“I am pretty good at Monopoly and I love strategy games in general. Back in 2021, during Covid, my friends and I were looking for something more, and the more we found was Upland.”
Radishhead was familiar with Web3 but only remotely. He watched a couple of Web3 games but none really interested him before Upland.
“I loved the mascot and the way the game was based on the real world. I’ve shared some stuff with my father and we both get excited about finding real places in Upland. We are both interested in geography and I am particularly interested in the US.”
The very first properties purchased by Radishhead were in Brooklyn, New York, while the first new city release in which he participated was in Oakland. Then Detroit and Chicago followed suit. Radishhead was interested in the way Upland grew, how it took on feedback from the community and then how it matured as a platform.
“And of course, opening London was a blast.”
Radishhead was successful in getting properties that he wanted. It also helped because he had worked in London and knew the terrain.
“I want to give out a shout to the community in Knightsbridge in Belgrade. They are doing a really cool thing – they want to be the community of communities – so if you have a community anywhere, you are invited to open an embassy in Belgrade.”
Radishhead is pursuing a strategy of hodling his properties. He loves them and he also earns a fairly decent passive income that he hopes to invest in future city releases. However, sometimes he does flip properties – it’s quite fun he says – and that helps him also to breakeven in a city.
“I’ve got some nice properties in Tokyo, one of which is a lovely shrine which I have no intention of selling.”
His nickname has been with him since the start of his internet career going back to 2007. He was searching for a user name and drawing blanks. His father helped by throwing out random names and together they landed on Radishhead as a fun username.
“It started as a bit of nonsense, but over the years it’s become a genuine part of me. It is my online identity. Using that username, you can track everything I’ve done online for the past 15 years. Actually, I was just thinking about it recently but I probably know more people through my online persona than in real life.”
Radishhead says that his online persona is more confident and outgoing than his real life character.
“I’m the same person – just more confident – as you can see in my YouTube channel.”
Originally, Radishhead set up his YouTube channel in 2021 to help analyze prices. He’d go through the different cities and talk about floor prices and trends. He also provided recommendations of what cities to watch out for in terms of upcoming releases and popular communities. However, what began as purely property analysis has evolved into conversations about legit, NFLPA, and layer two games where he gives advice on how to get the most out of playing Upland. His YouTube channel has evolved as Upland has evolved.
Radishhead loves the fact that as a blockchain based game the assets are owned by the players. So, in layer two games such as Uplandia, a fantasy game, players can trade or sell their assets.
“For example, in Uplandia some of my properties are farms. Other players can go and hunt and kill monsters but I am busy growing potatoes and making soup – to sell to the hungry hunters when they return.”
In addition to his work on his YouTube channel, Radishhead is keen to make the best communities. He is working with some buddies in a neighborhood in Chicago called Fuller Park. They have bought up all the properties and are putting factories and warehouses in this neighborhood with the plans that they can produce goods – as soon as various production rights are released by Upland.
“In these communities the plan is to pool together resources and then depending on the amount people contribute, then we split the revenue once products are sold. It’s a metaventure in the making.”
Radishhead is keen to democratize the manufacturing process in Upland.
“It costs a lot of Spark to build and maintain a factory, and we have this idea that rather than leasing out your Spark for pennies to some other user, that we can contribute to a community factory and actually own a percentage of the project.”
To make this work in as fair a process as possible, there is a limit of one property per person. Everyone then has a say in what will be produced, what designs will be used and what price the products will fetch.
“The idea is that everyone will have a stake in the project.”
For Radishhead, community is everything.
“It might sound like a cliché, but Upland is all about coming together with other members of the community. It doesn’t have to be big picture stuff, but figure out your interests and go after that. People want to be a part of something with like-minded people.
“People can gather around content creators (such as my YouTube channel) but equally magically they sometimes spontaneously evolve from a Discord server. Or a new city is released and people put out feelers about setting up something. It can be as simple as painting a neighborhood a certain colour.”
Radishhead attended the 2022 and 2023 Genesis Weeks in Las Vegas.
“It’s hard to put into words the experience of meeting all the people involved.”
For Radishhead, Upland means a great deal to him.
“It’s given me a perfect opportunity to find something I am truly passionate about. The depth in Upland is unbelievable. There is never any shortage of things to talk about. Being part of this awesome community has given me the confidence to set up my YouTube channel. And the people I’ve interacted with are consistently fantastic.
“Upland for me is all about creativity, community and great, great people.”
