Topic: [PRE-ANN] EmpireCoin - Gamified proof of stake altcoin platform (Read 1727 times)

Hi everyone, EmpireCoin has rebranded to PolyCash.

Check it out via https://poly.cash or check out this thread:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/polycash-create-your-own-altcoin-by-gui-2955215

We have a series of daily virtual prediction market games running right now where you can vote for Trump, Clinton or Gary Johnson.  It is free to join and at least $5 in BTC is paid out to winners of each game.

Visit http://empirecoin.org or see our Mock Election 2016 thread if you are interested.

EmpireCoin Testnet is now up and running.  I will post an announcement shortly with instructions on how to install.

The free game is completely free; there's no entry fee and no prize for the winners. 

please send me a invite

EmpireCoin Web (what you see now on EmpireCoin.org) has two functions.  First, it allows you to set up and run EmpireCoin private games with any parameters.  Secondly, it functions as a client / wallet for empirecoind.  So when the EmpireCoin currency is launched, EmpireCoin Web will be open sourced and you will be able to install it on your computer as an alternative to the QT client.  (You would need to install Apache, MySQL and PHP first)

Part of the idea for launching EmpireCoin Web prior to EmpireCoin Core is so that a variety of game parameters can be tried out.  Once the currency launches, its parameters cannot change so we need to be sure to chose the best parameters right from the beginning.  Therefore we need to get a few games going now with different parameters to see how the strategy works out when a large number of people are playing.

This is a very interesting way to gage the demand of a new coin by offering a game. However, the game also requires real investments/fees to play? I know you have a free game going, but if it has a prize that's based on a chance to win, and also requires an entry fee, this belongs in the Gambling section.

I have no interest to beta test this, but I am interested to checking out what you've got once you launch. Regarding EmpireCoin, how soon are you expecting to launch the ICO?

looks interesting to try it, the payment use bitcoin or empire coin. please send me invite link for sign up because i can't sign up, thanks.

this looks really interesting iam gonna join today
But you should design the interface more


kidn regrads

Hi Kakmakr, just wanted to let you know that I have just edited my answer to your question above about the manipulation of votes.

Sure

Some screenshots of the game are posted below.  Hoping someone with image privileges can help me out by embedding these in a reply 

Sign up:


Claim coins:
https://i.imgur.com/pcZOG77.png

Planned votes:
https://i.imgur.com/KewKTRK.png

Voting strategy options:
https://i.imgur.com/pLO11TB.png

Compose a voting transaction:
https://i.imgur.com/9FXA1UE.png

Submitted votes:
https://i.imgur.com/nsoil8y.png

Results:
https://i.imgur.com/H46OLbj.png

Block Explorer:
https://i.imgur.com/OXDiswJ.png

i will try this! keep it up!

Final results from the first game are listed below.

Follow this link for a block explorer showing the game activity:
http://empirecoin.org/explorer/free-20-player-game-1/rounds/

Alias	Initial balance	Final balance	Inflation adjusted profit or loss
famborghini~	2,000 coins	21,961 coins	167% profit
monbux	2,000 coins	16,817 coins	105% profit
slave	2,000 coins	6,083 coins	26% loss
tumbal1000	2,000 coins	3,833 coins	53.3% loss
changeakun	2,000 coins	3,824 coins	53.4% loss
artamara	2,000 coins	2,526 coins	69.2% loss
Parudal	2,000 coins	2,447 coins	70.2% loss

Based on the response so far it doesn't look like we'll get 20 players, so I have gone ahead and started the free game with the 7 players that we already have.

I have set blocks to a target time of 10 minutes, therefore rounds will conclude approximately every 10 hours for the next week.

Also links to several public two player games are now active on our homepage.  This means you no longer need an invitation to try out EmpireCoin - just visit EmpireCoin.org and click on one of the 2 player game links to start playing.

Hi Kakmakr, thanks for bringing up this important issue.  EmpireCoin addresses the incentive to exclude votes in two ways:

1.  Each round consists of many blocks (currently 10 blocks per round)
Assume that each mining pool has a few empires that they want to win.  These pools will therefore mine blocks that only include votes for those empires.  With a variety of mining pools winning blocks in a round, most votes should eventually be included in the round.  Recognizing that it is impractical to influence the outcome in this way, miners would therefore abandon this strategy and instead confirm all voting transactions in order to maximize their fees.

