Cheeze Wizards
Our portfolio company Dapper Labs, the maker of the popular crypto-collectible game CryptoKitties, is back with their second game, called Cheeze Wizards, also built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Cheeze Wizards is in “pre-sale” mode right now. You can “summon” your wizard in anticipation of the game which will be played this summer.
I summoned a wizard this morning from the fire wizards region. I spent a bit more than half an ETH on it and I am ready to rumble.
Dapper built this game for crypto enthusiasts who will be drawn by the large prize pool (322.6 ETH right now and growing) and that is why some of the most powerful wizards (like mine) are quite expensive. That said, you can summon a “neutral” wizard for 0.07 ETH right now which is less than $20. The focus on a smaller number of higher value players fits with where Ethereum is right now in its scaling efforts.
The best way to play Cheeze Wizards is to add the Dapper wallet to your browser. You can do that here. Then send some ETH to it from your Coinbase account (or any other place you hold crypto). Then go to Cheeze Wizards, you will log in with your Dapper wallet, and you are ready to summon your wizard.
The folks at Dapper wrote a great blog post explaining why they made Cheeze Wizards, how it works, and what they hope will happen with it. That post also reveals a lot about where Dapper is heading with CryptoKitties, Cheeze Wizards, and all of the other games they have under development right now.
Comments (Archived):
Thanks Fred.I will do the same but without a doubt your wizard will be more well endowed with wizardly than mine by investment amount criteria.Post is good. Dapper wallet is good as well and using it.I’m so puzzled by the positioning of the wallet –ostensibly for everyone yet the moniker is crypto savvy only–that it is a contradiction by nature. Smart contract wallet is an odd way in for the mass market.Puzzled by the game as well as games are never technology experiments they are behavioral ones and this one feels like a lab experiment more than a test net of expanded behavioral possibilities which in essence is what game alphas are by definition.I remember distinctly hacking together one of the first multiplayer games on the ST computer wiring the midi ports of all the prototypes in the office together wires everywhere. What we were testing was behavior not the port but that port was all we had. And the behavior done great by others changed game play forever.We took a bunch of them around the world and showed them to a broad section of the 2800 developers and they figured it out.Behavior discovery first is the thing.I’m a huge fan of Dapper. Of the team. Of NFTs.Just puzzled.But will play and add my support to the process as I so so believe in the segment.
thanks for the comments @SixgillBlog:disqus. the technical messaging is intentional for right now: Dapper–not to mention Ethereum–is still in beta, so we wanted to focus on the crypto enthusiast first bc they will be more forgiving of the many UX issues blockchain still has. that’s the primary audience for Cheeze Wizards as well. we’re working as hard as we can on these issues, so please keep the constructive feedback coming 🙂
Hey!As you know from my participation in the Honu project, I am a true friend of the company and it is good to have friends who give a shit enough to share their input.Been doing this for a while so careful that it is never possible to truly know what is going on inside a company from outside but I think I’m experienced enough to tell you how messages bounce off the market.Wanted to leave you with the thought that while it is obvious that there is a slider between scarcity and value, especially with NFTs, that slider is even more pronounced between usability and behaviors that drive engagement. I know this from experience in the game space with two public companies behind me.But who knows–Does it matter that there are blockchain games or that we use the blockchain to reimagine gaming as a next step.To me they are not the same thing.Go make it so Roham! I’m a believer.
totally, i think your comments are spot-on. CW is definitely a behavioral experiment more than a technology one to use your words, but one that is expressly targeted at the current crypto enthusiast. i’ll reach out separately to get more of your thoughts!
Glad to hear anything you want to share from what you learn of course.We are playing (in a project) with using NFTs built on environmental one-to-one objects then letting gaming companies hack them with ingrained characteristics into different game environments.There are economics but that is the exhaust of success, not the quotient for it.Just different.
Arnold, if you have a mobile wallet (such as Coinbase), you just open Cheezewizard in it and buy that way. It’s fairly simple then.
Yes i understand that William.Is this about easy access to an exchange to buy and sell stuff or about a game?They are not the same as per my comments. Not at all actually and that is my point.The slider of ease of use, and engagement and game play, is neither objective nor always intuitive.
maybe they need a marketing consultant with experience in crypto and gaming?
maybe fred.they have a fantastic opportunity to rejigger the segment, and grow it, in truly unforeseen ways.
This is what the world needs or wants. And the emperor looks resplendent in his new clothes.
Ditto.
Indeed.https://twitter.com/CHZWZRD…
I’m too busy playing and planning out characters for Grim Dawn, which I got on sale ;)Best of luck with your wizard Fred!
