Spielworks brings the benefits of blockchain to mass-market gaming: True ownership of digital assets, secure handling of tokens and comfortable interaction with exceptional blockchain games. These benefits allow Spielworks to strive for groundbreaking game-models and true play-to-earn mechanics

Spielworks

spielworks

The European Union has fined Apple for violating competition regulations in relation to music streaming. Find out more.

Apple Fined $2 Billion by EU Over Music Streaming Practices - Spiceworks

Microsoft has patched a high-severity zero-day flaw in Windows that hackers have exploited for over six months. Find out more.

Windows Zero-Day Exploited for Six Months - Spiceworks

New York-based American Express Company’s customer data was exposed in the hack of one of its service providers.

American Express Third-Party Breach - Spiceworks

, a leading blockchain startup specializing in gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions, has launched Season One of its Wombat Dungeon Master NFT game. Spielworks The release brings new functionality to the multichain game, including an equipment management system and character progression mechanics. Season One follows the public beta test, which began on December 15 with over 4,251 unique players logging in to play the game. The launch started off with a Genesis item pack sale, which was met by an overwhelming response from the community, as all the packs sold out almost instantly. Blockchain gaming has become a major driving force in the recent growth of the digital assets ecosystem. According to by the Blockchain Game Alliance, blockchain games account for around half of the entire activity on the blockchain. an annual industry report As the gaming industry continues to grow, experts expect the play-to-earn model promoted by blockchain games to become . the new standard for the mainstream gaming market Spielworks’s Wombat Dungeon Master game allows players to explore dungeons, winning NFT loot on the way. Season One adds varying duration for dungeon runs, which always stood at 24 hours in the beta version. It also adds more RPG elements into the gameplay. Players can now equip their Wombats with various NFT items, such as lamps, hats, and digging tools, before sending them on an NFT treasure hunt into the dungeon. These items will give your wombat additional experience points, allowing them to level up. The items have a direct impact on the effectiveness of the dungeon run by increasing your wombat's stats: Items can increase your wombat's mining power which results in more NFT rewards Increase the amount of experience gained during a dungeon run Reduce the time your wombat has to spend in the dungeon. Items vary in level and rarity, and players can combine multiple items of the same type into a single and more powerful version. Wombat Dungeon Master's Genesis Item Collection Sold out in a Second To celebrate the launch of Season One for Wombat Dungeon Master, Spielworks held a Genesis item pack sale. 50 Diamond packs and 500 Basic packs were offered, with each pack containing multiple items with varying rarity. The packs sold literally a second after the sale went live, pushing the Genesis item collection into the Top 5 rankings on the WAX platform shortly after the event. Wombat Dungeon Master & Play-to-Earn NFT Gaming Available on EOS and WAX blockchains, Wombat Dungeon Master brings idle NFT gaming to the play-to-earn (P2E) space. Players will also earn NFT's and tokens minted by multiple projects partnered with Spielworks. It features an idle style, RPG gaming mechanic seen in regular gaming. Players who are familiar with flash games in particular (from the days of Newgrounds, Armor Games and Kongregate) will feel right at home when trawling through the dungeons with their customizable wombat. Being able to earn NFTs and tokens also makes the game more enticing for gamers, allowing you to make an income whilst playing. With its simple gameplay mechanics, Wombat Dungeon Master gives users a taste of NFT staking and can serve as a gateway into the larger world of NFT gaming. Spielworks and their partners plan to build out a robust NFT gaming ecosystem with Play-to-Earn systems and familiar gameplay mechanics. Adrian Krion, the CEO of Spielworks shared his comments on NFT gaming: “NFT games are a rapidly expanding market, and visibility is crucial for sustaining their meteoric rise,” The CEO continued to say: “Wombat Dungeon Master brings just that to the table, while also granting more utility to NFTs players already hold with its staking support. We are thrilled to see how many players joined the public beta and look forward to bringing gamers more gameplay elements and features in future updates.” Final Thoughts Wombat Dungeon Master brings a novel approach to the Play-to-Earn space, bringing an idle, RPG gaming experience where players can earn NFTs and tokens for exploring dungeons. Due to the success of its Genesis item collection, the NFT game could become a hit with gamers as it continues to grow in popularity.

Spielworks Launches Season One of its Wombat Dungeon Master NFT Game

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Let's learn about via these 57 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Token /Learn Repo 1. How to unlock your 888,888 KickTokens from FrozenDrop? In December 2019, we conducted the first-ever FrozenDrop of KickTokens. The Kick Ecosystem team was the first to create and implement the frozen mechanics of frozen tokens on the blockchain. 2. Introducing $NOIR, the World’s first Phygital Wine Token NOIR New Moon, a Sparkling Rosé produced using the Méthode Traditionnelle technique, will be offered exclusively as 777 dynamically priced $NOIR tokens.. 3. An Introduction to Virtual Properties in the Metaverse The use of virtual lands in the different metaverses based on blockchain is on the rise, generating greater pressure on the supply available for the new economy 4. Integrating BSC Tokens Into Your Crypto Project Learn everything you need to know when it comes to integrating a BSC token into a cryptocurrency project that you are working on and aim to do so. 5. Here's-My-Private-Key Scam in Crypto: How It Traps Unsuspecting Users A new form of scams that trick everyone with poor basis of knowledge of blockchain world. 6. Why Locking Liquidity is Important for Cryptocurrency Let us start with understanding what is liquidity for cryptocurrency and why you may want to lock it. 7. What's The Fashion Industry Doing With Blockchain? Blockchain made the headlines in 2017 when Bitcoin gained traction. Ever since then, multiple industry-wide applications of blockchain tech broke the news. The distributed/decentralized ledger technology brought scalability, transaction speed, and better security that’d transform the world in coming years. 8. The Super Token Thesis Building Towards the Web3 Financialized Consumer Era 9. Everything You Need to Know About Moon - Reddit’s Ethereum-Based Cryptocurrency Reddit’s vision for MOON tokens and the Community Points program is to encourage high-quality posts, discussions, and engagement 10. Is Tokenization The Engine To The Economy of The Future? 11. Will Meme Coins Keep Going to the Moon? While meme coin may generate spectacular short-term gains as people are willing to speculate on the possibility of making money in a short amount of time. 12. On Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) and DeFi The importance of real assets in DeFi 13. Why are there no Security Token yet? US regulators have done little to provide certainty for buyers and sellers of blockchain-based tokens. A page on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website on the topic of 'initial coin offerings' offers only sparse information in form of "5 things you need to know about ICOs," starting with the somewhat ominous declaration that "ICOs can be securities offerings" -- a message which seems to have found a receptive audience, judging by the growing number of projects offering their assistance with “security token offerings.”  The following examines the viability and efficacy of security tokens in the context of blockchain-based systems for the purpose of securities creation and handling: 14. NEO, MATIC and now FLETA Tokens: What do they have in common? NEO, MATIC and FLETA Blockchain have used 'rebranding' as a pillar of their strategy to drive the adoption of their token and technology within the crypto ecosy 15. Creating a Python Discord Bot - How to Get Data for Analysis From this article you’ll learn how tо
create Discord bot and add it to the Server;
get the full list of channels from the server;
get a snapshot of Discord memb 16. “These Are Not Laundromat Tokens” — The End of The Crypto Wild West Gary Gensler, Chair of the SEC, compared the state of cryptocurrency to Laudromat tokens.  In the long run - which is a positive for the crypto world. 17. The Cryptocurrency Confusion In his fundamental book, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange, English economist William Stanley Jevons explains that currencies address a central economic problem: the coincidence of wants. The phrase describes the conundrum inherent to barter where the parties of the transaction have to agree to sell and buy each other's goods. 18. Token Swappers Are Replacing Traditional Crypto-Exchanges: A 2020 Analysis While cryptocurrencies are powered by decentralized protocols, the trading of cryptocurrencies mostly happens on centralized exchanges. 19. They Want to Tokenize Horses Now. Does it Make Any Sense? Racehorses are an expensive vocational pursuit. But it is also a pretty good
business for all those involved, such as the owners, the trainers, the
jockeys/riders, the breeders and the various sportive federations. 20. Token Valuation Done Right: A DCF Model To Value Perlin's Native Network Token The following post is a walkthrough on the methodology we followed to value Perlin's native network token, the PERL. The report and post were authored by @eliasimos, Senior Research Analyst at Decentral Park. 21. Elon Musk is Proof of Social Currency and Community Governance There’s no denying Elon Musk has a massive (and loyal) fan base. With over 65 million followers, his tweets regularly make headlines and often move markets. Thus it shouldn’t be all that surprising that a group of his biggest fans has created a meme cryptocurrency in his name. 22. Let's Better Understand the Different Types of Cryptocurrency and Tokens All hail to this brave new crypto world! You may or may not have heard of Ethereum, but surely you know something about Bitcoin 23. These NFTs Might Help Save the Koalas, a Species in Danger KRebels is the first project to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) issued through blockchain technology to raise awareness of the dangers inherent in climate change 24. Tokenizing the Wine Industry with Somm Marc Flores According to Research and Markets, the global wine industry is growing at a CAGR of 3.7 percent. It will reach $201 billion by 2025 and $434 billion by 2027. In the U.S. alone, the wine industry was valued at over 88 billion by the end of 2020. 25. NFT Gaming is The Key to Wider Token Adoption in 2022 By Jeremy Foo, Founder and CEO at TripCandy 26. Token Standards: ERC-20 vs. ERC-721 vs. ERC-1155 ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comment, and by addressing this topic is going to help us better understand the reach of many blockchain use cases. 27. RE: [LA blockchain conference 2021] LA blockchain conference impressions - living in a bubble, healthy and unhealthy areas in crypto, reasons of being skeptical of DeFi... 28. Discover the Reason 'Agent-Based Modelling' and 'Tokenomics' Compliment Each Other Agent-based models have been around for a few decades now. They are one of the main methodologies behind the study of complex systems. 29. What is Unit Protocol and Why Does it Matter? Unit Protocol is a decentralized protocol that allows you to mint stablecoin $USDP using a variety of tokens as collateral. 30. Is Elon Musk WRONG About Dogecoin? The CEO of Koinos Group explains Dogecoin and what Elon Musk might be getting wrong. 31. My vision of the EOS foundation Inside the upcoming EOS Foundation 32. How To Get Your Token Listed On A Crypto Exchange (Podcast Transcript) Amy Tom talks to Yevheniia Shmelkova, the Token Specialist at Mysterium Network about crypto exchanges. 33. Understanding the current state of P2P Token Swaps The rise of open finance solutions powered by public code exemplifies how the benefits of simplicity, steeled by decentralization, can be revolutionary. 34. How to Script the CF API With and Python CF OAUTH-TOKEN A bit of Python, a dancing gopher, and proper course etiquette are all you need to know how to log in and loop through the results. 35. Deciding What Kind of Exchange Is Best for Your Token Where is it better to list tokens on a centralized or decentralized exchange? In the new Hackernoon story, I answer what is better for the project — CEX or DEX 36. Tokens Represent the Next Generation of Capital Many central banks are considering digital currencies. The tedious process and costs associated with paper currency prohibit financial inclusion. 37. A Guide to Using the Permit Function of the DAI Stablecoin As soon as the price of the Native Token starts climbing your Twitter feeds will be filled with the high gas fee hue and cry. 38. TURN Time Into Value Web3 projects can now leverage TURN tokens – a new open marketplace for buyers and sellers of Diligence smart contract security auditing. 39. DeFiChain introduces dTokens which allows traders to trade Disney, Intel and MicroStrategy ETF DeFiChain, the world's top blockchain on the Bitcoin network has launched four new decentralised assets called dTokens. 40. Top 5 Methods of Running an Effective Cryptocurrency Exchange Anti Danilevski, KickEX CEO and founder, talks about Top 5 Methods of Running an Effective Cryptocurrency Exchange based on his own experiences in the field. 41. Secure Tokens are More Successful - Here's Why How important is security in the modern world? It is crucial, especially when it comes to finances, no matter the form. As the novelty of crypto assets starts w 42. The Rise of Rebase Tokens in DeFi Ever since rebase tokens came into the front with OlympusDAO, there have been many forks and projects that are using this clever DeFi mechanism. 43. It's Time to Give Meme Tokens a Purpose Each meme token is moving to offer a unique value proposition in a space more known for inside jokes than serious efforts toward innovation. 44. Understanding Ethereum Token Standards Tokens are an incredibly important part of Ethereum and in Web3. Understanding the standards for each type of token can help you understand how it works. 45. Three Visions on How to Value New Tokens & the Cryptocurrency Market in General The whole world is waking up to the fact that despite its trials and tribulations, this new asset class is here to stay. Now, how do we determine its worth? 46. Should a Native Token be the Only Holding or is There a Case for Diversification? As a DAO, the concept of holding your native token in the treasury makes sense. 47. How Tokens Are Turning Out To Be The Digital Currency Solution for the 21st Century As we all know, the world we live in has evolved significantly. Individuals and companies are looking for new ways to bring their ideas to life, make payments for goods and services, and get enough cash flow to ensure that they stay operational in whatever it is that they choose to do or pursue. 48. Does Token Supply Affect the Price? Everything You Need to Know Natasha Che ponders whether token supply affects the price. 49. Analyzing a Crypto Token: A Beginner's Guide Crypto Investing 101 50. Away with Amazon: Let's Decentralize the Ecommerce Platform Economy A digital platform that rewards and is owned by its users will benefit from infinite network effects and scale like no others. 51. The Craze for NFTS and the Downsides Despite its relative straightforwardness as a token, NFT industry participants can have wildly differing opinions on what NFTs really are. Here are 4 viewpoints 52. Fair Launch Isn’t Really Fair Can crypto companies survive and thrive with fair launches depending on community support and do people understand the value of money? What about marketing ? 53. The Healthcare Revolution: How The Metaverse Can Transform Traditional Industries And Improve Them How new technology from the Metaverse and Web3 can help improve the healthcare industry by improving training, making better tools and making processes better. 54. Fundamental Analysis of ATOM, NEAR, WLKN, A8, MATIC Fundamental analysis of Polygon (MATIC), Ancient8 (A8), Walken (WLKN), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), and COSMOS (ATOM) will help you make the right decision in 2022. 55. Making a Difference in the Web3 and NFT Space The combination of unique and meaningful art, charitable focus, community involvement, and creative endeavors makes the Tutti Frutti Women NFT project stand ou 56. Italy's Covid19 Stimulus: Tokenization of Tax Credits And The New Digital Lira The day that the Italian borders were reopened after the lockdown — on June 3rd — I drove across the Brenner Pass with an overwhelming joy. I could finally rejoin my family and my old friends. 57. Interoperability in NFT Games with Adrian Krion In this slogging AMA, we hosted Adrian Krion, the CEO of Spielworks. Adrian explained the purpose of Spielworks, and we discussed tokens, gaming and NFTs. Thank you for checking out the 57 most read stories about Token on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

