A bitcoin is a bitcoin. They're fungible. Many have suggested tracking specific sats, tainting them in some way after they've been stolen or used in a crime.
The community has correctly resisted those suggestions; as fungibility is a key characteristic of a currency.
We don't want public addresses which increase or decrease the value of the bitcoin they contain.
@weirdbeard knows competitive gaming better than I ever will; and he's looking to require KYC for some or possibly all Splinterlands hosted tournaments.
I have a lot of time for him; and I know he's put a heap of thought into this, but the gatekeepers he wants to impress are the dinosaurs we're here to replace.
Our momentum, the size and strength of our community, our passionate base; none of that is because Splinterlands is a decent video game. Our value proposition; the thing that sets us apart, is that we're the best crypto project in existence. Not the best gaming dapp, or the best DPOS project.
Splinterlands is the single best crypto project there is.
It's better than Bitcoin.
But.
If some accounts are KYC'd and have the big rubber stamp of legitimacy; the Gold Dragons in those accounts have more utility and value than the Gold Dragons in private accounts, and suddenly we've lost a heap of traction with the crypto community.
We don't want wallets that increase or decrease the value of the cards they contain.
This isn't just a game. This is real world value. What happens to a player who's KYC'd, then crypto is declared illegal in his country?
When Splinterlands is approached for information on all of their players, who's barricading the door?
The only way player identities are safe is if the information isn't collected in the first place.
I'd suggest, as a compromise, that those content creators and brands sponsoring tournaments be given a choice. Instead of assuming we know what they want; we ask the question.
Do you want your tournament to be open and inclusive, with the most talented players competing; OR do you want to exclude anyone unwilling or unable to identify themselves, regardless of how talented they might be?
If they want players to ID themselves, that's fine, they're paying.
If they want players live on video, that's fine, they're paying.
Official Splinterlands tournaments should either be open to all accounts; OR the DAO should be calling the shots.
Cheers.
Hey @mattclarke - sorry I'm a bit late to the game here, but this was all just a big misunderstanding. The tournaments that are created from the @sps.tournaments account (which are the majority of them) are actually not sponsored by Splinterlands. They are sponsored by the SPS DAO and until we have governance voting implemented we are just acting as stewards you might say of that system. There are no plans to change any of those tournaments to require KYC.
I think what WeirdBeard meant was that third-party sponsored tournaments in Splinterlands would probably be using KYC in the future. I know that wasn't clear from the post but I talked with him and that was definitely the intention and we talked about making sure to be more clear and explicit about these type of things in the future.
As for third-party sponsored tournaments go, if someone is putting up prizes to sponsor a tournament, then they can put whatever rules or restrictions they want in place for that tournament and our goal is to give them all the options they might want to encourage as many sponsored tournaments as possible to come into the ecosystem.
Thanks for clarifying, mate. That's exactly the direction I was hoping for.
If Nike wants to sponsor a - Players must be KYC'd and stream themselves live while wearing a Nike sneaker on their head - tournament, they should be free to do so; and the game should offer tools to make that possible.
I've always thought our community had a consensus on crypto core values but from what I've been reading in discord lately it scares the shit out of me. If this anti-crypto mob gets its way and starts KYCing, and banning accounts then I'm out.
I appreciate your views, and don't want to argue against them, but I wouldn't say that I am part of an anti-crypto mob. I'm trying to do my best in expanding tournaments outside of the current walled garden that exists within the game. I'm not pro or anti crypto, and to paint me as such is a little disingenuous at best. Sorry to hear that we have differing opinions on the future of how to operate tournaments, and I will do what I can to reconcile our differences.
I didn't say you specifically, I'm referring to a growing group of people within the community that are suggesting taking actions that go against crypto core values. I'd say that requiring KYC and banning accounts is very much anti-crypto IMO. Also, I disagree that KYC will bring in new players. I think it will turn way more people away than bring in.
Thanks, Matt.
Couldn't agree more. I'm definitely not comfortable giving out my details to any company. I haven't dealt with any exchange for a long time, especially for that exact reason.
I'm totally with you when you say official tournaments should be open for everyone.
I agree that tournaments should be open for everybody, but the refrain of wanting to eliminate bots and excise alt accounts from eating up tournament funds are sort of what causes this crossroads on how to handle and deal with it. As a mod in the Discord, I always appreciate your feedback and input, and will remember this in the future when you give your input that you are not a fan of the changes I would advocate for. Do not want to dissuade you from the issues KYC presents, but would love to hear more options on how to solve some of the roadblocks we are running into when it comes to making tournaments equitable.
Of course. You are part of a cheating network who wants to hide the organised theft you are part of. You and your "friends" are the biggest thieves and cheats in the game, and part of the insider circles who are stealing from everyone else with your monopolist behaviour. You are a bunch of two faced liars who are only interested in your own selfish greed, and protected by some of the team members who are also part of the daylight robbery. Youve come a long way from caring about the poor people, to now crying about your own selfishness and greed.
