Recently we have heard a lot of exciting news with regards to the Bitcoin blockchain being used to register game items, this is quite exciting for a few reasons.

Firstly it allows complete ownership of a game item or asset by a player. Secondly it means the player is free to use their blockchain game items in other games and platforms.

I am sure many readers are familiar with the upcoming game Spells of Genesis, a card game in which many of the rare cards are stored on the bitcoin blockchain via the counterparty protocol.

SoG is soon to be released and we can expect in an attempt to attract some of its user base other games will offer the reuse of SoG cards in their games leading to a ripple effect of permissionless open game items.

This is all very exciting however a common misconception I often read is “Blocks are already full!”, “Players won’t pay the mining fee to use game items” etc

Whether you’re big blocks, small blocks or somewhere in between the truth is that use of blockchain game items does not necessarily require a transaction, on or off chain.

“Unlike coins game items are used not spent”

Let me elaborate a little…

Alice has an counterparty enabled bitcoin wallet such as IndieSquare Wallet, on this wallet she stores some bitcoin along with a few Spells of Genesis cards.

When Alice plays Spells of Genesis or any other blockchain game that game just needs to link to the counterparty wallet and verify the game items do exist.

By linking we mean the game grabs the wallet address of the counterparty wallet, reads which game items are contained on that address and grants access accordingly. If the wallet contains a SATOSHICARD, then SoG can allow use of SATOSHICARD in the game.

(The counterparty wallet can also be expected to sign a message with the private key in order for the games to verify the user actually owns the address)

In effect as the user has proved ownership the games can allow the user to utilize the items without them having to been sent whilst also maintaining the security and decentralisation of the bitcoin blockchain.

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Caveats:

There is the initial transaction for the blockchain game item to be sent to Alice’s wallet.

It is possible for Alice to share her private key with her friends so they can also use her items but this can easily be managed by each game with some simple user/item restriction.

Further reading:

Counterparty

Spells of Genesis

IndieSquare Wallet