57 Stories To Learn About Token

80 Stories To Learn About Blockchain Games

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Let's learn about via these 64 free stories. They are ordered by most time reading created on HackerNoon. Visit the to find the most read stories about any technology. Interoperability /Learn Repo 1. What Is True Blockchain Interoperability? If you are in the crypto world, then the word "blockchain interoperability" may familiar to you because there are so many projects are gaining publicity and funds from investors by using this term, and many projects like  Chainlink, Cosmos, Polkadot, and Wanchain are claiming to give true blockchain interoperability. So in this article, we will discuss about these   projects and try to understand what kind of blockchain interoperability they are giving and what benefits we can get because of blockchain interoperability? 2. The Spatial Web is Coming... Web 3.0 is About to Take a Giant Leap - Part 4 Anything that wants to be recognized will have to be included in this Web 3.0 network. Every protocol, platform, interaction, messaging, data distribution, 1st 3. Blockchain Interoperability: What Do Cross-Chain Messages Do Anyway Cross-chain messages, the bread and butter of interoperability are an important blockchain technology that be used for transactions, information exchange & more 4. DAOs are a Catalyst for Decentralization - Unhashed #15 Harmony.one’s founder, Stephen Tse, discusses the importance of interoperability for blockchain. 5. Understanding Ethermint Ethermint is a portmanteau word blending Ethereum and Tendermint together. But for most people, their grasp on the project, the what, the why stops there. 6. Startup Interview with Antonio Peláez, Dapp CEO & Cofounder Dapp was nominated as one of the best startups in Queretaro in Startups of the Year hosted by HackerNoon. 7. Interoperability - the Key Blockchain Challenge in the Fragmented Web3 World A major blocker of Web3 is that blockchain are often isolated with no communication between them. The expansion of Web3 requires interoperability. 8. Meet Lisk Lisk is an open-source blockchain application platform that aims to improve Web3 accessibility for both users and developers. 9. Building for Inclusivity: Deconstructing Metaverse Barriers Joining the Metaverse isn't so easy, as this striped red fox recently discovered. So how do we embed inclusivity into its foundation for an equitable future? 10. Bullieverse: Building a Metaverse Beyond Gaming During the Non-fungible Conference, Hackernoon got an exclusive interview with Arunkumar Krishnakumar, who shared insights on his new project, Bullieverse. 11. A New Era of Interoperability With Metropolis World and Flare Network Metropolis World wants to go one step further and bridge the gap between different blockchains and metaverses, partnering with the Flare Network 12. The Difference Between WWW and the Spatial Web The World Wide Web is a library of pages. The Spatial Web is a library of spaces.
using a new protocol linking spaces and all objects over multiple dimensions. 13. Univers Partners With VR Connections to Make Metaverse Interoperability a Reality As the Metaverse narrative grows we will see multiple and different iterations of the Metaverse, each one based on the vision laid out by its creators. 14. True Decentralization is the Key to Cross-chain Bridge Security That said, even though today’s bridging solutions are not without their shortcomings, cross-chain bridging is a mandatory feature for blockchains. 15. Interoperability and Why It's Important for the Blockchain Space Interoperability in the context of blockchains refers to a blockchain's capacity to freely exchange information with other blockchains which will be important. 16. How Is Inter-blockchain Communication and Interoperability Achieved? This story explains inter-blockchain communication (IBC) and interoperability. 17. The Spatial Web Is at Hand...Is Web3 Prepared? - Part 1 Most Web3 companies are building for "enhanced" Web2 experiences. They are not yet considering what is truly required for the implementation of a decentralized 18. The Spatial Web is at Hand... What are Smart Technologies? Part 2 Undeniably, there are specific Smart Technologies that will be crucial to the architecture of this universal network of interconnected people, places & things, 19. Problems With Cross-Chain Bridging and Direct Integrations With Web2 Blockchain bridges are hard to do technically and susceptible to hacks. That's why other solutions like direction integrations are needed. 20. Providing Proof in an Untrusting World Dragonchain's hybrid platform provides blockchain-based measurable proof  for selective transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance. 21. Exciting Developments in the Blockchain Industry 2022 A look at exciting developments in the blockchain industry for 2022. 22. Lisk Events at Berlin Blockchain Week Do you want to learn more about blockchain? Would you like to network with other Web3 enthusiasts and learn more about the most important industry trends? Then 23. The Role of Multichain Token Systems in Achieving Blockchain Interoperability In this interview we'll speak with Marius Ciortan on the role that multichain token systems play in achieving interoperability. 24. A Beginners Guide On Blockchain Bridges Blockchain Bridges address Blockchain's inherent inability for interoperability. By allowing different chains to communicate, the ecosystem is streamlined. 25. Cosmos Signal: Our Quarterly Keynote, Q3 2021 Our all-new high-impact quarterly keynote in which we reveal the latest exciting developments and showcase stunning new products in the Cosmos ecosystem is here 26. Omnichain dApps: a new crypto primitive Why the world needs a decentralized blockchain with built-in omnichain interoperability 27. Avatars and The Metaverse Here is what you need to know about avatars in the metaverse 28. Cross-chain Communication and the Role of CCU This is the next edition of the blog post series covering the details of the Lisk interoperability solution. 29. A Guide to Cross-Chain Bridges With the rapid development of DeFi market, the need for a covenient solution to transfer the assets between chains became apparent. 30. The Lingering Problem With Cross-Chain Bridges Without interoperability protocols, decentralization would be a myth. Let's explore the problem of cross-chain bridges and its solution. 31. Interoperability and Its Role in the adoption of Blockchain Technology A look at interoperability and its role in the adoption of blockchain technology 32. Why Multichain Collaboration Is Critical To The Future Of Web3 Web3 is going to be built by a network of engineers working towards common goals using multichain collaboration to make it as interconnected as possible. 33. Why the Spatial Web Demands a New Protocol As technology evolves, the way in which we interact with it and utilize it demands more expansion and sophistication over time. 34. Compact Blockchain Protocols can Disrupt IoT Devices If designed in a compact manner, blockchain applications can disrupt the IoT industry. 35. Layer2 Interoperability: StarkEx Vs.  Loopring Vs. Hermez Vs. Connext StarkEx, Loopring, Hermez and Connext use different methods to solve the funding efficiency problem of liquidity providers. Will any of them be a perfect one? 36. "Interoperability Would Mean Real Freedom of Money" - Binance CEO CZ [Original Interview] Despite going through a very rough period between early 2018 and early 2020, the so-called “crypto winter” has seemingly come to an end. Bitcoin and alternative markets are showing signs of life in terms of price discovery. Combined with the rise in attention for DeFi projects, the second half of this year - as well as the years to come - offer a lot of potential. More and more companies are paying attention to Bitcoin. As Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao states, it is a sign of stimulus money flowing from Wall Street into Bitcoin. 37. Peeling Off the Layers of the Metaverse The metaverse has layers, just like ogres and onions. 38. Cryptocurrency 2020: Heading Towards Privacy, Adoption, and Ease of Use? If cryptocurrency payments are to ever compete with credit cards and mobile apps for day-to-day use, sending and receiving cryptocurrency needs to be just as easy. 39. DeFiChain's U-Zyn Chua Thinks Multichain Web3 Compatibility is Where Blockchain Industry is Headed Discussion on the future of multichain technology within the Web3 space. 40. Ethereum High Transaction Fees Discourages New Participants From Entering the Ecosystem This article talks about blockchain, FATF and NFTs. 41. "India May Regulate Crypto But I don’t Anticipate A Ban" - Sandeep Nailwal This interview discusses the internet of blockchain, Polygon/matic and Defi and how developers can build decentralised applications. 42. The State of Blockchain Interoperability in 2020 [An Overview] This is my first major study (source), about Blockchain Interoperability, which started in December 2019 and was last updated today. We analysed 330+ documents and obtained feedback from 30 people, to categorize the most relevant blockchain interoperability projects. We came up with three categories: Cryptocurrency-directed interoperability approaches, Blockchain Engines, and Blockchain Connectors. 43. "Rollups Incentivize Operators to Verify and Execute Transactions Correctly." - Kevin Liu This interview talks about blockchain interoperability and scaling blockchain solutions with layer two solutions. 44. "The Need for Interoperability Is Becoming Increasingly Clear" - Jack Lu This article talks about blockchain interoperability and the early days of ethereum and smart contract development. 45. Catalysing DeFi: Introduction to Fusion and Fantom The DeFi space is growing tremendously since its inception, and platforms like Fusion and Fantom are proving to be the catalyst in this ever-growing niche. 46. The State of Blockchain Interoperability in 2021 After nearly 9 months of work, version 3 of “A Survey on Blockchain Interoperability: Past, Present, and Future Trends” is out. This survey depicts the state of blockchain interoperability as of March 2021, by collecting and analyzing 404 documents. 47. Blockchain Interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system, whose interfaces are completely understood, to work with other products or systems, at present or in the future, in either implementation or access, without any restrictions. - Wikipedia 48. From Bianjie Point of View: On Helping Develop Cosmos Ecosystem We discuss how Bianjie and IRISnet have been instrumental in developing Cosmos so far, what the recent grant from the Interchain Foundation (ICF) means and more 49. Meet the New Lisk Mainnet Lisk Mainnet v2 successfully completed the migration to Lisk Mainnet v3. This comprises the biggest protocol changes on the Lisk blockchain ever. See details. 50. Token Transfers Using IBC Passing of Proposal 41 marks a momentous milestone in the evolution of the Cosmos ecosystem & the vision to realize the IBC Protocol as foundation. 51. Crypto Projects Are Racing to Crack the Interoperability Problem Interoperability is a big word with even bigger connotations for the cryptosphere. In Fact, apart from the burgeoning DeFi movement, no other industry vertical is attracting so much investment and interest. 52. Using Web3 to Detangle the World’s Supply Chain The global supply chain is in a gridlock. Let's fix that. 53. Purchase NFTs on Flare Using the Token of a Different Blockchain - Trustlessly! Dubai, Feb 23: The layer-1 for data, Flare, just completed a live demonstration of new interoperability functionality now available in beta on the network. Using two core interoperability protocols, State Connector and Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO), an NFT was trustlessly purchased with the transaction taking place on a different chain using a different token. The demo was performed on Flare’s canary network, Songbird, with the purchase made using DOGE and XRP tokens. 54. Why does Blockchain Interoperability exist? Around ten months ago we wrote in this blog post that all the research up to blockchain interoperability was completed. 55. Blockchain Interoperability: The Lifecycle of a Sidechain From its inception to its potential termination, a sidechain may go through three stages, corresponding to three states, in the context of the interoperability. 56. Novel Solutions for Inclusive Digital Currencies An efficient, interoperable, scalable, and quantum encrypted CBDC solution for sovereign monetary systems of the future, possible today. 57. Lisk's Interoperability Solution: An Overview One of the central topics at our recent Lisk.js 2021 event, and the one we are most proud of in the Research team, was the publication of the Lisk interoperabil 58. Sparse Merkle Trees: The New State Model for Lisk's Interoperability This blog post is part of the interoperability blog post series taking a closer look at various aspects of the Lisk interoperability solution. 59. Tips to Achieve Data Interoperability in Healthcare Health data is notoriously difficult to share. Due to its sensitive nature, it requires more privacy and security than any other data. However, the inability to access it on time can cause significant harm. In a world with high healthcare interoperability, doctors can aggregate patient data from various care facilities with a few mouse clicks and view it on their computer screen, including the complex medical imaging files. This will supply clinicians with a comprehensive overview of a patient’s medical history, allow them to access any recent test results, instead of having to repeat the same tests, and will eliminate redundant entries. In their pursuit of interoperability, medical facilities turn to healthcare software development vendors. But they are met with various challenges, including technicalities, such as which standard to choose, privacy concerns, and reluctance towards data sharing. So, how to improve interoperability in healthcare? And is it worth the investment? 60. Co-Chains: Bridging Public and Private chains as a way to INTEROPERABILITY? Blockchain industry is developing at a very high pace of innovation, adjusting and tuning its parameters, trying to find its market fit. There are thousands of projects available on the CMC, but just a few really worth a bigger attention. Lets try to briefly review the industry, its trends, where we are heading, and how Hybrid platforms (priv+pub) fit into a bigger picture. 61. Blockchain Bridges And Interoperability: Overview, Roles, and Integrations To resolve the issue of non-interoperability, a cornerstone technology of blockchain has been developed — the bridge. 62. Polkadot Deep Dive 2021 - Connecting The $DOTs A detailed 2021 guide on Polkadot and how it is geared towards solving some of the most fundamental yet complex problems faced by the blockchain ecosystem today 63. Interoperability in NFT Games with Adrian Krion In this slogging AMA, we hosted Adrian Krion, the CEO of Spielworks. Adrian explained the purpose of Spielworks, and we discussed tokens, gaming and NFTs. 64. On Multichain and Interoperability with Maciej Baj and Jacobi Kowalewski In this Slogging AMA, we welcome Maciej Baj and Jacob Kowalewski from t3rn, a smart contracts platform. Thank you for checking out the 64 most read stories about Interoperability on HackerNoon. to find the most read stories about any technology. Visit the /Learn Repo

64 Stories To Learn About Interoperability

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Startups of the Year here https://hackernoon.com/startups?embedable=true Here’s what people are saying about Startups of the Year 2023: , Emin Vali Metafluence Sally Chalk, CEO and Founder at Signapse | AI Powered Sign Language Leadzai Atmosec Ayaz Saiyad, CEO & Founder of TH3RA Consulting EquityList DogQ Harry Enaholo, CEO & Cofounder at Treford | Co-Convener of No-Code Tech Summit NYNJA Spielworks Until next time, Bye Hackers

A Frighteningly Good Update: New Start Writing Experience, Tech Job Board, and More CMS Features

