Walkthrough of Ethereum & NEVERDIE Block Chain Token Purchase

Discussion in 'Player Created Resources' started by Browncoat Jayson, Jul 24, 2017.

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  1. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    As @Lord British announced in the other thread, Portalarium is partnering with Neverdie to investigate the block chain cyptocurrency they are currently creating. Their Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in now available, but ends on August 1st, and the current prices of $0.25 per NeverDie Coin (NDC) and $0.10 per Teleport Token (TPT) will expire.

    Since there is only a week left to purchase coins during the ICO, I went through the process and created this guide in order to help others who might be interested. However, first there are a few disclaimers:

    1. I am not a financial advisor. If you are not comfortable transferring funds, or do not want to expose yourself to risk, I would not recommend you continue. Digital currency is not backed by the standard federal protection that banks and credit cards enjoy, so you will likely not have recourse if they are lost or stolen.

    2. This is not a simple process. It involves setting up your own digital account, which may be too complicated for some. Again, if you are not comfortable with the concepts of block chain operation, cryptocurrency mining, and transfer of digital currency, I'd advise against continuing.

    3. While not explicitly stated, there is a minimum amount you must convert to purchase the ICO. This amount is equal to 0.07 ETH (Ether, the currency of the Ethereum block chain) per coin type. The value of this flucuates, but is currently about $225 per 1 ETH, so this means you will need at around $16 worth of ETH (but you will need to convert more than that to cover charges for transactions and transfers). If you want both NeverDie Coins (NDC) and Teleport Tokens (TPT), you will need to convert around $40 to Ethereum.


    If those have not scared you off, and are still wanting to continue, here is the steps for getting your own cryptocurrency. This guide assumes you have no cryptocurrency available; however, if you already have BitCoins (BTC), you should be able to use your existing wallet rather than signing up anew and can purchase Ether by converting BitCoin. If you are not interested, you can skip these steps and I'll describe my impressions in the next section.

    Walkthrough to Purchase NEVERDIE ICO

    1. Download and install Chrome. Not only is it the only browser that you can use to get into the NEVERDIE wallet to make purchases, it allows you to install extensions to make monitoring your wallet easier.

    2. Download and install an Ethereum Wallet client. NEVERDIE recommends using the MetaMask, Parity, or Mist Browser wallets. I signed up for Parity, but they all function similarly. Parity also has a Chrome extension so I can see if Parity stops running for some reason.

    The biggest issue I had was keeping it running. This is because Parity only installs to the C:\Users\ path and doesn't want to be moved. I found a workaround, since my SSD is small enough that I kept running out of room with 30+ GB of bitchain info on it constantly being written. I didn't want that anyway, so I moved it to my secondary SATA drive, and it worked fine.

    3. The client should start automatically once it is installed (it runs in a command prompt window; don't close it). Once it syncs, it will open a local site in your browser window where you can administer the application. If not, you can open it manually (https://127.0.0.1:8180/#/home for Parity).

    4. Add an Account. Select an icon and enter a secure password. Note the long string (starting with 0x); this is your Ethereum wallet.

    5. Purchase Ethereum. There are several places to do this, but I use (and recommend) CoinBase. You will either need to use a credit card, PayPal, or bank transfer to purchase Ethereum. Remember, you will need about $20 per coin type, minimum. Once you sign up at CoinBase and make a purchase, you will see another wallet string. You can click the button to the side of it to start a transfer; send it to your Ethereum wallet address. Note that this will invoke a transfer fee (variable depending on several factors, but not insignificant).

    6. Once the Ethereum appears in your wallet (should take about 3 minutes), you can do to the NEVERDIE website. Click Wallet at the top to open the NEVERDIE Wallet; if all goes well you should see your icon and the Parity (or other wallet) logo at the bottom. If not, you will get a message that says No Account Found; verify that Parity is running and you can access it at the local site. You will get a short tour of the wallet before you can continue.

    7. Click Get Neverdie Coins at the top. It will show you the amount of Ethereum you have at the top of the page. Enter much much ETH you want to use below the type of coin you want; minimum of 0.07 (~$16.00). Click "Get Neverdie Coin" or "Get Teleport Coin", depending on which you want. Again, this will invoke a transfer fee in addition to the coin purchase amount. Repeat the process for the other coin type, if you want both. To get a nice round number of coins, bump up the ETH amount. For example, at 1 ETH = $224.93 USD (current), here are some numbers:
    • 65 NDC = 0.07221 ETH
    • 160 TPT = 0.07114 ETH
    Last comes the waiting. My coins took around 20 hours to appear, but the Neverdie support says up to 48 hours is not uncommon. You can play around in the Neverdie Wallet, but until you have coins, there isn't much to do.

