🌄Stories

United by gaming, we each hold dear experiences with the medium

This section features team members' personal stories around gaming. While unimportant to the larger build, it reflects some of our motivations and backgrounds. We hope that these provide greater transparency to our motivations and, at the least, serves as something interesting for readers.

Stanley - The preservation of Nostalgia

My relationship with gaming started at 5, when my dad first got me a copy of Disney’s Hercules for Windows95. This quickly evolved into an obsession to perform and overcome challenges within the virtual world, with MMORPGs being my genre of choice.

To those who recently became fascinated with the idea of a “Metaverse”, I must say that I, and many other gamers, have experienced the concept since many years prior. Through games, virtual communities have been ever-present in my life. In fact, when I was 17 years old, Garena hired me as an official moderator for the Path of Exile game because of my efforts in running 3 of the largest guilds in the game then. Similarly, I led one of the largest alliances, comprising 4 guilds in a coalition of more than 1,000 members, in Guild Wars 2. It was then that I would organize massive World vs. World raids that involved over 500 players at a time. Competitive Esports in games like Rakion and the original Dota round out my experience with video games.

However, these nostalgic experiences have come to pass. I now find it bittersweet to think that such memory might be flushed away with the tribulations of working life. Surely, there must be a way to retain such beautiful memories. My dream is for gamers to be able to immortalise our memories and achievements: the first game you played, how the first character you ever created looks, and when you first defeated a tough boss, cheering in excitement with childhood friends.

Photography was initially commercialised in our parents’ generation, and they look back at old photo albums to reminisce the nostalgia of days gone by. With Arcana, I hope that we can also look back at our gaming accolades and experiences with similar sentiments of sweet joy.

ModoGrand - The Masterclass that is Gaming

Gaming is an enormous part of my identity, and effective learning is a key externality I have drawn from the interest.

A number of bootleg console games on the original PlayStation formed my initial exposure to gaming. I have fond memories learning about primary colors in a Toy Story game where you had to jump on colored buttons of Red, Yellow, and Blue to mix and create secondary colors. That was just the tip of the iceberg. An obession with and desire to play C&C Generals and CS1.6 led to a desire to build my own computer. Because my parents were particularly stingy with allowance and gifts, I resorted to earning extra money by buying and trading Duel Masters and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards at the age of 9. The process of getting my first computer forced me to pick up entrepreneurial skills.

By the time I got to high school, I was so hooked on gaming that I was regularly missing classes nearing the A Levels (similar to SATs and ACTs) to play League of Legends, Total War, Civilization, and the likes. This obsession continued into University and then some. Yet, I performed well in my undergraduate studies and am currently pursuing a PhD in business strategy. Some friends point to supposed talent to explain this dissonance, but I can tell you that it is not the case. Gaming and my ability to study are very much aligned. Gaming teaches you to strategize and think fast. Min-maxing in games is'nt all that different from knowing which topics to focus on and which questions to tackle first during exams. Moreover, gaming teaches you to operate effectively within a ring made out of known rules; again, this is not so different from formal education. Here's the thing: I went to a neighbourhood school where most students generall do not make it into a local university. Of the top three performers in my class, all of whom made it into university, all were and still are avid gamers. Small sample size yes, but there is some correlation and anecdotal proof here.

Despite this though, non-gamers around me have always judged and looked down on gaming as a hobby. Yes, addiction is terrible but decent exposure can be something empowering. I cannot tell you how many artists, developers, fiction writers, 3D modellers, and UIUX designers I have met who quote gaming as a source of inspiration which pushed them to their current careers - which they love. Gaming, within reason, and in good practice, should be celebrated. After all, I can say with some certainty that for many of us, gaming has played a greater role in raising us than our own parents have. I hope Arcana's Gamers Passport will be a tool which brings light to gamers and legitimizes the positive impact and experiences the medium has had on us all.

By the way, since you read to the end, here's a secret: ModoGrand means nothing. It's just an anagram of "Random Dog".

Wai - Of Choices & Destiny

The first game I ever played was StarCraft. I loved how strategic and dynamic the game was. I remember my friends would spend hours playing on campaign mode while I go straight to PvP on Battlenet. They loved to be told a story, I'd rather make my own.

