Introducing Proof-of-Play! Solving online game cheaters with blockchain technology.
We have only been launching our beta platform for over a month now and it has gain quite a traction, especially since we haven’t spend a single dime in marketing the platform.
We started with simple games like Floppy Bird, Tetris and other instant games on our beta platform and over 50,000 people have registered and played over 131,000 times. Over 235,000+ PXGs are being staked in almost 3,000 competitions.
These numbers have proven that monetary incentive can be very engaging even in the simplest of games. Moreover, a micro-value entry fees (estimated 0,006 USD) is a lucrative pull for the average gamers.
However, it does become clear with monetary incentive, comes the incentive to cheat. We’ve seen thousands of attempt to cheat, some succeed and we have to ban over 10,000 players because of this. But it becomes apparent that cheating is a huge barrier in creating a full monetary-incentivised online tournament.
In order for us to grow further, we have to eliminate cheaters. To solve this issue, we turn to blockchain.
To combat cheaters, we propose Proof-of-Play, created as a Sidechain to our blockchain network. Our solution is to propose a validator between gamers and the game itself. For each competition of a game, a smart contract is embedded and govern the rules regarding point calculation.
Every gamer’s action will be recorded as is and the validator will compile moves into scores. Validators also determine the winner based on the highest score. In order to do this, we have developed a simple data format called ACTA to encapsulate events. This format is the de facto eventing format we use through out all of our codes.
As a network, we create a trust-less relationship between the validator, the gamer (or game clients) and the game itself (and in extension, the game developer). Creating a trust-less environment is the only way for everyone to trust one another.
We will be using a Byzantine Fault-Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine which is robust against double-spend attacks and is tolerant against a set of up to ⅓ (~33%) Byzantine actors in the network. For this, we turn to Tendermint.
Using a totally deterministic protocol, there is no randomness in the protocol whatsoever. Validators are elected deterministically, through a defined mathematical function in the implementation. As such, we are able to mathematically prove that the system is live and that the protocol is guaranteed to make decisions.
This simplifies our rotation of validators.
1. Validator weight is established.
2. Validator is elected, their turn to propose a block.
3. Weight is recalculated, decreases some amount after round is complete.
4. As each round progresses, weight increases incrementally in proportion to voting power.
5. Validator is selected again.
The distribution of the fund itself will still be done on the main blockchain, this ensures the separation of domain between monetary and non-monetary transactions.
Validators will of course gain a monetary incentive for every block produced. The good news is, anyone can be a validator. We will be prioritising game developers and publishers to be the main validators but large holders of PXG can also participate and gain incentives from this.
Validators will of course be limited and we will be choosing them from our earliest backers. This would also mean that a huge amount of PXG will be out of the market and being held for validators.
We are very excited to make this a reality and we can’t do this without all of your help!
