How Games Are Changing to Empower Everyone with Zachary Comm: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire brought Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like The Hustle Daily Show. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down how games are changing to empower everyone. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Zachary Calm into EO Fire Studios. Zach is a relentless creative game designer and non-fungible token NFT producer responsible for blockchain heroes and the upcoming project, Draco Dice. And today, Foundation will talk about how your capacity of success is determined largely by your ability to suffer well, how blockchain is now the most reliable indicator of ownership, and oh, so much more.

0:46And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Zachary and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. The new year is here, and there's no better time to just start.

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1:45Zachary, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hello, Fire Nation. I would take the position that your ability to succeed, your capacity for success, is also determined largely by your ability to suffer well. And that a willingness to suffer more is a key aspect of reaching that potential. I remember that was actually something they drilled into us in the Army. And we suffered during training. And it was just like, what are we even doing this for? And then we would come out the other side of it and we'd be like, look at what we've become.

2:30Look at this cohesive unit, this band of brothers, so to speak. And it all came through suffering, Fire Nation. And that's not what we're going to be talking about today. We're going to be talking, focusing, I should say, all about getting our focus on how games are changing to empower everyone. So I want to just dive right in because there's obviously some problems in gaming today I don't want to go into all of them zachary, but what are the major problems that you're seeing with gaming right now? You know when I was growing up because i'm i'm 29 years old So i'm a i'm a 90s kid When I was growing up the standard was that you had a piece of physical media Like a compact disc or a nintendo 64 cartridge and you owned that piece of media and you could do whatever you wanted with that piece of media.

3:22You could hack into it if you wanted and no one could ever take that away from you. But today we're further from the concept of owning your games than ever. There's a very popular video game called Destiny 2 which I used to love. But because we've moved into this model where you no longer buy a game, You buy a license to access the game, a license that can be revoked at the will of the developer or the publisher or the platform that distributes it. Destiny 2 has now taken to cycling content out. What that means, because the game has been running for a few years, is that if you played before, a lot of the content that you had paid for access to is simply no longer accessible.

4:16and the developers are making decisions about what content you can and cannot access because they're constantly trying to push you into making new purchases instead of simply enjoying the contents that you paid for previously. I see that as a major anti-consumer practice. And it's just one thing, Fire Nation, I want you to be thinking about of what's coming next. What is the world evolving into? How can I stay on the cutting edge? How can I stay ahead of the curve? And speaking ahead of the curve, there's something called blockchain that isn't brand new. It's been around for a little bit, but it's on the newer side of things.

4:59So let's get into how blockchain can solve these problems we're talking about. One of the key concepts behind the philosophy of blockchain is true ownership. It is the ability to verify through what is known as a trustless system, an automated system that is so incredibly reliable that you don't have to put trust in a human being to know that the data it's giving you is accurate. And in that trustless system, if that system says that you own an asset, you own that asset. And because of how secure it is, because of its unprecedented decentralization so that there's all of these different sources of information coming together to agree on what you own, it's the most reliable indicator of ownership that's now known to man.

5:56More reliable than your bank account, more reliable than the title to a house, and much more reliable than the licenses that you own to access digital software. Well, I guess that kind of leads me to a question that I think a lot of people have. And I understand why they have this question of like, well, you're saying, Zachary, that I truly can own those things. And then they're better than a deed to my house. They're better than cash in the bank in some ways as far as like actually being owned by me. But why don't I have full control over them? That's a great question. There are a lot of different blockchains.

6:32And if this concept of a blockchain is new to you, I encourage you to do some reading on this at cryptocurrency.org. But because there are all of these different blockchains, we're not yet to the point where these chains are able to talk to each other very effectively. So imagine if you will, you know, we have this miracle platform called a blockchain, where we have this trustless system, where we have all of this super accurate information about what you own that's on that blockchain. But imagine that there's 10 ,000 of them that are all these different islands in the ocean and they don't even know how to send ships between each other yet.

7:15So what I see is the future, and this is just beginning to be discussed, is the concept of interoperability, the ability of different blockchains to communicate with each other about the data that they hold. Sometimes that would be directly between different blockchains, Sometimes that would use a utility, a middleman that is capable of establishing a connection between them. And essentially what we have is just this enormous world that's all separated and segregated and it needs to be rejoined. And I think that that's on the horizon. Fire Nation, interoperability. It's kind of a mouthful of a word, but it kind of makes sense once you break it down into what it means.

