Esero is an anonymous player in Upland who is also active in Discord. He began playing Upland in April 2021 after following the game for two months. He started buying some properties in Upland and hanging out with fellow players in Discord.
“I established myself in the game,” says Esero, “but I also built a lot of good relationships with other Uplanders, I really enjoyed the fun and the layer two opportunities.”
Esero met with SatoshisView, another major player who then introduced him to Sean Marra, founder of BlocqX Labs which launched The X NFT & Polemo Games, and they hit it off immediately.
“I was keen to bring more value through layer two games into Upland and this worked perfectly,” says Esero.
While Esero is consistent in maintaining personal gamer anonymity, he does let slip that he enjoys real estate, in particular digital real estate.
“I am fascinated by all things blockchain and meeting Sean was great timing,” says Esero. Esero has now joined Sean in the Polemo Games ecosystem and is actively adding value to the game.
Sean is the founder of BlocqX a web3 venture lab, and the brains behind Polemo Games and co-founder of The X NFT. In his Linkedin Bio, Sean says: ‘Our mission is to create, or back the teams that are expanding possibility, creating, innovating meaningful experiences in the virtual world, and bridging the physical world. ’ which highlights his immersive approach to projects.
Before I can quiz Sean on his background, he is keen to talk more about the reticent Esero.
“Esero has had massive success in Web1 and Web2 and has been focused on Web3 blockchain gaming. He is visionary and a master facilitator that helps connect the dots and simply gets things done. He is incredibly successful in his field and his previous ventures and I am always energized and inspired by him,” says Sean.
The precursor to Polemo Games (Polemology which by the way means the study of combat & warfare, spanning historic, modern and futuristic warfare and leaders) was The X NFT. The genesis collection was born in the middle of the NFT bull run and was designed as the first in-game assets built on the Unreal Engine to a future gaming ecosystem inspired and co created by former Activison/Blizzard lead game designer Lt Dan Dallio. The X NFT (inspired by the tenth (X) legion of Julius Caesar) was launched with an extensive story-telling focused on 9 legendary commanders and 6500 legionnaires (players) following these commanders. The Legionnaires are a mashup of the 9 legendary commanders, Alexander the Great, Leonidas, George Washington, Napoleon, Sitting Bull, Genghis Khan, Sun Tzu, Julius Caesar and one futuristic commander known as the “ONE”.
As Sean points out, Esero and SatoshisView are X NFT Legendary Commanders – and represent the historic Joan of Arc and Napoleon Legendary Commanders in the X NFT Genesis Collection.
“These are the founding fathers of the ecosystem – just as legendary commanders were, only in this case they represent the future of legendary commanders of web3 gaming.
Polemo Games stepped in to publish and continue with the on-going development of the collection by expanding into layer two minigames within the Upland and Polemo ecosystem which is all housed in the POLEMO METAFORT.
A long term vision of the POLEMO METAFORT will have series of immersive mini-games ranging from vehicles, survival, and tactical experiences. Initially Sean and his team decided to create and first launch the X POLEMO Range weapons and tournament shooting range within Upland.
“The one thing missing in Upland was a layer two playable experiences and in-game assets with utility.” Our goal was to fill those two holes and delight Upland players with our immersive experiences within Upland from day one.”
Sean points out there are different game mechanics and experiences with the different weapons and for the first time, Uplanders will also have immediate utility for the digital assets they purchase in the game.
In addition, the weapons are interoperable and can be used those future mini games to be released. Owners of these in-game assets will also be able to level-up their weapons, trade and sell them on the secondary marketplace.
As a result, POLEMO METAFORT was developed as a Layer 2 experience on Upland. The inspiration behind the game was The X NFT that Sean co-founded with Daniel Dilallo (aka LT. Dan), a former Activision Blizzard lead game designer.
The X POLEMO RANGE beta went live and launched in November on Upland with digital twins of the Cabot “Big Daddy” Damascus, CEO Battle Series AR, and CEO Executive Precision Rifle.
Sean has been in the data, adtech, and marketing space for all of his career. He discovered blockchain in 2020 and the concepts of smart contracts digital ownership really appealed to him.
“I knew I wanted to be involved in creating businesses built on blockchain and using the unique technical features especially the ownership layer. I am also a creative person, collecting art and collectibles in real life, and discovered the power of community in Web3 as compared to audience segmentation in the web2 world.
Digital twins give the player a whole new experience playing in-real life weapons from the leading weapons companies on the planet. Our brand partners get to expand into Phygital items that allows their brand and products to be experienced and owned in new ways. It also allows for their IP to be monitored and kept true to copyright without being knocked off by counterfeiters and look-a-like weapons. “This gives our partners confidence that they can control the IP of their assets on the blockchain.”
Digital twins are not limited to modern weapons, and Sean points to impressive historic digital twins, including a digital twin of Julius Caesar’s actual war helmet and dozens of other historic items from daggers, armor and weapons as in-game assets.
There are ten sponsors in total ranging from weapon manufacturers, tactical lifestyle, to equipment. but the initial three sponsors (Cabot “Big Daddy” Damascus, CEO Battle Series AR, and CEO Executive Precision Rifle) are exclusive to Upland players and their weapons can only be found in Upland.
Matthew Parks is another member of Polemo Games and the CMO of 2782 Digital, a marketing agency operating out of Florida. He has been passionate about Bitcoin since it was $20 and is deeply embedded in Web3 gaming which he sees as adding value to the blockchain layer. After meeting with Sean, he was instantly drawn to the concept and with perfectly aligned values agreed to join the team.
Matthew only works in spaces that he is passionate about, which also includes boating and fishing. This latter passion gave the name to his digital agency, which represents the longitude coordinates of his home town St Petersburg Florida.
What are the first games to launch?
First up comes the X POLEMO Range which was beta launched in November. There will be a few weeks of practice initially before the actual UPX tournaments begin. Players then have the opportunity to purchase exclusive digital twins of guns provided by partners Cabot “Big Daddy” Damascus, CEO Battle Series AR, and CEO Executive Precision Rifle.
Sean is a big fan of Web3 gaming and players having ownership of their in-game assets, potentially allowing players to build real equity for their time and efforts as well.
“So far, Web3 gaming can be best compared to games such as CandyCrush – we are launching our game in Upland that will blur the lines between
Web3 and gaming – we look forward to pushing the envelope even further so that Uplanders can come and have a fun FPS (first person shooter) gaming experience.
“We don’t want them to even think about what platform they are on or if they are in Web3 – we just want them to enjoy the FPS experience,” says Matt Parks
Sean is also excited that players can win more than just memories on Upland.
“Players can win UPX, the native in-game currency in Upland. Additionally, Weapons and Trophies won in tournaments belong to the players and can be potentially exchanged or sold for real value,” he adds. “So, players can have truly Web3 immersive experiences without even knowing they are on Web3.”
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