Guardian of the Week — Edition #5 — Meet ‘Bayrd’
Welcome to Edition #5 of the ‘Guardian Of The Week’ series!
Every week, a special member of the community will be chosen by the team to be featured in the latest edition.
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 single person who has contributed, and we hope this series gives everyone an insight into the people that make this community what it is!
There are a handful of individuals that come to mind when we think about leaders within the Guild of Guardians community. Undoubtedly, this week’s Guardian of the Week, Bayrd, is in the minds of many.
Also known by the name Daniel Xiao Wang, or DXW, few individuals can boast community involvement as extensive as Bayrd. As a senior moderator, ambassador, AMA host and blogger, Bayrd plays a central role in catalysing activities around guild leadership, game strategy, and community building.
Whether it’s his regular Guild Leader AMAs or the friendly chats that community members have with him in discord, Bayrd’s commitment and motivation within the Guild of Guardians community is immediately apparent. Leading by example, Bayrd’s positive energy, hard work and passion sets the pace and expectations for community members to follow.
To recognise his contributions within the Guild of Guardians community and learn more about this one-of-a-kind individual, we caught up with Bayrd.
Here’s what he had to say :
We would love to get to know a little about who you are. Can you share a bit about yourself?
I am a banker with an extensive background in finance that has been in the industry for over 2 decades. In that time I have seen a lot of change in the industry and, about a year ago, saw the writing on the wall and started to become involved in Crypto. I was an active gamer (I met my wife playing World of Warcraft) and gaming immediately jumped out to me as a strong use-case for Blockchain technology. So, pretty early in my exploration of Cryptocurrency and the opportunities it provided, I began to explore Blockchain gaming. I joined the Guild of Guardians Discord on the day it launched and immediately knew I was where I belonged.
What are some of your hobbies and interests and what role do they play in your life?
My hobbies include reading, writing, constantly learning new things, and gaming. My career choices have led to an industry that is not very creative (I’d argue that lack of creativity is, in part, what is killing the industry), but I am, at heart, very creative. While my day job has allowed me to exercise the analytical and focused side of my brain, my hobbies let me explore the creative. Reading lets me experience new worlds, writing lets me create them. Gaming is another way for me to experience new challenges and storylines. I am a big believer in continuous learning, keeping my mind ever engaged, and Crypto has provided ample ground for me to learn.
You refer to Guild of Guardians as your ‘calling’ or ‘destiny’. What do you mean by this?
My calling has been to challenge the existing structure and bring about change. Immediately I was drawn to the vision of Guild of Guardians, to revolutionise the gaming industry. I have long held to the vision of being a part of the revolution. Being in finance for so long and seeing so many changes, I always assumed that if I was going to be a part of causing change, it would be there. Crypto gave me the opportunity to help cause change; Guild of Guardians opened that window wide and added gaming to that dream.
You serve as a Guild of Guardians ambassador, actively growing the community through Twitter, Discord and blogging. What does being an ambassador in the Guild of Guardians Community mean to you?
Being an ambassador has always been a matter of pride for me. It has allowed me to bring my talents to the table and support a project I believe in. Perhaps more (personally) important is that being an ambassador puts me in a position to affect change, as previously mentioned. As a Guild of Guardians ambassador, I am in a position to be a part of the change that Guild of Guardians is working to create. As an ambassador (and a mod within the ambassador channel) I have worked to support the team and focus our goals. I am excited to see what the ambassador team accomplishes going forward!
You host regular open discussions to talk about Guild structure and recruitment with Guild leaders and community members. What motivates you to organise and host the Guild Leader AMAs?
Guilds are an important part of Guild of Guardians. In high school and beyond, I studied leadership whenever I could. I have also led guilds in other games (including World of Warcraft, which led to meeting my wife). With my experience and knowledge, and given the central role that guilds play in Guild of Guardians, it seemed like an obvious place where I could make an impact. I realise that there will be many people that have no experience with guild leadership that are now holding guild tokens. I also realise there are potential players that might benefit from being in a guild that sincerely want to be great teammates but have never been in this kind of situation. Leveraging what I know and what I am constantly building on to help others be successful in a guild benefits the community and, again, gives me an opportunity to be a part of this revolution.
Pax Custos is a Guild you founded and is a benchmark other Guilds model after and take inspiration from. What inspires the structure and organization of Pax Custos?
Pax Custos… I could probably talk at length on this question alone! The structure of the guild is based on Roman organisational structures (hence the Latin name), but the structure wasn’t really unique to Rome. The idea is that everyone should know where they belong in the hierarchy, and be able to function freely within that space. Additionally, I wanted something that was not strictly top-down. I own the guild, but I do not make the decisions within the guild. We function off of a consensus leadership style. Add to that the fact that we built the guild based on important central principles: Teamwork, Trust, Respect. When I brought on my initial team, I brought on leaders that I felt would embody those principles. Once the leadership team was in place, everything was consensus-driven.
The important points here, and the message I would give to anyone putting together a guild, is to not compromise on what is important (your principles) and when you find people who can align with those principles, trust them.
Post-game launch, what role do you see Guild of Guardians playing in your life?
Guild of Guardians will always be my first, real, foray into Blockchain gaming. After the game launch, I expect to be playing the game (a lot) and delving into leadership, both with Pax Custos, but also more generally. I am currently working on putting together a guild round table that will be functional once the game launches. I plan on working with guild leaders to build leadership skills. I wouldn’t mind, of course, if Guild of Guardians also became my primary source of income, and will work hard to that end.
How can people get in touch with you?
You can find me on Twitter at @DanielXiaoWang and my Discord name is wusong101#7530.
We hope you enjoyed our fifth edition of ‘Guardian of the Week’. Each week, we’ll introduce a new community member, to acknowledge and celebrate their valuable contributions and achievements.
Guardian of the Week is a community-run initiative written and managed by Axiemaid from The GoG Academy. You can follow Axiemaid on Twitter here.
Until next time, Guardians.