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Welcome to today's interview on the adoption of Web3 in gaming! We are here to explore the challenges faced by the gaming industry in embracing Web3 technologies and integrating them into existing gaming platforms. With the rise of blockchain, decentralized finance, and smart contracts, Web3 has the potential to revolutionize the gaming landscape, offering new opportunities for player experiences, ownership of virtual assets, and innovative monetization models. However, this transition is not without its hurdles. Today, I am speaking with Adrian Krion, CEO of Spielworks, to delve into the complexities and obstacles faced by game developers and industry stakeholders as they navigate the integration of Web3 into the gaming ecosystem. Through thought-provoking questions, we aim to uncover the key challenges, potential solutions, and the transformative impact Web3 technologies can have on the gaming industry. So let's dive into this exciting exploration of Web3 adoption in gaming! What are some main challenges the gaming industry faces in adopting Web3 technologies? Most underlying blockchain technologies have been built to be secure and trustless but not necessarily easy to understand or use. Therefore, the industry has struggled to develop abstraction layers for easier use. If we think back to the rise of the internet, we had similar challenges, dial-up modems, no browsers, no search engines, etc. It simply takes time to figure out the major patterns for user experiences with Web3. Another challenge is the quality of games and how hard it is to make great games. AAA titles take years to develop and are at high risk of failure, so it's expected that even after the large wave of investments into the Web3 Gaming industry in 2021 / 2022, it will take a few years for excellent titles to be launched. As an additional aspect, the added complexity of Web3 economies has meant even more struggle for Web3 game developers. Not only do they have to figure out entertaining and engaging game mechanics, but they also have to design an economy that's balanced and doesn't result in pure pay-to-win or "ponzinomics," economies which by design break when too few new players come in. How do you see Web3 technologies changing the gaming industry in terms of player experiences and interactions? Web3 has the potential to alter player experiences in three major ways: Firstly, early adopters become "investors" in a game, holding assets that might accrue value as the game becomes more popular. This can generate a solid core of community for a game, much more robust than in traditional games. Secondly, exiting a game gets easier for the average player, as they can monetize on some of the assets they've generated in a given game with their time and money spent in a game. This avoids a lot of frustration with gamers when they don't feel like they can stop playing a particular game as they would lose all the assets they had played for. Finally, on a social level, Web3-based assets can transcend the borders of individual games. This allows others to glance at a player's track record and identity by just looking at this player's wallet. Entire social networks could be built on top of game asset interactions. What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of integrating Web3 technologies into existing gaming platforms? Many drawbacks circle the difficulties of balancing economies when moving them into Web3. Business models that rely on selling a particular product to each paying user will collapse if the same product is suddenly available for secondary trading. Existing games and platforms are unprepared for that, meaning any commercially successful game would refrain from integrating Web3. The benefits, conversely, can range from diversification of revenue, e.g., by including secondary trading royalties into the revenue mix, to higher CLVs due to increased basket sizes based on the re-saleability of the purchased assets or improved retention. How can the gaming industry ensure the security and privacy of players when implementing Web3 technologies? Biometric wallet solutions can help with securing assets to a large extent. They make it harder for users to forget their wallet seed phrase or store backups in insecure places. The privacy part hasn't been getting as much attention. Still, the technical solutions have already been developed (e.g., using Zero Knowledge mechanisms). They are waiting to be used, e.g., to allow users to hide certain assets in their wallets from the general public and only have them displayed to people they've explicitly allowed to do so. This can be handled on a trustless level without intermediaries handling the process, so Web3 also offers solutions to improve protection from data leaks and 3rd party exploitation of data. What technical barriers do gaming companies need to overcome when integrating Web3 into their platforms? Some of the significant issues for companies looking to integrate with Web3 are the poor reliability of Web3-based platforms, including APIs and sometimes even base infrastructure. Building great User Experience based on Ethereum-compatible technologies is also reasonably complex from a technical standpoint, as many abstraction layers don't exist or aren't unreliable. On top of that, developers often struggle with choosing the base technologies they want to build on and all the related, potentially unforeseeable consequences: If I mint my assets on one blockchain, will they ever be interoperable with other chains? Will the history and provenance of these assets be preserved? Which technical solution will exist for inter-chain operability? If I use a bridge, will that be secure? Many of these issues can be solved by providing the correct type of mature middleware. In the Web3 gaming space, there are probably 20 or more companies building and offering developer and deployment solutions to help with the Web3 integrations for games; however, many of them are still in their earlier stages. How can blockchain technology be leveraged to enhance in-game economies and ownership of virtual assets in the gaming industry? I believe gaming companies building in Web3 must ensure they enable non-custodial, interoperable wallet solutions and generally focus on potential interoperability. Only this will allow the actual benefits of Web3 to permeate the gaming space. This means that fully centralized and closed ecosystems should be avoided. They only add as much "blockchain" to gaming as there's some traceability. However, suppose a single entity controls all of the infrastructure and tooling. In that case, we're back to the situation we've had in traditional gaming - reliance on large companies, arbitrariness in decisions, and loss of all investments, e.g., in the case of a user ban. What are game developers' key considerations when designing games incorporating Web3 features? Since their inception, Web3 games have had a track record of launching relatively simple gameplay, which - ideally - would evolve. However, many of the games have been overshadowed by poorly designed economics, leading to very steep bell curves in their economic development. Focusing on "play-to-earn" and generally making money has been one of the symptoms of such games, despite knowing that such schemes cannot be sustainable. Going forward, the focus needs to remain on creating fun and engaging games with long-term oriented economies that - similarly to games in the free-to-play space - avoid pay-to-win mechanics as much as possible. How do you see Web3 technologies impacting game developers' monetization models and revenue streams? In the relatively short history of Web3 games, revenue per user and Customer Lifetime Values were up to 30 or 40x on average compared to traditional, free-to-play games. However, these games mainly cater to a small and elite audience with a high willingness to pay and larger budgets: crypto holders. In the long run, there is no reason to believe that the net spend of the average gamer would be so much higher than in traditional games, meaning there'll be a strong convergence towards the historical levels. However, on a per-game basis, Web3 can potentially improve monetization, especially for more minor games. Traditionally, small game creators have struggled to make ends meet with their games. Still, a higher spend per user and especially a higher install-to-paying conversion rate can drive unit economics to sustainable levels without a large user base. On top of that, NFT secondary trading royalties allow games to generate revenue from players exiting the game or merely looking to upgrade their equipment, meaning that so long as the assets remain attractive, the revenue will be generated from them. What role does decentralized finance (DeFi) play in adopting Web3 technologies in the gaming industry? DeFi is one of the primitives required for Web3 game economies to work efficiently. Swaps, yield farms, lending, and derivatives can generate a lot of extra depth for players when considering the usage of their in-game assets. However, these functionalities must be presented in very gamer-compatible ways without much financial jargon so gamers don't get put off. Similar concepts like savings for in-game currencies have been employed by traditional games on both mobile and desktop alike before, so the entry barriers for gamers should be really low. How can game developers address the potential resistance from players unfamiliar with or hesitant about using Web3 technologies in gaming? We shouldn't try to make an actual separation between "Web3 games" and "Web2 games" or whatever terms we might be tempted to use, at least when speaking to gamers. Eventually, mainstream gamers will likely treat the Web3 component of a game as a feature of that game, not a different type or genre. Similar to what happened in the free-to-play space where premium games started implementing in-game purchases despite players having paid in full to purchase the game, I expect mixed modes to emerge. We're likely to see games that look like traditional, free-to-play game that appears in a "Web3 mode" with potentially an earning component. Employing patterns like this will make it much easier for game creators to overcome resistance from players, especially when directly bundled with tangible benefits for them.

Game Changers: Confronting the Hurdles of the Web3 Gaming Revolution

Cambiadores de juego: Enfrentando los obstáculos de la revolución de los juegos Web3

Changeurs de jeu : affronter les obstacles de la révolution du jeu Web3

गेम चेंजर्स: वेब3 गेमिंग क्रांति की बाधाओं का सामना करना

ゲームチェンジャー: Web3 ゲーム革命のハードルに立ち向かう

Game Changers: Confrontando os Obstáculos da Revolução dos Jogos Web3

Người thay đổi cuộc chơi: Đương đầu với những rào cản của cuộc cách mạng trò chơi Web3

游戏改变者：面对 Web3 游戏革命的障碍

The first quarter of 2022 saw a massive 2,000 percent explosion in blockchain-based game activity when compared with Q1 of 2021, according to a . This unprecedented growth, which ‘came out of nowhere’, is largely due to the pandemic-driven rise in popularity of . Dapp Radar x BGA report play-to-earn (P2E) NFT games No place evidently embraced the P2E craze to the extent seen in the Philippines. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and into the economic stagnation that’s only creeping up on us now, Filipinos turned to popular P2E games like “Axie Infinity” to make ends meet. In fact, the P2E phenomenon became so widespread that “ ” sprung up, where groups of gamers and investors train together to share gaming profits. As of March, 520 P2E gaming guilds operated in the Pacific-island nation. gaming guilds Eventually, the P2E model that enabled some users to earn profits for playing passed as it was intensively extractive to the games’ economy. When the supply of Axie Infinity’s utility token surpassed its demand, prices freefell. Other P2E blockchain games, such as “Pegaxys,” experienced similar problems. The Future of Web3 gaming Blockchain gaming’s explosion can be attributed to last year’s crypto bull market and NFT craze, built on overhyping and token launches. As the market cooled off in early 2022, before transitioning into a crypto winter, the P2E buzz faded away. Yet, investments in the blockchain gaming sector remained on an upswing. A whopping $4 billion poured into the industry in 2021, jumping to in the first half of 2022 alone. To this point, leading tech VC firm Andreeson Horowitz launched a called the Games Fund One, dedicated exclusively to investment opportunities within the blockchain gaming vertical. $6 billion $600 million fund With fresh influxes of cash and a seemingly endless list of blockchain-based games and gaming platforms flooding the scene, it became clear that many of these games lack a creative concept, let alone an enjoyable user experience. Traditional gamers hold negative attitudes toward common Web3 tenants in blockchain gaming, specifically crypto and NFT elements- a , which polled nearly 7,000 gamers, found. Additionally, non-crypto gamers tend to see barriers in the forms of wallets and the perception that crypto is bad for the environment. study published by Coda Labs With the P2E model in the rearview mirror, but blockchain gaming’s growing investments, the question begging to be asked is: How long can blockchain gaming stay relevant with a general lack of attention to gameplay and UX? Overemphasizing Crypto Blockchain gaming’s quality and problems are well documented, resulting from an emphasis on monetization via token launches and prices, NFTs, and P2E economics. This almost always came at the expense of important features that would attract gamers, not crypto-native enthusiasts looking to earn a token. experience It almost felt like developers were rushing to create games as quickly as possible so they could pump their token and onboard new users—or wallets, as user counts are referred to in the blockchain gaming world. Unsurprisingly this led to a lot of games with boring narratives, poor engines, ineffective NFT integrations, and other features or—lack thereof—that caused actual gamers to say “no thank you.” Additionally, games are being designed with unsustainable economies, aka ponzinomics, that rely heavily on new players joining and expecting to make a profit. Like with any Ponzi scheme, this model is unsustainable and harms the entire industry. That means even users who were there to primarily make money, rather than for the gameplay, were likely to lose a lot of money. This isn’t quite a winning formula for long-term success. It’s important to mention that there are blockchain games out there that are fun to play and leverage NFTs in a way that both crypto enthusiasts and traditional gamers can get on board with. But they are the exception rather than the rule. The aforementioned Coda study noted a disconnect between Web3 and traditional gamers, which, of course, isn’t surprising. This is perhaps because, according to the report, the main reason people play blockchain games is for the crypto and NFTs. Considering that gamemakers are catering to the crypto crowd, this also shouldn’t be a big shock. Gaming projects and studios have every right to build games that resonate with their audience. But investing as much in the quality of the game as in the game’s economy and crypto side isn’t going to turn away the crypto gamers. It may, however, attract mainstream gamers to crypto, which ultimately is a fundamental mission of Web3. A New Approach But does better gameplay mean blockchain gaming startups should be working to build the next “Call of Duty,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “Fortnite,” or “Pokemon?” Not necessarily, actually. Franchises like those have massive budgets that startups simply don’t, and beyond that, part of blockchain gaming’s appeal is supposed to be that it’s new and taking a different approach to gaming. Instead, they should focus on building a game that would resonate with a specific niche community of gamers. Several indie crypto games, such as “The Six Dragons” have embodied this concept with relative success. Correcting the problematic trends in Web3 gaming requires a new approach. Prioritizing mainstream appeal rather than the crypto elements means putting the UX at the center of the game development process. By default, this means strategically putting the token aspects of the game on the side, at least at the start. To this point, blockchain-gaming projects shouldn’t even think about their token launch before they are satisfied with their game—storyline, graphics, UX, and overall gameplay. Improving things like the visuals and narratives will undoubtedly attract more of the world’s , laying the foundation for a product that will in turn produce a community capable of supporting an in-game economy and the eventual token launch. estimated 3.1 billion gamers While there’s no need to build the next Call of Duty, blockchain-gaming projects would massively benefit from the expertise and experience of veteran developers from the traditional gaming industry to help build the next generation of Web3 games—or at the very least, to advise in the process. Their expertise can be invaluable to small startups working on developing blockchain games. Recruiting outside developers to help generate crossover appeal can also help with the business side because their expertise may also cover how to maximize the in-game economy. Leveraging outside support from traditional gaming experts will not only contribute to an all-around better game, but it will also show traditional gamers that blockchain and Web3 can also successfully impact the gaming world. The problem is not how to integrate blockchain into the gaming sphere, but how to actually build a game that can effectively leverage Web3 technologies, including NFTs. Integrating NFTs into games smoothly is not so simple. Instead of enhancing the gaming experience, they too often disrupt the game, unless, of course, NFTs are the player’s motivation to play in the first place. NFTs have already been heavily integrated into new mobile games and have even been leveraged by traditional gaming studios, including ” last year, which was met with anything but a warm reception. Despite the cold reception, major mainstream developers are still gung ho about using NFTs in new games. In fact, PubG creator Brendan Greene is currently working on a , “Artemis,” which will feature NFTs. In traditional gaming, NFTs are already here, and they will continue to be used in blockchain games going forward. Ubisoft’s “Ghost Recon Breakpoint new metaverse game To smoothly integrate NFTs into a specific game, developers need to consider what type of people play the game and what their motivations for playing are. By considering these factors, developers can find clues on how to use NFTs to entice crypto gamers while not turning off traditional gamers. Of course, ultimately, NFTs will never be the selling point for traditional gamers—quality and UX reign supreme with this demographic. Sidelining token launches temporarily to focus on the game itself, hiring veteran developers from the traditional gaming industry, and strategically and tactically integrating NFTs in the right way will help blockchain gaming stay relevant and live up to investors’ expectations. It’s not blockchain gaming’s responsibility to help convert users into crypto enthusiasts. But focusing more on the experience and less on the tokens will benefit the overall crypto ecosystem. By Adrian Krion, CEO and maker of the user-friendly gaming wallet . Spielworks Wombat Lead image generated with stable diffusion.

