Can games serve as a means for learning? What can, for instance, the drifting lessons in GTA(Grand Theft Auto) teach players about drifting about road corners in real life? Or does the pretense of children riding on a dead log of wood help them learn how to ride horses faster and better? I guess we’ve all played a sort of game once in childhood(or even still now in adulthood), so we can answer that ourselves.
Video games do have an appeal that surpasses educational attainment or intelligence, age, gender or even ethnicity, maybe this is why Plato in The Republic first drew attention to the relationship between playing, pretense and education more than 25 centuries ago. He introduced a game of philosophical lesson in the form of a dialogue, which was played by young philosophers. This provided positive results in that, people who engaged with Plato’s performance of Socrates and his interlocutors are intentionally guided into reflecting on their own hypothesis, deeds and thoughts to become the best philosophers they can be.
Now, whether the purported negative effects of video games such as addiction and increased aggression are worse than the positive effects is something that has been debated for over 30 years, just like the way that the television, novels and the internet faced much the same criticisms in their days and just like the blockchain is currently facing it own criticisms.
But we do know, as research has proven that video games can also be fun and at the same time enhance learning as it boosts brain memory capacity and even help dyslexic kids improve their reading.
It is pertinent to know that most of these researches involves effects of video games that require players to move rapidly, keep track of many items at the same time, hold a good deal of information in their mind at once, and make split-second decisions. Many of the abilities tapped by players of these games are exactly those that psychologists consider to be the basic building blocks of intelligence and thus, they can be used to help set goals and rehearse working towards them, provide feedback, reinforcement, self-esteem, and maintain a record of behavioral change and this I’m sure, is what most parents want to hear.
The advent of the blockchain gave a new face to the gaming industry; the collision of blockchain technology and gaming gave a glimpse of great promise for the growth of both industries. Hitherto, blockchain games was introduced, and a good example is the Crypto Kiddies which went viral.
Crypto Kitties was the viral game that infused fun into the blockchain, and gave journalists cataclysmic headlines about the Ethereum network being filled with cats. But unfortunately, due to several factors, Crypto Kittens is going down.
Generally, problems like speed, time, poor servers, market factors, scalability, gamers’ games choice, and several other factors affect crypto games and causes it downward trek in the market.
In this article, we are going to talk about how XAYA comes in to eliminate these problems.
What is XAYA?
XAYA
XAYA is a blockchain gaming platform that enables developers to go from concept to release of their games in no time, with more infrastructures and less cost without the use of servers. XAYA provides a single decentralised blockchain based platform that uses DAUs...DAUs are Decentralized Autonomous Universes; this is an environment that allows for trading of game assets and converting of these assets to real monies like fiat or crypto. Here, a new world is created and everybody benefits in no time with less cost. It enables total and fair ownership of assets, safe trading and enables the creation of multiplayer games that can be marketed to a wide range of users.
Apart from being an asset based platform that enables conversion of virtual assets to real monies, XAYA also offer a unique feature which is it enables worlds(games) to be in an independent, secured and decentralized and way where gamers will be assured of the safety of the online assets.
However, XAYA is not new to the gaming market. In 2013, [XAYA] originally experimented on the Huntercoin project to become the first decentralized multiplayer game to be built on the blockchain. That is, it is the first game to be built on the blockchain and that uses a human mining permissible currency. They were able to achieve a feat(without using servers) of having 35,000 characters simultaneously interacting in the game and it had a market cap of over 10 million USD within the first few months. For a fact, Huntercoin was just an experiment though it became a huge success. This alone mirrors the success Xaya will achieve with this new project.
Problems Faced By Developers and Gamers
Developers: Developers, especially individual developers or small scale develoers lack the financial resources to achieve their games plans and bring them into reality. They also restrained by time and this hinders a lot of beautiful games from being produced.
Gamers: There is a need in the game world by gamers for a game for a more complex games. This means gamers want rewards that can be converted into real-world values. Gamers ask for games in which the quantity of assets gotten is directly proportional to one's progression in the games.
If carefully analyzed, it can be seen that these two sets of problems are related. That is, if the time required by developers is reduced and the cost is too, developers will surely bring virtual games into reality that meets the gamers' need. So how does XAYA aim to solve this?
XAYA creates a platform for developers where they can efficiently use its effective tools provided to build virtual games or worlds in less time for a cheaper cost. On the other side, gamers will be able to gain tangible benefits in the real world, which are products of achievements in the virtual gaming universe.
To spice it the more, partnerships with XAYA help developers to build faster and these virtual worlds, are not limited to provide gamers with XAYA's CHI currency but can also issue their own currencies which can be traded for CHI. Here, developers can easily use these resources provided to create solutions for more gamers.
