Wouldn't it be neat if playing a video game counted as proof of work for a blockchain instead of arbitrary work hashing algorithms? Well it is easier than you think.
http://archive.is/mibFF
Gamers play video games. If the gamer is good they can achieve a lot of rewards in the game. From player level, stat points, skill points, gear, experience points, and in-game currency; these achievements prove that the player has done work. The whole point of video game design is so that bots and cheating cannot win you rewards in game. Other products/services/companies also have this like uber, doordash, amazon, etc. Miles driven in uber, number of years working at walmart, etc. These sorts of achievements can also be used in this idea.
Why not utilize this proof in a blockchain? How would that even be done?
Proof of stake. That is how it would be done. The stake could be the player level, in game currency, stat points, skill points, miles driven in uber, packages delivered for amazon, etc. or anything else or a combination.
Proof of stake is typically an unfair system because anyone with lots of money can easily gain a high stake. But coupling the proof of work by achieving things in a game or other system to set the stake the player has, will allow proof of stake to be fair while not wasting CPU cycles to arbitrarily prove work.
In conclusion games (and any other system) are designed to prove that work was done by a user. Why not utilize this to prove work on a blockchain? This is done by coupling player work to a stake in mining a coin, token or anything else on a blockchain or similar network or technology. The currency will be "backed" by how much people trust the game/dev's. Amazon could have FlexCoin where Flex drivers get a mining stake based on how many packages they have delivered. Walmart could have PensionCoin where employees get a mining stake based on how many years they have worked at the company. Will this in fact be everything we hoped ICO's would be?
The games or systems themselves can even run on this blockchain partially or fully if desired. For example an MMO could be devoid of a central server and instead the stakeholder players could record server data like character locations and items etc. on their computer and their ledger would be included in the blockchain if they won the next block based on their proof of stake.