A Roadmap for Web3 Gaming Projects That Actually Care About Game Play

Designing a game that people actually want to play is tough. Adding a token economy on top of it that enhances the gameplay is a challenge few have mastered. And lastly, competition between publishers and game developers is fierce, so designing an ecosystem where digital collectibles are transferable between games requires the politicking of Frank Underwood from “House of Cards.” With all of this in mind, it’s shocking that the P2E-gaming world is thriving. its first blockchain game is coming, it will be releasing four new blockchain games, and even the Metaverse craze with a new virtual footwear platform. Sega announced Fifa unveiled Nike joined There is clearly something brewing. Blockchain doesn’t equal cryptocurrencies. The technology itself is home to many new advancements other than digital currencies, and even though Meta is struggling, to say the least, the Metaverse is still poised to become the norm for online gaming. While the world heads into recession, VC investors invested more than $4.5 billion in the development of Metaverse games and other Metaverse projects in 2022, show. And this is only the beginning. DappRadar statistics Early blockchain-gaming pioneer recently reached an impressive three million sign-ups, with more than 65,000 active daily users. These kinds of statistics belie the glum stats about famous but ultimately . Spielworks unpopular Metaverses It’s true that some games try to distance themselves from NFTs as much as possible—even “Grand Theft Auto” from its online servers. And it’s also true that with FTX’s collapse, Justin Bieber’s Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT of its value. banned crypto and NFTs shed nearly 95% Companies like , on the other hand, deployed $150 million to acquire AAA-quality games for the platforms, on the heels of unlocking $2.2 billion in P2E revenue in 2021 for its players. Jason “BitBender” Brink, the president of blockchain at Gala, was quoted saying, “I think we are the first company in history that has given away more money than we made.” With numbers like these, it’s easy to understand why P2E and NFT gaming are unstoppable forces. Gala Games Yes, the current economy is hitting crypto even harder because it’s newer, riskier, and more volatile—but it’s hitting everyone, and it’s not going away anytime soon. So instead of wallowing in despair from the constant stream of bad economic news, we can keep an eye out for news that shows where this inevitable future of tech is going. , The world's first fashion Metaverse for creators, partnered with the Royal College of Art (RCA), the world's most influential postgraduate institution of art and design. Through the partnership, platform users will be able to use and co-create digital fashion designed by RCA alumni, helping steer the fashion industry online. GN3RA On the digital vehicle front, software giant is working with Volvo to . Of course, Volvo is already running computer simulations, but the Metaverse takes this to the next level using “Digital Twins,” exact replicas of real-world cars. NVIDIA fully test cars in the Metaverse While the naysayers nay, innovators can look around at their peers, and see some incredible projects in the works. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, “it’s not the critic that counts, the credit belongs to the man in the arena.” Nowhere is that more true than in the innovation space. Like Schrodinger's cat, the Metaverse is simultaneously here, and it’s coming. There is no telling where it will end up—all we know is that it’s going at tremendous speeds.

Web3 Gaming Is More Mainstream Than You Think

Crypto gaming uses blockchain technology to enable ownership of in-game assets. There is already a large industry for in-game items like skins and in-game currencies. However, blockchain-based assets enable true ownership since players can store their in-game assets via a crypto wallet. Play-to-Earn (P2E) gaming is one major innovation birthed from crypto gaming, allowing players to earn an income by earning blockchain assets that players can exchange for real currency. With the introduction of in-game asset trading, tradable game tokens, and the prospect of earning cryptocurrencies while playing, crypto gaming not only lays the basis for play-to-earn for players but also modifies the pay-to-play dynamic for gamers. For example, some games require users to buy NFT characters to play, while others let players get started with a free character until they earn enough crypto to buy an NFT character. Crypto gaming allows for transparent, virtual markets in the gaming industry, where players may buy, sell, and trade in-game items without giving up any ownership rights to such items. The fact that these resources are preserved in the form of gaming NFTs speaks to their special nature. Blockchain gaming enables a wide variety of interoperability across gaming ecosystems thanks to integrating in-game assets (i.e., NFTs) across different platforms. However, the degree of interoperability possible when creating a gaming environment depends on the kind of blockchain platform used. Because of the unparalleled security and confidence surrounding blockchain technology, ownership of in-game assets are easier to verify, and that leads us to NFTs and how they benefit blockchain gaming. The Benefit of NFTs in Gaming Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) also play a part in blockchain gaming. NFTs are unique blockchain-based assets that can be used to verify ownership of linked assets. Unlike digital currencies, they are utilized for unique assets to provide a shared sense of ownership. This is what differentiates them from digital currencies. Before the advent of blockchain technology, malicious individuals could save and distribute an infinite number of copies of most digital items and re-sell them. While people can still save and copy files (for example, the "right click, save" movement seen with NFT art pieces), the copied files have no value if they aren't the original. Blockchain technology links an NFT to a file or digital item, allowing anyone to verify its authenticity, so making copies of a file or asset does not affect the value of the original. As a result, blockchain technology enables the creation of truly unique in-game assets, and players can easily verify the authenticity of the assets. In turn, NFTs within the gaming industry can bring many benefits, including a larger creator economy due to the inherent value of NFT gaming assets. Additional benefits include easier and safer in-game item trading between players and additional revenue streams for developers in the form of sales royalties for every NFT item sold. Gaming startup Spielworks onboards Stillfront co-founder to spearhead BizDev and expand its Web3 reach , a blockchain gaming startup, recently welcomed Nicklas Dunham to its team as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Having built his reputation as a serial entrepreneur in the gaming industry, Dunham will target some of the most prominent enterprises in mainstream gaming to build, grow, and nurture Spielworks’s reach, as well as create new opportunities for collaboration with traditional gaming titles. Spielworks In the last 20+ years, Dunham has founded and worked with many of Sweden’s household names in gaming, such as , , and GRIN. His portfolio includes titles like The Darkness, Chronicles of Riddick, and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for Xbox, Playstation, and PC. Having worked across most of the gaming platforms and business models, Dunham brings his deep understanding of the industry to lead Spielworks’s business development and bolster the company’s effort to pioneer Web3 gaming. Stillfront Starbreeze Spielworks also recently partnered with four popular NFT games to enable its community to enjoy a native login through the Wombat wallet. The integrated games include and on the Binance Smart Chain, (Polygon), and (Wax). Gunstar Metaverse Tiny World Planet IX Realm NFT The partnership essentially integrates these four popular NFT games into the Wombat wallet, expanding Wombat’s portfolio of games while growing its community of NFT enthusiasts. Users can now access these games and exchange NFTs via the Wombat wallet. Spielworks has built one of the fastest-growing blockchain gaming ecosystems in the market, featuring more than 3 million sign-ups and 65,000 daily users. The ecosystem incorporates its multi-chain non-custodial , crypto rewards platform featuring 40 AA and AAA supported titles, and Top 20 NFT staking game counting more than 1 million staked NFTs. Wombat App Womplay Wombat Dungeon Master “As Web3 gaming gains traction, a lot of traditional gaming folks are starting to realize this is where the innovation is at, and that means it’s shaping the future of the broader gaming industry,” says Adrian Krion, CEO of Spielworks. “Spielworks has pioneered blockchain gaming from the beginning, and we’re proud to welcome such a well-regarded traditional gaming innovator to expand our reach and bridge traditional gaming with Web3.” “This is an entirely new frontier, and I’m excited about all the discoveries and impact we will make together with the rest of the Spielworks team,” says Dunham. “There is still a lot to figure out, but I hope to bring the right sense of direction to our partner-making efforts and get everyone in the gaming world as passionate as we are about what Web3 brings to the table.” In Closing Blockchain technology has brought a new dimension to the gaming industry, especially by introducing the Play-to-Earn system and true ownership of in-game items.

How Blockchain Technology Affects Ownership in the Gaming Industry

Crypto gaming is a growing sector in the crypto world with huge potential due to the potential of traditional gaming, which is estimated to be worth over . Despite a sideways-moving crypto market, it looks like crypto gaming still has room to grow this year. $300 billion Let's take a look at the crypto gaming ecosystem in 2022 and some recent developments. How the crypto gaming ecosystem is faring in 2022 Crypto gaming has traditionally been confined to its own crypto bubble, but now large AAA companies are getting interested in the space. Despite pushback from the gaming community, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Square Enix have all publicly lauded the development of blockchain-based gaming. On the other hand, as the industry continues to work to alleviate pain points, an increasing number of individuals are showing interest in games that run on the blockchain. As a result of the limitations that were present in the early days, forthcoming crypto games will need to have deeper gameplay and high-fidelity visuals in order to reach a level of adoption comparable to traditional gaming. Play-to-Earn (P2E) models may be more challenging to accept compared to Play-and-Earn models, due to the latter having a deeper focus on gaming instead of earning tokens. More players will find out that earning value on the blockchain won't distract them from the essential features of the game if developers design games with the primary focus of providing an enjoyable gaming experience for players. The difficulty of getting started in crypto gaming is one of the most significant problems that the industry is facing. This is due to some crypto games having high entry costs. Most of the bigger blockchain games requires players to spend hundreds of dollars in up-front charges, which is something that may initially interest gamers since the games are advertised as having free-to-play aspects (looking at you, Axie Infinity). Developers are becoming aware of these obstacles and are attempting to build and improve the experience that a user has when it is their first time using the product. Crypto gaming and Defi firm Spielworks see's 2.6 million signups and announces $WOMBAT token sale Blockchain technology has opened a new opportunity for video game developers, empowering them to build worlds where users can exercise full and verifiable ownership over digital assets. Even amid the ongoing bear run, the gaming sector of the blockchain space carries on all but undented, indicating a strong user and investor interest. With the decentralized gaming industry poised for more growth as it expands to include and enters , its rise could make the next milestone for the traditional gaming industry. AAA titles mainstream platforms Spielworks, a blockchain gaming, and decentralized finance (Defi) platform announces the upcoming public sale of its $WOMBAT token. Slated for July 27, the event will see the company offer 300 million $WOMBAT, or three percent of the token’s hard-capped maximum supply of 10 billion, to gamers and investors looking to join its blockchain gaming ecosystem. Spielworks' blockchain gaming ecosystem has seen 2.6 million signups and 65,000 daily players. The ecosystem incorporates its multi-chain non-custodial , crypto rewards platform featuring 40 AA and AAA supported titles, and a Top 20 NFT staking game counting 700,000 staked NFTs. Wombat Wallet Womplay Wombat Dungeon Master The $WOMBAT utility and governance token was introduced earlier this year and will be used to acquire assets and services, as well as additional use cases. In the upcoming public sale, the firm will sell $WOMBAT tokens for 0.006 USD each, with a 2,000 USD cap per user/wallet. Investors must pass a Know Your Customer (KYC) check and join the whitelist to participate in the public auction. The three-month public sale vesting period. The vesting period for the public sale is three months. The token was initially released on the Ethereum blockchain, transferrable to other supported networks via cross-chain bridges. The public token sale, however, will take place on the Polygon blockchain. Besides the public sale, gamers will be able to earn the token through community rewards for various actions within the ecosystem. While a total of 30 percent of $WOMBAT’s maximum supply has been allocated to community rewards, their size will gradually decrease over time. Virtual land is becoming a more attractive choice for investors More and more businesses are making in virtual land as a result of the expansion of the metaverse and the phenomenon known as FOMO (fear of missing out). In the same way, as Web2 caused disruptions in the conventional brick-and-mortar retail businesses, Web3 will go much farther in this direction. Emerging metaverses like Decentraland and The Sandbox may give an appealing option for companies re-evaluating their physical footprint. Virtual land in these growing metaverses can provide an attractive (and cheaper) alternative to physical real estate. significant investments Already, we can see how these online venues can successfully host live events. It is conceivable that companies will start exploiting these digital worlds to create realistic virtual shopping experiences for both commodities that exist only in the metaverse and those that exist in the real world. This is the point when going to other digital worlds for inspiration (like PlayStation Home, for example) might be helpful in igniting new ideas and methods for companies to engage with their followers and customers. People will begin to join the blockchain in greater numbers as more companies make investments and get active in the metaverse. In Closing The blockchain ecosystem is still growing in 2022, attracting big players in traditional gaming such as Ubisoft and Square Enix. We're also seeing an increased interest in virtual real estate by investors.