    My Experiences

    So, I went through the process, and you can do it too. Now what?

    Um... nothing?

    Really, the NEVERDIE ICO is very early on. What it is designed to do is allow game companies to utilize the same currency across multiple games, which all have real world value. This means that NDC can be the "prestige" currency in different games. You can easily link these, transfer them between players, and then cash them out if you want. Sounds great, however its a little premature.

    Why? Well, here is what I've found (which you can probably tell, based on the instructions above):

    1. Its a pain to sign up and maintain your own wallet. Players won't go through the effort.

    2. Getting the money out of the bitchain and back into cash is expensive. Expect at least 3% charge to get money into Ethereum, and 6%+ to get it back out again.

    3. It can take up to 48 hours to get new coins. Gamers are not that patient. See also, instant gratification.

    4. The games available are... lacking? Only Neverdie's own ROCKtropia game is currently available, with two more (AmeVRica and Asgard VR) in funding phases.

    5. I think game makers, especially ones like Portalarium who already have a successful Add On Store, can easily "roll their own" method to allow players to move cash in/out of the game. This can already be done to some extent, but just one more step would make this 100% possible. I'll quote myself from the other thread:

    6. There are other successful digital currencies that I'd rather see explored that a complicated cryptocurrency. Put Gold CotOs up for purchase with Razer's zGold, where players get credit toward buying Razer hardware. Amazon Coins are another option.

    I'm glad to see Richard joining Neverdie Studios in exploring what this type of currency can do, and looking toward the future of gaming. However, I'm just not convinced that it is a mature enough field for gamers to jump into. Maybe some day, when our operating systems are virtualized and creating digital accounts is par for the course, but not today.

    Hope this helps those who want to give it a shot. Let us know if your experiences are different than mine!
     
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  2. Sheamus McGuinness

    Sheamus McGuinness Avatar

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    I would not recommend going with Parity as they just had a recent security breach. Otherwise not a bad tutorial.

    Yes the wallets are a hard thing to get going initially as there is a learning curve, but once you have it set up not so bad.
     
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  3. reuge

    reuge Avatar

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    I feel it's taking real money to buy fake money. Token are different from crptocurrency. They exist only to service as a function of games that adopt them. So there may or may not be use for them.

    Even the amount of coins created is arbitrary, why 400 million coins. Cos it's the same number of coins minted by US treasury that year.
     
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  4. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    Why can't we do something better, for our own game? o_O~TL~
     
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  5. Whitestag

    Whitestag Avatar

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    Thats one for the brave it goes like this.

    (1) Gold and COTOs can be bought with $ and can also be sold for $ back to port and sent to your paypal acct with Port taking a fee for transactions in buying or selling.
    (2) You wouldnt have to farm gold or COTOs you would have the option to buy them from port.
    (3) If you did farm gold and COTOS you could sell back to port for a transaction fee, which would be resold again for a transaction fee.

    Makes for one hell of a gold sink... 8 }
     
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  6. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    Well said @Whitestag :rolleyes:
    Currently our Portalarium controls what can and can't be sold for COTO through our Add-On Store as well as what can be purchased with them through the ingame Elven shops, which I think is something of an asset to such an idea.
    The way I see it, is that there always needs to be prototype of anything, and with what Mr NEVERDIE and Lord British are thinking on, then our SOTA seems right for being such a prototype pioneer into developing more player incentives for the player to play our game more while "getting rid of stockpiles of all types including gold".

    It's the idea that an exchange... like a stock exchange, could encourage a more thriving economy while rewarding those who play through discounted purchase of certain virtual items. COTO can only be of value in our game, as if they are a gift coupon, yet if they had retention value as well, then we could see $USD coming in without ever leaving, while in the mean time gaining a small percentage in their virtual buying power. But an additional aspect of having such retention value, or having the ability to be invested into ingame funds...
    ... is that such COTO investment funds allow for watching markets fluctuate while not able to play the game... like when at real work, which keeps a player thinking about the game all the while they may not be able to play the game at that time. The other residual value I see in such a program, is that if helps the player identify many aspects of the game, like what the most active guilds are or what needs to be hunted when their playtime arrives. Many times within MMO-Games that have an open play style as our SOTA has, the game has no objectives that present themselves to the player on a daily basis, yet with such a program and a well seen visual COTO investment market, the depth and objectives of the game can be more realized.

    When I mention percentage rates of return on COTO investment funds, those percentage returns also fluctuate across the entire COTO exchange rates depending on how many people are actually logged on and actively playing. Such incentives could help raise our player base during times of low player volume, which are very important when players are looking into buying a game through Steam, which does show a player just how many people are interested in a game and therefore effects their judgment.

