MXC AMA Recapitulation - GALA
Kevin@MXC
Guest: Jason Brink, Chief Marketing Officer at Gala
Host: Iris
Introduction
I have been in blockchain since 2014, when I won the Global Development Network / Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Award for a paper I wrote about blockchain and how it could be used to fix the problems endemic to foreign aid. Before that, I worked in Haiti following the earthquake doing relief work...I saw a lot of corruption there, and know how much blockchain can help to make a system transparent. I have worked in blockchain on a few different projects, but this is the FIRST project I have worked on that has had such a massive team of heavy-hitting developers behind it...usually its just a few people working on development...we have 50 people working on this, so it is a whole different thing. I joined the project because the CEO (Eric) approached me personally and asked me to help with the community and marketing. I have known him for a few years and was very happy to join and help.
Also, if anyone would like, they can watch me do this AMA on camera too:
- Twitch - https://twitch.tv/gogalagames
- Theta - https://www.theta.tv/gogalagames
- Twitter/Pscp - https://www.pscp.tv/GoGalaGames/
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GoGalaGames
- Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/galagames
Questions from community
Iris: What was the founding idea and story behind Gala Games?
Jason: Quick introduction to the project: Gala Games was founded by Eric Schiermeyer, the co-founder of Zynga. Over the last years, gamers around the world have gotten tired of getting pushed around by game companies and advertisers. He founded Gala Games to give the power back to the people so that they can have an active voice in development.
Our lead President of Games, John Osvald, JUST joined us from EA where he was the former Head of Product for Mobile Games. We have some rockstar game developers on our team too, such as Michael McCarthy, is the designer behind games like Farmville 2, which had over 34m users at its peak. He is the one who does all the tuning on Town Star. On a personal note, he was also one of the main designers behind Arcanum, which was one of my all-time favorite RPGs...and so I am REALLY looking forward to our next game, Mirandus.
We have 50 full-time people in our team, and we are in this for the long haul. Gala Games is working to decentralize billions of dollars in game-related advertising by giving people ownership of the games themselves, as well as drawing on the people to crowdsource ideas and concepts for game development.
Our mission is “to enable freedom for anyone on this planet through play.” Play is an essential part of being human, and it is one of the things that makes us who we are. We weren’t designed to sit in cubicles, but were designed to play. The world requires some cubicle-sitting, but we want to make it possible for you to play and earn rewards at the same time.
You can find out a lot about us by going to our website www.gala.games and by setting up an account by going to playtownstar.com. I look forward to answering your questions and participating fully in this AMA!
Follow us online at:
https://facebook.com/gogalagames
https://twitter.com/gogalagames
Join our Discord at:
Iris: What makes Gala Games unique as opposed to every other blockchain gaming company?
Jason: EXCELLENT QUESTION! This is SUPER critical! Firstly, it is important to recognize that Gala Games isn’t a “blockchain game company” it is a mass-driven “game company that uses blockchain.” This is a hugely important distinction, because it fundamentally changes how we look at things. Blockchain projects tend to measure users in the thousands… there are VERY few blockchain projects with more than a few thousand active users.
However...there are 2.4 BILLION gamers around the world...and it is THESE people we are working to attract. We aren’t sitting around talking about how cool blockchain is...we are building games first and innovating, while finding ways to use blockchain as a tool to serve these gamers. As such, we want to see users in the hundreds of millions, not the thousands. In order to do that, we have to build amazing GAMES first...our projects aren’t tech demos to prove that blockchain is usable, but rather top-tier games that use blockchain as an underlying technology.
Iris: Yes there's indeed massive game players out there!
Now let's learn something about the GALA token!
What is "GALA" and what can it be used for?
Jason: GALA powers the entire ecosystem and ties everything together. In our perspective, everyone who has ever played most modern games has been a victim of a scam...they were asked to pay money for a game they never owned, to get items in the game they never owned, and often experienced the frustration of losing their account if they tried to sell a skin or something to someone else.
In the Gala Games ecosystem, you own your assets, and the Gala Games Network would continue whether we were around or not. In the long term, we want to develop assets and tools that will allow anyone to contribute to the Gala Games Ecosystem and help to steer its development.
For a LONG time, game development has been extremely disconnected from the gamers themselves...as gamers, we have always had to be content with what they give us, and nothing else. With Gala Games, we are working on changing this. The first step is giving gamers ownership of their in-game assets. This is something we have already done and are always expanding.
Iris: What partnership or collaborations are you able to tell us about?
Jason: There are a LOT of things currently coming to the Gala Games Ecosystem. We have over 15 games currently in development with a variety of studios all destined for the Gala Games Ecosystem. Unfortunately, we can’t talk about all of these, but we can introduce you to TownStar (FarmSim), Mirandus (Fantasy MMORPG), Fortified (Tower Defense), and Echoes of Empire (Space 4x).
We also have partnerships in effect with some of the most awesome L2 and Baselayer solutions. We are working with Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Flare, Near, and others. SO MUCH GOING ON!
