[REQUEST] Ability to allow players to safely make Bitcoin transactions within the game.

[Castle]

Not sure if this already exists or not. But the ability for people to make Bitcoin transactions while trading items in the game is an idea I have been interested in for awhile. I feel like this kind of thing will be all the rage in the coming years.

[jwatte]

I feel like this kind of thing will be all the rage in the coming years.

How do you expect this to integrate with all of the different wallets and wallet services that are out there?
They each have a different protocol to get at the wallet and generate transactions.
And the Unreal game itself could only do that itself if it implemented its own "Unreal Game Wallet" -- who would use such a thing?
Or you would have to force the user to go out-of-game to generate the appropriate addresses for the transaction.
I really don't see any kind of user interface flow that would make sense and actually be implementable.

[Castle]

How do you expect this to integrate with all of the different wallets and wallet services that are out there?
They each have a different protocol to get at the wallet and generate transactions.
And the Unreal game itself could only do that itself if it implemented its own "Unreal Game Wallet" -- who would use such a thing?
Or you would have to force the user to go out-of-game to generate the appropriate addresses for the transaction.
I really don't see any kind of user interface flow that would make sense and actually be implementable.

Your install of the game would likely need its own wallet setup automatically.

There are a few different Cryptos right now like 1Credit and Monero that may be better suited for gaming. I think 1Credit is specifically designed for gaming actually.

"Who would use such a thing" <--- Anyone who realizes how lucrative it would be to make a game with a flourishing economy where players are literally mining the game for items that they can sell for real money and the developer gets a 5-10% cut for every single transaction.

Imagine if every single time players sell or buy items it translates to a micro transaction.

I don't think anyone is doing it right now because nobody is thinking about it yet. But after this happens it would probably become a completely new profit model over free to play.

[Tymax]

"Who would use such a thing" <--- Anyone who realizes how lucrative it would be to make a game with a flourishing economy where players are literally mining the game for items that they can sell for real money and the developer gets a 5-10% cut for every single transaction.

Until you realize that only one of 1000 people actually owns crypto currency
Also the same concept is valid for paypal via microtransactions.

[Castle]

Until you realize that only one of 1000 people actually owns crypto currency
Also the same concept is valid for paypal via microtransactions.

Just make the games core currency based around it. Its no different than Gold in WoW or Plat in Warframe. You can even pool coin into a wallet where it goes to players for rewards for simply playing the game.

edit: Going to call it now, In 5 years this thread will look like a total joke. "Who would even use something like this?

HAHA

Hear me now quote me later, you wont be able to get away from crypto currency once people integrate it into gaming. There will be a day when people playing games are confused that grinding money in MMOs wasn't for real money ect.

edit 2: This reminds me a little bit of when people down talked the internet like it was a fad. Or when IBM didnt think anyone would ever want to use a "Mouse"

But yeah having some kind of integration for crypto in UE4 is probably a good idea.

[sylvain_l]

I'm not really into bitcoin, but aren't there already C++ lib for all the bitcoin stuff?

or you want a wrapper to access it with BP ?

[Castle]

I'm not really into bitcoin, but aren't there already C++ lib for all the bitcoin stuff?

or you want a wrapper to access it with BP ?

Honestly at this point I will take what I can get. I would definitely pay for something like this. A way for UMG widgets to allow transactions involving crypto currency between multiple players would be pretty interesting. Either through blueprints or C++.

I cant shake the feeling that this is one of those ideas that might sound kind of dumb but in practice is just revolutionary. I am actually pretty sure that someone with a better understanding of the tech could have a far more slick way to create such a system.

[UnrealEnterprise]

I cant shake the feeling that this is one of those ideas that might sound kind of dumb but in practice is just revolutionary. I am actually pretty sure that someone with a better understanding of the tech could have a far more slick way to create such a system.

Doesn't sound dumb at all, but Bitcoin is at the frontier of the Wild-West-Web.
Every time an exchange goes south and users take a haircut its a real wound....
So building an interface is like a bet that BC will survive and that's a tricky call.

[ZomboJoe]

Using something like Dogecoin has worked in the past for some games.

[sylvain_l]

Honestly at this point I will take what I can get. I would definitely pay for something like this. A way for UMG widgets to allow transactions involving crypto currency between multiple players would be pretty interesting. Either through blueprints or C++.

I cant shake the feeling that this is one of those ideas that might sound kind of dumb but in practice is just revolutionary. I am actually pretty sure that someone with a better understanding of the tech could have a far more slick way to create such a system.

not dumb, but like frantech bitcoin sound for me too like a huge bet, or let's say a very small customer ∩ player market (Honestly I have no idea of the real numbers).
But your request is legit. I was surprised that there seem to be no widget, prototype or anything of that kind for any transaction system (paypal & co, and why not bitcoin) in the UE marketplace.

[janpec]

It would be fantastic if someone would develop such plugin. Which crypto doesnt really matter, any would do as a starting point.

[Castle]

There are a ton of different kinds of coins. But with that said Bitcoin itself is not really that much of a bet at this point. Short of some major catastrophy Bitcoin is here to stay and will likely continue to climb in value.

Now one thing I do have to say is that if a game were to use a crypto as its base currency properly and that game became very popular then the value of that coin could potentially spike significantly. Some food for thought.

[jwatte]

Your install of the game would likely need its own wallet setup automatically.

So, the game would print a wallet string, and it's up to the user to send bitcoin to that wallet?
And the game would have to verify the entire blockchain every time the user starts it up and wants to display your balance?
Or would you use a web service that caches the balance? Which service? Does the user need to create a login?
Or would you run the wallet manager in the background on the system so it's "always available" but also "adding system bloat?"
And once someone wants to trade, they have to wait for three generations of acknowledge before they actually get what they paid for?

I just don't see how this could in any way be a useful addition to a game, such as I understand current games and current blockchain technology.

[Tymax]

Gives a whole new meaning to "please insert coin"

[Castle]

So, the game would print a wallet string, and it's up to the user to send bitcoin to that wallet?

Yeah I imagine this would be the best way to do it. But in a perfect world the wallet would be tied to the players account and stored on a server.

And the game would have to verify the entire blockchain every time the user starts it up and wants to display your balance?

Yeah I think this would be necessary and the easiest way to solve the problem. It would be important for the game to not allow transactions until it is verified. With that said, in some cases it may be a good idea to allow the game to do things more quickly while it waits for things in the background.

And once someone wants to trade, they have to wait for three generations of acknowledge before they actually get what they paid for?

Right now Bitcoin is slloooooooooow too say the least. Not sure if there are other cryptos that will work better. But for what it's worth its not really that outrageous for items you purchased to sit in a pending state before showing up in your mailbox.

I just don't see how this could in any way be a useful addition to a game, such as I understand current games and current blockchain technology.

It would be a completely new profit model that rewards players with real money seamlessly while hiding micro transactions under the hood by taking a percentage of each player transaction. You can also be clever about how you set things up and make it so people who play the game are able to earn enough currency to get by without having to actually manually put money in their wallet.