Our inaugural GAM3 Awards features over 30 members on its jury to help recognize the best "gam3s" in each of the 16 categories. The event takes place on December 15, and will be livestreamed across all our socials. It is time to get everyone familiar with each member of our jury. We got the opportunity to sit down with each of them to ask them a set questions to help you get to know them more personally, their favorite gaming moment growing up, what pushed them to make the jump into web3 gaming, and their outlook on the future of blockchain gaming.

Credible media outlets in web3 overall are scarce, and gaming focused outlets are even rarer to come by. However, with the likes of Liam Wright at helm of gaming journalism for the Cryptoslate platform, it shows there is still hope of quality content flowing through web3 gaming. Cryptoslate in general is a comprehensive and contextualized source for crypto news, insights, and data. Liam sat down to give us a rundown of his impressive gaming journey and the major milestones that need to happen before blockchain gaming hits mass adoption.

What is your proudest gaming moment?

Oh that’s a hard one. It’s a toss up between a few. Playing in the open qualifiers for Dota’s TI6, hitting my 4k MMR goal in Dota, or reaching the Top 100 in PUBG in the EU… even if it was just for a few days 🙂

Ultimately, as corny as it is, it’s the friends I made along the way. I had five friends come to my wedding in Spain who I met in Dota pubs which was an incredible moment meeting some of them for the first time.

What pushed you to transition into work in web3 and choose gaming as your sector of choice?

I always dreamed about working in the gaming industry as its been my passion since I got my first  console at the age of 6. However, given my background it seemed more likely I’d end up in marketing and I had come to the end of the road in that part of my journey. Instead I switched to the crypto space as writing has been my other passion throughout my life and I believe in the vision of what blockchain can do to improve the world. 

Being able to combine gaming and crypto into one place is a dream come true. The future of gaming in the web3 space is something I’m excited to see evolve. 

What excites you the most about the current state of web3 gaming?

The way that web3 gaming is pushing the whole industry to improve the usability and onboarding of a non-crypto native audience. Too much is made of the need for self-custody by tech savvy individuals who expect everyone to accept that they must be in charge of their own private keys. This responsibility is not for everyone, at least not until we find better ways to store private keys, and thus the ability for web3 gaming to allow users to experience web3 without the roadblock of setting up a crypto wallet is super exciting for me. 

I believe that self-custody is the future but I’m a realist in that the current tools we have to support this isn’t sufficient to comply with everyone’s risk tolerance.

Where do you see Cryptoslate’s role in the future of web3 gaming?

At CryptoSlate we are working behind the scenes to improve our coverage of web3 gaming. I am speaking the to team to see how we can build out infrastructure to ensure web3 gaming, and especially esports, gets the recognition it deserves.

We have also recently started our own Web3 Gaming Guild and are working out the details so that we can directly get involved with the amazing web3 gamers that are out there such as those nominated for the awards. 

If you could name one major milestone yet to happen to push web3 gaming adoption forward, what would it be?

We just need that one hit game that takes the gaming industry by storm. The focus on gameplay is crucial here. We won’t get mass adoption through financial gain in my opinion, it will come by bringing users in through unbeatable gameplay. 

Once gamers are in they will then see the benefits that blockchain brings to the industry. It’s about ensuring the onboarding process is as seamless as possible and I, for one, align with the strategy some games are taking where a wallet or NFT is not a prerequisite to playing. We should get players in for the gameplay and allow them to enjoy the game without having to setup a wallet or buy and NFT. Using blockchain to extend, improve, and enhance the experience from there will encourage them to then setup a wallet to take full advantage of the game. 

What do you think of Liam's insight on the current state of web3 gaming? Share this article and tag us on any of our socials to let us know.

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