NPC Day Denver: How Access to In-Game Data Can Supercharge Smaller Studios
Angel Pui, Evin McMullen, Laura Jaramillo and Jose Mejia explore how the combination of onchain and in-game data can give developers better insights into their player base to help them scale faster.
NPC Day is a series of events featuring some of the best minds building on the edge of internet culture. The event deviates from the traditional definition of “NPC,” or in-game nonplayer characters, and instead stands for “network-playable characters” — agents that bring onchain worlds to life, from smart contract bots to ERC-6551 NFTs that have their own wallets. NPC Day explores online, offline and onchain ideas with speakers who have done critical work in defining digital spaces such as blockchain and AI to discuss future possibilities.
At NPC Day Denver 2024, YGG Global Head of Growth Angel Pui joined a panel with Disco.xyz CEO and co-founder Evin McMullen, sonu.stream co-founder Laura Jaramillo, and moderator Jose Mejia, CEO and co-founder of Scene Infrastructure Company. The group discussed the role of identity and reputation in understanding user behavior in dating, music, food service, gaming, and more.
They talked about how professionals in creative industries such as musicians often need to function as content creators to promote their work, and how access to specific data can actually help them reach their audience more strategically. Laura also shed light on AI's potential as a facilitator for building connections between creators and their audiences. Through meticulous data analysis of audience engagement, creators could establish a positive feedback loop, enabling them to better understand their fans’ preferences and tailor their content accordingly.
In this excerpt, Angel highlights the advantages for game developers to have access to comprehensive player data that will tell them how players are actually playing their games. While builders currently have access to onchain data, they lack crucial insights into players’ progress, in-game interactions and preferences. Providing smaller game companies with targeted data can enhance the quality of their games and boost their competitiveness in comparison to larger gaming companies.
Listen to the full recording on YouTube.
NPC Day Denver: What is the future of Blockchain x AI?
Jose (12:19): Right now, there are games that exist where you can move assets between the two seamlessly, but that's not the norm. Do you think that thinking about interoperability as a game developer and game designer might maybe change the types of games that people make and the types of games that people want to play?
Angel (12:35): Yeah, as a game, I can only see the onchain data, and usually, that’s wallet transactions, anything that you purchase and acquire. But I cannot see how good you are as a player. I can't see the in-game data, like what level you’ve done. Have you played inside a guild? Do you have friends that you always play with?
It would be really interesting for small boutique game studios to have access to that stuff. That's when you really design a great game. From a player perspective, seeing how many players are active, what kind of game do they like? Do they play with guilds? Do they play with five friends? These are data that are not available, and there is a huge unfair advantage to a bigger studio, and a boutique team would have to kind of guess it.
And when it comes to a game, you can't guess it. It takes US$18-20 million, even multiple years, just to get one try. I think having all that data somehow available in the future will allow a smaller team with less money to get it right the first time and be able to build a game without all that larger support.
You can listen to the full recording on YouTube.
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