Highlights of S’pore’s first physical GameFi event hosted by mobile blockchain games firm G-Link

The origins of blockchain technology have been rooted in anonymity. Even the creators of Bitcoin — the most well known cryptocurrency — remain unknown to this date.

From NFT projects to DeFi protocols, developers often choose to operate under pseudonyms. For some, it’s simply a matter of disconnecting their Web3 identity from their real one. For others, there are regulatory considerations which come into play.

Take Sly, the Singapore-based co-founder of Soul Dogs NFT, for example. Despite raising US$1.2 million with the launch of Soul Dogs, he has chosen not to reveal himself. He works on the project alongside his regular full-time job and is concerned that the crypto space still falls in a regulatory grey area.

“Working anonymously allows you to test ideas without having to worry about any potential regulations which might come up in the future,” he told Vulcan Post.

When G-Link announced plans to host an in-person GameFi event in Singapore, it was certainly a matter of interest. Even as someone who frequently dabbles in NFTs, I hadn’t actually met any project founders until now. I’d been on Zoom calls with a few of them, but it’s not quite the same thing.

An exclusive preview of the Chief Toad NFT collection

Hosted at the New World NFT Gallery at 313@Somerset, G-Link’s event was held exclusively for their VIP community members. Along with this, it was also being live-streamed for the rest of their audience to watch along.

As part of their efforts to build a blockchain gaming platform, G-Link are also releasing their very own NFT collection called Chief Toad.

Holders of their NFTs will have early access to their games, among other benefits. This event was an exclusive preview of the collection, as well as a chance for the team to offer insights into G-Link’s future.

While I was interested to hear about G-Link, I was more curious about the implications of hosting this physical event. After all, it was the sort of presentation which other projects would normally host on Twitter Spaces or Discord. Why not do the same?

After listening to the team speak and answer questions, a few reasons became apparent.

Proof of life

Over the past year, there has been a growing distrust within crypto and NFT communities. Scams and rug pulls are more prevalent than ever, and buyers have to do a significant amount of research before making a purchase.

Initially, this spurred some creators to ‘dox’ themselves to ensure their community that they were legitimate. However, that didn’t prove to be enough. We saw cases of scammers forging audits and creating fake LinkedIn profiles as ‘proof’ of their identity.

A physical event made it distinctly clear that the team behind G-Link were, in fact, real people.

At one point, an attendee asked for the assurance that Chief Toad wasn’t a rug pull. As part of his response, G-Link’s marketing manager, Jay Win, emphasised how the team was right there in front of us. It might not seem like much, but that’s more than what’s offered by a lot of new projects in this space.

That being said, Win also went on to explain that G-Link is incorporated as a company and subject to Singaporean law as well.

Apart from the team, the event also helped illuminate the fact that the G-Link community was made up of real people too. Discord members and Twitter followers are easily bought, and you never know how many people are actually supporting an online project. In G-Link’s case, I can assure you that there are at least 40 of them (the full capacity at the event).

Finally, another aspect of the event worth noting was the fact that the team couldn’t be selective during the Q&A session.

If this had been hosted online, they’d have been able to skip over tough questions, as creators often do. However, with the mic being passed around, they had to address the real issues. This included questions such as “Will you continue to work on G-Link if the NFT collection doesn’t sell out?” and “What if the value of the NFTs drops below the initial cost?”.

As it turns out, G-Link has contingencies for both these events, and they were happy to elaborate.

The rise of GameFi

During the presentation, Win spoke about the rise of GameFi and play-to-earn gaming. While many entrants in the space have geared their offerings to the crypto community, G-Link is looking to target casual gamers. This is part of the reason why they’ve decided to develop mobile games.

In its whitepaper, the company addresses the issues which plague blockchain gaming at the moment. To paraphrase one of the most notable points, blockchain games aren’t fun.

They’re often created with the sole purpose of generating income and don’t pay much attention to the gameplay. While this might be appealing to crypto users, it won’t do much to attract the traditional gaming community.

One of G-Link’s core missions is to create games which are worthwhile from an entertainment perspective as well as a monetary one. Players won’t enter the G-Link ecosystem with the sole intention of making money.

This might prove to be a more sustainable approach to blockchain gaming than we’ve traditionally seen.

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Featured Image Credit: G-Link