W3GS: How Modders Push the Creative Limits of Web3 Games
At W3GS, Mark Engelhardt, Christy Choi, Renz Chong and DeFi Ted discussed how modding and UGC deepen players’ in-game experiences as they become active co-creators of their favorite web3 games.
With the creativity of player communities being rewarded with co-ownership in web3, the topic of user-generated content and game modding was explored at W3GS. Mark Engelhardt, co-founder of AMG DAO, YGG’s regional guild partner in Eastern Europe, moderated a panel featuring Christy Choi, co-founder of Spacebar and SKYGG, YGG’s regional guild partner in Korea, Renz Chong, co-founder of YGG partner BreederDAO, and DeFi Ted, CEO of ParagonsDAO, a community-driven DAO for the sci-fi card game, Parallel.
The speakers shared their insights on how modding has fostered a sense of co-ownership between the team designing a game and the community pushing its boundaries to enhance its gameplay. They exchanged perspectives on how web3, with its emphasis on decentralization and user ownership, is the perfect environment for players to craft their own gaming experiences while owning and trading assets within these ecosystems.
In the following excerpt, Christy describes how Spacebar provides a platform where everyone can bring their NFTs into the game and create drawings that become part of the game’s world. Renz shares how BreederDAO utilizes AI tools to create 3D NFT designs through AI Skins, which lessens the technical barriers for users to generate their own personalized, wearable skins. DeFi Ted then explains how AI and UGC enable users to infuse their distinct flavor into creations without trampling on the IP’s originality, as the output remains distinct even though users might draw their inspiration from existing IPs.
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W3GS - Modding and UGC: Community-Based Game Development
Mark (4:24:50): It's a very diverse panel that we have, but what really connects us is that we all work with communities and we all build communities around our products, our liquidity protocols, the games that we're building. And I think the first question is, what are some of the most unique experiences you've seen community members or gamers create for themselves? Is there a special game, like an addition to a game, that you've seen them create?
Christy (4:25:31): Spacebar is a game where everyone brings their NFTs that they own. It doesn't have to be from any sort of collection. It doesn't have to be a blue-chip NFT. And they start playing the different games and they start accruing different assets for that. Then they start decorating, their identity and also their social page. There is also a square, which is where everyone is hanging out together in real time, socializing and chatting with each other and whatnot.
What I was showing to my panelists before jumping on the stage was, it's a space-themed game and everyone earns different stars by doing different activities and by playing different games. And with the stars, people have been doodling on the square, starting to create and draw different things. Like graffiti, they were drawing the photo of Vitalik. There was also Super Mario, there are logos of Azuki and all kinds of different things people have been creating.
Renz (4:28:37): We have this product called AI skins, but it's essentially combining both AI and blockchain to allow users to have the ability to create 3D assets that are verifiable on-chain. So we recently did a partnership with GensoKishi, and what's interesting is that you see the dedication of people trying to create something that they're going to be proud of. It's not even about money, there is no incentive for them to actually do it, aside from a couple of bucks, which usually doesn't really mean a lot for them.
It's really more of the fact that they can see their work out there, eventually being used by different players in a game that they actually really love. And, ultimately, the biggest thing that UGC has to offer to players, is the fact that you can participate in an economy or in a game that you actually love and be able to deliver something that you created yourself and be part of it, and share that with the people that you love, to play with.
DeFi Ted (4:29:39): I think the best example I can give for something around UGC today — and I'm going to steal this from Kalos of Parallel. If you've seen the assets and their cards, the art is of very high quality, very detailed, and it's a very specific art style.
And what I think is amazing is I've seen one of the designers in the group, Hyung, who's a community-based designer who also works with the foundation side of Epsilon. And he's going to design a bunch of assets in an anime style and he's changed the way that IP looks to him while still retaining the underside lore and how the things that Parallel we're trying to get across through those assets while appreciating it in a way that he appreciates it. And that allows others to appreciate the lore and what the game is in a different way.
And I think UGC like that — and that UGC uses AI as well — so I think things like that allow you to kind of add your own content and flavor to something that doesn't break the IP, I think is very powerful, because it opens up your marketplace significantly.
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