I’ve a peculiar relationship with gaming. My parents always rejected technology. In their eyes, the computer was the devil’s spawn here to corrupt my innocent soul. I was a late adopter and got my first computer at the age of twelve only because the school mandated it. I never learned how to type properly and always felt anxious about lagging behind my peers.

I was a mediocre student. I’d often space out thinking about life and what it means. I'd scrap by each national exam and then graduate NUS with a finance degree. Inside me exists a clutch gear that prevents self destruction but I needed to experience failure to grow. In my final year, I spent so much time away from school that I might as well have dropped out.

Looking back, it was the first time I’ve taken ownership over my life. The decision to sacrifice a lucrative career in finance to program my mobile application was the best I ever made. I became a software engineer and have since helped many successful ventures go from 0 to 1.

Project Arcana is a reflection of my own life. It is about gaming, software engineering and convincing non-believers of an amazing piece of technology that can transform lives. It is about the grit, sacrifice and transcendence needed to challenge the status quo. Most importantly, it is about writing my own story.

Yovie - Gaming & Friendship

My journey in gaming began in "Fantasy Westward Journey - 梦幻西游", a story-focused RPG. I remember rushing home every day after school to meet my online friends and "in-game husband". Teaming up for huge boss fights, attractive skins, and an evergrowing world were aspects of the virtual world which fascinated me. I could be someone else with a different identity in a world where everyone had common goals. The joys and good memories...As I grew older, my family moved to Singapore where I had to bid my comrades one last farewell.

With a busy study schedule, I eventually found myself detached from gaming, and for many years focused on my life, until PUBG Mobile came along. I've known of PUBG since before the Mobile version through watching streams of how people would try to win a shooting game using frying pans! What a hilarious concept. And when the game finally came to mobile, I simply had to give it a go! I quickly became hooked trying to get my first chicken dinner!

As small as they may be, I deeply treasure the moments in games that I have with friends. Such experiences are things which, I think, deserve to and should be preserved. Today, I am happy to be part of a build which makes both gamer achievements and accomplishments immutable and preserved using meaningful blockchain technology.

Angelo - A celebration of who we are

My experience with gaming has been incredibly varied. It started with hanging out at rental console stores with friends back in elementary school. Games like Twisted metal, TRAG, Silent Hill, and Marval vs Capcom are major memories from the period along with the screams, shouts, and laughts of my close friends beside me. Then the Gameboy came and I was immediately hooked. My cousins and I each had a Gameboy and color variant of the Pokemon game: Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow, ALL IN JAPANESE. I cannot tell you how many batteries we burned through hooked on the game and how much fund we had simply comparing and talking about our in game experiences. Eventually, my hands passed almost every console at the time: Playstation, Xbox, Dreamcast, FamiCom, PSP, Gameboy(Color, Advanced, SP), Nintendo DS. You name it!

When I got introduced to PC games though, it was like a paradigm shift. C&C Tiberian Sun, Red Alert, Battle Realms, Warcraft, SIMS, Half Life, Counter-Strike, Ragnarok, and Dekaron are just some games I've had exposure to. This was when I was pulled into the full appeal of competitive spirit and community, and also getting terribel sleep with late night level grinding. I was so into gaming and managing communities in MMORPGs that I even became a GM of a large RAN Online private server. Dota though was the true catalyst. I was sucked into a rabbit hole and "wasted" thousands of hours immersed in the game. HoN came and went, and Dota 2 was released parallel with many ups and downs I've experienced in life. Gaming has been a constant source of emotional support, of friendships, and even of inspiration (it had a large part to play in me choosing to become a developer).

These memories, time spent, and accomplishments I've had are things I hold dear and believe should be celebrated. That is what Arcana is about to me: friendships, and celebrating gamer identities.

Aer - Persistence & Accomplishment

When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my parents opened up a LAN cafe - a dream come true for many around my age. Funnily enough, my parents brought me frequently to the LAN cafe to play games as away to prevent having to toys for me.

RPG was my go-to game genre. The ability to live another life in a fantasy world, to go on adventures and overcome obstacles, to recount tales of accomplishment to friends was an amazing experience. My obsession with gaming was so great that I would even skipped classes just to grind on my favorite MMO titles such as Ragnarok, Perfect World, etc. And when it came to competitive games, I wanted to prove to my friends that I can be one of, if not, the best at whatever game I dedicate myself to. When seasons in Diablo 3 came out, I poured every hour I could into it. I managed to reach Top 4 in the Hardcore Leaderboards. It was one of the toughest. I also managed to reach the Top 500 players at the peak of Overwatch.

