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Samsung keeps a close eye on the Web3 world. The tech giant has a pretty good nose for stuff, so if it decides to invest in something, it’s probably worth checking out. One of Samsung’s latest investments through its Samsung Next arm is Genoppen.
Genopets is the world’s first move-to-earn blockchain game. It’s a cross between digital pets like Tamagotchis, creatures that fight like Pokémon and urbanism like Animal Crossing. A Genopet is a procedurally generated pet, built from a personality test that players must complete.
It’s heavy on the blockchain thing, and every Genopet is an NFT. But Ben Tse, one of the creators, sees no point in making another project based on Ponzi mechanics. The draw of millions of potential dollars just isn’t doing it for him. Tse prefers to make something fun, but especially something personally valuable.
Ben Tse has some radical ideas about gaming. The Genopets co-founder looked at his time spent gaming in the past – tens of thousands of hours in games like Call of Duty and Starcraft – and realized that bragging rights aren’t worth much.
Tse’s time is more valuable than that.
He’s not entirely anti-metaverse, but he’s not a fan of much of the talk. People talk about the metaverse as a kind of place where people can disappear. Tse wants the opposite; he wants to make a game layer for real life.
Genopets is what came out of that.
Valuing time spent
The actual Genopet is a digital pet that grows and evolves based on the things the player does. Things the player actually does, such as real-world activities. It is the main hook of the game; if you want your pet to evolve and get better, you need to take it a step further yourself.
A few examples are things like sleeping well, exercising, eating well and doing nice things in the world like going to concerts. Tse wants Genopets to improve the real world, not to pull gamers away from it.
A Genopet is meant to be a reflection of each individual gamer. If you stagnate, your Genopet will stagnate. If you want to have the best, most evolved Genopet, you have to work to improve yourself and enjoy life.
Tse lives the philosophy of his game. The Genopets studio started because Tse wanted to come up with a way to collaborate with his friends. All of the original founders and first recruits of Genopets are people Tse has known for a while. Working on Genopets is that Tse does exactly the kinds of things that could grow his own personal Genopet.
Ben Tse uses his playing to create tangible value for things that traditionally have not. Attending a concert may be a valuable experience, but it’s fleeting. This is not the case with a Genopet.
It’s an attractive concept and it seems Samsung sees its value.
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