It is pertinent to note that, XAYA's solution is useful and can be applied to both existing and new markets. It uses smart contracts, creates new virtual environments for gamers and developers alike which will be much more flexible than the traditional platforms.
How will be funds be provided for developers?
Developers will use resources provided to create solutions that will appeal to many gamers, achieving this at a fraction of the cost and also go to the market much more quickly.
XAYA Technology and Scaling
As said earlier, in 2013, the team obtained the experience and knowledge from the first Altcoin, which is Namecoin and also gained from Huntercoin and make it the backbone for the creation of XAYA. It then uses this knowledge to ensure that the accounts and assets are securely kept with an autonomous, independent and decentralized value, built directly into the blockchain.
XAYA’s blockchain is secured by the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm and it is expected to scale to bigger sze and make global impact to make this possible, Xaya uses several technologies that solves several problems like scalability and fraudulent practices amongst others. The issue of scalabilty is solved by XAYA through the employment and use of Trustless Off-chain Scalling for games (Game channels) and Ephemeral Timestamps.
Game Channels:
Game channels is an extended arm of the payment channels in Bitcoin. It can be applied off-chain to virtual worlds between numerous gamers to ensure that global scalability isn’t an issue. It can also be applied to shards of a global gaming world, ensuring that global and almost real-time gaming is possible. Game channels also enable near real-time gaming on-chain.
It is used to record every game moves which are then stored as records on a sidechain and to make sure it is not tampered with, digital signatures and has-chain structures are used to stored them, so if all the gamers agree on the outcome the game, the rewards is distributed and shared via 2-of-2 multisignature transactions but if gamers fail to agree on the outcome of the game, the records of every game moves which have been stored on the sidechain can be used to prove the fraudulent player wrong and claim the rewards, thus proving his innocence.
But then, with this game channels technology, another scalability issue can be brought up, which is, since “if a dispute is raised and then resolved, the game will continue as before. However, this process puts transactions onto the main blockchain, thereby eliminating the scalability gains and costing (both) players transaction fees”. Thus, a fraudulent gamer can continue to continually cause disputes and resolve them on a game built on the XAYA platform, just to disrupt the game and also annoy honest gamers.
To get this covered, XAYA makes use of the ephemeral timestamps.
Ephemeral Timestamps:
In multiplayer modes when disputes occur, with this technology, Xaya moves transactions to the main blockchain to resolve the dispute. XAYA achieves this technology by expertly interoperating the time-stamping capability of a blockchain, the merkle-ized hash commitments, repaid mining incentives, and fraud proofs. Thus, with this technology, transaction fees can never be detrimental to a honest user of the XAYA platform. Nodes can send data (D) which are to be timestamped at a specific time (T) by the public blockchain. Merkle trees ensures that the cost of sending data per timestamp Merkle trees is free and miners are also incentivized to process these timestamps.
Now, with this timestamp, it is possible for another user to have known D during T, and this means that the gamer is that is lying can be proven wrong, meaning he/she acted contrary to the rules of that specific game channel. This means that, the honest player can be proven, and thus can receive his prize, while the cost of the current timestamp is been covered by Merkle trees and the miners incentives.
Another technology XAYA employs is:
Atomic Transactions:
Atomic Transaction permits trustless trading amongst users. Assets traded can be game items, gam-specific currencies, whole game accounts, etc. for CHI. This is an incentive to ensure that there is a constant demand for CHI which in turn ensure the influx of users and mass adoption of the XAYA platform, cryptocurrency and eventually, the Blockchain. This technology can also be seen in Namecoin by the XAYA team.
Moreso, providing tradable in-game assets is a monumental achievement. Aforetime, gamers could only buy assets in game with real dollars but can’t do anything with in reality no matter how much they amass… how frustrating!
Now, players can trade these assets but how safe can their assets be and fair can the game be?
Fairness and security of assets are crucial elements that enables one to enjoy online decentralized gaming experiences. No one wants to waste his time and resources gaining assets he fears he might lose someday. In fact, if such fear is paramount, no one will patronize these games and thus, the blockchain gaming industry will lose it’s glamour, high patronage and it’s very promising outlook.
XAYA and Virtual Reality
Gamers want total immersion in video games but at the same time require everything to be “right” too..XAYA comes to make everything “right” through Timestamps and Game channels. Being dazzled by the graphics and gripped by the content, and flowing with real time is what gamers want too and XAYA enables this, making the game fluid and giving it a real-time experience. Game channels and Timestamps makes Virtual realities much more interesting by providing transparency to gamers who purchase game items and ensuring fair gaming environment.
