Back to the Future with Web3
METAPIXEL’s Head of Web3 outlines his vision for METAPIXEL and its connection to the history of gaming
Welcome! I’m Lucas Jeonghwan Ko, Head of Web3 at METAPIXEL. With over 20 years of experience in the game industry, I’ve witnessed the evolution of the gaming industry firsthand and believe web3 gaming is a natural progression.
Here’s my perspective on web3 gaming, as well as my vision for METAPIXEL’s ecosystem.
The Early Years of Online Gaming
When developers started applying blockchain technology to games and the media coverage of P2E games started to grow, I was immediately reminded of old news stories about Korean gamers trading MMORPG items with cash. Game items were being bought and sold for more than the price of cars.
The fierce competition among gamers even resulted in the emergence of mercenary players, who would be hired to play on other players’ accounts, that enabled organized, systematic gameplay. This entire phenomenon became a hotly debated topic in Korean society.
Perhaps P2E as a concept is something that has been familiar to Korean gamers for a long time already.
Early online games in South Korea evolved around the concept of bringing console game experiences to an online audience.
Many console games were developed with the goal of entertaining players through immersive, deep stories and gameplay. Korean online games managed to add a new layer to this traditional gaming experience, built upon the social interactions and experiences gained while playing with other players.
Concurrently, a new business model referred to as ‘sweatshops’ emerged, similar to the P2E model.
In the early 2000s, an era before Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Korean gamers gathered in online games. There was a huge range of social interactions — players would hang out and socialize, some players met their future partners in games, and others took to gambling. Experienced players could also get paid as mentors for newbies, and others formed teams to farm and sell highly desired items as a business.
Online games in Korea were more than just simple entertainment, they formed comprehensive platforms, where game developers and users could communicate and build together.
Back to the Future with Web3
With the advent of blockchain technology, an objective way of determining ownership of digital assets has emerged, giving birth to the era of web3.
However, progress isn’t always linear. Innovation occurs within the context of its time and culture. Korean online gamers have already experienced a prototypical version of web3 20 years ago, with social-focused MMORPGs and platforms.
The current web3 zeitgeist echoes the past, and progress needs to be made to ensure this era’s version succeeds.
It’s time to progress past the limitations of recent P2E games, and revive the earlier ethos with modern technology and lessons learned from the past.
Now, METAPIXEL’s goal is to build an ecosystem that empowers individual ownership, and provides a way for all participants to benefit.
The 4 Keys for METAPIXEL’s Ecosystem
1) IP-based Fandom and Open Community
These days, many people first discover a game through streamers, YouTubers and social media content created by gamers just like them. Users choose to consume media specifically tailored to their individual interests and interact with like-minded people. This is why we believe it’s so important to establish communities centered around fans, and the content and voices they generate.
METAPIXEL is working to develop various web3 games utilizing the IPs created by NPIXEL, and we aim to build a global community with the foundation of millions of South Korean and Japanese fans.
This is also why METAPIXEL will aim to develop games of various genres and styles in tandem with our community, creating our own IP universe.
2) Creating Demand through Positive User Experience
Our expert team was responsible for creating Gran Saga, a cross-platform game that reached the #1 spot on mobile download charts in both Korea and Japan.
We have proved that players are eager to play and immerse themselves in our games in the web2 market, and have a thriving business model.
Based on our experience and success in the gaming industry, METAPIXEL is designing games with compelling mechanics and game loops that drive player acquisition, retention, and active participation.
In addition, we are designing our web3 gaming platform with the same level of expertise, providing players with a safe, easily accessible environment for trading NFTs. User experience is currently one of the major onboarding obstacles in web3 gaming and METAPIXEL has the capability to implement technical solutions to these problems.
Web2 users will be able to seamlessly transition into using METAPIXEL, while web3 users will get to enjoy a new level of convenience.
3) NFTs as Game Items & Economic Indicator
In many cases, the implementation of tokens (fungible and non-fungible) in games has been shortsighted and economically imbalanced. We’re taking great care in designing the use of tokens in our ecosystem. Sustainability and real gameplay benefits are our highest priorities.
Important and desirable items in games will take the form of NFTs, and they will be obtainable through involved, non-tedious gameplay. Players can enjoy the actual process of acquiring NFTs instead of grinding mindlessly, and once acquired they can easily trade the NFT with other players or utilize them through gameplay as they please.
With this system, the amount of NFTs minted in our games will be a key indicator of in-game demand, which will be a major factor for the various inter-linked economic systems we have planned.
4) Our Aptos Partnership
Aptos’ fast and reliable blockchain technology provides the optimal environment to establish a massive gaming ecosystem. Not only do players seamlessly acquire numerous NFTs during gameplay, but they can store all corresponding metadata on-chain. We believe this is essential for the permanence and trust of digital assets. The low transaction fees also benefit users when they trade their items and perform other actions, which makes the ecosystem more accessible.
Furthermore, the Move programming language used by Aptos supports a high degree of freedom in web3 game programming, helping us implement some nifty features involving NFTs into our games.
More to Come…
This is only the first step on our journey.
As we build the ecosystem we envision, we will continue to share our journey with you, with as much transparency as possible. We are deeply grateful to everyone taking part in this adventure, and hope you stick around to build an amazing community with us.
About Lucas Jeonghwan Ko
Lucas Jeonghwan Ko (Twitter) is the Head of Web3 at METAPIXEL. He has over 20 years of high-level experience in the game industry in both technical and management roles, previously working at companies such as Nexon and NeoPle.
Notably, he was Team Lead of the MapleStory development team and Team Lead of the Dungeon & Fighter development team.
Now, he’s excited to carry his expertise and experience into the world of web3 gaming at METAPIXEL, by creating an ecosystem of high-quality games with open economies.
Links
METAPIXEL Twitter: METAPIXEL (@Metapixel) / Twitter
METAPIXEL Brand Site: METAPIXEL: The complete entertaiment metaverse