    I just think that a COTO Stock Exchange can be nothing but a boon for our game in so many ways that it's worth all of our while to gather as many ideas as possible... "as well as providing good feedback through our ideas that Mr. NEVERDIE and Lord British could see their better way to maybe connect us all someday".

    I always wanted an actual Tardis... so maybe I'd settle for just having a virtual one, which is the binding idea I've seen our Lord British express interest in as well as NEVERDIE.
    We need even more ideas...
    ~Time Lord~:rolleyes:
     
  7. Alleine Dragonfyre

    Alleine Dragonfyre Avatar

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    How will all of this effect the economy and those that cannot or will not pay RL $ for in-game gold?
     
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  8. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

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    Great question. I think it may be a money laundering scheme to avoid laws more than anything else.
     
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  9. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    I have watched the videos and I do not get how this is going to work or what purpose it will serve. Now if some have it and some don't what difference will that make? It is really the strangest thing to me to understand what is happening here. I did play entropia for a while years ago and had to get out of their due to that I wanted to spend too much and with the 'use of real money' that was how you got everything, like going up a level, buying the equipment you needed etc. I like most wanted everything.

    So if it is like that I understand. So in the game Runes of Magic you had to purchase what you bought on their cash shop using something called Diamonds that were purchased with real money. You could buy things with those on their cash shop.

    Also Black Desert has Pearls that you purchase with real money to purchase fluff and stuff. Archeage has labor points you can purchase or labor potions. I don't remember what their currency was called. If you run out of labor points you cannot continue some actions, but it is a bit pay to win in some ways. Although I'm not one to worry so much about what the other person is doing. I am just not into that game.

    So if it something like that, then I get the gist or idea of what is happening. If it is then most of us who have played MMO's will have come accross these things. So this allows a way to keep revenue coming into a game, but for this game there will definitely need to be something enticing being offered on the store. Black Desert uses inventory space, weight increases, special mounts that have higher tiers to breed, and Runes of magic used special eggs you can hatch as one example. I don't know why I had such a hard time getting my hands on what was being stated about this.

    So as I talk myself through it, my understanding is growing. So I hope this helps anyone else who is confused like I was, well if I am on the right track that is. The question is: Am I on the right track lol ;)
     
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  10. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    Currently, its only something that Portalarium is investigating. Lord British is on NEVERDIE's board of advisors, as he is quite interested in the cryptocurrency front. Whether it is something that ever happens within Shroud of the Avatar is anyone's guess, but I'd bet against it.

    At most, what it would equate to is the ability to purchase some in-game currency with a BitCoin equivalent. That currency would have some value, like Gold CotOs, but would also be able to be "cashed out" and transferred outside of the game.
     
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  11. rild

    rild Avatar

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    I asked Richard about his plans for Neverdie coins regarding Shroud and he made it very clear he is involved and interested, but there are no immediate plans to integrate the currency with the game. You can read the short convo thread here. He is definitely NOT tying the success of SotA to the success of Neverdie, and Portalarium will not be disrupting the current game economy to engage in this experiment.

    I am very interested, and will be accepting Ether (already accept BitCoin) at relicsbyrild.com - if the ability to accept Neverdie coins directly comes, we will integrate. I look forward to direct exchange markets in the future that help us to operate freely in a decentralized manner, especially given the spread of SotA's very international community.

    CotOs are already functioning well and show Port is at the front end of properly monetizing games. Bridging the gap between virtual and real currency is complex and difficult, but can be done and IS being done. Read or listen to NPR article here "How Fake Money Saved Brazil" as a possible elucidation on the matter.

    To be clear, I'm not endorsing the success of this plan. I do however find Neverdie's ideas thrilling as a gamer, a humanist and a futurist. I am purchasing some coins, and will be following the progress of this far-reaching plan.
     
  12. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    How to bridge the gap into having a family of games which all support each other for better gamer group enjoyment is what I see as the best quality within what's being investigated here.

    I do take short breaks to play other games... "very short breaks", but breaks none the less :p So it's of interest to me as a gamer to search for ways how to better get a better value for my playtime :)
    The newest Ultima style mobile game is along these same lines and one I'm truly looking forward to :D~Time Lord~
     
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  13. Alleine Dragonfyre

    Alleine Dragonfyre Avatar

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  14. Stundorn

    Stundorn Avatar

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    i dont know what to say, i dont get it at all - are we playing a game or are we doing business?
    it seems playing the game becomes more or less a byproduct and investing time and money to get a better output is the thing what it is about.

    producing money out of nothing - in the end someone has to pay for it - allways.


    Too much hippocrisy and money making for me if i am thinking of just a Game.
    Too much constructed abstraction.
     
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  15. DavidDC

    DavidDC Programmer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    is this still on the go?
     
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