A Look at the Crypto Gaming Ecosystem in 2022

Adrian Krion is the CEO of Spielworks. In this slogging AMA, we hosted Adrian and he explained to our community the purpose of Spielworks. We also took the chance to ask Adrian about tokens, the future of the gaming industry, and interoperability in NFT games. This Slogging thread by Sara Pinto, Mónica Freitas, Adrian Krion, Cris Silva, Mark Finnigan, Jack Boreham, John T., Kelley Dane and Limarc Ambalina occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability. Sara Pinto Jul 26, 2022, 10:00 AM Hi @channel, please join me in welcoming the CEO of Spielworks, Adrian Krion. Spielworks fulfills the promise of to empower . With users' experience at the core, they make entering easy, fun and secure. You can ask Adrian anything about: blockchain gaming crypto Launching a token in the bear market Why is the gaming sector still booming despite inflation, etc Why interoperability in NFT games is not a blockchain problem 🙏 1 🔥 2 💯 1 Sara Pinto Jul 26, 2022, 10:01 AM Hey Adrian Krion, it's a pleasure to have you with us. To start off, can you tell us a bit about your background and the how Spielworks started? Mónica Freitas Jul 26, 2022, 10:06 AM Hi Adrian Krion! It's great to meet you! I'd love to know why you created Spielworks. What problem was Spielworks designed to answer? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 10:16 AM Hi Sara Pinto great to be here and sorry for my little delay. My name is Adrian, I'm the founder & CEO of Spielworks, the company building Wombat. I personally have a background in Computer Science and Mathematics and used to work in traditional finance for over seven years (Deutsche Boerse Group), building market models and trading systems for commodities. I got into crypto in early 2013 by buying Bitcoin at 90$ and that got me hooked really bad 🙂 a bit later when I was running a software services company, I wanted to offer software built on top of Ethereum, which in turn drove me down the blockchain path professionally. In 2018, I decided to dedicate my next professional years to Web 3 and blockchain by founding Spielworks. Our goal has always been to bring blockchain to mass-market gamers by offering a seamless and risk-free experience. This is how we started building Wombat Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 10:23 AM Mónica Freitas Wombat is the flagship product of Spielworks. We really want to reduce barriers for people to get into the Web 3 space and we're convinced that gamers have a high affinity for digital assets, hence they will be early adopters of blockchain, crypto, and Web 3. But even so, there's still a lot of hesitation among gamers to dive deep into crypto because of a lot of complexity in the onboarding process, uncertainty about fraud and scams, the available tools not being very user-friendly, etc. Sara Pinto Jul 26, 2022, 10:22 AM Adrian Krion, you've been working with blockchain for quite some time now! How does Spielworks is trying to achieve that risk-free experience? Can you further explain Wombat to us? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 10:27 AM Sure, Sara Pinto. It starts with the technical onboarding, i.e. setting up private keys, blockchain accounts, getting your first crypto, and connecting with Web 3 games. However, it's not enough to offer just the technical means because gamers would still wonder "why is that cool?". We solve that by providing a very familiar experience through our ecosystem - gamers can play traditional, mass-market games (that have been proven winners with tens or hundreds of millions of downloads) and earn crypto and NFTs on top of that, either in the Wombat app or on our game rewards platform Womplay. Once gamers have received their first NFTs, the ice breaks, and start wondering "what can I do with that now?". This is exactly the type of curiosity we're looking for Mónica Freitas Jul 26, 2022, 10:30 AM Adrian Krion Interesting. So, you're trying to facilitate web3 adoption. How do you do it? What can people get from Spielworks that will make the process easier? Cris Silva Jul 26, 2022, 10:30 AM Hello Adrian Krion. How do you reward mobile game players with NFTs? Do you have partnerships with big names in the gaming industry that allow you to do this? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 10:42 AM Mónica Freitas, we're essentially providing anything that's needed to gamers in order for them to be able to play Web 3 games which are fun. The Web 3 gaming movement has had a bit of a slow start because games were not built around fun but around earning aspects (see Axie Infinity), which gave it a lot of spotlights, but also a lot of false impressions from the outside. Games need to be fun in order to be sustainable. Any kind of "play in order to earn" cannot. That's why we have traditional games on the platform because these are provably fun. Only if gamers experience Web 3 in an entertaining way we have a chance of getting them hooked. That's what they get when they sign up with Wombat Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:00 AM Cris Silva exactly. We have some big names on the platform from both the traditional gaming space as well as Web 3; games like RAID: Shadow Legens, Lords Mobile, Idle Miner Tycoon are playable with crypto / NFT rewards, but also the likes of Splinterlands or Upland Mark Finnigan Jul 26, 2022, 10:37 AM Hey Adrian Krion! How would you explain the bear market to someone who's not into Web3 yet? And how has it affected Spielworks? Jack Boreham Jul 26, 2022, 10:39 AM Hi  Adrian Krion how would you say Blockchain gaming adds utility to traditional Web2 games? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:04 AM Mark Finnigan, I would say every technology gets adopted in waves, but that's usually not very visible. In crypto, the excitement about the technology more or less directly correlates with market dynamics. Add macro-economic issues like inflation and recessions to the mix, and you've got a bear market. For us, that hasn't been too much of an issue so far because we're working on the transition between Web 2 and Web 3. Traditional Web 2 gamers aren't interested in token prices as much as they are in the games, the fun, the communities, so they're much more likely e.g. to keep trading NFTs for their utility Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:09 AM Jack Boreham there are multiple ways of how that can happen, I'll give a few examples: You have an NFT which grants some kind of VIP status in a game (similar to typical season pass frameworks in many free-to-play games). You're able to hand that VIP NFT over to someone else once you don't want to play the game anymore More generally, gamers can preserve their in-game assets even if they don't play a game anymore. Either they sell these assets, or they keep them as collectibles, but at least these aren't lost when you delete your game We also like the notion of "social interoperability" of game NFTs: if you win a mighty item in a game that is an NFT, the fact that you've gained this item isn't only visible within the game, you can show that fact off by showing your NFT wallet so someone else. This is something very powerful John T. Jul 26, 2022, 10:44 AM Hi Adrian Krion! How sustainable do you think the Play-to-Earn model is long-term? Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 10:55 AM Hey Adrian Krion. What do you think it's the issue with interoperability in NFT games? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:13 AM John T. "Play to earn" as in "Play in order to earn" can basically not be sustainable at all. It means that new players only come in because they seek a positive return on their investment, which kind of fulfills the definition of a ponzi scheme - only if there are enough people coming in after you, you can expect to make a positive return. Since the game economies are zero-sum (or negative-sum) economies, there need to be people who are net-negative on the game. "Surprisingly" this is the case in traditional games, though. Here, nobody gets a positive return on their investment, because they're exchanging money for entertainment. Therefore, only if the main driver to play a game (and spend money on it) is outside of pure earning expectations, "play to earn" (I prefer "play and earn") economies can be sustainable all Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:19 AM Kelley Dane Interoperability of NFTs in games is typically discussed in a narrow sense of "you can use item X from game A also in game B". This is a very bad example of interoperability of game NFTs because the complexities lie in the semantics of the item (what it to use item X in game B) rather than the mere fact that you have it. Instead, we like focusing on two other aspects of interoperability: means The economical interoperability - this is where you can basically sell items from one game to buy items in another game. This is something very obvious to gamers The social interoperability - as many games, specifically MMOs (massively multiplayer online games), have a large component of "showing off what you got", we think this component can be best leveraged by gamers when the respective items define your identity inside a game don't just live on a game server, but on a public network. That way, your identity as a gamer becomes relevant across games, which is something really powerful Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 11:27 AM Thank you for explain. It does seems, like you mention, that gamers are already familiar with this. So, can the economical and social interoperability further impact the games? Adrian Krion Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:48 AM Kelley Dane I think we're just scratching the surface of what will be possible through this interoperability in the future. We've been driving a few of the developments in Wombat (and e.g. the Wombat Dungeon Master game) and will continue in the future, but there are so many amazing things that will happen once there are even more smart brains working on Web 3 games John T. Jul 26, 2022, 11:30 AM Adrian Krion, what would that mean for the game model? A player has to enter with x amount of money, knowing they'll spend it along the way and MAYBE get some back? It seems challenging to sell this model even with the emphasis on the experience. So, the game's unique selling point does need to be really appealing, I imagine. Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:51 AM John T. the model that you're describing is essentially the old way of distributing games. You spend 70$ to buy a game on a console, and you hope to get enough entertainment back. The newer model for games is free-to-play, and this is how most Web 3 games will work, too. It's a game that you can play for free and it's fun, but e.g. if you want to start playing competitively, you might have to own an NFT from a certain collection. Whether or not you have to purchase this NFT or you can win it in the free-to-play mode will be up to the game creators Sara Pinto Jul 26, 2022, 11:32 AM Adrian Krion, what are the benefits of launching a token in the bear market? Is Spielworks working on that? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 11:54 AM Sara Pinto yeah we've been considering to launch a token ever since the early days of Spielworks and Wombat. We never wanted to launch a token before having a substantial amount of first day utility for it, though, so we started preparing our token launch last year. It's actually launching this week, in the bear market 😉 Of course the valuations are much lower right now and the amount of money you can raise with a token will be smaller. However, if you want to acquire long-term partners and token holders, bear market times are actually beneficial because there's much less hype and much more substance in the market. It also means you get a lot more attention if you're not one of 100 projects launching tokens every week John T. Jul 26, 2022, 1:26 PM Adrian Krion, ah, I see. Is there a game you think is leading the play and earn model? One that's being more innovative and creating a whole new environment for players? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 2:17 PM John T. There's a bunch of games driving this, some of which are already published, some are in development. I think The Sandbox, Blanko's Block Party or Splinterlands are good examples for the usage of blockchain / NFTs as the foundation of a game economy. Some up-and-coming games like My Pet Hooligan or Metalcore will have strong gaming dynamics with a blockchain integration, something like the net generation of play-to-earn Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 1:49 PM Adrian Krion, does the Wombat Dungeon Master game have any specific feauture that also helps to deal with crypto? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 2:23 PM Kelley Dane Wombat Dungeon Master exists to demonstrate a few cool aspects of NFTs in games: Interoperability - you can use NFTs you got from one game (or also from our game rewards program) in another Utility - NFTs of all different kinds have a use elsewhere Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 3:04 PM That's pretty cool. What's in the future for Wombat Dungeon Master? Adrian Krion Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 3:41 PM Kelley Dane we want to make it as much fun and interactive as possible. There will be PvP elements and more collab possibilities between players. But also I could imagine having a platform game, an endless runner or kind of a puzzle game included into the experience to boost your performance in the game. At the same time, we'll keep adding more blockchains for stakable NFTs, more collections, more collabs, etc John T. Jul 26, 2022, 4:02 PM Adrian Krion oh The Sandbox is a big one. I appreciate they've made their metaverse a true experience. John T. Jul 26, 2022, 4:03 PM Adrian Krion How can we bring more people to web3? How can we make the public know that web3 is safe? Adrian Krion Jul 26, 2022, 4:15 PM John T. I think this will work by people actually experiencing Web 3 without the big hype around it. It's much better if they can do it casually. PayPal is a great example - if you can pay with crypto and transfer crypto to your friends via an app that you already have and trust, that makes it much easier to adopt. That's also our philosophy at Wombat - we want people to experience Web 3 in a casual way, by doing things they love to do anyway Cris Silva Jul 26, 2022, 4:14 PM Adrian Krion I imagine that from a dev pov, it was a challenge to build a platform that could host so many different "services". How long did it take you to be fully operational? Adrian Krion Jul 27, 2022, 4:07 AM Cris Silva to build the first, simple production version of Wombat took us about 6 months. From there on, we've been working on everything for over 3 years. Turns out building in Web 3 takes more effort than in traditional web as there are a lot of quirks and issues with the technology itself and fewer (or none) blueprints on how to do things, also from a business perspective Limarc Ambalina Jul 26, 2022, 6:36 PM Hey Adrian Krion super happy to have you join us here. I often hear people say that the problem with blockchain games is obviously there are better games out there in the traditional gaming market. However, I think that point disregards the hyper casual mobile market. There are already tons of people playing casual games with simple, yet addicting gameplay. Do you think the P2E movement can take advantage of these casual gamers? Adrian Krion Jul 27, 2022, 4:13 AM Limarc Ambalina we've seen a dramatic impact of adding NFTs as rewards to hypercasual games. Many hypercasual companies are looking into this. The only requirement is that it needs to be incredibly easy for players to deal with these NFTs. NFTs can also be used for additional gamification around very simple game loops (like "match 3"). NFTs can have lives of their own, be merged, blended, modified or destroyed, which can all add an additional layer. It's similar to these story modes for hypercasual game models (like in Candycrush or Gardenscapes), only that you use NFTs for that which players can eventually trade. Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 9:43 PM Adrian Krion, thanks! Overall, what do you think it will be the future of the gaming industry? Kelley Dane Jul 26, 2022, 9:43 PM And how is it still booming despite inflation? Is it because it's merging with blockchain? Adrian Krion Adrian Krion Jul 27, 2022, 4:20 AM Kelley Dane I think we'll be moving into more immersive, large-scale worlds in which players spend a lot of time and visit locations that represent certain functionality (aka the Metaverse). Web 3 to me is a prerequisite for a Metaverse to attract a large amount of commercial partners and content creators as they would require real estate in such a world before investing in it heavily. On the other hand, I don't think everything will be in the Metaverse. Especially casual gamers will not want to boot up a Metaverse just to enjoy a few minutes of casual gameplay on a commute, and they also don't benefit from the immersion offered. However, as mentioned before, I see a lot of potential for Web 3 in casual and hypercasual gaming, as well Adrian Krion Jul 27, 2022, 4:22 AM Kelley Dane if the macro-economic trends persist, this will also affect the gaming industry. It's been on a long-lasting growth trajectory, but for sure people will start spending less money on entertainment if they struggle to afford their living. The gaming industry will have to deal with this. Blockchain might help a little bit there because players of Web 3 games get to keep some of their investment. However, the Web 3 gaming spaces make up only a fraction of the entire gaming market, so the effect is currently miniscule Cris Silva Jul 27, 2022, 10:41 AM Adrian Krion I can imagine the struggle. Is there any advice you'd give entrepreneurs trying to enter the web3 space? Cris Silva Jul 27, 2022, 10:42 AM Also, this is in line with John T.'s question, but what has been the biggest challenge for you? Building the platform, bringing together all the services in one space, attracting web2 players...? Adrian Krion Jul 28, 2022, 7:24 AM Sorry I was having issues with Slack yesterday so couldn't answer more questions Adrian Krion Jul 28, 2022, 7:28 AM Cris Silva my advice to people who want to build in Web 3 is to not overthink things but rather do stuff. You only really learn about the market, the industry, the technology and the people when you're in yourself. Also, start with basic and simple things that might be reused by others as kind of a building block. Web 3 is all about interoperability, so make sure you're building open solutions. In general, it's still hard to tell where the entire industry will go and how far adoption will reach, so make sure to be flexible 🔥 1 Cris Silva Jul 28, 2022, 9:50 AM Adrian Krion great advice! Before you go, I'd love to have your thoughts on what's the main factor behind the migration of web2 player to web3. Is it just curiosity, or do they come with an issue web2 just isn't giving them a solution to? Adrian Krion Jul 28, 2022, 10:07 AM Cris Silva the biggest challenge is scaling - both in terms of technology (not all blockchain networks scale, but also they're not all very mature in general, so dealing with them is hard), but also in user and team growth. Scaling the user base is of course hard and expensive, but also you need a team than can deal with a growing crowd 🔥 1 Sara Pinto Jul 28, 2022, 10:17 AM Unfortunately, our time is up! Thank you Adrian Krion for being part of this AMA. Any final thoughts you might want to share with our community? Adrian Krion Jul 28, 2022, 12:34 PM Thank you everyone for your awesome questions, it's been a privilege to connect with you! We are still in a nascent, developing space and this is an exciting time. Be courageous with your ideas and focus on building something valuable rather than on a promise of value. And of course, get in touch with me if you feel like we could create amazing things together!

