Jin Zheshu is not playing games, but staring at a dynamically updated digital map. On the map, seven regions of different colors intertwine, among which the blue area - representing the YGG East Asia Alliance - is slowly being eroded by the orange forces from the north.
"They are testing our reaction speed again," he wrote in the encrypted channel, "this time it's not an in-game attack, but recruitment - using double shares to poach our three core fleet commanders in (Starlink Battlefield)."
This is not a game screen, but it determines the fate of hundreds of millions of dollars in game assets. This is the reality unfolding in the next generation of blockchain games: the 'war' between guilds has transcended in-game combat and evolved into a comprehensive competition covering economy, diplomacy, talent, and data.
YGG, a guild that once simply helped players farm gold, is now learning how to survive, expand, and set the rules in this new "Cold War."
From in-game PvP to all-around strategic gameplay
Guild wars in traditional MMOs are simple: agree on a time, enter the battlefield, fight and kill, and win or lose depends on equipment and skill.
Blockchain MMOs have changed the game:
1. Asset Realization
You didn't just conquer a "virtual castle," you conquered a $500,000 NFT land.
• What you've captured isn't "pixel soldiers," but game character NFTs that can generate revenue.
The losses are real, and so are the gains.
2. Time continuity
There is no "battlefield time"; the war lasts 24/7.
• An attack could occur while you are sleeping (taking advantage of time zones).
A genuine shift system and global collaboration are needed.
3. Diversified methods
Military attack is only one of the options.
• Economic sanctions (monopolizing resources and raising prices)
• The talent war (poaching key players)
• Public opinion warfare (spreading unfavorable information in the community)
• Governance attack (pushing unfavorable proposals in the game's DAO)
“We first realized the seriousness of the problem last March,” YGG’s strategy director Mia recalled. “A new guild didn’t confront us head-on on the battlefield, but instead bought land NFTs at key nodes along our logistics route and charged exorbitant ‘tolls.’ Our supply costs quadrupled overnight.”
That "war" didn't end in battle, but was resolved through a complex NFT swapping protocol and governance compromises. But it taught YGG one thing: modern guild wars are more like a hybrid of corporate mergers and acquisitions and geopolitical maneuvering.
YGG's "Five-Ring Strategy" Framework
Inspired by modern military theory, YGG established its own guild war framework:
First Ring: Core Layer (Assets and Data)
• Asset defense: Multi-signature cold storage of high-value NFTs
• Data security: Prevent adversaries from learning your weaknesses by analyzing publicly available data.
• Redundancy design: Backing up critical assets in different games
The second stage: Organizational level (personnel and structure)
Talent Retention Program: A long-term incentive plan for core members.
• Decentralized command: Avoids single point of failure (the system collapses if a leader is poached).
• Cultural cohesion: Building a sense of belonging that transcends monetary gains
The third layer: the economic layer (resources and finance).
• Resource Reserves: Strategic stockpiles of key in-game resources
• Liquidity management: Ensuring sufficient "cash" to cope during wartime
• Weaponization of the economy: Using market operations to attack the opponent's economy
Fourth layer: Social layer (alliances and public opinion)
• Diplomatic Networks: Building Multi-Layered Alliances
• Community influence: the voice or influence on gaming forums and social media.
• Reputation Management: Cultivating the Image of a "Responsible Leader"
Fifth Ring: Governance (Rules and Laws)
• Governance Token Strategy: Accumulate voting power in the game's DAO
• Rule shaping: Driving rule changes that favor one's own playstyle
• Compliance Moat: Establishing a First-Mover Advantage in Legal Gray Areas
“Most guilds only focus on the first ring,” Mia analyzed. “They think, ‘I have the strongest NFT army, so I can win.’ But we defeated a guild in (Age of Empires) with twice the total NFT value of us—because they ignored the fourth and fifth rings.”
In that battle, YGG did three things:
1. Diplomatic isolation: Persuade the guild's two allies to remain neutral.
2. Public opinion offensive: Expose the guild's exploitation of new players in the community.
3. Governance Raid: While key members of the opposing guild are absent, push forward a proposal to "limit the monopoly of large guilds".