XAYA scaling solutions enables unfalsifiable proof of ownership or prove of fraudulent activities. Since the records won’t and can’t be tampered with, Xaya's scaling solutions can be applied to various other areas of the blockchain to enable watching and protecting copyrighted material. Another possibility is, with the scaling solutions, academics can work together in a virtual environment on a research project without anybody tampering with the results as each record is securely kept and contributors are informed in a decentralized manner.
However apart from VRs, it also offers DRs(Decentralized Realities) which are >unstoppable virtual worlds where there is no central authority. The state of the world is computed by all come together those who are involved in it.
What do supporters stand to gain?
- Supporters have access to a huge pool of existing markets.
- Due to influx of demand, supporters have access to a stable cryptocurrency of high value
- Untapped gaming market access
- Addition of new game genres.
- Scalable platform
What will XAYA offer the cryptoworld?
Cryptocurrencies are designed in such a way that, the higher the demand and rate of transaction of it’s coins, the higher the value of the currency. It has it own currency and it is called CHI. XAYA will create a high traffic for the Chi crypto via the demand of developers who want their games to be popular and used globally when this turns out to be so, the velocity for the CHI crypto would greatly increase, and this would eventually result in the growth of the XAYA ecosystem. The growth of the XAYA ecosystem will usher in a new phase of influx of users(gamers) and thus, the mass adoption of the blockchain.
These types of games will be compatible on the XAYA blockchain
• Head-to-Head game
• Social VR worlds
• Collectible Card Games
• Real-time strategy games (RTS)/multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) amongst others.
Game Partnerships
TREAT FIGHTER
SOCCER MANAGER
XAYA partners with already built games which are the Treat Player and Soccer Manager. These games will enjoy 100% uptime and the in-game assets will be tradable.
These games are already in place and popularly played, therefore, interoperating with them gives XAYA mainstream attention.
Definitely, gamers on soccer demand fluid operation of the system and it offers this and even give them a tradable avenue for their assets. Therefore, as XAYA helps Soccer Manager go all fluid and smooth, it’s users will more than opt for a taste of this excellent platform thus, causing mass adoption of the XAYA blockchain.
Use Cases.
1. GAMER
Ann plays online Football First Eleven Manager, a soccer game where one takes control of team, it’s build up, players transfer and team budget. Notwithstanding Ann's passion for the game of soccer, she’s always discouraged by some fraudulent activities of ‘more-technologically-advanced' players, who do some few tricks to piss her off. Also, she has always longed to see her in-game assets being converted to real cash. Now she learns of XAYA. XAYA proves to be a fair platform for all players and she’s assured of the security of her assets. She also enjoys the simple game app launcher that the platform offers, coupled with secure social networking and the easy swap and conversion of virtual assets to real world assets. Moreover, through XAYA, Ann can easily read her wallet accounts/addresses just with her phone.
2. DEVELOPERS
Ann’s brother, John is an app developer. To be specific, a game app developer. He doesn’t have the resources to create games that meets gamers’ need though he has the concept but he can't harness the idea and build it. Ann then introduces him to XAYA and here he learns that he can not only build games in no time but he can also build games that are compatible with broad game engine. Now he enjoys full/partial/no decentralisation game development, access to pre-built libraries, easy payment options, management exportable game engine templates, access to a wide pool of potential loyal generic game users. To cap it all off, he can build and introduce his own currency into his game which is tradable with the CHI currency.
Synopsis
The primary barrier hindering the interoperability of blockchain and gaming is very clear, scalability. Also, this same problem is hindering the broader industry from gaining the sustainability and actual usefulness of current blockchain-based games. In this way, centralized games and gaming platforms have vivid merits over blockchain-based games right now. Another common problem that plagues gaming is the inability to prove the provenance of specific virtual items, leading to fraud. Also, gamers are frustrated when the spend money buying assets in games that they can’t convert to fiat and Cryptos.
But through it’s technologies and excellent system, XAYA eliminates this problem and provides solutions to Developers and Gamers' problems alike.
XAYA is ushering the gaming world into a new phase… won’t you join this train of change?
Watch the ofiicial video here
Main Scale
XAYA Main Sale is live. See it here
Token Sale and Allocation
The token sale will run for 5 weeks from 7th September till 10th October.
Roadmap
The Team
Partners
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Official Sites and Resources
XAYA Website
XAYA Whitepaper
XAYA Medium
XAYA Bitcointalk
XAYA Reddit
XAYA Facebook
XAYA Twitter
XAYA LinkedIn
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