Setting the new standard for Esports crypto

Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash

It’s been another monumental year for Esports.

The U.S. industry has grown to an estimated $947 million in revenue as of last year, and there are clear projections that it will hit $1.08 billion by the end of 2021. We’re all a bit desensitized to big numbers, so go ahead and read those again.

The following is obvious at this point: the world craves more Esports. Some of the most exciting aspects alongside this upward development are the unique notches that players, creatives, and thinkers can expand into years down the line. Companies around the globe have already begun crucial investments in blockchain technology within the space. Some players are literally getting paid in crypto, FTX announced a multi-million dollar partnership with Team Solo Mid in May of this year, along with an official name change. It feels as though there’s a creeping undercurrent of Esports-crypto synergies carrying these organizations forward.

The primary issue I’ve had my eyes on since I first ventured in decentralized finance, to no fault of their own, is that these spaces still feel a bit unapproachable to the public majority. The main bump in the road is, without a doubt, that these modernized, alternate approaches to success (i.e. professional gaming, crypto trading, influencer accounts, etc) are uprooting and changing the ways in which we wholly interact and exchange. That’s worrying to some. Opportunistic to others.

And within every looming shadow of rapid change, labels get slapped on, groups form, confusion sets in, and the average person would rather simply look the other direction and continue about their day than sift through the noise themselves to track down reliable information. With Encountr™, we want to set up our resources and branding in a way that beckons these people to educate themselves.

• Initiative 1: Introduce the user to crypto benefits immediately, without scaring them away or confusing them.
• Initiative 2: Showcase the benefits of understanding defi, while placing a reward that’s two steps away, but only allowing those steps to be accessed by acknowledging and internalizing a piece of content. It’s a cyclical way to educate someone without them feeling lectured online. Win win.
• Initiative 3: Introduce our Esports focus, and if they’re also compatible with that space, it opens another set of doors for them to explore.

Encountr

The ENCTR token was co-founded by myself and EncountrDev (Jason, if you’re in our Telegram), a seasoned software engineer and CEO of a highly successful startup. For us, this token isn’t a superhero motive. We won’t claim that we’re here to save the day, one holder at a time. I can dramatize the remainder of this post with run on sentences about our “passion” and “dedication” to improving the lives of everyone around the globe, envisioning a utopian society filled with ENCTR holders, on and on.

That sounds great on paper. But the reality of the situation is that we’ve started as a small team (currently 7 total), with massive ambitions. We really needed to narrow our field of view, for now. The following structure is what will hopefully fulfill traders and gamers alike, while keeping other doors open for us if we find substantial success in the project.

1. Primary objective
   Create a decentralized, modular application powered by our ENCTR token; filled with intuitive, modernized, more secure options to the currently available competitive platforms.

2. Secondary objectives:

a) Provide a meaningful source of passive income by constantly expanding our market reach, therefore increasing the rate and amount of ENCTR transactions. Future modules may also contain various ways to acquire tokens passively.

Tertiary objective: Less ego, more accessibility. Structure our resources in a way that is inviting to everybody, regardless of interests or involvement. Our token should be a reliable source to grow and diversify a portfolio, Esports enthusiast or not. This ultimately prevents gatekeeping and will allow our token to expand beyond its intended audience. Tutorials, newbie resources, investing guides, helpful resources, explanatory content.

Development

We’re heavy in development of our beta release. We’re going to be officially launching the application with one supported game and one module, but it’s important to understand that there is an indescribable amount of work that goes into not only a web application, but an application that contains all the right parameters and structure to be built upon in the future. Theoretically, if our team decided that we wanted to release the application with the Battlescape only, and call it quits, we’d probably have a much quicker release. But our goal is a fully modular, live serviced application, so here is some more information on what to expect.

Q3/Early Q4 Launch: The official Encountr™ platform is released

Modules Available: Battlescape

Supported Games: League of Legends

Battlescape: This first module serves to smooth out an Esports wagering system.

• Fast, intuitive process from module load to wager placement. Because each battle will have an “open” time before the match starts, it’s crucial that the UI guides you on how to wager quickly, without causing overall chaos in the user experience.

The module includes a dashboard that serves as the homepage, the Encountr™ tab that gives you more control over finding and filtering for a live Encountr™, and a leaderboard that showcases live updating winnings and win percentages of users, if they choose to personalize their profile experience (you won’t be required to create a profile, only requirement is that you connect your wallet). With our team’s unique expertise, ENCTR seeks to enhance the traditional wagering systems we all know, while integrated the thrill of Esports.

What’s To Come

Fast forward to Q4 this year, and our application is successfully launched; what’s next? If you’ve followed along development thus far or visited our website with sharp eyes, you may have noticed two disabled module buttons that are titled “Under Construction”. We don’t have upcoming modules set in stone, but we do have several ideas that will be eventually expanded upon. The possibilities for decentralized competition is basically endless. The workarounds will mostly be related to accessing in-game information from companies that don’t actively support 3rd party platform integrations, and game companies that don’t actively support wagering/cryptocurrencies/decentralization. We’re prepared to tackle those problems. That being said, here’s a few concepts that we are mentally prioritizing for future modules and updates.

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1. Battlescape [Already in Development]
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2. Encountr Achievements library

// Unlockable achievements with ENCTR token prizes triggered by real, in-game accomplishments.
// Tiers for bragging rights [think Playstation Trophy levels, gold, platinum, etc]

3. Encountr Barracks

// Custom matches module, allowing around the clock scrimmages practice
// Handle the entire lobby setup in our Encountr App, tab into the game when you’re ready to go.
// Anti-cheat? Separate leaderboards and auto-match with players of similar caliber?

The possibilities are truly endless, and that really excites us. What do you guys think some major selling points would be? Are there any features that you WISH were currently available, but don’t exist / not available without financial middleman? Let us know in the comments, and if you enjoyed this Dev Blog, let us know if we should continue these in the future.

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That’s all I’ve got for you guys today, I’ll see ya next time.

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Kev ENCTR

Creative Lead

Encountr™