As you might have known by now, we are hosting the inaugural GAM3 Awards show. This year's iteration of the event will take place on the 15th of December, with over 100 web3 games nominated across 16 different categories to recognize the best "gam3s" as voted by expert judges and the community alike. We take pride in putting together an impeccable jury  with 35 members to ensure the transparency and credibility of the event. We took the time to ask some of them what was their favorite gaming moment growing up.

Everyone remembers their first League of Legends Pentakill, their first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ace, their first Platinum trophy on Sony's PlayStation, completing an entire franchise, and many similar moments. Each gamer throughout their journey trespasses different genres and various titles to find that one game that captivated them to keep coming back till that magical moment happens. These moments don't necessarily need to be gaming achievements. They can easily be a memory that brings together friends or family member For instance, Jonah Blake, the CEO and Founder of RE3W, shared his favorite gaming experience growing up.

When my brother and I were able to get a PS3 day one because we won a raffle at the local mall.

Jonah Blake, the CEO and Founder of RE3W

Others usually reminisce over classics. It happens often that you ask your parents if they ever played any games growing up, and they mention an old SEGA or Atari title. You go to check it out and its pixelated visuals put you off because we are used to Unreal Engine and high quality titles in the modern era boasting incredible visuals. However, these titles marked a revolutionary step towards where we are today. Jorge Jimenez, Arcade's CMO, shared his favorite gaming moment, and it took us down gaming's memory lane to a true shooter classic.

Let's take this back to 1997! When Goldeneye was released, I don't know any gamer that has not played this game and still today is a game that brings the same euphoria as if it was your first time! This is truly the game that revolutionized the meaning of multiplayer!

Jorge Jimenez, the CMO of Arcade

Having put the classics and wholesome moments aside, gamers are naturally competitive. There is no denying the size of the esports segment within the gaming industry at the moment. Most recently, the League of Legends Worlds 2022 showcased T1 versus DRX with the latter taking home the trophy in very dramatic fashion. During the series, the grand final attracted over 5.1 million concurrent viewers at its peak. There is no comparison at the moment with the web3 gaming esports sector, but our GAM3 Awards' Best Esports category will shed some light on games working towards building a more competitive environment.

These make or break moments can sometimes be all you live for when you play video games, and the true reason you keep coming back every day. The hopes of going professional, winning a tournament, going viral over an insane trickshot, or anything else that gets the admiration of fellow gamers. David Hanson, the Founder and CEO of Ultra, one of the top blockchain gaming networks at the moment, shared his memory of trying his best to keep his PC alive with every winning he got.

In the 90ies, I participated and won a lot of Counter-Strike LAN tournaments. I’ve had tremendous fun and winnings helped me keep my computer hardware up to date on the cheap

David Hanson, the Founder and CEO of Ultra

On the other hand, Nathan, the Co-Founder of Ancient8, has experienced the ups and downs of competitive gaming on both the personal and competitive level. Nathan used to participate regularly in sports tournaments, specifically FIFA. He managed to plant that competitive spirit and character within his guild's players to become the best Axie Infinity team in East Region for Axiecon.

As an individual, I used to compete and participate in many FIFA tournaments back in 2018. Biggest achievement was top 1 in FUTVN Champions League. As a team, we reached top 1 of the East Region for AxieCon Classic tournament, which was recently held in Barcelona September this year.

Nathan, the Co-Founder of Ancient8

A dark horse GAM3 Awards jury member surprised us with quite the esports career, namely Liam Wright. The Cryptoslate journalist took us on his gaming career growing up and highlighted one of the most important elements throughout his journey, the friendships he made on the way. Not only did he crack the top 100 Player's Unknown Battegrounds players list on the European server, he had 4K MMR in DOTA 2 as well. The latter is where he made friends that stuck around over time to eventually make it to his wedding in Spain to meet in real-life for the first time.

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.

Liam Wright, Journalist at Cryptoslate

All of these stories are inspiring to say the least, but at the same time show us how early web3 gaming truly is. These moments are the accumulation of decades of gaming history, while our industry has only seen a glimpse of it all. The number of truly enjoyable blockchain games at the moment is scarce but the GAM3 Awards is your best bet in finding the true gems of the space to hop on either solo or with friends to start creating memories that will last forever. Moments you will look back at them when digital asset ownership and blockchain technology are the norm within the gaming industry, but you were there to witness it all from the very start.

Which story did you like the most? What is your favorite gaming memory growing up? Share this article and tag us on any of our socials to let us know.

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