Interoperability in NFT Games with Adrian Krion

Interoperabilidad en Juegos NFT con Adrian Krion

Interopérabilité dans les jeux NFT avec Adrian Krion

एड्रियन क्रियोन के साथ एनएफटी गेम्स में इंटरऑपरेबिलिटी

Adrian Krion との NFT ゲームの相互運用性

Interoperabilidade em jogos NFT com Adrian Krion

Khả năng tương tác trong Trò chơi NFT với Adrian Krion

与 Adrian Krion 在 NFT 游戏中的互操作性

Nothing sells better than a free game, the gaming industry learned in recent years. Indeed, the revenues from titles using the free-to-play (F2P) monetization model the market’s cash flows. In fact, the model has been so successful that major studios are now adding F2P-styled microtransactions into , fueling yet another controversy in the gaming world—one that leads us to a larger problem with the F2P model. came to dominate games with an upfront cost To rake in of dollars, a game that players can access for free still has to sell them something, ideally throughout its entire life cycle. The most typical asset such games can opt for is in-game cosmetics with no impact on the gameplay, but it doesn’t have to end there. Battle passes, paywalled content, character progression boosts, new playable characters, various expendable materials for players to use… The opportunities are nearly endless. billions The F2P Trap Sometimes, players can enjoy a F2P game without putting in a single dollar, and sometimes, such games heavily nudge them into dishing out cash. Either way, it is interesting to look at how players’ spending behaviour seems to have changed over the years. Back in 2014, the industry estimated that only about of F2P gamers actually spent money on their preferred titles. That said, Fortnite, the F2P model’s poster child, had about of its audience hop on the microtransactions bandwagon, as per a 2020 survey. per cent 2.2 77 percent Sure, some of this change likely comes from gamers gradually warming up to the model, and many of today’s leading F2P titles are indeed super-solid from the game design perspective as well. Still, there’s a less rosy piece in this puzzle too. Over time, F2P developers and publishers have found more and more sophisticated ways of goading the user into making as many purchases as possible. Annoying pop-ups and banners every five seconds no longer cut it: Now, some of the rely on behavioral data and complex algorithms to get players to spend more. patents in the industry The real hook of F2P projects, though, transcends the ones and zeroes manipulating you into buying one more skin for your beloved character—it’s in your head. Sunk cost fallacy is a psychological mechanism that makes a gambler feed more and more money into the slot machine: You spent so much already, so you have to make it worthwhile, right? The same goes for F2P games, making them —why quit something you’ve invested so much in? We are, after all, loss-averse by nature, and the feeling of losing out than we find joy in gaining something. downright addictive brings us more pain Granted, from a developer’s perspective, “addictive” means “good.” The more time a player spends in your F2P game, the likelier they are to make a purchase, and then one more for the road, and all of that adds to your bottom line. But that’s hardly the most ethical approach. Gamers deserve better than that, and the industry can indeed do better. Getting Off The Hook While the F2P model may require some tweaks in order to weed out its most toxic traits, its full overhaul is hardly on the cards. The easiest way around the F2P sunk cost fallacy is to allow gamers to cash out on the assets they have accumulated over time. This simple solution transforms the equation, removing its most problematic piece: the loss. This way, when quitting a hobby into which you put so much money, you are not, strictly speaking, losing too much in terms of your overall capital. This, in turn, defuses a whole plethora of psychological mechanisms that would have kept you hooked otherwise. Steam has already allowed players to trade cosmetics for certain games, such as DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2, on its in-platform marketplace. The platform also allowed modders to put up their creations, from custom cosmetics to more advanced projects, for sale. As a result, it has built a that treats gamers more fairly and rewards creators for their work and passion. As a downside, though, it also charged high fees both on cosmetics re-sales and mod sales. bustling economy Blockchain is the next logical step in this direction. As a decentralized network for moving value, it leaves less room for a centralized entity to dictate the rules and brings the entire system on the free-market rails. Yes, developers can still attach royalties to secondary sales (fair enough, they need revenue streams too), but in a market where so does everyone else, they would have to keep those competitive. Besides detoxifying some of the most troubling aspects of the F2P model, such an approach could also make it more profitable. Gamers would be more likely to buy in-game items if they could sell them off later, a suggests. If confirmed, this trend would be a blessing for the industry as it would allow developers to make up for the lost sales on resold items. recent poll As profitable as it is for the business, the F2P model has its long-established flaws, which in the long run threaten the integrity of pretty much the entire industry. Allowing players to cash out on in-game purchases makes the model more equitable, and blockchain is the industry’s best shot at making it work. About the Author: Adrian Krion is the CEO and Founder of the Berlin-based blockchain gaming startup and maker of the user-friendly gaming wallet . Having started programming at age seven, Adrian has been successfully bridging business and tech for more than 15 years, currently working on projects that connect the emerging DeFi ecosystem to the gaming world. Spielworks Wombat

Blockchain is the Cure for the Free-to-play Sunk Cost Fallacy

As non-fungible tokens make into the gaming world, one of the key features their proponents hail as a boon for gamers is interoperability. An NFT sits on a public database, the reasoning goes, and is thus open for anyone, including other games, to inspect and potentially incorporate. So surely, the only thing needed to turn the industry into a whole metaverse of transferable entertainment experiences is more standardization, right? Nope. The real obstacle to interoperability lies elsewhere. major headway But let’s start from the beginning. An NFT confirms your purchase and, thus, ownership of an in-game item, whether it’s a sword that kills gods in one swing or the galaxy’s fastest spaceship. As the rightful owner, you are free to sell the token (or lease it out) at your leisure, without fearing a ban, for OTC trading for in-game items in non-blockchain games. The latter, though, also points at the fact that you don’t need NFTs to handle ownership and transfers of in-game assets in the first place. which is not necessarily the case This is where technicalities come into play. The sword or ship itself, as a collection of digital assets like 3D models and animations, is stored either on your device, as part of the client-side app files, or on the game’s servers, depending on the selected network architecture. A non-blockchain game keeps track of the ownership over every instance of such a ship or a sword intrinsically. An NFT game, though, figures this out by talking to the blockchain—a decentralized database that’s not controlled by the game’s developers and is indeed open for anyone to inspect. In either case, the proud owner of the sword or the ship will have little to do with them if the game they were part of were to shut down. The show’s over, the ship has no space through which to fly, and the sword has no gods to bring down—a fate shared by many promising MMOs, from The Matrix Online to Star Wars Galaxies. With an NFT game, though, the saga does not have to end there, and that’s where interoperability would ideally come to the rescue. The quest for interoperability The reason why it doesn’t is in the semantics. Yes, the token sits on an open third-party database, but it does not mean that the object it represents can be transferred into any other game at the snap of the fingers. And that’s even assuming that the assets for the object—its visuals and properties, such as speed, armor, or the number of laser cannons onboard—are also available to anyone to review and import. The first problem boils down to implementing objects from one game in another. Staying with the spaceship example, how would its properties work in a Happy Farm-style game, where space battles were never intended to be part of the gameplay? They haven’t been coded in, and thus, the game is incapable of processing them. This problem, however, can be solved with some collaborative design and creative thinking. While the original graphical assets may not be transferable, developers could represent an NFT from a different game with a generic graphical asset. The NFT’s value in gameplay terms can also be retained, at least to a certain degree, even if it is imported into a game that supports none of its original properties and functions. This could be done by assigning it new properties and functions, intrinsic to the game it’s being imported into, by a random generator, which would take into account the original token’s rarity. This way, our spaceship would morph into a horse moving at the speed of light or a garden gnome that magically boosts our plants’ growth speed by 500 percent. With such a design, if the space simulator game where we bought our NFT ship went down, we’d still be able to get value from our token by importing it into any other game within the larger ecosystem. Realistically, the NFT would most likely have to be staked into a specific game to go active, because otherwise, every token would bring its holder too much of a net gain, carving into the revenues of all the games that support it. And here, we land squarely on the other big issue in play. Why would a developer allow players to use assets from a different game, if they want users to acquire assets in their game? Believe it or not, this problem very much exists in non-NFT gaming too, with, for example, Sony infamously for Fortnite and most other multiplayer titles on PS4. As a technology, NFTs are very much conducive to interoperability, but the issue of economic self-interest is the real obstacle for that. resisting cross-play Whatever project issued the original NFT always benefits from extra functionality brought by the capacity for its use in other projects. But what do these other projects stand to gain from that? They want to sell their own NFTs, not integrate third-party collections. A possible way around this is in a referral scheme that will see project A promote integrated NFTs from project B for a share in project B’s revenues from sales on this channel and royalties on their subsequent re-sales. Mutual integration is another possible option for projects of comparable scale that could benefit from tapping into each others’ user bases. As yet another alternative, projects can set up integration reward pools, filled from their own revenues and automatically shared among partner games based on their audience size or number of sales drawn from the integration. Cross-promotion could be another good incentive for developers to build a solution like that, and it has been working quite well for the non-NFT scene as well, from indie to AAA-titles. Fortnite lives and breathes crossovers, is pretty much a horror metaverse at this point, and Monster Hunter: World brought in Geralt from the Witcher series in a way that stayed faithful to the lore of both games. Wonderful things do happen when creators come together. Dead By Daylight As a technology designed to confirm ownership of digital or other assets on a public and auditable database, NFTs are perfect as the technological backbone for unleashing true interoperability for the gaming world. While today, this potential is hindered by business development considerations that have nothing to do with the blockchain, in the future, we could see a whole metaverse of NFT games where players can freely move their assets from one gaming world to another, with the technology’s full potential brought to fruition. About the author Adrian Krion is the Founder of the Berlin-based blockchain gaming startup and maker of the user-friendly EOS and Ethereum crypto wallet. Having started programming at age seven, Krion has been successfully bridging business and tech for more than 15 years, currently working on projects that connect the emerging DeFi ecosystem to the gaming world. Spielworks Wombat

Tech isn’t the Barrier to NFT-Game Interoperability

Software failures can derail medium-sized businesses. One of the benefits of is the ability to centralize software troubleshooting and access specialized help 24/7. Without it, you’d have to turn to software problem resolution through traditional services like service tickets. virtual desktop software This involves calling IT experts for a local solution, which takes time and increases productivity downtimes and service outages. Overall, prolonged software failure resolution causes huge employee downtimes that can cost your small business in revenue. In fact, an Infrascale survey revealed that experience downtime due to software failure, making it the biggest cause of business outages. 53% of small businesses That’s where virtual desktop software helps. They centralize troubleshooting and provide more reliable software solutions that guarantee excellent uptime and quick software problem resolution. In this article, I’ll guide you through the top virtual desktop software benefits for large businesses in 2024 that will make your workflow more productive, cost-efficient, and profitable. Let’s get started. 1. Improved collaboration among workers Collaboration can be a challenge at times. For instance, the lack of real-time communication channels can delay team-driven projects and further hamper productivity. Additionally, when employees have to constantly upload and send large files back and forth between themselves, facing restrictions by size-limited IT systems, then collaboration further takes a hit. All in all, . poor workplace collaboration boils down to legacy IT systems that don’t have all the necessary collaboration features As a matter of fact, a Fierce Inc. survey revealed that 85% of employees blame workplace failures on poor collaboration. So your small business’s success greatly depends on improving collaboration. Fortunately, among the benefits of virtual desktop software for small businesses is the ability to enhance collaboration. First, virtual desktop software improves collaboration by enabling unlimited and fast file exchanges between your employees. Additionally, some of these tools also come with features that allow real-time discussions and communication about the files and generally about the work at hand. Via an activity stream, users can also get notifications of file changes in real-time, which also goes a long way to streamline collaboration for your medium to large-sized business by ensuring everyone is in sync with the latest task developments. MAC Engineering based in Calgary, Canada, was facing difficulties implementing remote collaboration due to resource-intensive applications that could only run on on-site hardware. However, they successfully via Inuvika’s enterprise virtualization solution. With live communication tools & large processing power, their engineers now collaborate remotely via their devices with minimal latency. transitioned to a distributed workforce 2. Faster login times to boost productivity Many small businesses struggle with performance issues. Moreso if you’re reliant upon old infrastructure, which is prone to long log-in times for your employees and profile inconsistencies. In addition to lags, aging IT infrastructure just ruins your workflow, by making your processes and your employees tethered to just one location. Overall, aging IT infrastructure results in slower performance for your small business, which reduces your productivity and output. According to a Nexthix study, small businesses lose to digital disruptions such as huge application loading times and slow system performance. 1 hour and 12 minutes daily This downtime translates to huge revenue losses each month. With virtual desktop software, you can keep your business’ IT infrastructure fast, agile, and ahead of the curve. Because they run on cloud servers, one of the benefits of virtual desktop software for small businesses in 2024 is access to additional computational power. This allows you to leverage more hardware power than you would on a typical PC, which tends to also slow down, particularly during high load times, due to the apps installed and memory issues. Since virtual desktop software doesn’t experience this problem, they load up faster to ensure faster log-in times as well as faster overall performance. One leading light electrical giant based in the UK had trouble with underperforming collaboration tools and third-party vendor solutions which slowed down performance. Through WhiteHat Virtual, they . By cutting down log-in times and boosting efficiency, the company achieved greater productivity and output. lowered employee log-in times by 79% 3. Makes your business more competitive Why do small businesses often fall behind enterprises? It’s usually simply because the playing field is not even. For example, enterprises tend to have a better technology adoption rate compared to small businesses. As a result, they tend to enjoy higher operation efficiency while your small business provides lower-quality service. Therefore, not tapping into virtualization technologies keeps your small business at a competitive disadvantage. According to a Spiceworks report, only 24% of small businesses have implemented desktop virtualization compared to 50% of enterprises. So the adoption rate by enterprises is double that of small businesses, which shows how much small businesses lag behind. But you can turn things around. When you adopt this technology, you get access to the game-changing for small businesses in 2024 that your more established competitors enjoy. benefits of virtual desktop software From greater workflow performance due to increased business continuity to higher operational efficiency, you gain the capabilities to match your competitors in terms of their productivity and quality of service. Overall, I find that virtual desktop software levels the playing field and allows your small business to sharpen its competitive advantage. And with the majority of small businesses yet to adopt virtualization, doing so will make you stand out from the crowd with superior service provision. Based in Europe, PIK Group had trouble meeting the intense hardware needs of all its graphic designers and simultaneously staying profitable and competitive. However, they raised competitiveness and profitability by adopting Dell’s desktop virtualization technologies to create a more flexible work environment with fewer hardware costs. 4. Better data disaster recovery IT disasters are part of running a small business. That being said, without a good disaster recovery in place, this can possibly ruin the future of your small business due to the subsequent downtime and revenue losses. Many small businesses tend to store their data in on-site data centers. In case of damage, theft, or loss, this can lead to irreparable data loss and IT outages. Ultimately, poor disaster recovery can lead to the downfall of your small business. In fact, a Logic Monitor study revealed that 94% of small businesses experienced IT outages and this translated to a considerable amount of revenue loss per year. But with virtual desktop software, you can protect your IT systems from data loss. For instance, among the benefits of virtual desktop software for small businesses in 2024 is data decentralization to the cloud. So in the event of hardware failure such as hard disk crashes or some other problem with on-premise data centers, you can still recover valuable data. With safe and decentralized data backup solutions, I find that your small business becomes immune to data loss that can occur due to natural disasters and human error. Consequently, your business enjoys greater continuity. Godstowe School in the UK used to rely on redundant data recovery measures. They wanted a modern solution that would get around building an expensive data center. So they using Azure virtual desktop which alleviated the need to raise money to build a data center, thereby raising the school’s cost-efficiency. implemented a cloud disaster recovery solution 5. Greater cybersecurity for remote work Remote work isn’t always easy to implement. Small businesses, in particular, face certain concerns with this work model, chief of which are cyber security risks associated with the decentralization of work. For instance, a malware attack on an employee’s device can put confidential business information at risk. Overall, individual cyber security threats stemming from employee negligence can cripple your entire business’s systems. Moreover, according to a survey by OpenVPN, said that remote workers are a huge cyber security threat. This proves how front-line, remote workers can be the biggest liability to any small business. 73% of business leaders As one of the critical benefits of virtual desktop software, this technology offers robust data storage. So instead of data being stored on end-user devices such as a remote worker’s phone or PC, for example, it’s instead stored in the cloud, with the user just given temporary access to it. Therefore, in case of theft of end-user devices, your small business’s data remains safe. Additionally, also incorporates customizable firewall controls and traffic isolation tactics, which further reinforces your small business’ workflow to prevent third-party attacks. virtualization software With greater cybersecurity measures in place, your small business can scale its remote work model with ease. Based in Sweden, Klarahill ran on legacy Windows applications that posed both a security threat and inflated costs for the business. They when they adopted Cameyo’s virtual desktop solution. Additionally, they also ended up realizing 85% cost savings due to reduced remote desktop expenses. negated potential security issues Conclusion End-point hardware for employees attracts massive costs. For small businesses, the cost of fully furnishing each employee with a computer can be through the roof. These expenses just keep on piling up by the head with individual software licenses, and, at the end of the day, they can have serious ramifications. Overall, getting fully furnished end-point hardware for each employee can cost your small business a fortune. According to a Statista report, small businesses spend on hardware alone. This goes to show just how costly end-point hardware can be. 31% of their budgets However, virtualization offers the ability to utilize thin client machines. Unlike a traditional OS, these virtual OS rely on small stripped-down machines and shared software licenses that are cheaper. But there’s more. Other benefits of virtual desktop software like Inuvika include better productivity, giving your business a competitive edge, and better data disaster recovery. For these reasons, I recommend that you acquire virtual desktop software today. Also published here.

