{"id":"tkMTT_uiNTE","title":"NEAR To Impossible: Jon Hook | Co-Founder | Play Ember - Changing the Game with Web3","description":"The Coindesk team sits down with Jon Hook of Play Ember to learn why they chose #NEAR as the platform they're using to disrupt the Web2 ad engine and liberate gamers in #Web3.\n\nLearn more about Play Ember here: https://playember.com/\n--\nJoin NEAR's community:\nWebsite: https://near.org/\nReddit:   / nearprotocol  \nDiscord: https://near.chat/\nMedium:   / nearprotocol  \nBlog: https://near.org/blog/\nTwitter:   / nearprotocol  \nGitHub: https://github.com/near  https://github.com/nearprotocol\nDev Docs: https://docs.near.org/\nCreate a wallet: https://wallet.near.org/create\nApps on NEAR: https://awesomenear.com/\nLearn to Build On NEAR: https://www.near.university/\nGrants & Funding: https://near.org/grants/\n#Blockchain #FutureisNEAR #NEAR #nearprotocol\n#nft #dao","channel_name":"NEAR Protocol","published_at":"2023-01-29T00:00:00.000Z","thumbnail_url":"https://img.youtube.com/vi/tkMTT_uiNTE/hqdefault.jpg","transcript_text":"is we are trying to blow up the walled Gardens of web 2 that completely passively monetize players across the world every single day and give very little back to that ecosystem my journey to play Ember has been one of just Randomness I just kind of fell into law but I always had this creative Gene in me I've always enjoyed just the creative side right just like human experiences and creativity and how people think so for me like did my law degree and then kind of fell early on into advertising creating content to basically yeah ultimately inspire consumers but at a sort of more cynical level to try and get someone to feel something for a brand or a piece of content um and and then really that was my sort of then journey into really where where I am now in gaming I think that's the great thing about gaming culturally is there's a home for everyone so I've always loved like playing these kind of arcade casual games but increasingly now I love games that have a bit of a story to them and that's the great thing about the games that that we make like sometimes I feel like we don't make games right we're trying to just make really aspirational content that's got a direct link to popular culture and for me it's just these little moments when you know you're on a Subway or a plane and you see someone playing your game right I kind of want to go up to them and be like a fanboy and go oh my God you're playing my game my early time with blockchain actually came through really good friend of mine and advisory in our company and CEO a few of our Chris Gayle um when we exited our first company he just went deep into blockchain and remember being on a rooftop balcony somewhere in London Chris has got a few of us together to explain what he was doing and I was like I mean he's one of the smartest guys that I know and I'm like I don't really understand what he's talking about but it's it's Chris and wherever he is he's always early this is going to be big and then went away and just hit Google and I was like what is Chris actually talking about and then like anything you just it's just that Curiosity kicks in and you just start going down a rabbit hole talking with your network you know attending conferences and then before you know it you're you know deep into you're deep into web 3 and it's just there's no way out right so I'm I'm really excited about making blockchain meaningful to to Consumers right I use this word like to the team about our job is to make blockchain invisible but make the games more fun how do we do that so I think we're blockchain technology is going to go is is this I think this idea of community is really interesting I don't think we've found a meaningful way yet to really put sort of this this word of ownership into consumers that actually means something Beyond this sort of play to earn concept that I don't agree with right because Gaming's not a job gaming isn't always will be just a huge cultural like moment for people but it should be around sort of players equally putting something in and getting something back from gaming whatever whatever that is right whether it's merchandise whether it's like an IRL Meetup so I think there's a really interesting framework here for generally building these Global communities that have a sense of being and a home within within gaming right because gaming doesn't judge you for whoever you are you can be whoever you want and I love that idea and then I think from a technology perspective we're on route to delivering on this concept of interoperability we weren't seeing this fundamental consumer need for blockchain right so for us we were like well our web two games are doing pretty good right our team is still really hungry making great games players are downloading them like we're having number one games um why do we need why do we need to bring blockchain into it so part of it was just then spending more time just researching and understanding and our thought was this well why in web 2 The Players contribute so much to mobile games in terms of like their time their commitment sharing stuff on social media do they not get any direct benefit from that time yet there are these companies that are generating billions of dollars in advertising off the back of their time so we love this at this idea about actually decentralizing the billion dollar web to add in ad industry and putting that in the hands of of players but also creators as well so that anyone that is creating value whatever that can be to our mobile games should in return get value for their time and contribution to to the economy so our journey to Neil was a fun one because we're kind of unique that we're not a typical web3 gaming business where you need to look at sort of on-chained players and active communities already there all of our players are in the app stores right and they know nothing about blockchain right they don't know what tokens are so really it made it a lot easier for us because it really came down to first and foremost the technology so what we're looking for is who had an intuitive wallet that was built that I could just literally put my email address in and