2. Proof of stake
Another risk is where mining pools do not immediately release blocks and instead build up several blocks which are released all at once, orphaning blocks which have been published by honest miners.  In Bitcoin, this is a problem because the longest chain (the chain with the most proof of work) is considered the true chain.  If this were the case in EmpireCoin, we might expect mining pools to exclude all voting transactions other than their own and mine a chain of 10 blocks which are released all at once, allowing the mining pool to keep 100% of voting rewards for the round.  However, EmpireCoin does not consider the longest chain to be the true chain, instead EmpireCoin uses a function which is a hybrid of proof of work and proof of stake.  In this case, the proof of stake component is simply the total number of votes in the potential chain.  Pools that pursue this strategy would have a small number of votes on their chain, thereby scoring poorly on proof of stake and allowing their chain to be overtaken by honest chains which score highly on proof of stake by including all voting transactions that have been published.

Also note that this thread is announcing the launch of EmpireCoin private games.  The fully decentralized EmpireCoin currency will be released separately in the Altcoin subforum.  For private games, this is not an issue since all blocks are mined by a single trusted miner with a policy of confirming all voting transactions in every block.


In the free games there is no money in the pot when the game ends and therefore you wouldn't earn bitcoins even if you do well.  For the paid games, you may either lose or win money depending on how well you do and how much money you put in.


Empires are only disqualified if they have more than 25% when the voting round ends.  So China and USA may currently be over 25% but they could still win if they are under 25% when the first round ends.  Note that the 25% is not fixed - different games may have different voting percentage caps.

Is this just an attempt to create a game to stimulate the need for a new Alt coin? < EmpireCoin > This part of this whole idea made me pull out, " As with other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, miners have veto authority over any transactions included in their block. Because miners have some influence on the winning empire it is possible that your votes may not be counted. "

Get a solution for that problem and I would consider playing it. No need to waste time on something that can be manipulated.

this is very interesting can i join ? anyways after checking your site looks like china and usa has disqualified
according to the site that Any empire with more than 25% of the votes is disqualified from winning the round and then the eligible empire with the most votes wins the round, it means that votes of the empire must be lower than 25 % right?

This looks very interesting. Only other game I have heard of was the dragon one. But just as someone asked before can you earn while playing it?
If you can send me an invite. I will give it a try even if you can not earn bitcoin playing it.

can I earn bitcoins also for playing this game? I am a big fan of strategy and skill based games, I want to get an invite.
thank you.

Hi ioncanon and Hi7 I have sent you both invites, I hope you enjoy the game.

This seems pretty interesting, could I take an invite?

can im joined? please invite me

EmpireCoin is an ambitious project which aims to revolutionize the crypto community by creating a new genre of blockchain gaming.  The EmpireCoin platform functions as an altcoin simulator; each EmpireCoin game simulates an altcoin with linear or exponential inflation.  In EmpireCoin games, players compete against each other to win free coins which are created by the currency's inflation.  One empire such as China, the USA or India wins each voting round and everyone who voted for the winner receives a share of the free coins from that round.  EmpireCoin is based on a hybrid of POS & POW: some coins are created by proof of work (SHA256 hashing) while others are created by gamified proof of stake.  EmpireCoin votes accumulate based on the coins that each player holds.  For example, in a game where each voting round takes one hour, a player holding 1000 empirecoins would accumulate approximately 24,000 votes per day.  Players can choose to vote small amounts in each round or save up and cast all votes at once in order to receive a large payout.

EmpireCoin is a game of skill; the outcome for each round depends entirely on the votes of the players.  Players can gain a competitive advantage by forming a group and voting together.  This leads to complex political gameplay as different factions may form and attempt to gain control of the network.  Groups which get too large have incentive to splinter or reorganize.

Rather than trying to understand this text, you can just visit EmpireCoin.org and start playing.


This is the first public post about EmpireCoin, however this project has been in development for the past year.  EmpireCoin is made up of two main software components:

1. EmpireCoin Web - Web platform to facilitate EmpireCoin private games (Already implemented)
Games are facilitated by the house.  The house is a trusted party with the exclusive right to mine blocks, who is also responsible for guaranteeing the integrity of the game and for securely storing and releasing escrowed funds. Private games may be backed by dollars, bitcoins or any other currency.  For example, players must pay some number of dollars to the house in order to join the game, then they may buy additional coins from the house if permitted by the game's rules.  All funds paid to the house are stored in escrow and once the game ends, these funds are returned to the players in proportion to their final balances.  The house may charge a fee to the players by keeping some or all of the mined coins; any fees paid to the house must be disclosed up front for the sake of transparency.

