Building a Gaming Metaverse on 750 Acres of Land in Costa Rica

Ishan Pandey: Hi, Bartek Lechowski, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please, tell us about your journey and the motivation behind Alóki?

Bartek Lechowski: Hi, Ishan, and hello to our dear readers! For me, it really was a journey that has led me to this point. I have always been interested in technology, especially the aspects of how it influences people and their behaviour. This has led me to focus first on digital marketing, which I led globally for Danone and then move into experience design in many industries, including IKEA, where I served on the board as Chief Experience Officer.

We all change over the years and start thinking about what we want to achieve in life and our legacy. Having quite a strong career in the corporate world, for quite some time, I wanted to do something that would be more my own and would bring some benefit to the world.

I have met with my long-term friend, who had a similar approach and deep love for the environment, yet he comes from a finance background and together we created a concept of Alóki on a whiteboard by the swimming pool in Costa Rica to make a positive change to the environment using blockchain and reconnect people to nature.

Ishan Pandey: I heard you even bought 750 acres in Costa Rica to create the Alóki Sanctuary. Could you tell me more about this place? How do you aim to encourage your users to move towards sustainable development and make them aware of climate change? (Please cover Alóki sanctuary and other points in this question).

Bartek Lechowski: This is the best place on Earth, seriously. I and my co-founder and I travelled across the world, and he found this amazing place. Now, these 750 acres in the middle of the jungle have become a home for Alóki. There are lots of waterfalls, other natural drinking water sources, and many wild animals that inhabit these jungles. Tell me that it’s not fascinating to discuss nature while discussing blockchain and metaverses. Our team includes eco-farmers, designers, game developers, architects, and blockchain developers. And together, we will erase the boundary between the real world and our metaverse, even if the latter is “only” 550 football fields put together. In my opinion, this is the real power of Web3.

We all love nature and want to take care of it. When I say “we” here, I mean all those responsible to the best of their abilities. People who are opting for smart consumption, electric cars, PoS instead of PoW, garbage sorting, and renewable energy.

Some people have never even been outside big cities, or have seldom gone outdoors, and many more have never been in a real jungle. Our goal is to give them the opportunity to discover untouched places, starting with a gaming experience, a visit to the metaverse, and then a personal trip to the sanctuary itself. The first contact can be for free, and if users like what they see, we will allow them to stay. I think places like such sanctuaries should be made more accessible and relatable to people, as this is the only way to promote respect for our planet truly.

Ishan Pandey: Speaking about the Metaverse, what is Alóki’s Play-to-On gaming concept and how does it play out in the Metaverse?

Bartek Lechowski: The Alóki Metaverse is based on an intricate relationship with the 750 acres of jungle in Costa Rica we own. You will have the opportunity to acquire some of our lands, and by building a house in the metaverse, you will then be able to build a real one in the jungles of Costa Rica. You can plant real trees in the jungle, get a free ride to our location, and stay here. And all of this will be possible by means of the Alóki Metaverse. This is a really interesting concept. I recommend everyone read the detailed description outlined in the Project’s White Paper, which can be found on our website.

Ishan Pandey: What are your views on the future of Metaverse and the current global economy?

Bartek Lechowski: Metaverses should connect the real world with the digital space. Projects that have no connection to reality are doomed to failure. I expect that the metaverses have a strong potential to contribute to the growth of the global economy. This is an important point of note, but at Alóki, we are focusing on other things that can be summed up by the prevalence of the significance of nature over financial matters. But this is no reason to refrain from money, sell off shares and fade into the jungle. Unless, of course, you are tired of it all and are not entirely certain of what would make you happy. I want to think that it is possible to ensure economic growth while upping the degree of responsibility for our planet.

Ishan Pandey: Do you think there is a requirement to regulate e-Gaming, if yes, how would regulations help the industry?

Bartek Lechowski: That’s a tough one! The legislation in different jurisdictions regarding games must certainly evolve. I like that many countries are introducing solutions that protect the players, which will probably continue for the market to grow. Our team has some strong people from the gaming industry who were involved in the development of AAA-tier projects, and we will pay considerable attention to regulatory standards.

The blockchain gaming industry needs to learn from the PC gaming industry since many viable solutions have come a long way. If I were to take an example from the top of my head, I like how Steam changed the situation with early access products. Games that are not yet ready for release and are at the Alpha or Beta testing stage are not only mandatorily marked with a disclaimer but also placed in a separate category outside the main store display. This is a good decision aimed at protecting players.

Blockchain gaming will benefit greatly if similar solutions are introduced in the industry, as at this moment, the number of rug pools and other scams is one of the key things stopping us from mass adoption. It’s tough to balance this and a vision of decentralized blockchain, but the situation where people are losing money so often is not helping the whole industry.

Ishan Pandey: What new major trends are we going to see in the blockchain industry?

Bartek Lechowski: I would like to think that the environmental trend will develop, considering the Ethereum Merge. Outside of the ecology and nature topics, we should expect the development of metaverses, but I can’t say what will act as a new stimulus for the growth of the cryptocurrency market and drive its capitalization as DeFi and NFT had done before. Everything will depend on the regulators since the technological basis for further development is already present.

Last but not least, the market does need to evolve with more simple solutions that will allow us to onboard new groups of players. Without that, it would be a pity for web3 to be associated only with high-risk investments and expensive profile pictures – there is so much potential in this space.

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Image credits: Shubham's Web3.