just enter this experience or content that I wanted to join so that was the first thing we love Nia's wallet it's just really seamless the second piece was more on the sort of scalability of the the network side because obviously there's been some well-publicized concerns in that space and then the third thing was was the community right and when I say community what what I mean by that is obviously the sort of general feeling of the near Community but what really drives us is working alongside fellow entrepreneurs and Builders and what kind of blew us away early on was what resonated with me about Nia is it reminded me of my early days in like Tech marketing right is that within near you have this family of people trying to build like the legitimate businesses that will be leading in the next five ten years building on nears infrastructure this is really the sort of seminal moment of where we're going to see blockchain and gaming probably split ways where you're going to have those amazing companies in web 2 that have great IP and amazing audiences but you know they're still web 2 businesses with share prices and they just have to operate a certain way and then you're going to get these new upstarts like people keep saying well when's the supercell of web 3 going to come along it's going to be here and there's going to be a lot of them but they're going to be driven and owned by by players and it's really exciting","transcript_synced_at":"2026-11-04T03:54:01.354Z","segments":[{"start_seconds":0,"text":"is we are trying to blow up the walled Gardens of web 2 that completely passively monetize","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=0s"},{"start_seconds":8,"text":"players across the world every single day and give very little back to that ecosystem","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=8s"},{"start_seconds":23,"text":"my journey to play Ember has been one of just Randomness I just kind of fell into law but I always had this creative Gene in me I've always enjoyed just the","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=23s"},{"start_seconds":32,"text":"creative side right just like human experiences and creativity and how people think so for me like did my law","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=32s"},{"start_seconds":39,"text":"degree and then kind of fell early on into advertising creating content to basically yeah ultimately inspire","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=39s"},{"start_seconds":46,"text":"consumers but at a sort of more cynical level to try and get someone to feel something for a brand or a piece of content","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=46s"},{"start_seconds":53,"text":"um and and then really that was my sort of then journey into really where where I am now in gaming I think that's the great thing about gaming culturally is","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=53s"},{"start_seconds":61,"text":"there's a home for everyone so I've always loved like playing these kind of arcade casual games but increasingly now I love games that have a bit of a story","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=61s"},{"start_seconds":69,"text":"to them and that's the great thing about the games that that we make like sometimes I feel like we don't make games right we're trying to just make really aspirational content that's got a","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=69s"},{"start_seconds":78,"text":"direct link to popular culture and for me it's just these little moments when you know you're on a Subway or a plane and you see someone playing your game","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=78s"},{"start_seconds":86,"text":"right I kind of want to go up to them and be like a fanboy and go oh my God you're playing my game my early time with blockchain actually came through really good friend of mine and advisory","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=86s"},{"start_seconds":94,"text":"in our company and CEO a few of our Chris Gayle um when we exited our first company he just went deep into blockchain and remember being on a","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=94s"},{"start_seconds":103,"text":"rooftop balcony somewhere in London Chris has got a few of us together to explain what he was doing and I was like I mean he's one of the smartest guys","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=103s"},{"start_seconds":111,"text":"that I know and I'm like I don't really understand what he's talking about but it's it's Chris and wherever he is he's always early this is going to be big and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=111s"},{"start_seconds":120,"text":"then went away and just hit Google and I was like what is Chris actually talking about and then like anything you just it's just that Curiosity kicks in and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=120s"},{"start_seconds":127,"text":"you just start going down a rabbit hole talking with your network you know attending conferences and then before you know it you're you know deep into","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=127s"},{"start_seconds":135,"text":"you're deep into web 3 and it's just there's no way out right so I'm I'm really excited about making blockchain","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=135s"},{"start_seconds":142,"text":"meaningful to to Consumers right I use this word like to the team about our job is to make blockchain invisible but make","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=142s"},{"start_seconds":150,"text":"the games more fun how do we do that so I think we're blockchain technology is going to go is is this I think this idea of community is really interesting I","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=150s"},{"start_seconds":158,"text":"don't think we've found a meaningful way yet to really put sort of this this word of ownership into consumers that actually means something Beyond this","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=158s"},{"start_seconds":167,"text":"sort of play to earn concept that I don't agree with right because Gaming's not a job gaming