Revolutionizing Small Business: The Power of Virtual Desktop Software in 2024

Joining the cybersecurity field as an outsider without a technical background was a transformative journey for me. What immediately captivated me about the industry was its relentless pace and the exhilarating challenge it constantly presented. Interacting with professionals in the field, I was heartened by their overwhelming support for newcomers who genuinely exhibited the will to learn. However, I quickly found a prevailing sentiment: there's a general expectation for newcomers to be independent self-learners. This could be a daunting expectation, especially considering that many potential beginners in aren't inherently self-learners. While innate curiosity is undoubtedly a valuable trait, it's essential to recognize that many individuals, even those with immense potential, need a structured framework to move their initial steps into this vast domain. cybersecurity In the last few years, significant progress has been made in filling the talent gap in the industry. However, as of 2023, according to the , there were 440,000 new jobs created in cybersecurity globally (an 8.7% increase year over year), but a staggering 4 million positions remained unfilled (a 12.6% increase year over year). This enormous gap results from the disconnect between employers' needs for experienced professionals and the real-world shortage of such expertise ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study The solution to this talent crunch lies in focusing on the early stages of potential cybersecurity professionals' careers, particularly young students. As a community, it's imperative that we equip the youth with the tools they need to explore cybersecurity as a viable career option. The key is to offer structured, practical, and accessible learning paths. Below are some steps and examples of how to do so. Study Frameworks Like NIST-NICE The NIST-NICE framework categorizes cybersecurity work into seven high-level categories: Analyze, Collect and Operate, Investigate, Operate and Maintain, Oversee and Govern, Protect and Defend, and Securely Provision. Each category is further divided into specialty areas and work roles, providing a comprehensive roadmap for career progression. Table 1: NICE Framework Work Role Categories Category Description Number of Work Roles Securely Provision (SP) Conceptualizes, designs, procures, and/or builds secure IT systems. Responsible for aspects of system and/or network development. 11 Operate and Maintain (OM) Provides the support, administration, and maintenance necessary to ensure effective and efficient IT system performance and security. 7 Oversee and Govern (OV) Provides leadership, management, direction, or development and advocacy so the organization may effectively conduct cybersecurity work. 14 Protect and Defend (PR) Identifies, analyzes, and mitigates threats to internal IT systems and/or networks. 4 Investigate (IN) Investigates cybersecurity events or crimes related to IT systems, networks, and digital evidence. 3 Analyze (AN) Performs highly-specialized review and evaluation of incoming cybersecurity information to determine its usefulness for intelligence. 7 Collect and Operate (CO) Provides specialized denial and deception operations and collection of cybersecurity information that may be used to develop intelligence. 6 This table showcases the broad spectrum of roles within the cybersecurity landscape. By understanding these categories, beginners can better position themselves for a more tailored and informed career trajectory. For a comprehensive understanding of the NIST-NICE framework and to access a myriad of resources tailored for beginners, one can visit the . NICE's Getting Started Resource Center The goal is to explore various facets of cybersecurity and determine where passion intersects with proficiency. Since cybersecurity is a dynamic field, there's always room for an individual to pivot, learn, and evolve. Become Friends with Real Hackers The cybersecurity community is exceptionally supportive of newcomers. Even seasoned professionals are often open to sharing tips and advice and are incredibly accessible to beginners. The secret to meeting these people is to attend live events. Real-time interactions at in-person events offer spontaneous questions, discussions, and the possibility for deeper understanding. It’s not just about soaking in knowledge; it's also about networking. These venues are prime opportunities for establishing meaningful connections, potentially leading to mentorships, job placements, or even collaborative projects. Furthermore, many such gatherings have live challenges or hands-on workshops where attendees can put theory into practice, often under the guidance of an expert. Here's why attending in-person events can be so beneficial for a cybersecurity enthusiast: Directly engage in challenges or workshops, honing skills in real time. Skill Demonstrations: Cybersecurity is ever-evolving. Engage in fresh, cutting-edge discussions that might not have reached the wider online community yet. Staying Updated: Share experiences and challenges with peers. It's comforting and motivating to know others face similar challenges. Moral Support: When it comes to venues, some platforms and organizations stand out: (Open Web Application Security Project): Renowned for its insights into web vulnerabilities, its global chapters regularly hold meetings and workshops. OWASP : These community-driven events offer a cozier, more intimate setting for discussions and learning. BSides : One of the hacker conventions, it is an excellent place for someone keen on diving deep into hacking and cybersecurity. DEF CON When planning to attend, here are a few tips: Don't just be a passive participant. Engage, ask, discuss! Engage Actively: Go through the event's schedule, note down sessions of interest, and research the speakers. Prepare: Did you connect with someone interesting? Drop them a thank-you note or a simple message post-event. It could be the start of a valuable relationship. Follow-up: So, if you're aiming to deepen your cybersecurity knowledge and network, attending such events could be the stepping stones to your next big opportunity. Participate in CTF Challenges and Hackathons Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges are competitions where participants solve cybersecurity puzzles ranging from cryptography to web application vulnerabilities. These challenges offer beginners a practical, hands-on experience in solving . For example, the DEF CON CTF event annually attracts a global audience and has puzzles suitable for all skill levels. real-world cybersecurity problems Engaging in CTF challenges directly correlates with several areas outlined in the NIST-NICE framework: Analyze (AN): Deciphering cryptographic puzzles in CTFs sharpens skills pertinent to the Analyze category, where one evaluates incoming cybersecurity information. Protect and Defend (PR): Addressing vulnerabilities during a CTF strengthens a participant's capabilities in identifying, analyzing, and mitigating threats to IT systems, aligning closely with the Protect and Defend category. Investigate (IN): Some CTFs involve forensic challenges, aligning with the Investigate category, where one examines cybersecurity events or crimes related to IT systems. Securely Provision (SP): Tackling challenges where participants must secure or harden systems mirrors the Securely Provision category, emphasizing the design and creation of secure IT systems. By immersing oneself in CTFs, beginners not only gain valuable hands-on experience but also better understand the different roles and areas they might be interested in as per the NICE framework. It provides a tangible, engaging way to explore and deepen specific cybersecurity competencies. Join Bug Bounty Campaigns In a bug bounty campaign, companies incentivize ethical hackers to find and report vulnerabilities in their systems. This practice is becoming increasingly prevalent among leading technology companies, realizing the value of the global pool of independent security researchers. For instance, tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Twitter have all rolled out their own bug bounty programs, encouraging ethical hackers to identify and responsibly disclose potential security flaws in their platforms. By offering these campaigns, these organizations not only enhance the security of their systems but also foster a symbiotic relationship with the cybersecurity community. For example: Google's Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) rewards researchers who uncover security vulnerabilities in Google's products and services. Their reward amounts can range from $100 to over $30,000, depending on the severity of the flaw and the product affected. In some exceptional cases, even higher rewards have been granted. Google's VRP has been instrumental in ensuring the security of products such as Google Chrome, Android, and Google Cloud Platform. Apple's Security Bounty Program invites security researchers to find vulnerabilities across iOS, macOS, and other Apple software. The payouts can be quite substantial, with rewards for the most critical issues reaching up to $1 million. This reflects Apple's commitment to user privacy and security. Platforms like Bugcrowd, Hackerone, and Intigrity have also streamlined the process, acting as intermediaries connecting ethical hackers with organizations, including those that might not have independent programs like Google or Apple. Once a vulnerability is identified and reported through these platforms or directly to the companies with established programs, it undergoes a verification process. If validated, the researcher could receive a financial reward, recognition, or both. Focus on Practical-led Training For beginners, there are web browser-based labs. These labs allow users to practice in a controlled environment directly within their browsers. While convenient and easy to access, these platforms might not fully replicate the complexities and intricacies of real-world systems. They are good introductory tools, but as users progress in their cybersecurity journey, they might find them less challenging. On the other hand, there are virtualized environments that require VPN access. These platforms offer environments that are almost identical to actual company infrastructures. The virtualized scenarios are meticulously crafted to emulate real-world networks, servers, and workstations. As users connect via VPN, they feel as if they are truly inside an operational network, providing a level of authenticity that web browser-based labs might lack. This type of environment allows for a deeper exploration of tools, tactics, and procedures, effectively training the participant to tackle genuine cybersecurity threats. The rigorous training in these environments ensures that participants are job-ready and fully prepared to address the multifaceted challenges they might face in their cybersecurity careers. By experiencing both types of training, candidates can appreciate the gradient of complexity in cybersecurity challenges and better hone their skills to be effective professionals. Here is a list of free or affordable practical cybersecurity training resources for beginners: : Provides a series of war games designed to teach the principles of security from the basics to advanced concepts. It's a great starting point for beginners wanting to learn Linux commands and simple penetration testing techniques. OverTheWire : This platform offers more than 300 challenges across different domains to help users improve their hacking skills. It provides a hands-on approach to learning about network security, web application security, and more. Root Me : Developed by the creators of the Burp Suite, this academy offers free hands-on web security training. It covers a wide array of topics from basic to advanced web vulnerabilities. PortSwigger Academy : Provides a beginners-friendly courses paired with VPN-based real-world training experience, emulating genuine cybersecurity scenarios. PWNX.io : A platform designed primarily for students to learn about cybersecurity. It offers educational modules tailored to different skill levels. PWN.college : An online platform that aids learning in cybersecurity through hands-on virtual labs. Its gamified challenges range from the very basics to more advanced, catering to users of all skill levels. TryHackMe A platform that provides various cybersecurity labs and challenges. While it does cater to users of all skill levels, some of the challenges can be very advanced, making it ideal for those looking to progress beyond the basics. Hack The Box: TCM Security offers self-paced cybersecurity courses that cover topics such as penetration testing, security training, and compliance. Additionally, they provide certifications that are increasingly gaining reputation in the industry. TCM Security: The resources mentioned above represent just a snapshot of the many tools and platforms that have gained attention and appreciation within the cybersecurity community. The realm of cybersecurity training is vast, and the list of valuable resources extends far beyond what's provided here. Additionally, there are numerous open-source projects and other content available online that can be instrumental in enhancing one's learning journey. Specialized forums and websites, which I will detail in the next paragraph, can be invaluable in discovering reviews or feedback from other community members. This feedback provides insights into the quality of new resources that are constantly being released. Leverage Social Media and Forums to Find a Mentor In the vast realm of cybersecurity, guidance from someone experienced can make all the difference. Platforms like LinkedIn can be particularly beneficial, not just for networking, but also for identifying potential mentors. By carefully reviewing profiles, joining relevant groups, and actively participating in discussions, you can showcase your eagerness and catch the attention of experienced professionals willing to guide newcomers. Discord, a platform initially created for gamers, has burgeoned into a hub for various professional communities. Specialized forums and websites further amplify the opportunity: Reddit’s Cybersecurity Communities: Platforms like and subreddits are teeming with professionals and enthusiasts discussing the latest in security trends, challenges, and solutions. The subreddit is particularly designed for students and beginners, fostering a nurturing space for queries and guidance. Reddit's Cybersecurity Netsec Netsecstudents Wilders Security Forums: Dive deep into discussions about online privacy, security, and data protection on . The vast range of threads and posts signifies a dedicated community, making it an invaluable resource for all cybersecurity-related topics. Wilders Security Forums MalwareTips and Antionline Forums: Websites like and are vibrant communities where one can engage in in-depth discussions on various facets of security, from malware threats to network safety. MalwareTips Antionline Bleeping Computer and Spiceworks Community: Forums such as and the are dedicated to comprehensive security-related discussions, from firewalls and VPNs to password managers and malware attacks. Bleeping Computer Spiceworks Security Forum Hacklido: A unique platform, is where the brightest hackers come together to share knowledge, experiences, and guidance. It's a rich source of practical insights and real-world examples. Hacklido By actively engaging in these forums and communities, not only can one expand their knowledge but also build meaningful connections. As you participate and contribute, the chances of meeting potential mentors who recognize your passion and dedication increase significantly. Remember, mentorship in cybersecurity is not just about learning the ropes; it's about guidance, feedback, and understanding the nuances of the rapidly evolving world of digital protection. Make Use of Free Tools As you embark on your cybersecurity journey, it's essential to familiarize yourself with the plethora of free tools available. These tools, widely recognized and utilized by professionals in the field, can significantly augment your learning experience: Wireshark: An open-source packet analyzer, Wireshark allows users to see what's happening on their network at a microscopic level. It's widely used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software, and communications protocol development, and education. Description: The tool comes with a range of to help newcomers grasp its functionalities. Resource: official documentation and guides OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy): Developed by OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project), ZAP is a free, open-source web application security scanner. It helps find security vulnerabilities in web applications while you are developing and testing them. Description: New users can benefit from the tool's and various community-contributed guides. Resource: official documentation Metasploit Community Edition: Part of the Metasploit Project, this edition is a free-of-charge penetration testing tool that helps verify vulnerabilities and manage security assessments. It aids in the discovery, analysis, and exploitation of vulnerabilities. Description: Metasploit provides a plethora of for various functionalities. Resource: tutorials and user guides Snort: As an open-source network intrusion prevention system (NIPS) and intrusion detection system (IDS), Snort is adept at performing real-time traffic analysis and packet logging. Description: Beginners can find extensive documentation and a community of users on the . Resource: Snort official website OpenVAS (Open Vulnerability Assessment System): OpenVAS is a full-featured vulnerability scanner that comes with numerous tests and offers updates for the latest vulnerabilities. It assists in identifying issues in systems and applications. Description: The OpenVAS community provides a to support new users in understanding and maximizing the tool's capabilities. Resource: comprehensive set of documentation Kali Linux: Kali Linux is a Debian-based Linux distribution that's geared towards advanced penetration testing and security auditing. It comes pre-installed with hundreds of integrated security tools, making it a staple in the cybersecurity community. Description: For those new to Kali, the offers comprehensive guidance, ranging from installation to utilizing its vast array of tools. Resource: official documentation Harnessing the capabilities of these tools not only gives beginners a practical understanding of various cybersecurity domains but also provides a hands-on approach to combating potential threats. Remember to explore the associated documentation and tutorials for each tool, as they often hold a wealth of knowledge and best practices. Untapped Potential and the Need for Guidance While there are self-learners who manage to connect the dots on their own, a vast number of budding talents are not yet part of the , mainly because they lack initial guidance. By providing targeted and practical guidance, we can help pave the way for a new generation of cybersecurity professionals ready to take on the challenges and opportunities that this rapidly evolving field has to offer. cybersecurity ecosystem Structured learning can be achieved in various ways, and this guide aims to offer an alternative perspective, coming from a non-traditional cybersecurity professional who had the unique opportunity to learn from genuine hackers.

