This is kinna sorta an offshoot of an @0xSword thread,
my previous thread,
and thoughts from @Apeancestor …
An important proposal attempting to bridge web3 and web2 gaming is in NounsDAO right now. Only the second viable one I’ve seen. The first one was actually in this DAO; there just wasn’t enough lead time on it to work. Bygones. We’ll revisit that later.
Normie gamers still hate anything web3 and NFT. And with good reason. A thread on that; tl;dr, they got hosed thinking they were gonna ball out. 
As an insider, I’ve got a front row seat to the problems on the web2-web3 gaming bridge. You see a lot of those problems coming to light on the Nouns-Weplay thread. This analysis is all about exposing and fixing those problems, so when we come back with a legit gaming event proposal for this DAO, everybody can be super confident in the partnership and in the plan to bring real results.
The players:
Nouns — Leading DAO in terms of successfully decentralizing operations; going through growing pains
Weplay — Legit esports events company; a few critiques concerning lowbrow sponsors, but honestly, that’s just part of the game
The ask:
Weplay throws a $1M DOTA tourney for Nouns.
Weplay’s presentation was fantastic; no issues there. They showed their work and they have the deliverables track record.
So what’s the problem?
Nouns internal issues aside, the problem is with the esports industry. Nobody’s cracked the code to profitability, though everyone sees potential. Right now, big companies like Red Bull and Nike are treating events like the Weplay pitch as a social impact partnership. They’ve got the budget to spend on speculative marketing, so they make their mark in the emergent industry of esports. If it doesn’t work out in 5 years, no real skin off their back. If it does, we get our 1000X first-mover profits and a cultural moat that future proofs our brand to youth consumers.
What’s this got to do with ApeDAO?
Profitability’s not prioritized in the DAO during the Transition away from Cartan. It will be, and very soon.
ApeDAO’s the biggest DAO treasury in web3, and it’s an order of magnitude below what Red Bull or Nike can easily spend. Nobody’s going for a single event that costs $1M with an audience that hates our guts anyway.
But… events like this are still the best way to create the hype wave that closes the web2-web3 gamer gap.
So how do you capture this market and stay profitable, too?
The Answer
Create a SUSTAINABLE relationship between the DAO and the audience. This is what the Weplay-Nouns pitch is missing. There’s no tail. No follow up. Nothing to say to that DOTA audience, “Here’s our app; here’s our NFT; here’s our game you can play on Day 1 after the event concludes. Join our community!” Only do business with organizers who will work with you after the event to cultivate that audience to the DAO. Better yet, a series of events. That’s a cultural infusion.
Step 2: Multiple sponsors.
ApeDAO shouldn’t be “leading the round.” Weplay wants Nouns to foot the whole bill. Maybe 3 years from now, that makes sense. Right now, do events with web2 sponsors who carry the heavy load. ApeDAO gets on the bill, shows up with a contingent, and gets the same amount of exposure for way less money. So $1M lead rounds, no. $100K-350K with Nike or Red Bull also on the bill giving $1M — that’s a solid investment.
Three: Get KPIs, please.
There’s gotta be some kind of deliverables other than social media views or event day foot traffic. Those aren’t the most important KPIs to a virtual DAO, anyway. The KPIs are new wallets created, total face time with audience, logo screen time. Work with the organizer to come up with KPIs that are actually relevant. You get those, you get results.
4 — most important: The tech stack has to be right.
It doesn’t matter how much the audience likes your web3 offering if the web2 event organizers don’t have the technical capacity to bridge their audience to the DAO. More than that — the tech stack to create a sustainable cultural link between the audience and the DAO. How many esports companies have a web3 app with a wallet ready to receive $APE? (I know of one, but that’s for later. 
) Point is, the reason the results look garbage is because the bridge wasn’t complete to begin with.
Keeping this discussion alive so real projects are ready to go after the governance gets worked out. 2023 has the potential to be an exciting year, but only if each one of us decides that we each have a responsibility to make that excitement happen.