2. EmpireCoin Core - Decentralized currency & protocol (Partially implemented)
In this stage, the EmpireCoin gaming platform will be completely decentralized through the creation of a single EmpireCoin currency which can facilitate arbitrary EmpireCoin games.  Players must purchase and then burn empirecoins to set up a game.  Once the game ends, the EmpireCoin protocol will re-create the burned coins and pay them out to the players.


EmpireCoin players may benefit by using automated methods to cast their votes.  Several automated strategies are already built into EmpireCoin's web platform.  Players can plan out their votes in advance or they can select and configure a strategy to automatically & strategically cast their votes.  Players can also code up a custom voting strategy by hosting an API endpoint on their own server.  This API is currently pull based: players enter their API endpoint URL into their web wallet and then the EmpireCoin server will hit this URL at regular intervals and apply it's voting logic.


In EmpireCoin team games, every player is assigned to a team.  At the end of the game, the team with the greatest net worth wins all the escrowed funds and players from the other teams walk away with nothing.


By default, EmpireCoin games are set up with 16 empires as voting options (16 of the biggest nations in the world).  However, EmpireCoin can support any type and number of voting options.  By setting up an EmpireCoin game with voting options such as presidential candidates, football players, NBA teams, stocks or currencies, EmpireCoin can function as a form of virtual prediction market.  Unlike traditional prediction markets, the outcome of events in EmpireCoin may be influenced by real world events, but outcomes are not exclusively determined by them.  Real world events may boost the probability of a certain outcome winning but ultimately outcomes are determined by the votes of the players.  Unlike traditional prediction markets, players do not lose in-game currency if they vote incorrectly.  Instead, the high inflation of EmpireCoin's in-game currencies discourages inaction, encouraging players to bet and rewarding those who cast winning votes.


Joey Rich is EmpireCoin's concept creator and lead developer of the EmpireCoin web platform.  He has previously engaged the crypto community with projects like BuyBitcoins.com, SellBitcoins.com and BitcoinGiftCard.org.  Joey has several years of corporate software development experience with companies like Gameday Housing and FanPay.org.  He also operates OpenOffCampus.com, a real estate advertising service and is one of Bitcoin's earliest adopters.

Madisco X has chosen to remain anonymous; he is the lead developer of EmpireCoin Core, the decentralized currency & protocol which will facilitate fully decentralized EmpireCoin games.  Madisco is an altcoin enthusiast who has contributed to several high profile open source crypto projects.


- EmpireCoin web platform opens for limited testing; several invite-only games will be conducted to try out EmpireCoin strategy.
- EmpireCoin web platform is fully opened to the public, allowing anyone to test the platform and play games.
- EmpireCoin Initial Coin offering (ICO) is held.  Funds raised from the ICO will be used to develop both EmpireCoin Web and EmpireCoin Core.  In exchange for their funds, ICO investor will receive shares of the EmpireCoin currency.  Since EmpireCoin Core will be incomplete at the time of the ICO, shares will be given out via an EmpireCoin private game.
- EmpireCoin Core is released. When this happens, the private game mentioned above will be migrated to the fully decentralized EmpireCoin currency; real empirecoins will be given out based on the balances of the private game.


Today I would like to kick off EmpireCoin with a handful of EmpireCoin private games.  The first game will start once 20 players have joined and paid 0.05 BTC each.  This game will last for 20, twenty minute rounds or approximately 6.5 hours in total.  For users who are hesitant to risk real money, a free 20 player game has also been set up.  Players should be sure to enter their planned votes ahead of time to avoid missing out on votes.  Once this paid game is complete, the 1 BTC which in escrow will be divided up and given out to all of the players based on their final balances.  For more information, please visit our home page, EmpireCoin.org

Currently all games are invite only.  To request an invitation, please post on this thread or send me a personal message.  Additional games can be created upon request.

Questions and suggestions are welcome in this thread.  Thanks in advance for trying EmpireCoin.
-Joey Rich