Meet Jai Turnor — The Senior Community Manager of Guild of Guardians
We’re on a mission to onboard hundreds of millions of gamers into digital ownership via NFTs by building the world’s most popular mobile RPG where players can turn their passion for gaming into real assets.
It’s a bold ambition, and bold ambitions require relentless focus, teamwork and some of the best talents in the industry. In this ‘Meet the Team’ series, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the team who are passionately building and spearheading the next frontier of gaming.
Meet our Senior Community Manager, Jai Turnor — Entrepreneur, Gorilla advocate, and Passionate Gamer! Jai is obsessed with building digital communities and channels his burning passion into the crypto-sphere.
A true entrepreneur, Jai has built several web3 projects and has been in the space since 2017. We are proud to introduce our Community King, who has a will of fire and a heart of gold 💛
Tell us about yourself, Jai!
GOG Mornin’ Legends! I’m Jai Turnor, the Senior Community Manager for Guild of Guardians!
I’m an Entrepreneur, Marketing Specialist, and Creative from Perth, Western Australia, who has been operating within the crypto scene since 2017.
Initially participating as an investor, my passion for the industry drove me to further develop and refine my blockchain expertise. I’m proud to have contributed to the success of multiple startups, including web3 CRM ‘Simpl3r’ and ‘Harambe Protocol’, a blockchain gaming initiative I founded at the start of 2021. Earlier in my career, I predominantly worked within the film industry, working on feature films and TV commercials.
I have a pretty solid skill set in Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, XD, and various other creative programs like Ableton Live. Funnily enough, that interest began in high school when ‘Memes’ had only just begun to gain traction, thanks to the rise of social media giants like Facebook. I remember dedicating so much time to coming up with humorous memes as social commentary relevant to our school instead of studying for exams. The memes actually began gaining so much traction that eventually, the school had to ask me to stop as it was having a big influence on behaviour and conversation on campus. As a teenager, I was obviously quite impressed with myself, haha.
I’m also a gamer at heart, but I love an array of creative outlets which tie in nicely with my technical skills.
You’re the Senior Community Manager for Guild of Guardians — What exactly does your role entail? And what does a day in the life at Guild of Guardians look like for you?
Although it may sound like a cliche, Community really is one of the most important factors for the success of any web3 project or game. In this position, my primary focus is on accelerating the growth and enhancing the overall engagement of our amazing GOG community through a variety of innovative strategies, including improved content creation and developing exciting new incentives and activities.
Given the vast majority of our Immutable team operates from Australia’s Eastern States, I wake up at 5:30 am, smash a coffee, tweet out a ‘Gm’, and then begin assessing my day at 6:00 am to ensure I’m synced with the rest of our team.
My morning is often packed with meetings, as we have so many moving parts within the company. I will then usually reload on coffee and then tackle most of my documentation, planning, and content creation from 10 am to 2pm. At that point, I begin the next round of meetings and any other outstanding work until around 5:00 pm — 6:00 pm. I will then cook up a feast, get in a bit of family time, and maybe squeeze in a ranked game or two of League of Legends before completely depleting myself of energy.
I love it, it’s the perfect day for productivity.
You founded a web3 project, Harambe Protocol. Can you tell us a bit about it and what drives your passion?
Harambe Protocol is a startup I’m super proud of. It is an Australian-based Blockchain gaming initiative developing an ecosystem of gaming ventures.
I founded the initiative at the start of 2021, recognising early that the projects with the best chance of continued success will be those that can retain an engaged community. And where can you find the most die-hard community members? Gaming. Which conveniently happens to be my passion.
Also recognising at the time that the space was riddled with scams and ‘rug pulls’ from anonymous bad actors, I wanted to help instil trust in crypto by building a legitimate project that offered utility.
We’re also committed to passively funding gorilla conservation through our in-game economy, which is an initiative that’s quite important to me.
But today, I’m super excited to focus my experience and skills entirely on GOG, web3’s best Mobile RPG!
How do you see the Blockchain industry evolving in the next five years?
Crypto has exploded so quickly that we’re still lacking a lot of the tools and applications that are necessary to smooth the web3 experience for both users and companies. We also have ongoing issues regarding asset security, with hackers, scammers, and bad actors still very much rampant within the space.
I believe we’re about to see a race in innovation around web3 tools and applications like web3 CRMs and KYC platforms that help minimise many of these gaps.
It’s hard to know exactly what these platforms will be right now, but I do expect a big push to legitimise the space, creating more accountability as users hold projects to higher standards. After all, this is what is necessary for the industry to see more acceptance and adoption across the globe.
Regarding web3 gaming specifically, the next five years are genuinely so exciting. We will likely see the blockchain gaming scene begin to accelerate as the focus becomes more on the exciting gameplay and systems surrounding some of these amazing games, as opposed to the speculation around investment opportunities.
This will also begin to change how the wider gaming community views blockchain gaming, as blockchain games become more widely accepted as people discover how these blockchain systems can allow them to have experiences they had always dreamed of yet never imagined possible.
How do you think we can reach mainstream success for Guild of Guardians?
Guild of Guardians already has an amazing game underway with gorgeous graphics that are constantly being improved upon with continuously evolving mechanics.
To keep it brief, I believe there are a few core components to consider:
- The Player’s Experience
- Watchable/Shareable Content
- Scalable Tokenomics
The player’s experience consists of many elements, but I’d say three of the most important ones would be ensuring the game is super fun, replayable for hours on end, and easy to pick up despite being hard to master.
To gauge that, we must be receptive to community feedback. I know our team is quick to test and iterate, which makes me bullish on our ability to adapt and innovate.
Watchable content can make or break games, it’s such an important consideration within marketing strategies from most studios as it’s what rockets many unknown indie games into viral sensations. So, there will be a big focus on how we can make ‘Guild of Guardians’ as entertaining to watch as possible.
Lastly, the biggest obstacle for most web3 games is developing tokenomics that are scalable and actually make sense relevant to the gameplay. I know the team has some brilliant people working on the in-game tokenomics, so this is something I’m excited to see develop.
What can we catch you doing when you’re not working?
With the little time I have outside of work, you will usually find me sweating on ‘League of Legends, ‘Call of Duty, or ‘Apex Legends’; but I’m often down to play any game, especially those that are competitive.
I’m also always looking to develop upon my existing skill sets, so recently, I’ve been learning how to utilise Unreal Engine 5, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.
I also often pop up on a bunch of different Twitter spaces, but I guess that could also be considered ‘work’ haha.
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Honestly, I’m ridiculously passionate about innovating within web3 and gaming, especially where they intersect. If there is one thing to know about me, it’s that I’m relentless in my obsession to succeed.
Within the next five years, I am determined to have led GOG’s community to monumental heights, proving to be a valuable figure innovating within the blockchain gaming scene. I’d also love to help put Perth on the map for blockchain tech and talent, helping many others, whether students or startups, find success in their endeavours too.
Where can our community members find you on social media?
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/jai_turnor
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/jai-turnor-653a06b5/
Discord:
BigTurnz#2787
We hope you enjoyed getting to know our Senior Community Manager, Jai Turnor. Stay tuned for the next edition to learn more about the people behind the game, Guild of Guardians.
Until next time.