Iris: On a separate note, GALA will be listed on MXC Exchange tomorrow at 7pm! Deposit and withdrawals are opened already!
You can also Stake $MX, $TRX and $USDT to Earn Yield $GALA
check out the details here: https://support.mexc.com/hc/en-001/articles/4402334615450-MXC-Will-List-Gala-Games-GALA-and-Launch-the-61st-Session-MX-DeFi-
Iris: What is a Founders Node? What are the benefits of buying a Node?
Jason: The Founder’s Node is really the best way to jump into the ecosystem head first and really get involved. The Gala Games Founder’s Node is essentially a node which helps support the ecosystem by performing tasks that support that system, for which they are rewarded. Right now, you can buy a node here: https://app.gala.games/nodes/buy for about $11k USD. If you run your node, you may receive GALA daily, as well as the occasional NFT for the game network. Everything that gets dropped to the entire network has to go through the nodes, so node operators will receive something for each and every game which comes to the Gala Games Ecosystem
Iris: NFTs are quite popular lately - What are some of the most exciting NFTs that Gala Games has to offer?
Jason: Personally, I love the Exemplars from Mirandus. There is so much cool stuff going on with Mirandus development, and we are only just a little over halfway through revealing the Exemplars. These are essentially the super-rare avatars inside the game, and each of them has a cool characteristic that will allow them to do better at some job in-game.
We also have sold some awesome citadels for the game of Mirandus, the first of which sold to Polyient for $800k, the second to an anonymous buyer for $1.6m, and the third to Flare for $3.2. The next is $6.4m if anyone is interested! Learn more about Mirandus here: https://www.mirandus.game/
https://app.gala.games/games/mirandus
These are my FAVORITE!
Just a quick aside: I just tweeted this for you guys! This is from Echoes of Empire, a new game coming to the platform. https://twitter.com/GoGalaGames/status/1401514567432171522
Iris: How do you feel about Gala Games presently in comparison to when it first started?
Jason: Gala Games has grown SO MUCH since the first day it was originally unveiled. On that trip, I traveled with Eric and Michael to Las Vegas to meet with a bunch of people to share the idea and I absolutely loved it from the very beginning. If you look at photos of that event, you can see my head in a lot of them as Michael showed off Town Star and Eric talked about his plans for the ecosystem. I didn’t join the team until a few months later, but I LOVED it from the beginning.
Today, there are over 50 people on the team and we are growing VERY quickly. We are hiring top gaming and developer talent from around the world to join our team because we know the future of gaming is in player ownership. We are doing deals with people like Frank Miller and we recently invested in Concept Art House, a company based in both the US and China, because they are the best in the business when it comes to concept art. There is a LOT more coming.
Iris: If you were to summarize your project in ONE word, what would it be? Why?
Jason: Revolution - I personally feel that Gala Games is going to change gaming forever by taking the power out of the hands of the big companies and giving it back to the gamers. It is time for all gamers to stand up and say that they want to own their content and own their gameplay. It is time for all blockchain people to realize that the future of blockchain is in projects that DO things for people. There are 2.4 BILLION gamers around the world, at minimum, and blockchain should serve all of them. Gala Games is working on a system that will make that possible, and we want you to join us!
Free-asking Session
Q1:"Gala Games is working to decentralize billions of dollars in game-related advertising" So will Gala Games focus on advertising or game development?
Jason: Great question! One of the things we like to do is to make sure that there are some models in the ecosystem that allow people to earn something via referring their friends to the Gala Games Ecosystem. We are 100% a game and game platform development company that uses blockchain, but we have a very strong focus on creating ways for people to earn via play and through referring friends. Right now, for example, you can earn 10 points in the distribution via referring a friend who buys a node.
Q2: What is your plan to spread your understanding of the project in different countries where spoken English? Have you taken any action?
Jason: We have very vibrant communities that are growing around the world, and we are in the process of spinning up localized influencer and brand ambassador programs. By being a brand ambassador, you will be able to build and run a Gala Games oriented community wherever you are, and we will help supply you with goodies, swag, stickers, and the occasional AWESOME physical NFT (as well a more normal NFTs). Being a brand ambassador is going to be a VERY GOOD THING for you, so join our Discord at galagames.chat and stay posted for new information on this.
Q3: You built a project during the Covid19 epidemic. Many projects have failed because of this pandemic. What methods do you use or use so that GALA continues to rise and be successful even though it is hindered by this covid19 pandemic❓❓❓
Jason: One of the things that makes us very special is that we DID build the project during COVID. This forced us to come up with entirely new ways of working, new business models, new organizational and communication models, so that we can all work remotely and asynchronously around the world. We have about 50 team members (with another 5 starting in the next two weeks that I know about...probably more), and we all work from wherever we are around the world. Its kinda our superpower. We THRIVE in this environment, and I know that once we can all get together, its going to be even more awesome.
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