- Riccardo Sibani discusses the importance of decentralization in My Neighbor Alice.
- The game uses the Chromia blockchain to eliminate gas fees for users.
- Players have multiple avenues to generate income through in-game NFTs.
What if you could water a virtual tree and watch both it and your cryptocurrency wallet grow? ‘My Neighbor Alice’ is making that a reality. Designed to champion the ethos of decentralization and player asset ownership, the game is an alternative to traditional gaming platforms.
The game is in its alpha season, focusing on organic growth rather than aggressive marketing. With around 2,000 active players, the community is engaged in crafting, staking, and even neighborhood activities like watering each other’s plants.
In an exclusive interview with DailyCoin, Riccardo Sibani, the CPO of My Neighbor Alice, opens up about the game’s future, its focus on decentralization, and what it means for players to truly own their in-game assets.
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Can you briefly tell me about your background, role in “My Neighbor Alice,” and what this project means to you?
I’ve been here since the beginning, and my primary goal has been to make My Neighbor Alice a fully decentralized game. While many talk about blockchain gaming and NFTs, few discuss the importance of decentralization and player ownership.
I joined the blockchain movement about seven years ago while I was in university. The appealing part for me has always been giving power back to the users instead of tech companies. I’ve worked on various projects with ChromaWay, which also developed a blockchain called Chromia.
How My Neighbor Alice Appeals to New Players
To appeal to players new to the blockchain space, My Neighbor Alice introduces a range of features that improve user experience. Sibani explains how the game managed to make gas fees free for users.
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Is “My Neighbor Alice” suitable for players new to the crypto space?
Absolutely. Although we’re one of the most technologically advanced blockchain games, our user experience is straightforward. Initially, you just need to connect a wallet.
We have a system that allows you to set spending limits, ensuring you don’t spend more than you intend. Once logged in, we handle all transactions in the background to provide a smooth user experience.
What blockchain does the game run on, and how are gas fees managed?
We use a mix of blockchains, but primarily Chromia, for the game. It’s based on SQL, making it faster for data transactions. Chromia also allows fees to be delegated to the developer. We replenish this pool by selling NFTs, ensuring that users don’t have to worry about gas fees.
‘We Aim to Attract Players, Not Just Users’
The game’s approach to in-game income generation centers on creating unique NFT assets. However, attracting a dedicated player base poses its own challenges.
Can you elaborate on how players can generate income in “My Neighbor Alice”?
Absolutely. Players can essentially earn by creating NFTs, which are produced in limited quantities or within a limited time frame. To create these items, players need to obtain the recipe and gather the necessary resources. It’s not just a simple marketplace transaction.
The best players—those who are committed and up-to-date with trends—get access to these recipes.
Our NFTs are highly customizable, allowing players to express their creativity. You can decide on the color, pattern, material, and more. This uniqueness adds value to the NFTs, enabling players to monetize their expertise rather than just the time they spend in the game.
What strategies do you employ to attract players already familiar with the crypto space? And how do you address the risk of asset speculation in the game?
That’s a great question. We aim to attract players, not just users. Our reward mechanisms are designed to benefit those who actually spend time playing the game. We believe this is the right long-term strategy.
We also have a minimum guaranteed value for NFTs, acting as a stabilizer and providing assurance to players. This way, we create a real community in the game while also offering value.
Rewarding Players Through Staking Benefits
The efforts to attract genuine players extend to how staking is set up. In My Neighbor Alice, staking becomes a core gameplay element rather than just a sideline feature.
You mentioned staking and how it enhances the player experience. Could you share some specific examples of how this works in the game?
Absolutely. Staking in “My Neighbor Alice” is not an external mechanic; it’s deeply integrated into the gameplay. Unlike many crypto projects that simply offer interest on staked funds, we aim for a more sustainable approach. The staking mechanism rewards players who are actively engaged in the game.
For example, the tokens used to create NFTs can be staked to gain additional benefits like increased farming power or more in-game currency. This encourages progress within the game and ensures that active players receive higher benefits compared to mere investors.
Given your expertise, how robust are your smart contracts in defending against potential malicious attacks? Have they undergone any third-party audits?
Yes, all our smart contracts have been audited. For those outside of Chromia, we’ve had third-party audits; for those on Chromia, the audits are conducted by the Chromia team. Security is in our DNA; we don’t take shortcuts.
We aim for “My Neighbor Alice” to set the technological standard for the years to come, so we take security very seriously.
Tackling Regulation and Big Tech
Despite the efforts of developers, blockchain gaming still faces headwinds, especially from big tech. Sibani explains the issues the company had with platforms such a Steam and the App Store and what steps blockchain gaming can take to mitigate these.
Your game is currently a desktop application. Do you have plans to move to other platforms, especially considering how much time users spend on mobile devices?
We initially launched on Steam, but they blocked crypto games shortly after our launch. That experience made us cautious about relying on third-party platforms, so we created our own desktop launcher.
We have a companion mobile app with limited functionalities, but our focus is now on the desktop version. We plan to expand to browsers in the future and are considering mobile as well.
What about the regulatory landscape? There’s talk about new EU regulations that might allow for competitive app stores on devices. Do you have thoughts on that?
Yes, there’s potential for new regulations that could require platforms like Apple to allow alternative app stores. We believe this is an industry-wide effort and should be tackled collectively.
We’re part of the OMA3 Open Metaverse Alliance, working on creating standards for this very reason. The goal is to create a cluster of games that can offer a real alternative to existing app stores. It’s a joint task that we believe is crucial for the future of crypto and web3 gaming.
Read more about crypto and blockchain gaming:
Crypto Gaming, Play-to-Earn, Metaverse, Blockchain Gaming, GameFi, And NFT Games: What Are The Differences?
Read more about Bitcoin’s biggest rally this year:
Unpacking the Bitcoin Rally: What’s Driving the Surge?