Result: The guild was forced to disperse its assets, and its influence declined significantly.
That textbook example of "proxy warfare"
The most exciting conflict of the year occurred in (Galactic Empire). The two top guilds, "Star Alliance" and "Empire," went to war, but YGG did not directly participate.
“We chose a smarter approach,” Kim Cheol-soo, head of East Asia, explained, “We became a war contractor.”
YGG offers the following services:
1. Intelligence as a Service
• Utilize a global network of players to collect real-time battlefield data
• Analyze the opponent's behavioral patterns and weaknesses
• Sell different levels of intelligence to both parties (basic intelligence to one party, in-depth analysis to the other).
2. Mercenary forces
• Form professional PVP teams, available for short-term rental.
• Provide a confidentiality clause that guarantees "no disclosure of employer".
• Fees are based on performance, with performance bonuses.
3. Logistical support
Establish supply depots in safe areas.
• Rent rare warships and equipment
• Provides cross-time zone staff rotation services
4. Post-war reconstruction loans
• Providing high-interest NFT mortgage loans to the losing side
• Help the victorious side manage newly acquired territories
“During the three-month war,” the financial report showed, “our ‘war services’ division generated $1.2 million in revenue with a profit margin of 65%. More importantly, we built relationships with both sides—we were profitable no matter who won.”
After the war, YGG became the only third party in the game to maintain cooperative relationships with two former enemy factions simultaneously. This "Swiss-style neutrality + arms dealer profits" positioning became a new paradigm for guild war strategies.
Talent Development and Anti-Poaching War
The most valuable asset in guild wars is not NFTs, but talent.
YGG learned a painful lesson: In 2022, a rival guild poached YGG's entire team of experts for the (Fantasy Beast Kingdom) project—12 top breeders and combat strategists.
"Their offer was simple: we'll give you three times your current YGG income, plus a 5% cut of the project's profits," the team leader who was poached at the time later admitted. "Few people could refuse such offers."
YGG's response was not simply to "raise wages," but rather to establish a talent value ecosystem:
1. Skills Capitalization
• Transform players' expertise into tradable "knowledge NFTs"
For example, an Axie breeding expert can craft a "Breeding Strategy Guide NFT," which other players can purchase and use, with the expert receiving royalties.
In this way, the value of an expert no longer depends entirely on guild wages.
2. Cross-game reputation system
Players' contributions across all YGG games are accumulated into a unified "reputation score".
Players with high reputations will receive: a higher revenue share, greater voting power in governance, and priority access to new projects.
• Reputation follows the player, but leaving the guild requires starting from scratch.
3. Internal startup incubation
• Allow core members to launch their own sub-projects within the YGG ecosystem
• Provide initial funding, technical support, and user traffic
• Upon project success, the founding team will receive a high percentage of the profits.
This satisfies the entrepreneurial aspirations of top talent without them having to leave the ecosystem.
4. Cultural Binding
• Establish a strong sense of community identity and ritual traditions
• Regular in-person gatherings (in various regions around the world)
• The mentor-apprentice system where experienced players guide new players
• Make members feel like they are part of a “family,” not just employees.
“We are now 80% less likely to be poached,” said Sarah, head of talent development. “Not because we offer the highest salaries, but because the cost of leaving is too high—they not only lose income, but also years of built reputation, social networks, and opportunities for internal entrepreneurship.”
The Dark Side of Data Wars
The most covert guild wars occur at the data level.
YGG's data security team recently discovered a well-planned attack: a competitor was attempting to reconstruct YGG's asset distribution map using publicly available data.
The method is clever:
1. Monitor the wallet addresses of key YGG members (some addresses are public).
2. Analyze the interaction patterns of these addresses on the blockchain.
3. By identifying common trading partners and similar transaction times, other addresses that may belong to YGG can be deduced.