I am proud of my experiences in gaming, across achievements, friendships made, and novel experiences I have enjoyed, and I am certain that many other gamers have had similar experiences of joy and pride. That is why I am excited to be a part of Project Arcana, creating artifcacts to capture and immortalize the memories of gamers the worlds around.

HY - Addiction, Brotherhood, & betterment for the Future

My first experience with gaming was the Sega genesis, playing Sonic the hedgehog with my younger brother.

When I was 12, my sister bought me Warcraft III as a birthday gift. I played custom games like Tides of Blood, Dota, Footmen Frenzy and countless others. I soon realized that other games I played like Counter Strike, Diablo II and MapleStory all follow a common theme. I played because my friends played and it was fun.

At the age of 10, my dad bought me a GameBoy. My first game was Pokemon red. What followed was countless hours battling, catching Pokemon and traversing the small world i held in my hands. It was exciting, challenging and mysterious. When i was 12, my sister bought me warcraft 3 as a birthday gift. Within warcraft, i played custom games like tides of blood, dota, footmen frenzy and many others. The other games i played were counter strike, diablo 2 and maplestory with buddies after school. I found that fun for me in games was in the act of playing together with friends.

Expectedly, an obsession with MMORPGs followed. The genre simply captured the essence of joy in gaming for me - charging into battle with comrades to achieve a common goal. We had a guild called "Soulbound" in World of Warcraft's Barthilas server where we recruited friends and managed what was essentially an extended family in organizing to attempt challenging dungeons and self set objectives.

Thinking about these memories bring back a sense of nostalgia.

For all the games i played i have spent time and money to acquire equipments to boost my character. However when i want to leave the game, these in game characters cant be sold easily or traded safely to others. This is where i believe web3 can come in. The secondary trading market for games hosted by 3rd party sites have been fraught with security issues that can be solved by blockchain. Additionally, the time spent or skills acquired are not recorded. Arcana hopes to contain the memories and skills of players involved to bring new opportunities for players desiring to enter the space of web3 gaming, where players are rewarded tokens for playing well. Together, we can safekeep the gaming journey of gamers all around the world.

Eugene - Digital Creation

I was a Transport Tycoon since I was 7 years old, building cities and roads at this tender age. This started with a DOS computer for those who are old enough to remember. My foray into gaming begun with simulation games. Since then I have played countless games ranging from FPS to fantasy, RTS and sandbox games.

I spend a lot of time building utopian worlds in simulation games especially Minecraft, at one point I was part of the guild building the largest city ever in Minecraft, working with others to build and maintain a fictional urban city. Games are also a great way for me to travel, my favorite travel activity is to visit the GTA V map, fly my private jet and jump out and visit anywhere I want to go.

Most recently, I enjoy playing Mobile Legends and have a few ranked characters in my inventory. Hit me up for a game or two sometime!

fridgeintheopen - Competing to Pioneering

Was a pretty hardcore gamer playing mainly RTS and MMORPG games. The first game that I played was Renewal Online and I was literally mesmerized when I entered the virtual world of Renewal which is pretty similar to today's Metaverse concept. And I moved onto competitive gaming for DotA, Heroes of Newerth, Blackshot Online & League of Legends. When I was browsing Instagram, I chanced upon the @nft page and it literally sparked my interest to start my journey and I have never looked back. I'm honored to be part of ArcanaHQ as it ties back to my gaming history and would love to see how we further utilize digital identity for gamers.

JPEG_Yakuza_ - Where value may be

Joined NFTs just in time for the bear market.

Initially saw this as a fun environment to make profits and naively bought into a few slow rugs by alleged legitimate projects. This over-saturation of bad actors has tainted the credentials and most importantly the possibilities of this space.

I came to realize that vision is more often than not just some pipe dream projects push out for their marketing.

Happy to support ArcanaHQ and their vision of building a Digital Identity for gamers (and many other exciting features) by curating their strategy to launch, ensuring we are able to communicate the attractiveness and value of their product they’ve spent countless hours over the last year working on.

To all Gamers, this is for you.