I was so tired. Tired from doing tasks the whole week and to top it all up, I had to host a late night event the night before YGG PH Roadtrip. I only had an effective 4 hours of sleep and that was enough due to my training as a physician, where we usually get inadequate sleep during duty days.
I woke up at 3:30 AM, groggy AF, unsure of what to wear in Batangas because it will either be too hot outside or too cold inside the convention center. To make sure I am alert, awake, enthusiastic during the trip, carpooling with me was fellow creator Kobestreams. I met him along C5 on the way to SLEX and upon opening Waze, it roughly estimated that we’ll get there in 2 hours and knowing how “safely” I drive, I was expecting to get to Batangas in 2.5 hours.
The ride was fairly smooth and when we arrived at the Aquamarine Recreational Center, the atmospheric temperature was cooler than expected but then again, we arrived 7AM. We saw the installations a lot earlier than everyone and the first thing I experienced upon going into the main convention area, I noticed it was really cold! It was good cold though as this was a welcome contrast to the hellish heat everyone has been experiencing.
Fast forward to 10:15AM. The organizing team was very considerate of the droves of people coming into the driveway. Talking to some of the attendees, I realized that most of them are indeed from Batangas but some of the them came from other locations like Cavite, Pampanga, and Metro Manila. Geographically, it was a melting pot of north and south Luzon.
I had asked the organizers how many had signed up via Luma and they said it was a total of 1500++ RSVP’s! In my mind, I said “that’s a lot of “bots” and a bit later I realized that the video post by Gabby Dizon of YGG was kind of a low-key answer to the comments that “Most Asian gamers are just BOTS”. Upon asking the people joining, 4 out of 5 were unexposed to Web3 and this was the first time they were hearing about it.
The program started with an opening message from Mench Dizon, YGG Country Head, relaying the message of empowering and educating the Filipino people in web3 as the main goal of these events. To show some support, there were messages from DICT, an opening message as well from Mayor Janet Magpantay Ilagan and Vice Mayor Jay Manalo Ilagan of Mataas Na Kahoy, Batangas.
The ground events didn’t start until the first salvo of the program and you can see the reactions from the attendees that they both were happy to be there and were ecstatic to join the festivities as the hosts kept the atmosphere alive with constant engagement and even more frequent giveaways throughout the program to keep them on their toes.
Upon opening the floor to the quests, the attendees were quick to grab their quest cards and like Ash trying to collect Pokemon, they went from booth to booth collecting stamps and registering to each and every game they can. There were many games and Web3 entities that were represented: Guild of Guardians, Breeder Dao, Parallel, Coins.ph, Jambo, Arena of Faith, Sipher Odyssey, Delabs’ Rumble Racing Star, YGG Pilipinas’ own Web3 Metaversity, and the photoperfect background of the YGG PH Roadtrip.
Going through the program, there were lots of Cryptofiesta giveaway events in between game showcases for games like My Pet Hooligan, Arena of Faith, Sipher Odyssey, Parallel, and Metalcore. In my opinion, the part of the program that garnered the most interaction was when the Jambo phones were being given away. Attendees who were madly interested were running through the hall just to get their shot for a free Web3 smartphone.
There were also some talks about getting into Web3 esports and building a community which featured one of the community emissaries, Kookoo, along with Shanks and Nate, hosted by Miccolo And Spraky.
I was happy to see some familiar faces but what made me happier was seeing familiar online handles as I can now attach the faces to the names of the people I’ve been interacting with online.
At the end of the day, these initiatives really warm my heart to the future of Web3, especially in the Philippines. It all starts with awareness and proper education for anything to thrive and YGG started it strong with their Batangas leg.
Don’t get FOMO though as this was just the first one! YGG PH Roadtrip will be going to Baguio (April 27), Cebu (May 18), Davao (June 1), Bacolod (June 22), and a last one in Manila.