There is no better example of how much of a joke you and your insider "friends" are, when you are part of a group that runs a huge bot farm in secret, and then claim that only others are doing it. You go on witchunts, to remove any competition that get in the way of your monopoly, by claiming everyone else is cheating, while you are all robbing everyone else in broad daylight. There are no bigger thieves in this game than your networks who cheat as a business.
Hi PK. Long time no read 🤣
Oh wow ..I'm just seeing this ... while I can understand some of the reasoning, I'm 100% against any KYC. Splinterlands were against it all the time, this is a full 180 turn. Some other mechanics can be put in place and stake is one of them. Wanna participate in tournament, have some staked SPS. The higher the league the more SPS. Just one example. You sugestion is also valid, but I dont even want to give any chance of KYC.
Agreed! Isn't that "evolution" exactly the opposite of what crypto should be. I wouldn't be willing to give up my personal info to any company/ sponsor that wants to organise a tournament for sure. And I won't even enter the security part and what happens if/when that data gets leaked...
Thanks for posting this matt
It worries me that in the above posts kyc is admitted to not being enough to solve the problem but seen as worth doing anyways cause it would never hurt any legitimate player. This is just not the case, there are plenty of people who will be turned off of tournaments because they want to maintain their privacy or simply because they want to avoid the hurdle of KYC. I agree that kyc tournaments could be an option for sponsors but the core tournaments should be open to anyone with keys an account just like every other part of SL.
also once bans are even remotely subjective the trust is gone and assets no longer feel safe even if false bans are incredibly rare.
As the screenshot said, there will always be non-KYC tournaments offered and allowed within the game. These are in addition to the KYC tournaments that are hoping to be offered within the tournament structure itself, since there seem to be a lot of endemic issues presented currently that don't have a clean solution of just "do this thing" to fix them.
Yes, KYC is a first step. And if you do not want to KYC your account, then that's fine, there will be tournaments that are catered to those players. But KYC is a first step in many to not only account for issues within the tournaments, but also bring in new players and increase the overall value of assets currently in game. The longer the community embraces making it harder to bring new players into the ecosystem, the longer they will be forced to reckon with an ecosystem that is just shuffling the issues from one point to another.
I appreciate your feedback, and I am sorry for making you even consider feeling unsafe/unable to trust the game and/or team. I hope that we can find a solution that is equitable and acceptable to as many players as possible.
Are you part of the official Splinterlands team?
If you want to get rid of bots, just require a captcha to enter them.
I understand why you would want to make some KYC, but ALL seems like a slippery slope. One case would be if you had a corporate sponsored tournament, or someone who was putting up a prize pool that wanted some guarantee all the players were human.
This was already an issue that was forming within Discord when the Secret Police was allowed loose onto members of the Maverick channel. A small crypto community became successful and thus now we have a situation where KYC ideas are becoming a reality. KYCing is a serious attack against crypto especially so against the community of Splinterlands and of course the anonymity we all wish to retain (it is not because of criminality but because of privacy.)
If we allow this sort of mindset to become real where the test of "KYC" on High End Splinterland "HOSTED" tournaments are required then it is just a matter of time before KYC becomes a norm for normal things like staking, earning DEC and Reward Cards/Packs/Potions, etc. To begin KYC with those tournaments would only affect a "minor" part of the community and thus there would a large "acceptance" of such actions but in reality that leaves the community wide open for larger issues of KYC as that would set a SERIOUS precedent against the community, against the company and decentralized crypto games. KYCing is a technique used to centralize things not decentralize them. STAKING is the tool that we have for a reason, this can allow everyone to partake in large tournaments without the fear of having illicit participants joining a tournament to win, since if they win that win is no longer worth the same as if some kyced angel of light won.
We had the Stanford prison experiment (https://exhibits.stanford.edu/spe) to see how "moderation" and "policing" does not work. The fact that Bulldog has an assistant as a Community "Manager" and other moderators are paid shows there is a disconnect of what our community once was and where we're heading. It is apparent that kissing "ass" is the way to go if you want to go from a community "moderator" spot to a "tech support" position where gate keeping is more prevalent. As of now the Tech Support people have been amazing but it is slowly being infiltrated by the same type of people who have this weird idea that their opinions are acceptable but others are not aka COMMUNIST, yes, I am looking at a MELON for starters.
I was very proud and happy to have been in the discord but the way the team allowed it to become such SHIT so quickly by allowing and granting positions of "power" to individuals who abuse it and have no ability to deal with people from different cultures and walks of life makes it apparent they are complicit of it all. Good thing I left the discord because I do not come from a household that is weak minded and unable to express their opinion openly without being "muted" and "banned" by the "powers" aka authority.
It is sickening that this is even an idea that people support.
Dear @mattclarke, we need your help!
The Hivebuzz proposal already got important support from the community. However, it lost its funding a few days ago and only needs a few more HP to get funded again.
May we ask you to support it so our team can continue its work this year?
You can do it on Peakd, ecency,
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/199
Your support would be really helpful and you could make a difference.
Thank you!