[DAO:b666b15] Chain Challenger: Bridging Web2 players to DCL, a gaming discovery platform

Governance
1

by 0x5a1d993ff6e67aa214880c87b46255ea32e24139 (Leonard)

Should the following $105,000 grant in the Platform category be approved?

Abstract

Decentraland’s website traffic is currently dominated by English-speaking countries. However, China, Japan, and South Korea have a massive gaming market with over 70 billion gamers. Chain Challenger’s mission is to connect Web3 games and metaverse projects with billions of Web2 gamers from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. They plan to create a localized game wiki page, attract players through unique tournaments, and reduce barriers for Asian gamers. With Decentraland DAO’s support, Chain Challenger aims to expand DCL’s brand awareness and introduce new users in the Asia-Pacific region.

Grant size

105,000 USD in DAI

Project duration

6 months

Beneficiary address

0x5A1d993fF6E67aA214880C87B46255Ea32E24139

Email address

charles.cheng886@gmail.com

Description

Due to the character limit, please visit the following link for the complete proposal:

The first version of Chain Challenger was successfully launched on May 26, 2023, along with a ‘Stadium Grand Opening’ event that took place from May 26, 2023, to June 2, 2023. For more information, please refer to the links provided below.

Chain Challenger Official Website: https://chainchallenger.xyz/
Event Page: Chain Challenger x Soul Magic Stadium Grand Opening! | Decentraland Events!

Any project in DCL can apply to become a partner of Chain Challenger and gain exposure on the Chain Challenger website, especially in the Asian region. In the next version update, the Chain Challenger website will also add an interface for DCL, providing a better connection between DCL’s ecosystem and external Web2 Gamers.

Chain Challenger’s backend uses Strapi, the leading open-source headless CMS, which can provide a flexible and adaptable homepage framework for projects on DCL. This allows different projects to customize the categories and content that need to be included on their project pages according to their own needs, and to best meet the needs of different projects. At the same time, we will also provide free Chinese, Korean, and Japanese localization services for all our partner projects.

In addition, the ‘Dual-Tournament Model’ is another innovative and very important feature of Chain Challenger. Currently, most metaverse or blockchain gaming projects often fail to attract a large number of Web2 players during their promotions. The reasons behind this include: (1) friction generated when creating blockchain wallets, (2) stereotypical impressions of Web3 projects (surveys show that the vast majority of Web2 players still believe that NFTs or cryptocurrencies are Ponzi schemes), and (3) the learning curve of switching to new games - a problem that many project teams have overlooked, but is very important.

According to Unity’s report on multiplayer games in 2022 (Multiplayer Report 2022 - Gaming Trends & Insights | Unity), a game’s genre is the most important factor (>46%) for players when choosing a new game. In other words, players of multiplayer games develop a “stickiness” to the genres they love, just like how if legendary League of Legends player Faker were to choose a new game to play, he would be more inclined to choose Dota 2, another MOBA game, rather than PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, an FPS game.

Chain Challenger utilizes a Dual-Tournament Model to match DCL games with popular Web2 games of similar genres, creating a “mirror game.” Separate reward pools are set up, with the DCL game offering larger rewards to boost conversion rates. For instance, Soul Magic, a casual simulation game, can be mirrored with LINE Brown Farm, a popular Web2 game in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Promotions and advertisements targeting LINE Brown Farm communities will attract players who will be enticed by the larger rewards in Soul Magic, increasing the likelihood of them trying the game.

Furthermore, our team has formed strategic partnerships with multiple Web2 and Web3 gaming communities and projects originating from China, Japan, and Korea. These projects will be sequentially launched on Chain Challenger, opening up potential cross-project collaboration opportunities for projects on DCL.

Roadmap and milestones

Chain Challenger and Soul Magic hosted the Grand Stadium Opening event on Decentraland from May 26th to June 2nd, 2023. Over 800 users participated in the SpeedRun activity, with nearly 80 players online simultaneously. The event attracted Chinese and Taiwanese gamers through collaborative promotions with projects like Kikitrade, Real Player DAO, and Crypto Pioneer Guild.

