REP shares its vision for the future of social media, powered by GalaChain
As recently announced in THIS BLOG, REP is coming to GalaChain. It’s already built on a NEAR testnet, and its full features will blow you away once integrated with the max power of Gala Games’ blockchain.
Today, we’re pleased to share REP’s extensive Vision Paper, published as a downloadable PDF through THIS LINK.
We hope this Vision Paper informs our community about the intentions behind REP, as well as the outlined plans for execution of this groundbreaking web3 social network.
The Future of REP on GalaChain
As we build REP on GalaChain and roll it out in the months ahead, our intention is to demonstrate its capabilities by creating Gala Friends, the Gala Games social network you deserve.
We’re incredibly tempted to share all our treasure hunt plans with you in advance, but that would probably spoil the fun, so we’ll try to stay strong… Looking at you, BitBender.
We’ll leave you today with a letter from REP founder Neil Haran, also added as a foreword to the REP Vision Paper. Thanks as always for being part of this community!
Vision Paper Letter
It was back in 2002 when my journey in video game development began. Working with giants like Vivendi, Electronic Arts, and LucasFilm, I contributed to major titles like Simpsons Hit & Run, Hulk, and Scarface. The year 2008 presented an important crossroad in my career — choosing between Blizzard and Zynga. My choice was swayed during an interview with Eric Schiermeyer, now founder and CEO of Gala Games, and I took the Zynga path.
That choice gave me invaluable insight into gamification’s impact, a lesson that would later become instrumental in my blockchain initiatives. But there was a darker side, and by 2010, I had seen enough. With a desire to contribute positively to the gaming world, I launched my own gaming company, focusing on educational games. We brought to life a game called Rawbots which was a game to help kids learn physics, programming and robotics. This venture was intense, thrilling, and exhausting, and eventually, it led me to a new arena — blockchain.
Over the years, my activist side found purpose in the world of blockchain technology. I aimed to create simple, user-friendly interfaces to bring this groundbreaking technology to the masses. The vision? Next-gen social networks. The foundation? Gamification and cooperation.
I’ve always been drawn to the idea of using gamification to inspire positive societal behavior, like the ‘pay it forward’ ethos — an idea that resonated deeply with me. This passion, combined with my commitment to usability, drew me back to collaborating with Eric Schiermeyer. He understood the importance of building interfaces so simple they could be called “stupid simple”, a philosophy we adopted at Zynga.
Alongside these ventures, I’ve been an observer and critic of social media’s monopolistic and exploitative practices. A particular turning point was when Mark Zuckerberg revealed his stark hypocrisy regarding personal data privacy. His cavalier attitude towards our rights motivated me to cut ties with Facebook, a decision I’ve never regretted.
As I see the ongoing war between Twitter and Threads, it is clear to me that the need for a privacy-respecting, censorship-resistant, fully on-chain social network is paramount. A platform where users truly own their data. This belief drives my work with Gala Games.
The gamified social network we’re building will not only connect Gala Games, Gala film & music, and anything NFT related but also provide a seamless experience for users navigating the metaverse. We’re also paving the way for NFT interoperability across games. Imagine being able to find Spider Tanks NFTs not only on Earth, but also in our game Rawbots with its billions of star systems. You could find spider tank weapons on some planets, which could also be integrated as robot parts within Rawbots.
Embarking on this journey with Gala Games is truly exhilarating. We’re dedicated to ensuring that you truly own your digital experience, and we can’t wait to unveil what we’re putting together. Welcome to the future of social media. Welcome to REP.
Neil Haran
Founder and CEO, REP