8:07operating within the confines of being able to communicate with each other in that bigger picture. And we have a lot of things we're going to be talking about here today. We're going to be talking about the struggles and challenges of the blockchain, specifically when it comes to game development. We'll be talking about how NFTs could be bad for the environment, or maybe they're not. We're going to talk about that and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're a marketer, then you know what it's like to feel like you're moving in a hundred different directions at any given time, like you're spread too thin.

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10:31Happy new year. It's 2025 and a new year means new opportunities. You know that business idea you've been putting off because you're not sure it's the right idea or the right time. I'm here to tell you that time is now, but I get it. Starting a business isn't easy. You have questions like how we get started and what am I going to sell? Take a deep breath. Shopify's got you. And I know because I had the same questions when I started. here's what I learned. The best time to start is now. With thousands of customizable templates and no coding or design skills required, it's easier than ever to create your brand, open for business, and get your first sale.

11:06And don't worry about all the details like shipping, taxes, and payments. Shopify makes it easy to manage your growing business from one single dashboard. Established in 2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for your$1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash onfire, all lowercase. go to shopify.com slash on fire to start selling with Shopify today. Shopify.com slash on fire. So Zach, we're back. And as I kind of teased before the break, blockchain and games and developing these things. I mean, right now you're specifically developing a game on the blockchain. And some people would be like, why?

11:46Isn't blockchain game development difficult? Isn't it just a challenge? Why would you undertake it if it's just harder to do? Game development on its own is incredibly hard. And as someone who has spent the last several years of his life working towards the breakthrough that would allow me to create my first game, it's also clear to me that developing a game on blockchain is even more difficult. But because of the advantages that blockchain gives us and even gives us in the form of entertainment to the point where we're able to have true ownership over games or over items within those games, I see it as worthwhile to find a way to lower that barrier.

12:34Now, if you're really clever, then you might catch on to how this relates back to interoperability. To this point, There's never been a time when you have been able to take something out of one game and bring it into another. You can't take a weapon from Call of Duty and go play it in Battlefield. It's not possible. But with blockchain and with an interoperability protocol, a method that allows for communication between these digital platforms, the vision that I have is for these digital assets that are backed by true ownership that you can use across multiple games. And just the thought of that still blows my mind.

13:23But if we establish that and we establish these assets that are not necessarily confined to a game, that means that these new developers, people who want to make games on blockchain, their lives can be made easier if they have access to an existing base of blockchain integrated assets. and not only that but users who already value those assets so what i'm talking about is this three-way relationship between the people creating nfts non-fungible tokens digital assets with true ownership that can be used in games game developers who are making more games to use those assets in and to the people who own those assets who are now gaining the utility of being able to take their assets into a new product at no further cost to themselves.

14:27This is a whole new kind of ecosystem. I mean, this is the key thing I want you to make sure you're understanding Fire Nation is this is a whole new ecosystem. Zachary was just talking about why this is different, how this is different. And hey, if you can get knowledgeable on the cutting edge on what's ahead of the curve, if you can become an expert in things that are just not really known right now, because some people just aren't paying attention to what's going on right here in this moment, it's going to give you an edge, an opportunity that you may not have right now in this moment, but you could definitely exploit in a good way down the line.

15:05Now, before we dive into our final topic of the day, I do want to touch upon a point where you hear a lot of people in the news because people just love the headlines and to be dramatic. And if they're not being overly dramatic, nobody's going to listen. And so they have to be. But you just hear like blockchain and Bitcoin mining and NFTs. Aren't they just bad for the environment? What would you say to that? Ethereum NFTs are the most popular and get the most media attention by far. Now, when we call a digital asset an Ethereum NFT, what we're talking about is an item that effectively lives on the Ethereum blockchain.

15:46And Ethereum is very slow. It's very energy inefficient. And ultimately, it is bad for the environment. However, what all of those people who are sort of just freaking out about NFTs in the media and on Twitter, What they're missing is that there's a ton of other blockchains that are not energy inefficient. In fact, there's a lot now that are either carbon neutral or carbon positive, where they are actually reducing the sort of corruption that we've been putting into the atmosphere over the course of human history. And one of my favorites, the blockchain that I'm most biased towards that I really live on, is called Wax.