Future Milestones:

  1. Establish independent project pages in five languages for 20 Decentraland projects. Content control will be transferred to the projects, with a backend CRM system allowing customization. See the designs and pages for Soul Magic and The Beacon projects:
    Soul Magic: https://chainchallenger.xyz/games/Soul%20Magic
    The Beacon: https://chainchallenger.xyz/games/The%20Beacon

  2. Complete system design for the “dual-tournament” feature and organize three major dual-tournament events for Decentraland gaming projects in the next six months. Connections with Taiwan’s largest Web2 gaming communities will attract thousands of Traditional Chinese gamers, increasing awareness of Decentraland. The model includes social logins, MPC wallet creation, and fiat-to-crypto services. Refer to the full proposal for visuals.

  3. Develop an SDK and product to enable Chain Challenger users to directly log in and play Decentraland using their MPC wallets, eliminating the need for an additional Metamask wallet. The goal is to onboard Web2 gamers to Web3 games without blockchain or crypto-related knowledge.

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

2

Website
Twitter
Discord

I would be happy to answer any question here, or privately on Discord LeonardC#1568, or we can arrange a video call.

3

Maybe I’m confused, but I don’t think this is the right category for your grant.

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4

Hey Jar0d, thanks for your feedback. :pray:
We’ve consulted with a few projects within the Decentraland ecosystem, and most of them recommended that we apply for the platform. Here are the reasons:

  1. Our website provides an alternative entrance to different projects and events in Decentraland for our Asian gamers. You can refer to the example below: https://bit.ly/3qzKukc. (Users can simply enter the targeted location/map in Decentraland by pressing the Enter button after reading all the event information, guides, and prizes. This actually provides an alternative way for gamers to enter and explore Decentraland.)
  2. As one of our future milestones, we are building an SDK that will allow users from the platform (who have already created a MetaMask/MPC wallet) to directly log in to Decentraland. We found that the current login method is not user-friendly for those who have not played Decentraland before.
  3. Once we have finished building the core functions mentioned above, we will share them with the community as an open-source project in a public repository. This has also been mentioned in the ‘IMPACT METRICS’ section.

I hope the above information resolves your questions.
Feel free to let me know if you have any further questions or concerns! :muscle:

1 Like
5

Do you have any footage from the four days of your Chain Challenger x Soul Magic Stadium Grand Opening event? I haven’t a clue what is meant by a “mirror game” that you refer to in your proposal. I’d like to see exactly what you are proposing to create.

I’d also like to know how many people you expect to engage with this activity. How do you plan to track the new players brought into DCL and the existing DCL DAUs that engage with your games?

6

Hi AwedJob, thanks for your feedback!

I’m sorry, but I didn’t record any video during the event. However, the following records can provide you with some reference:

  1. You can find comprehensive information about the event, including an introduction, gameplay with images (click the button ‘Guides’), and prizes, in the following link: Chain Challenger x Soul Magic Stadium Grand Opening
  2. We have provided a Chinese version of the DCL first login and newbie tutorial video for Chinese-speaking users who participated in the event. You can watch it here: Tutorial Video.
  3. For the promotion activities conducted by Chain Challenger with external Chinese communities and KOLs during the event, please refer to pages 9-11 of the complete proposal: Complete Proposal. If you need related tweets or Discord community links for further verification, I can provide them to you.

For detailed explanations of the dual-tournament and mirror game, you can refer to pages 5-6 of the complete proposal mentioned above. In summary, a mirror game refers to finding a Web2 game that matches the genre and gaming platform of the target Web3 game, and promoting them together in a dual-tournament to maximize the conversion rate of traditional game users. For example, if we want to promote a MOBA game in Decentraland, the mirror game can be League of Legends, as it is also a MOBA game and available on PC/Mac. This way, when players who usually play League of Legends visit the Chain Challenger website and see the MOBA game in Decentraland, they are more likely to try it out with sufficient incentives (tournament prize). Players in the same genre do not need to spend a lot of time learning new controls or techniques, making it easier for them to transition from a Web2 game to a Web3 game.

We expect to have at least 1000 users from China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan participating in each future event. We have two methods to track new players:

  1. We can ask every player who fully participates in the event to leave a screenshot and indicate which community they are from in our Discord. (In the Grand Stadium Opening event, we also requested Chinese users to provide relevant evidence in Kikitrade’s community. At that time, approximately 130 people left records in Kikitrade’s DC. You can find more details in the following link: Kikitrade Records).
  1. Chain Challenger provides a direct teleport button to the Decentraland map (e.g., you can directly enter the Soul Magic map by clicking the Enter button in the following URL: Soul Magic Map). Therefore, our backend can effectively track how many people enter the relevant activities through the above links and how many IP addresses are new. This will allow us to objectively evaluate and analyze the effectiveness of the event.