isn't always will be just a huge cultural like moment for","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=167s"},{"start_seconds":175,"text":"people but it should be around sort of players equally putting something in and getting something back from gaming whatever whatever that is right whether it's merchandise whether it's like an","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=175s"},{"start_seconds":183,"text":"IRL Meetup so I think there's a really interesting framework here for generally building these Global communities that","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=183s"},{"start_seconds":192,"text":"have a sense of being and a home within within gaming right because gaming doesn't judge you for whoever you are","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=192s"},{"start_seconds":199,"text":"you can be whoever you want and I love that idea and then I think from a technology perspective we're on route to delivering on this concept of interoperability we weren't seeing this","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=199s"},{"start_seconds":208,"text":"fundamental consumer need for blockchain right so for us we were like well our web two games are doing pretty good","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=208s"},{"start_seconds":217,"text":"right our team is still really hungry making great games players are downloading them like we're having number one games um why do we need why do we need to","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=217s"},{"start_seconds":225,"text":"bring blockchain into it so part of it was just then spending more time just researching and understanding and our","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=225s"},{"start_seconds":232,"text":"thought was this well why in web 2 The Players contribute so much to mobile games in terms of like their time their","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=232s"},{"start_seconds":240,"text":"commitment sharing stuff on social media do they not get any direct benefit from that time yet there are these companies that are generating billions of dollars","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=240s"},{"start_seconds":249,"text":"in advertising off the back of their time so we love this at this idea about actually decentralizing the billion dollar web to","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=249s"},{"start_seconds":257,"text":"add in ad industry and putting that in the hands of of players but also creators as well so that anyone that is","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=257s"},{"start_seconds":266,"text":"creating value whatever that can be to our mobile games should in return get value for","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=266s"},{"start_seconds":273,"text":"their time and contribution to to the economy so our journey to Neil was a fun one because we're kind of unique that we're not a typical web3 gaming business","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=273s"},{"start_seconds":282,"text":"where you need to look at sort of on-chained players and active communities already there all of our players are in the app stores right and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=282s"},{"start_seconds":291,"text":"they know nothing about blockchain right they don't know what tokens are so really it made it a lot easier for us because it really came down to first and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=291s"},{"start_seconds":298,"text":"foremost the technology so what we're looking for is who had an intuitive wallet that was built that I could just literally put my email address in and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=298s"},{"start_seconds":305,"text":"just enter this experience or content that I wanted to join so that was the first thing we love Nia's wallet it's just really seamless the second piece","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=305s"},{"start_seconds":313,"text":"was more on the sort of scalability of the the network side because obviously there's been some well-publicized concerns in that space and then the","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=313s"},{"start_seconds":321,"text":"third thing was was the community right and when I say community what what I mean by that is obviously the sort of general feeling of the near Community","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=321s"},{"start_seconds":330,"text":"but what really drives us is working alongside fellow entrepreneurs and Builders and what kind of blew us away early on was what resonated with me","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=330s"},{"start_seconds":339,"text":"about Nia is it reminded me of my early days in like Tech marketing right is that within near you have this family of people trying to build like the","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=339s"},{"start_seconds":348,"text":"legitimate businesses that will be leading in the next five ten years building on nears infrastructure this is really the sort of seminal moment of","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=348s"},{"start_seconds":355,"text":"where we're going to see blockchain and gaming probably split ways where you're going to have those amazing companies in web 2 that have great IP and amazing","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=355s"},{"start_seconds":362,"text":"audiences but you know they're still web 2 businesses with share prices and they just have to operate a certain way and then you're going to get these new","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=362s"},{"start_seconds":369,"text":"upstarts like people keep saying well when's the supercell of web 3 going to come along it's going to be here and there's going to be a lot of them but they're going to be driven and owned by","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=369s"},{"start_seconds":378,"text":"by players and it's really exciting","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE&t=378s"}],"youtube_url":"https://youtube.com/watch?v=tkMTT_uiNTE","url":"https://near-pedia.xyz/videos/tkMTT_uiNTE"}