Best use case seems to be Ponzi as a service.
Is this any less exploitative than Farmville and similar ilk? It’s a creative, exploitative way to package “fun” w/ a hand in one’s wallet. Hardly the best or even marginally relevant use case for demonstrating crypto need.
Like I said elsewhere, the emperor looks resplendent in his new clothes.
I guess many people may not have heard of it. I did, as a kid. Very useful and relevant parable, even in this day and age.https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…
If cheese is the Spring, it going to be a wet summer
This comment get full marks for the reference.
This feels (to me) like they’re trying a bit too hard at creating ‘play’.
Dear Fred: I learned about decentralized applications in your blog. The Pepe Basquiat you bought for $22.38 was the first Rare Pepe I ever saw. I was inspired by your embrace of blockchain to potentially change the many things that are wrong with our current models.Right after the success of Cryptokitties, a tweet mentioning you inspired the first Rare Art Festival, which solidified the rare art movement. It just so happens that the Rare Art Fest 2 took place this weekend. It featured many of the most important innovators in the space, like Larva Labs, creators of the Cryptopunks, Joe Looney, and Simon de la Rouviere, among others. Somehow, Dapper Labs was there shilling Cheeze Wizards. It was underwhelming, to say the least. The presentation was like a marketing pitch for high school students. It brought nothing new to the table.Dapper Labs’ says its mission is to onboard the first billion users into blockchain, a claim that’s both grandiloquent and meaningless. The obsession with blockchain mass adoption reminds me of the push to scale at all costs that got us into our current mess with social media.These emerging technologies imply huge ethical and behavioral implications. I believe that we have a unique opportunity to change culture for the better. Yet, with all the forward-thinking people and projects flourishing in this space, I wonder why you, whom I highly respect as a thoughtful VC, pour millions of dollars into a money-making machine that perpetuates a culture of greed and toxicity, and adds nothing of value.Figuring out the basis of a decentralized token economy that aims to be more fair, healthier and self-sustaining requires thoughtfulness, delicacy and depth. We should all go slower, not faster. This time we can’t claim that we could not foresee the unintended consequences.Beatriz Ramos.
Can’t for the life of me figure out why this game would be fun. Hard pass this time.
I read your comment yesterday and re-read it twice now. You questioned how crypto is addressing personal pain points. I don’t want to misquote you, that appeared to be the key point of your comment (starting with the analogy of aspirin and vitamins).How is this a great response to your comment yesterday ? Maybe I misunderstand. Confused.
Great comment.For myself, I am trying to make a difference in the projects and the categories of the projects I’m putting my efforts and my support towards.One in a PoS exchange exchange for a new class of investors who want an annuity stream of pretty guaranteed passive investment that is super easy to use.One as a game platform connecting endangered species projects (affiliated with the UN and private, with game developers through NFTS and a bidirectional annuity stream of support.One building a fund to use non profit funds to support impact for profit projects.And one that is a top down/bottoms up project to build a data layer that lets you measure and make decisions across hybrid power grids using NFTs as a wrapper of contracts not things themselves.An intersection of strategic BD and narrative creation is what i contribute.Its a start to a better world I think leveraging these tools to a broader audience.We shall see.
Thanks for responding Charlie. Appreciate it.
It actually does address a pain point, though a diff kind than what you were referring to. Getting fleeced before you realize it is def a pain point.
dunno–i have a real passion to use NFTs as building blocks to create wealth and initiate change through economized communities.the list will at least halve as capital, project traction and luck mash up.energy sector is the ahhaa one here. such a mess, such opportunity, such top down/bottom up intersection. literally you could easily build a carbon neutral currency fueled by flare gas and donate the movements of the currency to philanthropic projects.being inspired and having tools to do shit is not underrated.
What is interesting is that I never once saw a Web or Social application and thought ‘Shit, no Normal person is doing that.’I remember touching an iPad for the first time and phoning my wife to tell her how huge it would be.I am not a financial person. I am not a SW geek.I wondered if Netflix would raise enough $ to make enough good independent content or license it, but never doubted the demand.I don’t see any mainstream use for a technology that automates and anonymizes transactions between two people. It doesn’t make things faster per se; it doesn’t make things easier (current trend in crypto is to centralize the platform so people will adopt it – ironic).So, what’s the play?Total anarchy makes the most sense – the adoption of black market by everyday people. The main use case for that – avoidance of government oversight ( i.e., money laundering and tax avoidance pop to the top of the list ).JP Coin is a branded platform that is absolutely set up to leverage governments on these fronts.SMH.