You are Not Learning Alone: a Structured Guide for Cybersecurity Beginners

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Você não está aprendendo sozinho: um guia estruturado para iniciantes em segurança cibernética

Вы не учитесь в одиночку: структурированное руководство для новичков в области кибербезопасности

Yalnız Öğrenmiyorsunuz: Siber Güvenliğe Yeni Başlayanlar İçin Yapılandırılmış Kılavuz

Bạn không học một mình: Hướng dẫn có cấu trúc dành cho người mới bắt đầu về an ninh mạng

你不是一个人学习：网络安全初学者的结构化指南

I've recently come across a statement in the media that the next level of business value can only be generated by bringing in non-data experts. This has caused me to reflect on data democratization and its role in unlocking this new value. I sat together (virtually) with , CEO at , to better understand the evolution and consumerization of data analytics and what the future holds for it. Amir Movafaghi Mixpanel Before joining Mixpanel, Amir served as CFO at Spiceworks Inc., an online where users can collaborate and seek advice from one another, and also engage in a marketplace to purchase IT-related services. Previously, he held various leadership roles at Twitter Inc., where, according to , he helped scale the company from 150 to 4,000+ employees and also helped lead the company through its IPO. community TheOrg.Com In our talk, we discussed why self-service analytics is here to stay as a driver of product-led growth (PLG), how new-gen SaaS companies make a difference and disrupt the user experience, how new market entrants can survive and thrive in a highly competitive environment, whether Twitter is still an amazing product, and other thought-provoking stuff. Enjoy reading! Amir, how did we achieve the level of data democratization we have now? What was the evolution? For a very long time, this world was eaten up by spreadsheets. With Microsoft Excel being dominant, you'd still have very few people in an organization that really understood and could model complex spreadsheets. And as things progressed, we went from spreadsheets to different data storages, tools, and sets of databases. We needed BI tools and SQL to join those datasets across various databases and then roll up dashboards to share with the company leadership. So, when it comes to data analysis, it remained a prerogative of data scientists and engineers for a while before a very constrained data model for marketing analytics was built and served for some time by Google Analytics and other platforms. And then, a very thin layer of functional analytics based on SaaS tools was added, which has taken up the economy over the last 10 years. What we now have left is the worst possible scenario, where we have a set of very complex tools in BI, tools that most people can't access if they want to understand data in its entirety. And then we got to the point where we had a deep level of a silo, with Salesforce serving the sales teams, Marketo serving the marketing teams – multiple functional analytics tools serving an incredibly thin level of insight into their respective functions and failing to provide the full context of the customer journey. These things are self-fulfilling prophecies when you force people into these disparate tools that don't communicate with each other. The insights people draw and how they can see their impact on business growth are limited to that narrow view. And then you have this incredible dynamic where you go to a quarterly business review, and the marketing team is celebrating; they're super happy because their local metrics are doing amazing. The product team is celebrating. Everybody is happy, but the revenue is down. And now, thanks to emerging tech, we're entering the age of event-based self-service analytics able to provide an incredible depth of insights that people with no data engineering background can easily access, leverage, and convert into value. This is an entirely new world where we get to see our impact on things that matter. Things that matter are ultimately tied to the company's outcomes in driving growth and monetization. So, is it fair to say that cloud and artificial intelligence advancements have become the main drivers of data democratization? The move to the cloud had essentially two stages. Stage one was SaaS that just copies everything on-prem and puts it on the cloud, which is Salesforce, for instance, or Workday. SaaS applications are mirror copies of their on-prem equivalents served on a cloud. We're in Stage two now, with product-led growth companies like Mixpanel, Slack, Notion or Figma taking center stage. At their core, their products innovate on user experience, workflow productivity, collaboration, and data connectivity. These tools are now defining and ushering in the new era of data democratization and disrupting "traditional" user experiences. At Mixpanel, we provide powerful self-service product analytics, allowing other companies to build better products by having a holistic understanding of how exactly people use and interact with their products. We make data accessible to anyone by generating interactive reports, letting you query your data with just a few clicks and then see visualizations in seconds. The magic of our product is really in the fact that we have a very simple, straightforward user interface that is built on an event-based model, which is the purest and most raw form of data. Interestingly, you and l process the world in the same way. We process things that happen around us or a set of actions that occur over time. And that's exactly what event analytics lets you shape, analyze, and segment. And it's incredibly generic! Everything can be modeled in this way. The simplicity and the power that event-based analytics creates are the approachability to the UX, and the ability to draw insights and build incredibly complex metrics that are very hard to compose in SQL and graph in Looker and Tableau. You can instantly generate those insights in Mixpanel with a little user learning curve. You learn a few components of what an event is, what an event property is, and who is the user that's taking actions. Then you can create cohorts, you can look at user behavior over time, you can look at retention behavior, conversion behavior – you can draw deeply intuitive insights in the same way that users think about processing the real world. That is, at its core, the future of analytics. While self-service analytics helps mitigate the silo approach, can it also help promote best practices around trust and credibility? I love that you bring that up! You can certainly self-service something, but if it's not trustworthy or credible, then there's no point and no use to it. I believe the credibility story on why data is becoming more and more reliable and why we're able to give people the ability to get to that level of accuracy has largely to do with this amazing ecosystem that has been built over the last ten years around cloud data warehousing. All the governance tools that have come to life have transformed how you can manage your data, helping increase trust and credibility. These are things that most of us wish we had a long, long time ago. After a decade of learning, we're here with all the different companies that have enabled this. Amir, how do you define product-led growth? In the enterprise world, you had this fundamental truth for a very long time that it was incredibly difficult to procure and implement on-prem software. You would sign 5-10 year contracts because of just the sheer complexity of getting something like that rolled out. As I've mentioned above, we had a gradual transition to the cloud. At first, SaaS companies took off, making it super easy for anyone to get up and running instantaneously. And while it took time for enterprise companies to slowly gravitate and realize there's a better way of doing business, a new generation of companies with innovative products in different categories emerged, allowing for a completely different dynamic of switching costs and deployment. The hurdle went down, and then right next to that, we had another cultural change from a very top-down to a very flat decision-making. In the past, all decisions were made by the C Suite. And then, there was a moment when the knowledge economy became the dominant force. As talents became the most valuable assets for any organization, business leaders asked themselves, " " " " How do we recruit and retain the best people in the industry? How can we give them better tools so they can get their job done even better? Did you know that PwC had used Lotus Notes for a very long time because IBM was a big client of theirs? So, they used the IBM product until around 2010-2011, when they skipped Microsoft Office and went straight to Google Docs. It was like skipping desktop to go to mobile – such a crazy shift. All to satisfy employees and give them more flexible and robust tools. The product has to rule. The product has to rock. Otherwise, you have no chance. Suppose you try to enter a new, incredibly competitive market. In that case, the only way you're going to win is by having a great product. So, in the enterprise, we've mentally taken ourselves away from this super legacy way of thinking and have come up with product-led growth. It's just like the consumer business. At the end of the day, users will decide whether your product is worth buying or keeping. And in the new SaaS world, there is no other way to live and survive than to have an amazing product. You can call it product-led growth; you can call it consumerization of the enterprise; you can call it whatever you want. You should have a phenomenal product with really happy end users. Period. And what makes you confident Mixpanel is an amazing product? What's your key metric? How do we know we're building an amazing product? At Mixpanel, we've reached the point when we told ourselves we're going to use Net Promoter Score as our key metric for the company. We're going to look at what our end users are telling us about how we're doing, and if we are not getting the love, then we have problems. We had to keep going and grinding, right? And we did that and went from single digits to double digits to where we're now with a consumer-grade Net Promoter Score for how our end users enjoy using the product. And that became the catalyst for product change based on what our users wanted. While analyzing user feedback, we came up with many discoveries. One of them is that no one wants gated content; no one wants to fill out a form to read a document. The same refers to pricing. After we realized users loved transparent pricing, we set ourselves off on a two-year journey to make our pricing more and more . transparent Have you ever dreamed of going into an Apple Store and negotiating the iPhone price with the salesperson? Why should you place any custom requests and go through several rounds of calls and meetings to determine the final product price? Long story short, nobody wants to negotiate. Negotiation is a means to a very bitter end. And that means that in the end, even if you got the best price, you still don't know if you got the best price. You walk away feeling like, man, maybe we could have gotten more. You walk away feeling hurt because you realize you are subsidizing the good or bad deal that other people have gotten, which is insane. So we came out and said – no more. We're going to give the best price that has the best margin integrity to everybody. We're not trying to haggle or charge this customer more than that customer. We're just going to make it an incredible buying journey, and we're going to get rid of this friction in the buying process. If you're just trying to buy the tool and get up and running, the last thing you want is this information asymmetry. You don't even know if you're going to be able to use this thing. But companies won't give you the price. Like, oh, no, we can't talk about price until our fourth meeting. And what is the most valuable thing in your life? It's your time. Give me four more hours, and I'll tell you how much it costs. We beg to differ. So after you implemented this transparent pricing system, how did it affect your sign-ups and bottom line in general? It's still early days for conclusions because we're barely out of the gate with this. Still, the hypothesis we had while making this change regarding just how much of a better conversion this would have to monetization is well validated so far in our limited data. Thanks, Amir. Now let's talk about how customers use self-service analytics tools like Mixpanel? What're the typical use cases? A few years ago, this would have been a very focused conversation around product development like, oh, Mixpanel customer XYZ did that and then changed the UX and improved the version by some crazy amount, right? That would have been the case study that I would have shared with you. But the truth is today, people are using it for all sorts of stuff. We have a recruiting funnel running in Mixpanel. BI companies use our self-service analytics in their PLG sales business. One of the largest coffee retail companies uses us for their marketing lifecycle, to get promoters and improve loyalty adoption. In addition, we have these massive tech companies where the founders use Mixpanel every day to understand their application adoption and engagement metrics. I was talking to a CFO of one of our customers the other day who said he used the leading indicators in the product data to better forecast finances and to provide those leading indicators to his investors for decision-making. That being said, self-service analytics use cases are limitless. It's powerful and it's just beginning to find that foundation. And what makes Mixpanel powerful is the order of magnitude. With cloud data warehousing taking off, adoption becomes more massive. By the way, what's the size of your social engineering team? Is it distributed? About 100 specialists today. We are fairly distributed, but mostly in the United States right now. And what are your plans for the future? Where would you like to see Mixpanel two to four years from now? My mission has always been helping other businesses scale and succeed no matter where I've worked. One thing is true – as soon as you get to a certain level of complexity, most people just don't know what's going on. Assume the company has a successful product, and it takes off. And then you make a bunch of new bets. You roll out new products, you launch new features, and then you go out and ask if they're making a difference. Are we just enjoying the same wave that took us off in the first place? Is the new stuff making a difference to us or not? And you would be shocked at just how much gap there is between awareness of what is actually making a difference and making an actual impact. Event-based analytics, in the way that we are pursuing what we're innovating on, is core power. It's that very attribution that can tie in the core events and outcomes shaping your company and tie that to what made the difference. Was it your marketing campaign? Was it the product shift? Was it some new positioning you launched? Was it a new geography that you tried to penetrate? These factors and nuances typically go into a company's monetization and growth. And thus far, all of the limitations that we talked about at the beginning of this call are really preventing companies from their ability to make smart, informed decisions about which investments to continue, which investments to stop or what new things they should go after based on an understanding of their actual revenue funnel. And that is where we're going to be. Hopefully, our vision will be realized, and Mixpanel will be able to genuinely impact how people's work directly ties into an outcome that drives the company forward. Amir, I'm also curious to learn more about your time at Twitter. So, you'd spent several years at Twitter in different roles. Could you imagine back then Twitter would eventually become what it is now? Twitter is really complicated, and part of the complication had a lot to do with its public nature. It was a closed loop because Twitter was such a live, public-facing social platform, generating a lot more opinions and public interest than even Facebook which was significantly larger and more widely adopted. In many ways, Twitter's power was indisputable in terms of what it did, how it shaped the world and how it progressed to have the impact that it still has nowadays. In the early days, we had two core paths that we were going to take to build Twitter. One was a protocol – the pipeline that fuels all the different applications that leverage this one-to-many technology. And the second way was for us to go out and own the end-user experience. And the moment we made a decision to own the end user experience had real consequences in a way that now we had to govern that experience. We had to have all of the different policies and features that have become more and more publicly relevant as the political climate has changed. From that moment on, Twitter was no longer just a technology company. It's now at the heart of how information is being exchanged, how trends are being set, and how people shape their opinions around different topics. In the early days, scaling something like this was an infrastructure problem. Now it's as much of a governance and a human problem as a technology problem. My take is that I don't particularly have any opinion that I'd like to share about the cycle of changes that Twitter has gone through from an ownership standpoint over the past years. But as long as we stay true to the real impact that not just Twitter, but all social media companies have on people and society at large, these products can be incredibly useful and valuable if we take those things seriously. Any powerful technology should also be thoughtful about how it should scale and shape to help build a better society. How we get there is more than one lane. Facebook has taken a very different path to get there than Twitter. And it's okay that there are different ways because then we'll see if one works and we can replicate it on the other. I'm glad they're not just copying each other on this route. Did you like the interview? Please share it to help more people read it.

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