Please let me know if there’s anything else I can assist you with.

7

Hey AwedJob, one of the Chinese players has provided a video of the event. Please take a look:
Chain Challenger x Soul Magic Stadium Grand Openin - YouTube (The event featured a speed run activity where participants competed to collect feathers quickly :muscle:).

8

Thank you for providing a link to a short video clip of game play.

This proposal is requesting a lot of money for what I consider is a rather simplistic game. I have voted NO.

1 Like
9

Hey AwedJob, thanks for checking out the video clip!
However, I’d like to clarify that ChainChallenger itself is a gaming platform with the goal of bringing millions of Asian gamers to Decentraland. The video you watched was just a snippet from our first event held in Decentraland, and it’s not directly related to the ChainChallenger platform.
Please take a look at our complete proposal, as it will give you a clearer understanding of our ambitious goals and vision.

By the way, I wanted to share some exciting news with you! We’ve recently partnered with The Beacon and Apeiron, two massive Web3 gaming projects in the current space. Since then, our platform has been averaging 400 unique visitors every day over the past two weeks. This will greatly benefit the promotion of projects on Decentraland.

10

70 billions, that’s a lot =)

11

Hey HPrivakos, I apologize for the typo in my previous message. To clarify, the combined market capitalization of Web2 gaming marketing in Japan, Korea, and China amounts to approximately 70 billion. As for the total number of players, it is estimated to be around 700 million.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Your reminder is greatly appreciated!

References:

  1. https://newzoo.com/resources/rankings/top-10-countries-by-game-revenues
  2. China: number of mobile gamers 2022 | Statista
12

I’m aware of the ambition of your project. I do not see details in the how these ambitions will be realized. Wanting to do a thing and doing that thing are very different realities.

13

I’m impressed with your goal to bridge web2 players to DCL. However, it seems to me that your actual reach is too small for a $105,000 grant.

Can you clarify also, as a fellow gamer, why should I play web2 games in DCL? It’s memory-intensive and will 100% hinder the game. How much GPU should I buy, so that I can play the web2 mirror of massive multiplayer games in DCL? What internet speed should I need to play the mirror in DCL? I have 350MBPS and RTX 3060Ti but DCL still lags at 40 active users.

As a web2 gamer, mirroring mobile games to desktop seems a hassle. Mirroring a desktop game to DCL, so let’s say DOTA 2, may crash the game during team fights that can result to low prio.

My last concern is that is it safe to mirror those games to DCL without the game owner’s consent in a legal perspective? How much will DCL DAO needs to maintain legal partnership to such massive-player game owners?

Looking forward to your clarification on my concerns. Cheers!

  • akasya.eth

Twitter: @akasyaETH

14

Dear Akasya, thank you for your feedback, and I genuinely appreciate your input! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

However, it seems that there is some misunderstanding regarding the term “mirror game.”
When I mentioned the concept of a “mirror game” earlier, I meant a Web2 game that belongs to the same genre as a game in DCL and is available on PC/Desktop, rather than the actual mirroring of a Web2 game into Decentraland.

For example, let’s say there is a card-based real-time strategy (RTS) game in Decentraland called Decentraland Cards (a Web3 game in Decentraland). In this case, Hearthstone would naturally be a good choice as a suitable Web2 mirror game. The reasons are threefold: (1) Hearthstone and Decentraland Cards share the same game genre (card-based RTS), (2) Hearthstone can be played on PC/MAC (available on the same platform), and (3) Hearthstone enjoys high popularity in the Web2 space (these players could potentially become players of Decentraland Cards).
Now that we understand why Hearthstone would be an excellent “mirror game” for promoting Decentraland Cards, let’s think about how we can bring Hearthstone players into Decentraland Cards.

