During a May 2022 tournament, a Call of Duty streamer known as “BBluring” accidentally displayed a wallhack cheat on his stream. Despite the unfair advantage, BBluring still lost the match and was banned by GameBattles.
Dealing with cheaters is never fun, and in such cases it becomes difficult to maintain a competitive spirit and ensure a level playing field. Those who cheat can seriously damage the image of both the game and the company behind it, especially if appropriate steps are not taken to address the issue.
combating the problem of cheating
As the online gaming sector struggles with ongoing issues, blockchain technology is emerging as a solution. For example, games are now starting to utilize blockchain in various components. To some extent, this helps fight fraud and cheating, and increases the security and transparency of how the game works.
DappRadar’s report reveals that there will be an average of 786,766 unique active wallets daily within blockchain games in Q3 2023, with the sector receiving $600 million in investment over the same period. became.
At the same time, the integration of Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Proof technology within the game provides enhanced privacy and security. ZK Proofs allows you to verify actions and results without revealing the underlying data, allowing players to interact with other gamers without revealing sensitive information.
“This is basically a type of cryptography that allows for verifiable computations. What this means is that an application can execute a piece of code and provide proof that this result was obtained from that code. Essentially, this magic allows you to shortcut and fast-track a large number of steps you’d expect your network to perform,” said Howard Wu, co-founder and CEO of Aleo. say.
Transparency through code: the new standard for on-chain gaming?
ZK Proofs represents a breakthrough in secure gameplay, especially in scenarios where player secrecy is required, such as card games and deck shuffling. By leveraging ZK Proofs, turn-based games can ensure a high level of confidentiality, facilitating a more transparent gaming experience without having to trust a third party.
For example, Kartes Studio’s zkHoldem, the world’s first fully on-chain card game platform, leverages ZK Proofs and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to solve the secret shuffle problem. Built on Manta Network’s modular blockchain for ZK applications, the trusted party element is removed to automatically execute game rules.
Using our in-house zkShuffle suite, Kartes Studio can create a variety of games that are completely on-chain, maintaining player confidentiality without relying on third parties. For example, the cards dealt in zkHoldem are known only to the players and are not potentially visible to outsiders.
The zkShuffling smart contract suite enables fully decentralized shuffling of various card and board games. Eliminate the possibility of cheating by using decentralized smart contracts whose executable code strictly follows the rules of the game.
Additionally, ZK Proofs maintains this privacy while ensuring transparency by recording each player’s actions on-chain, providing clear and transparent information that strengthens the integrity and fairness of all games played on its platform. Provides an auditable trail.
“By building games completely on-chain using ZK technology, game developers can take advantage of the immutable nature of blockchain and create a truly decentralized shuffle and gaming system with fairness guaranteed at the code level. ” said Henry Spencer, co-founder of Kartes. studio.
Tackling obstacles to scalable growth
The blockchain gaming market is projected to reach $154.46 billion by the end of 2024. However, its rapid growth faces hurdles such as scalability limitations and network congestion, which may stall further innovation in the field.
The cost of a game that runs entirely on the blockchain increases as each player’s actions constitute network transactions, requiring large amounts of data to store data and game history on the blockchain. For lightweight games such as card games or simple 2D arcades, it may be perfectly suitable to run completely on-chain.
However, advances in blockchain scaring networks are providing cheaper and more scalable solutions that meet the core benefits of secure on-chain gaming. Data-heavy components can be offloaded from the main blockchain, which handles the core on-chain game logic.
Celestia, a modular data availability network, is one solution that helps on-chain games achieve cost-effective blockchain data storage. This powers games like zkHoldem to minimize blockchain-related costs while maintaining the decentralized and transparent spirit of on-chain gaming. Additionally, we are working with Lumoz, a ZK Rollup-as-a-Service, for seamless layer 3 integration aimed at improving the overall efficiency of on-chain gaming.
When game logic is executed on-chain, endless opportunities for permissionless interoperability and composability are unlocked. These are more in line with the design of community-owned games, more resistant to censorship, and less independent from the original developer.
Games exploring innovative technologies such as ZK proofs and on-chain data are currently in the experimental phase to determine the most effective solutions. But we are making steady progress in solving the fundamental need for provable transparency and fairness in gaming.
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