then you can use all the blockchain primitives like token for in-game currency like NFT for in-game assets and items. Second, game items are very valuable. It's a traditional game also. Many game items like weapons, horses, heroes are very expensive and that's why they are very suitable to store on blockchain as NFT items because blockchain is only useful for storing and managing the valuable assets. It's not meaningful to use blockchain to store the regular information. It's very expensive and slow. That's why I think gaming is the number one use case for blockchain technology. If blockchain technology can't be successfully applied into games, I think blockchain technology is of no use. That's why we still believe in gaming in general and blockchain games in particular. I think in the next rally of bitcoin, gaming is still leading the way. That's what I'm thinking of gaming and that's why at Icetea Labs, we we heavily invest on gaming ecosystem including metaverse and all the game supporting services

In segment 3, Panelists answered live questions from the community.

Question 1 @demaitrong The recent game fi is full  of bad news so users are no longer as popular  as original do you think this is a sign of short  breath or a stepping stone for future development

DAN: I think this is just part of growing pains like we're very early in this industry, we're very early in the transition to web 3 and just now you're starting to see an entire web 2 industry embrace web 3 because it's more native. Everything about gaming is more organically web 3 than web 2. That's why 20 years ago or 25 years ago, in runescape or world of warcraft, people were still selling and buying gold, mounts and armor. And it's the same thing that's happening in gamefi now but back then there just wasn't a technology to facilitate that easily, so it is a much higher barrier of entry. I think what's happening now is in the growth stage, there are a lot of new ideas and projects that will flood the market. Therefore, many projects have failed but this doesn't mean the direction isn't right. It means that people are trying to explore and understand this new opportunity and this is the way to mature the overall gaming industry. To conclude, I think this is just a very small stepping stone to the journey of the entire game industry adopting web3. There's three and a half billion gamers in the world and 90 percent of them are mobile. After the next 10 years you'll see a majority of that three and a half billion gamers transition to web3 because everything just makes more sense being a gamer in web3

Question 2: @YASa Could  you consider creating a community to benefit  from esport reader and the game broadcast to on  the game 5 platform and can you be the successful as the community platform for gamers

HAI: To us, the power of the community is crucial to every game. so for esport and the game broadcasting like twitch are becoming more popular in the past few years. But currently, there is no platform like that in the blockchain industry to allow players to make the money from their fan pages. so the next generation of the esport blockchain platform will be the blockchain bay esport and the game broadcasting platform that allow streamers to monetize their social media content on the blockchain. We want to develop strong gameplay so this will naturally attract players. We want to make the communities join us and they can Livestream our game. we can share the tutorials such as how to play how to earn etc. so at the moment, the communities of many gamefi projects basically have taken shape and but in the future, it will target a high degree of the activity of the mainstream in the future

Question 3: @namdoan Beside developing game 5 into a top launch pad and game hub can you provide more clearly about the roadmap and pathway in the future?

THI: You know, gamefi is building and will be released in the very near future (hub). Gamefi will provide an all-in-one discovery hub for gaming and metaverse. We will list a lot of wheels including ygg sea. So users can discover the inside of all the wheels on the market and they can make decisions about which one is beneficial and for them. Secondly, i think in in the future gamefi will offer a kind of my dashboard features where you can you can manage all the game items from uh many games across all the games in one place so you can see uh the information about all the nfd items all the tokens and the liquidity level the you know the estimated price for all the nfd items yeah and another thing is game 5 will introduce a game portal so there will be a few games integrated in into the gameplay game portal and another very important features uh is that it's kind of the technology but you know game fight team is trying to to to to research on game data analytics so we will provide you with a lot of insight about the games including the information publicly available on chain but we also provide many insights we got from internal team or from the sdk we will build to embed into the games so we will provide a lot of insights for for gamers and that's the part of our upcoming roadmap

Host: Alright, I think we clarify many questions about GameFi today, it’s time to wrap up today AMA. Thank you so much for your participation, I’ve got a good grasp today, so informative, nothing better than listening and chatting with you guys.

Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support 👏 Good bye everyone !