The answer is straightforward: we will adopt the “dual-tournament model” mentioned earlier. Firstly, we will organize tournaments with prizes for both Hearthstone and Decentraland Cards simultaneously on Chain Challenger. Let’s say the total prize pool is 3000 USDT; we will allocate only 10% of that (300 USDT) to the Hearthstone tournament prize pool, while the remaining 90% will be fully allocated to the Decentraland Cards tournament prize pool, amounting to 2700 USDT. Our team will then promote Hearthstone tournaments in Hearthstone communities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, without explicitly pushing Decentraland Cards. Why? Because when Hearthstone players visit our website, they will initially prioritize participating in the Hearthstone tournament with a prize pool of 300 USDT. However, due to the limited prize amount, the Hearthstone players will quickly claim their share of the 300 USDT. Here’s where it gets interesting: since we will promote both Hearthstone and Decentraland Cards tournaments in the same promotional banner, Hearthstone players will soon notice that Chain Challenger offers not only Hearthstone tournament but also Decentraland Cards, with a prize pool that is nine times larger than Hearthstone’s! Most importantly, since Decentraland Cards is also an RTS card game, learning to play a new card game like Decentraland Cards would not be a difficult task for Hearthstone players (highlighting the importance of experiencing the same genre). Therefore, there is a high chance that Hearthstone players will proactively try to learn and play Decentraland Cards, which naturally requires downloading DCL and entering this ecosystem!

I hope this explanation clarifies the logic behind the Dual Tournament concept. By the way, I have just added you on Twitter, but I’m unable to send you a message. Perhaps you can also add me on Telegram @leonard_hk. I would love to share more details with you!

15

Hey AwedJob, I totally get that most folks in the DecentralandDAO aren’t familiar with our team. So, we understand the need to go above and beyond to show what we’ve been up to. Here are some highlights:

We collaborated with the Soul Magic team to design and build the Chain Challenger Stadium in DCL. The opening event was a hit, drawing in hundreds of users from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

We’ve launched the alpha version of the Chain Challenger website and formed partnerships with big players like The Beacon and Apeiron. In just a couple of weeks, we’re already seeing daily traffic of around 250-300 unique visitors on the website. Plus, we’ve got about 1,200 followers on Twitter and around 600 members in our Discord community.

On a personal note, I’m the Head of Growth Marketing for a Hong Kong company backed by Animoca Brands. And our CTO, Tony, is the Tech Lead at 9GAG, the company behind Memeland. The rest of our team comes from well-known Crypto Venture Capital firms in Asia, with deep industry knowledge and plenty of hands-on experience in Web3 projects.

I hope this info gives you a better sense of our project and boosts your confidence in us! If you can, feel free to connect with me on Twitter @0xleonard_hk, Telegram @leonard_hk, or Discord @LeonardC#1568. I’d love to schedule a call and provide more details.

16

Thanks for your prompt response.

I did not get your point. You focused too much on popular games and other Web2 metrics that I cannot understand the reason for $105K grant.

  1. Is it safe to copy the game, such as Hearthstone equivalent Decentraland Cards, to DCL in legal perspective?
  2. Is Decentraland Cards final? How can you save data from 700million players?
  3. Can you tell us the exact games you are trying to bring/copy to onboard these web2 players?
  • As a web2 gamer, I am not convinced with your proposal. Tournament rewards are temporary only and user-retention is impossible.
  • The mirror tournament will suffer backlash for the whole DCL project $$$, unless you will copy low-user games and not the massive player games (infringement).
  • This grant will benefit the Chain Challenger, not the Decentraland project as a whole.

These are my personal opinion only. Let the DAO decide. I also look forward to the success of both projects. Cheers!

:smiley:

17

Hey there, thanks for your feedback. I hope the following explanation can help clarify some of the uncertainties, to a certain extent:

  1. Our intention is not to ask Decentraland (DCL) to copy games from Web2. What I’m suggesting is that every game currently in DCL has the potential to match a Web2 game and host a dual-tournament to attract traffic. For example, Soul Magic is a casual nurturing game in DCL where players can mine, farm, and level up. Is Soul Magic copying any game from Web2? Definitely not. This game was designed and built by talented individuals within the DCL ecosystem. However, is the casual nurturing genre unique to Web2? No, because there are many games with similar genres in Web2, such as LINE Corporation LINE, Playrix, Supercell, and others. The main reason we need to match Soul Magic with a Web2 game to host a tournament is that there are very few actual gamers in Web3. Most Web3 ‘gamers’ are primarily focused on extracting value and playing games solely for monetary gain. This is one of the core reasons why many Play-to-Earn (P2E) projects have failed to remain sustainable. Web3 games need genuine gamers from Web2, that’s the bottom line.
  2. Decentraland Cards is just an example. Once again, we are not asking anyone to clone or copy games from Web2. There are numerous DCL members working hard to build their own games, such as a golf game, mining game, MOBA game, and more. Chain Challenger’s role is to bridge these games to the Asian Web2 space since DCL itself is a relatively closed ecosystem. Solely marketing within DCL might not be enough to achieve sustainable growth or break-even for a project. That’s why DCL needs external channels, like Chain Challenger, to promote its ecosystem projects.
  3. Currently, we have connections with several large League of Legends, HearthStone, and Clash of Clans communities in Chinese-speaking regions. If there are any MOBA, RTS, or SLG games in DCL that would like to attract thousands of players from these regions, we are more than happy to partner with them. We can design and execute marketing campaigns ourselves to ensure their success.