4. Gradually map out YGG's asset network.
“If they succeed, they will know: which games we invest the most assets in, how liquid our assets are, and where our strategic focus is,” explained Security Director Elena. “It’s like in real war, the enemy has your troop deployment map.”
YGG's countermeasures include:
• Address obfuscation: Using one-time addresses for sensitive transactions
• Randomized behavioral patterns: Performing routine operations at different times and with different amounts.
• False signal distribution: Intentionally creating misleading trading patterns
• Data sharing within the alliance: Sharing threat intelligence with other friendly guilds
“We have discovered that at least three guilds are conducting this kind of data reconnaissance against us,” Elena said. “What we are doing now is providing them with carefully crafted false intelligence. For example, deliberately making a ‘significant wallet’ appear vulnerable to lure them into attacking, and then counterattacking.”
The Future: Guild Federations and Digital Geopolitics
As the blockchain game ecosystem expands, it becomes increasingly difficult for a single guild to maintain an advantage across all games. YGG is promoting a new concept: Guild Federations.
The envisioned structure:
• Core Layer: YGG acts as the coordination center, providing infrastructure and standards.
Specialized sub-guilds: Autonomous groups focused on a specific game or area.
• Regional alliances: Collaborative networks divided by geography
• Partner Guilds: External organizations that maintain independence but engage in strategic collaboration.
“It’s like moving from an ‘empire’ to a ‘federalism’,” said strategist Victor. “We’re not looking to control everything, but to build the strongest and most flexible network of cooperation. In future guild wars, the winner may not be the largest guild, but the network that is best at cooperating.”
Advantages of the Federation:
1. Risk diversification: Losing in one game does not affect the overall risk.
2. Specialization: Each sub-guild can focus on its area of expertise.
3. Rapid Expansion: Quickly enter new games by acquiring partners.
4. Governance flexibility: Multi-layered structures can better adapt to different situations.
Ongoing experiments:
• Established the "Latin American Alliance" with local gaming guilds in Latin America.
• Incubate "competitive sub-guilds" focused on PVP esports.
• Establish an "inter-association insurance fund" with asset management associations in Southeast Asia.
“What’s most interesting,” Victor envisions, “is that we may see a true ‘digital geopolitics’ in the future: guild federations forming state-like relationships, with trade agreements, non-aggression pacts, and even the concept of digital territory. And YGG is becoming one of the early architects of this new world.”
Back in the war room in Seoul
Kim Cheol-soo ultimately decided on his response to the poaching by the orange forces: instead of direct retaliation, he would launch a "talent exchange program".
YGG proposed to the other party:
1. Allow the three commanders to freely choose whether to stay or leave.
2. However, in exchange, YGG received a short-term secondment of two data analysts from the other party.
3. Both parties signed a "Limited Competition Agreement": to avoid direct conflict in (Starlink Battlegrounds) and focus on addressing external threats.
“They accepted,” Kim Cheol-soo wrote in his post-incident analysis, “because we demonstrated a more mature philosophy of competition: competition is not necessarily a zero-sum game, but can be finite competition under dynamic collaboration. This saved us a lot of defense costs and also brought us the talent we needed.”
Outside the window, the Seoul skyline gradually came into view. But in the digital world, countless battles were raging between guilds—some as intense as hot wars, some as covert as cold wars, and some like complex diplomatic dances.
YGG is no longer just an "organization that plays games." It is a laboratory exploring new models of human collaboration at the digital forefront, a student practicing real-world geopolitical wisdom in the virtual world, and an artisan building the future on the blurred boundaries between games and reality.
When you join a guild in a game, you're not just choosing a group of teammates. You might be choosing an identity in a digital tribe, participating in a new social experiment, and entering a future world that is redefining competition, cooperation, and community.
In this world, YGG is both a player and a rule-maker; both a competitor and a builder of collaborative networks; both a participant in the present and a shaper of the future.
The next guild war might not take place on the battlefield, but rather in governance votes, the talent market, data streams, and diplomatic negotiations. Are you ready?
