W3B’D: Teaching Web3 to the Younger Generation via Blockchain Games

In this podcast with Sheila Marcelo, founder of Proof of Learn, Gabby Dizon shares his thoughts on what makes blockchain games effective when it comes to teaching about crypto and Web3.

W3B’D is a podcast that introduces crypto-curious listeners to various concepts in crypto — blockchain, tokens and NFTs, among many other topics — by bringing on guests who are familiar with the space as well as people who have recently begun their journey in crypto.

The W3B’D podcast is hosted by Sheila Marcelo, co-founder and CEO of Proof of Learn (POL), a Web3 learning platform with a mission to unlock accessible, high-quality education across the world. Prior to POL, Sheila was a Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA). In 2006, before joining NEA, she founded Care.com, where she was Chairwoman and CEO until early 2020. 

In this episode, Sheila and Gabby talk about the opportunity in Web3 gaming for the younger generation to learn important skills through gamified incentive structures that make the overall learning process more appealing. Gabby also shares his vision of onboarding the next billion players in the Metaverse through YGG’s subDAO model.

The following is an excerpt from the podcast. Listen to the full discussion here.

W3B’D - Episode 3 - The “Learn To Earn” Way (Live From The Philippines)

Sheila (11:27): Let’s really unpack play-to-earn, because there are probably listeners out there globally thinking, “How could you really learn?” because you use a lot of words like “learning,” “onboarding into Web3” Why through a game, Gabby?

Gabby (11:46): There are at least two billion estimated gamers around the world and people often see their children playing a lot of games, but what you don’t realize is that there are a lot of concepts of learning in these games. It might be socializing, learning how to coordinate in groups — because a lot of kids, including my own, do their socializing in virtual worlds like Minecraft and Roblox or Discord servers, but also they learn about economic concepts from these games. Digital scarcity, supply and demand, swapping one token for another — these are the things my son learned as he was playing Axie Infinity, and learned these concepts at the age of 12, which I didn't until I was in college. When learning is interesting, people really want to learn, whether it's a subject that is for them at a particular grade level or not. So you see these subjects are being ingrained into these kids because they are introduced via video games.

Sheila (12:55): I have two sons. They are 30 and 22, and they are beyond Gen Z, so what advice would you give parents, because I remember being very strict with my 30-year-old son. I said no TV during the week. So how should parents think about this new world of Web3 and gaming, and what would you advise because where is this generation going?

Gabby (13:33): I talk a lot about this with my siblings who have children in their teenage years. First of all, I think you have to be naturally interested in what your kids are doing. Don’t be afraid because they are in front of their computer all day. They might actually be learning something. So you have to ask what they are doing, what they are learning. There is a very rich opportunity to learn a lot of new concepts from these games that they are playing, whether it's socialization, learning about money and NFTs. I have heard about some kids in Manila who have got good at trading NFTs and made money for themselves. My son has bought NFTs, played Axie Infinity. My daughter likes to draw art and has released her own NFTs as well. So just be interested and lean into this technology, and you will learn something as well while the kids are learning.

Sheila (14:46): So let's unpack why play-to-earn is so important for kids to learn about incentives and understand trading and all of this, at this early stage in blockchain gaming.

Gabby (15:13): If you have played any kind of video game, you know incentives rule the world. People have objectives. They play depending on what their goals are, they reach these goals, but now with crypto, we are able to incentivize behavior using crypto, either with tokens or NFTs as rewards. In the future, work will look less like, “I am employed for life with one job that looks out for me.” People will have a portfolio of things that may earn them value in the form of tokens or NFTs. They may be part of a DAO, which is a new way of organizing people in crypto that is different from a company. The nature of work is changing itself, and it won't look like how we are used to working in the last 20-30 years.

Sheila (16:05): So a DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization, and it's a group that comes together organized through community decisions around whether it's a company or a non-profit, so as we think about the scholars, specifically of YGG and your focus around developing economies, how do you recruit to get a billion across the globe?

Gabby (16:38): We are a very community-centric group, and what we started in the Philippines that we have done in other places around the world is that we rely heavily on our Community Managers to help recruit scholars from their respective towns and cities. So right now, for example in this room, we have Community Managers from places like Baguio, Batangas, Cebu, Davao, and they are the ones that teach these concepts of how to play games like Axie Infinity, how to install a crypto wallet, how to protect yourself from volatility in the crypto markets. These are things that the Community Managers take the time to teach their communities, and from the Philippines, we have done this in many areas around the world. We launched YGG SEA (Southeast Asia), last year covering Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, we launched IndiGG which is YGG in India, Ola GG in Latin America, BAYZ in Brazil. We have expanded this community concept and are doing this around the world.

You can listen to the full discussion on Spotify. This podcast is being provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice.

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