Regarding the last three points:

  • Although the rewards in the Tournament are one-time, they can still achieve sustainability if the game is engaging enough. It’s important to note that most Web2 gamers hold negative attitudes towards Web3 games, citing reasons like poor playability, graphics, and concerns about Ponzi schemes. Additionally, many gamers dislike the idea of crypto and Play-to-Earn. This is precisely why we need an innovative way to seamlessly onboard these Web2 gamers to Web3/DCL. The dual-tournament approach can be effective because Web2 gamers participating in the tournament of DCL/Web3 games may not even realize they are playing blockchain games. Whether this model is temporary or sustainable depends heavily on the individual game itself. Consider this scenario: If someone sees an ad for The Legend of Zelda 2 on YouTube and buys the game but later gives up because they find it uninteresting, would you blame YouTube for not being able to retain the gamer? Of course not. YouTube’s role is to promote the game, but the actual conversion and retention depend on the game’s appeal and how it resonates with the majority of players.
  • It seems that there might be a misunderstanding about what we intend to do. I want to emphasize once again that we will not, and do not encourage any project to copy Web2 games.
  • This grant will undoubtedly benefit both parties. Since Chain Challenger will also onboard other Web3 gaming projects on our platform, such as The Beacon and Apeiron, the traffic from these Web3 gamers could potentially be directed towards DCL projects as well. This is in addition to the Web2 traffic that the Tournament model will bring.

Regarding the 105k grant, we have already included all the details in the proposal, which encompass the team’s salaries, tournament prizes, marketing expenses, and so on. Of course, 105k alone may not completely fulfill Chain Challenger’s ultimate goals, but it will provide us with an excellent starting opportunity and support. Besides the financial aspect, we also require official support from DecentralandDAO, especially from a business development and branding perspective. Once we have established a significant traffic base and a more mature product, we can consider fundraising options.

I hope this explanation provides a clearer understanding of our goals and intentions. If you have any further questions or concerns, please let me know.

18

Thank you for superb explanation. Appreciate it greatly.

Ignoring the noise from your proposal, the real intention for a grant is to further develop the Chain Challenger for the benefit of Decentraland.

Consider this scenario: If someone sees an ad for The Legend of Zelda 2 on YouTube and buys the game but later gives up because they find it uninteresting, would you blame YouTube for not being able to retain the gamer? Of course not.

This means that Chain Challenger has no intention for user retention but rather to just boost the traffic to the DCL, am I right? I believe this “marketing” is going to work temporarily.

It is just my opinion. I have no say for the DAO as I only hold 4k voting power. I cannot move the decision. Kindly ignore my concerns hahaha. Lighten up a bit matey.

  • akasya.eth
19

Hey bro, even though your voting power is only 4k, I don’t believe that your opinions should be ignored. I highly value and respect anyone who is willing to come in and try to understand Chain Challenger.

Let me provide some additional information regarding retention. Currently, the information on Chain Challenger is temporarily added or edited by our team members. However, in the future, both project teams and users will be able to add their own content on the website, known as User-Generated Content (UGC). We will gradually build a large and active social gaming platform through regular community activities and market referral strategies. Our initial goal is to accumulate at least 10,000 monthly active users within 6 months. This way, whenever any game on Decentraland wants to organize an event, we will have a group of loyal users here to support, participate, and even help promote the project’s activities. This is our best way to ensure a consistent and stable number of Asian users entering DCL. However, we cannot guarantee or control how many users will continue to log in or actively explore DCL on a daily basis after the events. Nevertheless, we will regularly create valuable content for projects on DCL and support multiple languages. You can refer to the homepage of Chain Challenger for specific examples, including information about The Beacon and Apeiron events.

20

Did “The Beacon” and “Aperion” pay Chain Challenger $105k or any equivalent assets?