For the last time life beyond attracted the attention of many gamers. In-game activity is up over 134% in 30 days. Currently in life beyond about 20K gamers play monthly.
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life beyond is a third-person MMORPG in a sci-fi setting on the Polygon blockchain. Players expect an open world in which they can interact with each other, discover new technologies, travel through the metaverse, trade various materials with each other, accept contracts to complete certain tasks, and increase their reputation. The game has a clan system that allows gamers to unite in groups. Some clans can be hostile, so you have to fight not only with monsters, but also with real players.
In an interview for Dappradar, CEO and co-founder Darewise Benjamin Charbit shared his opinion on Web3 and the latest news life beyond.
Tell us about yourself
Hello, my name is Ben, I'm the CEO and co-founder Darewise. I am 38 years old, originally from France, and I have two children. I've been in the gaming industry for over ten years, mostly on AAA titles. I've had the opportunity to work on amazing titles such as Ghost Recon Online, The Division and Assassin's Creed Blackflag where I was Game Director.
Being an MMO native, I got into the metaverse quite early. It all started in 2014 when I read Reamde from Neil Stephenson, the famous creator of the word "metaverse" in Snow Crash. This prompted me to start Darewise with my buddy Samuel Kahn (lead engineer at TheDivision).
Since the end of 2017, we've had a frantic drive to create the first metaverse set in the game world. A world where you can be anyone. But all interactions are gameplay, whether you're playing as a hero or a farmer.
And in answer to your question, working with a team and watching the community grow day by day is what gets me out of bed. It was a long journey, but I enjoyed every minute.
Looking back, I see how far we have come. Incredible people have joined the project including a group of former colleagues, this year's Animoca Brands acquisition is bringing in more and more people to lay the foundation stone for the universe we've been representing for over four years.
I really believe that what we are building is revolutionary: an alternate reality that will expand our own existence, giving us the opportunity to live a different life, more fun, but with real stakes.
What was your first interaction with blockchain?
I started buying some bitcoins in 2017 just to get a feel for the experience, but became completely obsessed when I discovered smart contracts and composability.
Then I bought some NFTs to join the communities that attracted me. I have Bored Ape, Torque Squad, Phantom Galaxies, wearable Doodles and more.
Today I am actively involved in cryptography and attend numerous specialized events as a listener or speaker. I wouldn't hesitate to call myself an expert, but I'm definitely an NFT enthusiast.
What dapps do you use the most? Besides yours, of course.
Mostly marketplaces, Rarible, OpenSea, Magic Eden and games. If you haven't tried it yet, try Phantom Galaxies.
Out of all your NFTs, what is your favorite?
Frank, our bored monkey, is probably my favorite.
Now he's part of the family Darewise and will soon take its place in our fiction and a certain role and purpose in the game, but I can't say more without incurring the wrath of our marketing director (Helooooow Diana - Ben shouted chuckling).
What problems have you faced or are facing while developing your dapp?
As one former colleague said, developing a project like Life Beyond is more difficult than launching a space program. Firstly, creating an MMORPG is perhaps the most difficult genre of games, but it's more than that. In MMORPG everyone is a hero. What about a farmer, a musician, an architect, an engineer, a politician, and so on… This means that we are creating several games in one.
On top of that, we had to catch up on things related to web3: choosing a network, building smart contracts, developing tokenomics, understanding Web3 marketing, product management, etc. But I had the opportunity to work with the best professionals in the industry, and our consultants from Serena Capital/Lakestar to Animoca Brands have been very helpful with this.
What do you think are the most important success factors for a decentralized application/network?
Community. Your community is what you should be obsessed with because the presence of players makes your dapp successful.
Of course, this means several things: developing the right utility in collaboration with the community, continuous delivery, and communicating the end result. We are constantly working on all this. However, we still have a long way to go.
What is more important for the project: True decentralization or adaptation and ease of use?
I don't think there is a black and white answer here. It really depends on where you are in the project. First, onboarding optimization is a priority. Eliminating as much friction as possible is the key to expanding your user base to start capitalizing on the network effect.
But eventually decentralization becomes necessary because it actually supports this network effect and empowers users. After all, our job is to serve our community, and true decentralization ensures that this is the case.
What opportunities are your priority when complementing your project?
I've been very excited lately. In 2018, when we started the project, we were wondering if we could ever have a second existence.
I think we are approaching this phase. We know that people want to be able to improve their lives, where they can be the same or completely different. Think of a stock trader in Manhattan who dreams of owning his farmland in a virtual world.
Tell us about your tech stack and why you set it up this way?
We develop on Unreal Engine 5 and work on Polygon. Unreal Engine was a simple decision. It's the industry standard for making AAA games.
This is a technology that most experienced developers are already familiar with or are quickly learning to use. We chose Polygon for several reasons. First, we wanted the chain to be EVM compatible. Second, friendliness played an important role, we got along with the guys from Polygon. This is a fantastic partnership.
What features does your dapp ecosystem offer that are not available in Web2 and similar products in your "old way"?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the ownership of the content.
In Life Beyond, you really own your assets. It opens the door to possibilities. But the first is entrepreneurship, and I really look forward to what will come of it. The second point, which will appear a little later, is decentralized management and decision-making on the project. We still have some work to do to get there, but this is a key milestone for us.
What value makes your project unique?
What sets Life Beyond apart from other games is that it is the first MMORPG where players can be anyone. Being in the metaverse, you are no longer limited to the role of a hero. You can play any character that you have seen in World of Warcraft for example. Be it some inconspicuous NPS character or an important team member, hero, etc.
This, combined with blockchain technologies and their tokens, NFTs and ERC-20, allows Life Beyond to become an alternate reality that will be of great importance to millions of digital citizens (Metaverse users) of tomorrow.
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