16:29It's thousands of times faster and more lightweight than Ethereum and is certified carbon neutral, which means that even though there are hundreds of thousands, millions of NFTs on this particular blockchain, it hasn't done any damage to the environment and certainly not in the same capacity that Ethereum NFTs do. And that's the opportunities that we have here at Fire Nation is to learn that not all NFTs are born or created equal. Not all blockchains are born or created equal. Not all layers on the blockchain are born or created equal. And there are some amazing ways that you can participate in this and feel great about not only being carbon neutral, but even offsetting things in some ways where it's actually improving and helping the environment in various ways.

17:20And, you know, even the ones that Zachary talked about, and this is a rabbit hole, we won't go down. You know, they are aware of the issue and the situation and are looking to add layers on top of this layer two and beyond that could potentially help that situation. So it's not always going to be that way for all of them as well. And I want to end with a bang because you are experienced in this whole realm. As I mentioned in the introduction, you've already created Blockchain Heroes with your father, Joel, who's been a multi-past guest on the show. And you have an upcoming project, which you are calling Draco Dice.

17:58Tell us about this project, like where you came up with the idea, what it's all about, and then most importantly, how can Fire Nation get involved? Why don't I start by describing how this brings everything that we've just discussed together, and then I'll describe what the meat of the project itself is. So Draco Dice has three goals. One is to allow people to use their digital assets in more than one game. Two is allowing people to bring their digital assets back and forth between different blockchains, leveraging that interoperability that's going to become the new standard for digital assets and thus giving you much more control over the assets that you have true ownership of.

18:49And third, to close the loop, is lowering the barrier for blockchain game development by providing other developers with these blockchain integrated assets that can be plugged into their own games so that they don't have to make the assets themselves and so that when they provide value for people who are holding it, they also attract in existing users and holders of Draco Dice. So now what Draco Dice is, I am a huge physical dice collector. I love role-playing game dice. They come in a lot more shapes than just cubes, you know, that have six sides. And they have an incredibly diverse style to them because they can be made out of all sorts of different materials like wood and plastic and metal and gemstone.

19:41And they can look so different. And so what I wanted to do was I wanted to create this collection. And this collection has over 3 ,300 unique handcrafted digital dice that are meant to establish this new standard for what a digital asset is and thus give maximum power, not just to the people who hold these dice NFTs, but also to game developers who are looking for a hand up into entering the blockchain game. development space. There's a couple places where we've centered information on this. One of them is our website at dracodice.com. That's D-R-A-C-O-D-I-C-E.com. Or in our Discord community, which is on discord.gg slash dracodice.

20:32We're still spinning things up, but our launch is coming up rather quickly because we are releasing our first series on November 6th at 12 p.m. Eastern time. And so where would Fire Nation go to learn more? I mean, I know you mentioned dracodice.com. Is that the sole place? Do you have a Discord where a lot of communication is happening as well? Because I know that's kind of a big thing with NFT projects is that's where the community is, quote unquote, gathered for updates and announcements. So what's the whole parameter here? Exactly. So the web address for the Discord would be discord.gg forward slash DracoDice.

21:17And there we have a community where we've been doing frequent giveaways and releasing more details about the product and growing a community that's full of good vibes and full of people who love the digital dice and the direction that we're taking digital assets. Fire Nation, games are changing to empower everyone. Zachary, give us the one takeaway. You really want to make sure our listeners get from our entire conversation today. Give us your final call to action one more time, and then we'll say goodbye. The one takeaway is that you as a consumer have the right to demand more from blockchain technology, to demand that true ownership means that you have full control over the assets that you truly own.

22:04I would love to see you come visit our website at dracodice.com or discord.gg slash dracodice where we have our community. And John, thanks so much for having me on here. My pleasure, Zachary. And Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with ZC and JLD today, so keep up the heat. Head over to eofire.com, type Zachary in the search bar, and the show notes page will pop up with everything that we've talked about. Zachary, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

22:40Hey, Fire Nation, today's value bomb content was brought to you by Zachary and Fire Nation's successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals, which is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in a hundred days. And we're talking step by step. So visit thefreedomjournal.com and I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business startups, and entrepreneurship.

23:17A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcast. Starting a business isn't easy. You have questions like, how do I get started? And what am I going to sell? Take a deep breath. Shopify's got you. Established in 2025 has a nice ring, doesn't it? Sign up for your$1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash on fire, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash on fire to start selling with Shopify today.

23:58Thank you.