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The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

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Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#81

Post by mrtksn »

secretsatan wrote: post #45

I read these articles sometimes about crypto games, but they all never seem to describe the actual game, it’s like crypto is the primary concern, and game is secondary, and i’m getting the distinct impression none of these games are any fun and everyone in the space has to avoid mentioning it. I think that the people writing these things only have a very slim grasp of gaming, but they know it would be a good market t…

I remember when CryptoKitties clogged the ETH blockchain and it has become unfeasible to do most of the transactions.

Anyway, the game is very simple and it actually makes much more sense than the recent NFT fud. Essentially you combine characters to create new characters that have some of the traits of the parent characters. It's a breeding game.

I kind of see how it can be valuable to own an NFT character with certain traits that can be used to create other NFT characters. Unlike the recent NFT stuff, it makes sense within its universe. The NFT market on the other hand is just a hot patato game where you speculate that there exist a greater fool in a rigged marketplace.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#84

Post by bze12 »

Zaskoda wrote: post #5

Calling CryptoKitties a "game" is a bit generous.

I'm always surprised that projects like cryptokitties are referred to as games. I guess saying "game" makes it sound more legitimate, but there's almost nothing to do with your characters besides sell them.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#85

Post by Kiro »

landryraccoon wrote: post #80
Kiro wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HyperDragons. Someone made a game where you bred dragons that could eat CryptoKitties to absorb their attributes. The composability and interoperability of the blockchain means anyone can extend your game and build mechanics with your assets, without your permission. It's truly an open API.

Couldn’t that have been done equally well with a centralized ledger? Lots of games have “high stakes pvp”, such as eve online. They don’t have a blockchain, and yet you can still steal stuff permanently from other players if that’s how you want to play the game.

Let's say I want to build a game where you can destroy your EVE Online spaceships to get bonuses in my game. How would that work? That's what happened with CryptoKitties and HyperDragons.

Just to clarify: someone who owns a CryptoKitty decides to send it to the HyperDragons smart contract that handles the absorption. It's not about stealing anything. You use your assets in CryptoKitties to boost your dragon in HyperDragons.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#86

Post by Glyptodon »

In a vacuum I'd have assumed that attempting to make transaction fees undercut things like credit card processing fees would have been a key design goal of post-bitcoin block chains, so it's surprising to me (as someone not terribly invested in keeping up with crypto) to realize that transactions fees can be so high (though in some ways I suppose it's kind of like combining title registration with supermarket checkout more than it is just a transaction).

But besides side chains are there other approaches to allowing newer crypto currencies to be highly liquid and handle large volumes of transactions at low cost? This issue seems like it's a recurring problem for crypto.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#87

Post by mkaic »

> What Went Wrong?

It's in the title of the article. It's a "Blockchain Game". That's what went wrong. It was a flawed concept from its inception. Blockchains are pretty cool from a math/cryptography standpoint, but they really do not provide added value in most areas people try to apply them to.

CryptoKitties is a digital trading card game. You get cards, you can "breed" cards together to make new cards, you trade/buy/sell cards. That's it. Nowhere at any point in this "game" is a blockchain necessary. Nowhere at any point does a blockchain add any value whatsoever. In fact, due to transaction fees, I'd argue the blockchain actively detracts from the game.

The idea of an artist signing their work in a cryptographically unique way is not new or revolutionary, and it certainly doesn't need a blockchain. There's a reason the general sentiment the art community has towards NFTs is overwhelmingly negative: it's because they literally actively harm us.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#88

Post by Kiro »

pdntspa wrote: post #78
Kiro wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HyperDragons. Someone made a game where you bred dragons that could eat CryptoKitties to absorb their attributes. The composability and interoperability of the blockchain means anyone can extend your game and build mechanics with your assets, without your permission. It's truly an open API.

And what here does the blockchain offer that a database table doesn't? Other than the ability to monetize.

The fact that I can build upon CryptoKitties with no obstacle. If CryptoKitties was on a private database I would need to get access to their API and also trust them with the ownership/management of the assets. Now I can just build it on the blockchain and have people destroy CryptoKitties in my smart contract to get benefits in my game. No API functionality or permission from CryptoKitties needed.

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#89

Post by [deleted] »

landryraccoon wrote: post #80
Kiro wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HyperDragons. Someone made a game where you bred dragons that could eat CryptoKitties to absorb their attributes. The composability and interoperability of the blockchain means anyone can extend your game and build mechanics with your assets, without your permission. It's truly an open API.

Couldn’t that have been done equally well with a centralized ledger? Lots of games have “high stakes pvp”, such as eve online. They don’t have a blockchain, and yet you can still steal stuff permanently from other players if that’s how you want to play the game.

[deleted]

Re: The collapse of cryptokitties, the first big blockchain game

#90

Post by reidjs »

mkaic wrote: post #87

> What Went Wrong? It's in the title of the article. It's a "Blockchain Game". That's what went wrong. It was a flawed concept from its inception. Blockchains are pretty cool from a math/cryptography standpoint, but they really do not provide added value in most areas people try to apply them to. CryptoKitties is a digital trading card game. You get cards, you can "breed" cards together to make new cards, you trade/b…

More accurately it can be described as a digital trading card game built on Ethereum.
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