Key takeaways
- Gamerse is a social platform connecting gamers across NFT games and metaverses with a native LFG token for finding like-minded players.
- The platform's social aggregated marketplace launches end of March, aggregating NFTs from multiple games and blockchains in one unified interface.
- Gamerse differentiates from OpenSea by adding social engagement features like comments, ratings, likes, and social trading integrated into the marketplace.
- USD pricing across cross-chain NFTs and easy NFT creation tools lower barriers to entry for gamers new to blockchain and NFTs.
- The platform addresses fragmentation in play-to-earn gaming by enabling players to explore multiple games and trade NFTs across different game ecosystems.
From GameFi fan to social platform
Ashton Addison: What is Gamerse, and what led you to build it?▶ 00:21
Khaled Jama: Gamerse is an NFT gaming and metaverse social economy. We're creating a social platform for gamers to unify, connect and explore popular NFT games. The idea came about because I'm a passionate gamer, and I became very interested in crypto and NFTs, especially NFT gaming, with the launch of GameFi. I felt there wasn't enough social engagement around NFTs, and that's what the vision stemmed from. The name is short for NFT gaming meets metaverse, because gaming and the metaverse go hand in hand. Our team believes in the GameFi economy, which is play to earn, and we believe this is the future of gaming.
Ashton: You're not building games yourselves. Is Gamerse mainly a community for people who share interests in specific games?▶ 02:10
Khaled: Our main focus is a community-driven platform. We connect games with fellow gamers, and we do that through our looking-for-groups model. Our native token, LFG, stands for looking for groups. Like-minded gamers can connect in groups, share content, socialize and, in the space of NFTs, trade. That's where the marketplace comes in. We're partnering with a lot of GameFi and metaverse projects to create the new home for NFT gaming and the metaverse social economy.
Gaming has always been social by nature. It's all about interacting, it's all about the multiplayer economy.
A marketplace built for social trading
Ashton: How is your marketplace different from a regular NFT marketplace like OpenSea?▶ 03:24
Khaled: The main differentiator is our social engagement model. NFTs usually don't have engagement features such as comments, shares or ratings. On Gamerse we have things like liking NFTs, interactive NFTs and social trading, which is what we're most focused on building. Users can socialize and make trades together. Gaming has always been social by nature. It's all about interacting, it's all about the multiplayer economy, and we've integrated that into our marketplace. We're aggregating the most popular NFT games and the metaverse economy in one home. Through our escrow platform we connect different projects into one marketplace, so users can explore NFTs and filter by category and by marketplace.
Ashton: What problem does that solve for gamers?▶ 05:43
Khaled: The problem we're solving is the fragmented gaming economy. GameFi is so new that games are being built on different blockchains, and communities tend to focus on their own specific games. We're creating a cross-community platform where gamers can explore new games and socialize around the ones they enjoy. Most gamers like more than one game, so they can explore many different games on one unified social platform. We're also building a social media platform, so you can promote your NFTs to get a wider reach and more impressions, which is another way to boost trading.
Ashton: How long has the team been building the marketplace, and what features are you most excited about?▶ 07:25
Khaled: Rome wasn't built in a day, and the same goes for our social aggregate marketplace. We've been building it since about August of last year. We focused on making the platform intuitive and easy to use, and on quality assurance. One feature is USD pricing on our cross-chain, cross-platform marketplace, so users can easily see what something costs. We've also made it easy to create NFTs and to share them on social media. Profiles let users showcase their NFTs instead of leaving them sitting in a wallet. Then there's the social side: messaging friends, connecting with them and exploring different games. For our gaming partners we've added a leaderboard system too. It's expected to launch at the end of March.
The LFG token and what comes next
Ashton: Will Gamerse release or reward its own NFTs in the marketplace?▶ 10:33
Khaled: At this stage we're not focused on monetizing our own NFTs. We're focused on unifying NFTs. It may be something further down the roadmap, once we have branding partnerships and can create some really cool avatars and maybe drop some NFTs as well.
Ashton: How does the LFG token work? Is it only for governance, and how does it keep the ecosystem sustainable?▶ 11:24
Khaled: LFG stands for looking for groups, or looking for gamers, and I'd say it has some of the best utilities. First, platform discounts: there's a 50% discount when LFG is used as the base currency. We also have a deflationary model where we burn 50%, which adds to scarcity long term. The biggest feature is that LFG is a social token, built on our SocialFi model, which is share to earn. Say, Ashton, that you're in a looking-for-group and you share content from that group on your social media. Based on the impressions your posts receive, you earn rewards in LFG. On the other side, the group admin also earns APY rewards when users engage and share exclusive content, so it's like two-way affiliate marketing through our sharing system. And LFG can also be used as a governance token for decisions on our platform.
The problem we're solving is the fragmented gaming economy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Recorded March 2022.
