I’m working on a VR simulator and recently I have decided that I’m also going to create my own cryptocurrency altcoin (based on Bitcoin). I think there are many benefits for using altcoins in gaming, for example I could even create an altcoin for fuel, magick, ammo that can be traded, mined and so on as if they were real commodities. This seems like a great way to build an in-game economy beyond the typical in-game currencies seen in MMO’s etc.
I’m curious if anyone else is interested in crypto as a game currency and what ideas I can explore interms of transfering currency into the UE4 engine. At the moment one possiblity I’m aware of is using VaRest which could link a website and parse data into the engine (my current understanding). However one idea that I think could be useful for a UE4 plugin is a QR system. “Paper Wallets” in the crypto world allow users to transfer coins simply by sending and recieiving data from QR codes. The idea is that UE4 could also generator QR codes as actors on in the HUD and users could transfer data from a mobile directly into the UE4 engine. I think this type of system could be useful for other types of data such as promocodes, interaction between devices and even augmented reality which often uses QR’s.
I guess I’m just throwing some ideas out there, has anyone worked with something like Crypto/Bitcoin and considered connecting the technology with a game engine?
One of the things which has helped EVE Online stay relevant is its own sort of “cryptocurrency.” I’m referring to the users ability to purchase subscriptions without actually using them. This turns a month’s subscription into a commodity which can then be traded to other players. You therefore have a vast economy built upon by players trading in game assets for time to play the game and those paying the company real money for subscriptions so they can “buy” in game assets for real money.
It is an innovative way to dip your hands into the typical MMO black market on gold farming.
I like the idea of being able to trade subscriptions. As you say most games seem to take on the generic gold farming aproach and so it would be great to see more dev’s innovating in this area. Also a custom currency could potentially promote a devs project since exchanges can adopt their coin and all of a sudden a small indie project now sits in a crypto stock market full of hungry investors and the types of tech enthusiasts that are likely to play games. I imagine that one day game dev’s won’t care about subscription models because they will be able to fund everything simply off the fact users are trading their commidity.
Just don’t go into it thinking you’ll be programming something on the level of bitcoin or that could have the potential trading power that other alternative currencies have achieved. The math that goes into something like Bitcoin is PhD level astounding and few people could replicate a similarly complex enough system that makes Bitcoin as secure as it is. Remember to tie it heavily towards server checks on your end to reduce the chance of fake currency. Doing this you can keep the scope manageable and the end result controllable.