The Format #014

There are 3.2 billion gamers around the world. 🎮
46% of game enthusiasts are female. (1)
40% are over the age of 30.
Over 200 million people play Roblox.

There are currently only 23.3k active developers building in Web3, 99.9% aren’t there yet. (2)

The point I’m making here: Gaming is proven. Web3 is early. Combining the two makes things very interesting, especially when it comes to portability, interoperability and loyalty. We’ve believed this for quite a while and based on what we’ve read recently we’re clearly not alone.

So with that in mind, here are some of the most significant updates and articles we’ve found this week…

Why More Employers Want To Hire People Based On Their Video Game Skills

This article explores how gaming hones certain soft skills, and points to a world where gaming aligns people with their goals so they can find their ‘active purpose mode’, and become unstoppable. We’ve been thinking about this a lot too… 💪

Blockchains as Platforms

Not Boring has always produced top tier content and this is no exception. It frames blockchains as being just another platform that developers can build on, with clear pros and cons compared to traditional infrastructure. While many developers currently see the downsides as outweighing the benefits, the scales are beginning to tip.

The Future Of AI-Agents Is Decentralised: Delysium And Microsoft Partner To Mainstream AI On Blockchain

‘Blockchain is made for AI, and AI is made for humans.’

With all this talk of AI agents and the potential extent to which they could impact our life, the fact security and human alignment is being brought to the forefront is very positive. With blockchain being a critical part of the answer.

Boba Guys, Shopify users showcase adoption of Web3 tools

Loyalty feels like a very natural and tangible use case for Web3 and after Blackbird raised $24 million solving for restaurant loyalty, this is another great example of a simple on-chain solution to an age old problem. Boba Guys- a bubble tea company- has seen a massive boost in visits, orders, and spending, thanks to a Web3 loyalty program with an 800% ROI.

AI’s Can Store Secret Messages In Their Text That Are Imperceptible To Humans

Countless sci-fi novelists and dystopian theorists have discussed the possibility that AI could eventually communicate in tongue which is foreign to any human. Whilst this may not yet be the secret distribution of war plans to end humankind, it seems that an imperceptible form of AI messaging could already be here… and using it actually improves the performance of LLM’s. Wow. 🤯

OPENFORMAT News:

We’ve begun to roll out Early Access to our developer toolkit and initial feedback has been both positive and incredibly useful. The waiting list for access is getting longer and things are getting more and more exciting.

Case Study: Slack-based employee rewards system

Simpleweb, a Bristol-based agency and venture tech fund, used the OPENFORMAT toolkit to build an on-chain Slack-based rewards system where the reward tokens were earned through high quality contributions and could be redeemed for exclusive merchandise via a Shopify store.

And that’s all for this week.

Have a great weekend, Dan and the OPENFORMAT team 👋🏽

Prompt (Generated using Dalle-3): “A young woman with a joyful expression, holding a giant cup of bubble tea. She is wearing a t-shirt with a cute bubble tea character printed on it. The background is filled with bubble tea themed decorations, including posters, plush toys, and stickers, all celebrating the love for bubble tea. The woman's enthusiasm and loyalty to bubble tea is evident in her surroundings and attire, creating a cheerful and playful atmosphere dedicated to bubble tea.”

(1) Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation

(2) a16Z State of Crypto Index

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