The chief problem with adding masternodes is that everyone thinks they are cool but has no idea how to monetize them. I think the low range gaming idea is pretty good but you also have to consider certain aspects like
1) Are the games part of the packaging or do you want to provide a tool box for adding games(leaving it to each individual 8BitNode owner) ?
2) Can the games be multiplayer?
3) Do the owners maintain save games?
This has not even taken into account that you have to engineer a fair rewards system that is based off actual game progress/time played
And of course there is the all time irritation of blocktimes...games are a real time events and blocks are not, this means , you have to consider how to add data (time delayed) into a block/ create a side channel with which to update the network on each player on each node's stats.
Interesting set of problems to overcome (this does not even touch on network latency and cryptography yet)
What is the eventual goal here? Niche gaming or mobile platform launch to reach the masses?
Just my opinion but I think a game API that let developers / players monetize games would be the way to go, instead of tightly-coupling 8BIT to any actual game.
For example, one way to monetize the masternodes could be to provide multiplayer services like:
8BIT Multi-player game API with betting- using masternode network, 8BIT provides an API where multi-players can start a game and bet a fixed amount of 8BIT on the outcome of the game
- the bet stakes are held in escrow (locked within the masternode network) for the duration of the game and the game state is monitored (through client RPC calls)
- when the game ends, the player's clients upload the result, and if there is consensus, the winner receives all the stakes, else the stakes are returned (e.g someone tries to hack the result).
- any game can use the service as long as the client uses the correct API
So, for players, it means they could bet/earn 8BIT by playing against other players
For developers, they get a secure payment system to monetize games for players (and a % cut of the winnings could go to the app developer), and we would provide a client-SDK (like example projects in Unity/Unreal engine etc which most mobile / desktop games are made in now)
Another idea could be to run multiplayer-host service API for games, with the backend monetized / powered by the masternodes - similar to something like Tsharen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3H45JXJShY for developers to integrate to get multiplayer server functionality with secure payments integrate.
These might be a lot of work, but do you think they are feasible to implement on the coin side?
EDIT: I don't think the 8BIT brand has to be targeted at retro games either, because retro game-branding has broad recognition, and 8BIT is a good name for a game currency for all gamers I think.
All good points. I really like the way you are thinking. Creating an API would allow a much wider userbase to tap into 8bit.
