Guardian of the Week — Edition #16 Meet ‘Plasma_BaldesXX’
Welcome to Edition #16 of the ‘Guardian of The Week’ series!
This is our way of acknowledging and celebrating all the contributions, love and hard work you have all given to this family 🖤
We appreciate every one of you, and we hope this series gives you an insight into the brilliant people that make this community what it is!
Our Guardian of the Week features one of the youngest OGs of GOG, who has been here since day one! Meet Plasma_Bladesxx! Being a full-time student has always been a challenge, but he still manages to publish his own initiative, Plasma’s “What’s New, Guardians”, in discord. An entertaining opinion piece and analysis about the latest Guild of Guardian News, offering the community a fresh perspective and insight.
Let’s start by introducing yourself to the community…
Heya! You probably know me as Plasma or Plasma_Bladesxx online, but in real life, my name is Benjamin 🙂
Born and bred in England, also known as the home of fish and chips and tea (both things I love) and unlike most people in the Guild of Guardians space, I’m actually pretty young, at only 18 years old.
Being part of GenZ when everyone else is older than you and can remember a time when the internet didn’t exist can be quite daunting, but everyone is very supportive and open-minded, which is quite nice for a gaming community. I first got introduced to cryptocurrency through Reddit, and one of the people there introduced me to Guild Of Guardians as he needed referrals at the time. That’s right, I’m one of the OGs, and part of the Glade fraction! I even occasionally write content and articles about the game. Though since I have a job and other boring life responsibilities, I’m definitely not as active as I was last year, but I’ll still try, of course.
As well as writing about GOG, I’ve actually play-tested the game multiple times! I can’t tell any more information since NDAs exist, but trust me — the game is really fun 🙂 I also play other games, mainly multiplayer ones such as Fortnite and Overwatch 2, and am currently playing Pokémon Violet when no one is on. I’m super grateful for the existence of video games as many of my friends are currently studying at university or college, making it hard to meet up, so it’s nice being able to play together online.
Passion for video games aside, I’m still just a regular teenager. I like drawing, watching stuff on my phone and going out when the weather is nice, just like everyone else. So the whole stereotype of some super smart guy with glasses and a suit looking at crypto charts is completely wrong 😛
I think being able to express yourself and truly be who you want to be, is one of the main defining features of GenZ, which is why I’m interested in not only the game, but crypto as a whole for years to come!
So entering the space, especially as a teenager and a student, must be really tough. What kind of games are you looking into in web3, and what kinds of adjustments do you think you have to make, to make it work?
To be honest, Guild Of Guardians is the main one I focus on, although I do keep up to date with news regarding web3, but more on a general / consumer level and not the technical side since it’s really confusing. Ubisoft tried doing NFTs which I found interesting since they are an AAA studio, but they were shut down, so it’s definitely something the dev team should consider. I also briefly played Skyweaver, which is a trading card game that has NFT aspects too.
It is definitely tough being fresh out of school, since I don’t have tons of money, I can’t justify spending it all on heroes or pets for the game when I’d rather go out with my mates, so it’s a disadvantage in that regard. Besides, I don’t think my parents would like it either, lol. The other thing is time and balance, there are only 8–16 hours of the day you effectively have to use, and even now, I’m still figuring out the best way to spend my time, but I think that’s a problem older and more mature me can worry about.
What aspect of Guild of Guardians do you like the most?
That is tough, I really enjoy a lot of aspects of the game, from the dungeon gameplay to collecting and slowly building your ultimate team in a “rags to riches” story. My absolute favourite part, though, are the mini-bosses each stage has at the end. Seeing your heroes you’ve trained having to face off against something you’ve never seen before can make it really interesting and is a nice break from the usual waves of enemies. And they aren’t pushovers either, you really have to use your ultimate skills wisely. It can make the game really intense, and that’s what makes it so fun, the thrill of being able to barely win and escape with tons of loot. I also really like the loot system, in particular the XP system where you can choose who to level up. It reduces a lot of the grind and allows you to experiment with new team comps and strategies.
The thing I’m most excited about is “GOG IRL” as mentioned in the roadmap, there are so many possibilities and cool things the team could do, and with the game being a first of a kind, it can help get the name out there and make it more well known. Also, come on, some of the pets and heroes look way too cuddly, who wouldn’t want a plushie Morax / Selene or a case featuring Lia? The esport organisations could also incorporate Guild of Guardians in their merch lines, so people can support their favourite team, small-scale football in a way 🙂
What other things/hobbies do you enjoy doing in your free time?
When the weather is nice, I like to go out to the park and play some Pokémon GO, it helps clear my head, and it’s nice getting some fresh air too. I also draw occasionally, mainly just doodling in a cutesy style since I really only draw for fun and rather not burn myself out from it. My music taste is the definition of “I’ll listen to anything” — some pop, some rock, some video game music and lots of high-paced night core. Typical stuff 😛 otherwise, I’ll watch some YouTube videos or use social media to see what my mates are doing. In the future, I’d like to travel and go to new places, but it’s a tiny bit too early now. But who knows what the future holds?
You have been here from the beginning — a member since day one. What made you stay with Guild of Guardians?
I love fantasy and role-playing games, I remember playing games like Pokémon Diamond on the DS and watching the anime, too, as a kid. It’s just nice being able to escape the real world and become someone else. Also, one of the first points mentioned in the initial trailer was how we as players don’t actually own any of our cosmetics or items, but with NFTs, we truly do own our items — with the recent Overwatch 2 release straight up deleting items from players and lots of transfer issues at launch it has made the debate much more focused since people don’t want to go through that again.
How big do you think Guild of Guardians is going to be during release and in the coming years?
Guild of Guardians definitely has big potential to become mainstream, being on mobile platforms instead of PC only makes it accessible to many more players. The game also doesn’t require a crypto wallet, it is purely optional (at least based on the wording of the demo), so the game doesn’t risk complicating players or forcing them to go through the hassle of making an account. The biggest reason why I see lots of hope for years to come is that the Devs have already released a roadmap ahead of time with lots of ideas. Obviously, they might not all happen, but the devs are clearly confident in their game to put out future plans this early y’know?
Will we ever see your engaging and fascinating articles in Discord again?
Aww thanks ❤️ yep, I do intend to write up more long-length articles, especially if there’s an update or balance changes when the game launches. I’d want to focus more on the opinion parts, though and have a more balanced take on things to inform people but also to open up a discussion.
If something is bad, why is it bad? How can the Devs improve it, constructive criticism, basically. I think just piling on and hating on the Devs for a change is not only dumb but very counterproductive. They want to make the game good as well, not everything is about money 😛
If anybody wants to reach out to you, where can they find you?
All my main social media accounts can be found here, although I’m most active on Twitter and Discord 🙂
