The Last Country is the first blockchain-based game in the MetaPlan series and a construction and management simulation game set in a post-apocalyptic world.
Understanding the Future of Play-2-Earn and GameFi
Ishan Pandey: Hi Kamil, welcome to our series “Behind the Startup.” Please tell us about yourself and the story behind Metaplan?
Kamil Boruszkowski: Hi Ishan, thank you for having us. I’m the founder & CEO of Metaplan. I began my journey into the crypto world by buying, selling, and trading centralized CSGO items for profit using Bitcoin.
The problems associated with centralized game items made themselves apparent when Valve decided to change the way they could be traded, forcing owners to abide by their restrictions and destroying a healthy, vibrant, fun, and profitable community.
We decided to build a game to help educate players on the advantages of decentralization through the use of NFTs, DAOs, and blockchain as a medium to ensure that ownership stayed with the players in every regard.
Building on a foundation of fun, free-to-play, and play-to-earn (GameFi), we aim to revolutionize this genre to showcase its potential beyond the headlines, giving players of all ages and experience an opportunity to enter into the magical world of blockchain-based gaming in their own pace and willingness to learn.
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Ishan Pandey: How will the traditional gaming industry be affected by the introduction of blockchain gaming, and do you think this might lead to mass blockchain adoption?
Kamil Boruszkowski: The traditional gaming industry will be revolutionized through critical changes such as the decentralization of core game decisions in addition to the ability to earn a passive income through the play-to-earn model.
Instead of spending money and not realizing a return, players will be able to earn while enjoying their favorite games.
Through democratic voting in DAOs, players will truly own their game and not be subject to decisions made by a single party but rather the entire community.
The advantageous features of blockchain can most readily be seen in blockchain-based games as they seamlessly incorporate many blockchain technologies in one package, such as NFTs, DAOs, and cryptocurrencies. They will be the leading incubators leading to mass blockchain adoption.
Ishan Pandey: What are the most significant issues with the gaming industry today, and how can blockchain-based gaming combat them?
Kamil Boruszkowski: Today’s centralized nature of the gaming industry does not allow for player control. Many novel uses are introduced with blockchain-based gaming, such as bug bounties through open-sourced code audits, decentralized funding, and unique opportunities to be involved with the game through token staking, farming, and mining.
Blockchain introduces an entirely new dimension of the economy into traditional games, which they currently lack.
DAOs allow for unprecedented control of the game by the players. They are one of the main advantages compared to traditional gaming.
Ishan Pandey: What was the driving force behind developing the MetaPlan-DAO also, please tell us a little bit about the hardcore blockchain simulation game - The Last Country?
Kamil Boruszkowski: DAOs represent the future of gaming by decentralizing critical decisions by giving players the power to decide the fate of their own game.
Case in point: World of Warcraft. The controversy surrounding this game and its updates hit the headlines around the gaming world as players were unhappy with the decisions implemented by a single, controlling party: Blizzard.
We respect the opinions and wishes of our players and as such will allow them to decide how their game progresses with regards to all aspects of gameplay such as updates, features, nerfs and so forth, allowing for decentralized, democratic voting.
The Last Country is the first blockchain-based game in the Meta Plan series and a construction and management simulation (“CMS”) game set in a post-apocalyptic world. By playing the game and completing the quests, players receive NFTs and tokens as rewards that can be used as their income or utilized as credentials in the DAO.
Power to the players!
Ishan Pandey: What exactly is GameFi, and how does it vary from the traditional gameplay we are used to?
Kamil Boruszkowski: GameFi is the introduction of player income into traditional gameplay. Play-to-earn is the primary definer of GameFi and incubates passion, interest, and further development of the game by incentivizing players to do so. NFT game items can be resold without limitations on-chain, tokens can be staked for voting in the DAO, and fundraising is simplified through player-funded games.
Ishan Pandey: While NFTs reached an all-time high in the latter half of 2021, blockchain games came into popularity due to their capacity to generate revenue for gamers just by participating. What are your views on the current blockchain gaming industry as a whole?
Kamil Boruszkowski: It is in its infancy and requires education to lead to mass adoption. Players are unaware of the advantages of blockchain gaming, as the space can be very daunting and complicated to get into.
With Metaplan, we’ve built it from the ground up as a free-to-play, play-to-earn, and play-to-learn game.
We have designed the game to be fun and easy to get into regardless of any previous blockchain experience or knowledge.
Being a free-to-play game, players can learn about more complex topics such as DAOs, different chains, DEXs, CEXs, and more at their willingness to earn. If they are not interested in learning, they can still enjoy the fun gaming experience that Metaplan offers.
Furthermore, most blockchain games are currently browser-based, limiting the user pool. Having Metaplan being launched on Android (with iOS and PC following soon), it will be much easier for players to get started with their journey into this space.
Ishan Pandey: Web 3.0 is a digital breakthrough that has been significantly impactful. According to you, what are the selling points of Web 3.0?
Kamil Boruszkowski: The paradigm of Web 3.0 is user creation, user ownership, user control, and protocol allocation. In other words, in Web 3.0, the ownership of digital content created by users is owned by users and controlled by users.
The value created is distributed according to the agreement signed between users. Under this system, these digital contents are no longer straightforward data but digital assets because their rights are guaranteed at the asset level.
Web 3.0 respects and protects individual digital property rights and exchanges values based on smart contracts.
Ishan Pandey: Blockchain gaming is a relatively new concept in the industry. In this regard, what does the roadmap ahead look like for GameFi and the blockchain gaming industry as a whole?
Kamil Boruszkowski: Unifying traditional gaming models with an intricate, diverse, and expansive economic model, allowing for greater creativity and control for and by the players.
Blockchain gaming is rapidly developing from simple card-based games to more intricate developments with broader use cases and appeal to traditional gamers.
It is only a matter of time before traditional games shift towards blockchain and the metaverse.
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