Incentivising Metaverse Ready Players to play… In Real Life.
When speaking to VCs in the NFT/Metaverse space, a few have mentioned they particularly look at what young digital natives are doing in the space as an indicator of trends.
That focus on thinking about a younger demographic resonated with the team at xG where we are developing a platform where web3 rewards are earned for real life athletic achievements.
A few years ago, when we worked in sports media, we were often asked by leagues and governing bodies to create content that would inspire the next generation of athletes to leave their computers and get out on playing fields and running tracks to take part in a sport. We made some great videos…but that was all we could do really. However, it got us thinking about how the benefits of rewarding sports participation.
We then looked at how sports leagues and academies reward participation and achievement. And whilst winning a match or a race in and of itself brings psychological reward — additionally participants often receive medals, certificates and plastic trophies. And while this is a great tradition — we are highly aware that those medals & trophies get flexed on social media for a day, then end up in a box in the attic or the back of a bedroom door — because they have no real ‘utility’.
Give rewards with web3 utlity
So at xG we made the creative leap to realise that real-world sports participation could and should be rewarded with NFTs and a tokens that have real utility — that can be traded, used, upgraded or simply kept — it’s up to the individual.
As we developed the project it became increasingly clear that rewards with utility are incredibly relevant to anyone under the age of 30 — who have all grown up as digital natives — and especially after 2 years of lockdown when everyone was driven online.
If you’ll allow me, I can use the personal example of my football mad son, Jack, who plays for a team in the Regents Park League in London, and who I regularly describe as “Metaverse ready”. Although only 12, he is already mining his first cypto-currency (Salad), lives at least 2 hours every day in a Metaverse (Minecraft) where he has learnt the basics of supply and demand through token trading, and produces and presents his own YouTube channel.
When his team did well in the local league he got one of the medals in the picture above which now it hangs with all the others on the back of his bedroom door because it has no utility.
The Vision for xG
So xG was developed to enable football players (as our first sport) to earn metaverse ready rewards as well as medals. Players will get digital collectibles, NFTs & tokens as a result of their play. Athletes can hold these NFTs, building a collection with genuine personal meaning (like your own digital trophy cabinet with personal nostalgic value). Or if you would prefer, you can trade them on the xG marketplace.
xG will also add a layer of gamification to participating in sports — like unlocking new levels of NFTs for 5 wins in a row. Each win delivers a token or an NFT with utility. It’s game-changing.
The potential scale of the project
The more we develop the project the more the scale of the xG project becomes apparent — FIFA estimates globally, that over 265mn people play football every week — 4% of the world’s population — and in 10 years just 1% of them earn, sell, trade up or buy just $10 worth of xG NFTs that’s a $50,000,000 business — even before we add in sponsorship and growing to other sports using the same basic xG infrastructure.
But beyond that the potential scale of the economics — at xG we believe success will come when we focus on social good. In these strange times of conflict and climate-change, when xG genuinely rewards and incentivise grass-roots participation for diverse and wide range of athletes all over the world… we will have made a difference everyone involved with he project can be proud of.
xG is a win win win.
For more information on xG https://linktr.ee/xgstudios
