Today we are talking about 👇
Reboot
Today we are talking about 👇
Reboot
Summary of content
Introduction
Current Market
Core offerings of Reboot
The Reboot Protocol
The Arcade Economy
On Being Decentralized
Demolishing Barriers to Entry
The Unstoppable Arcade
Components of Reboot
Game Cards & Game Credits
Player Ratings
Matchmaking
Rewards AMM
Proof-of-Play
Vesting Rewards
Reboot Shop
Reserve Pool
Protocol Governance
Validators & Auto-Affiliate Program
Rewards AMM
Team
How to get involved?
Introduction
Reboot is building a decentralized, scalable framework for creating games of skill that reward players and developers.
The Reboot Protocol is an open protocol that allows independent developers to build decentralized, skill-based peer-to-peer games paired with an automated market maker, creating autonomous player matchmaking and game session validation for gamers.
Current Market
Current video game production and distribution systems are flawed.
Let’s understand each party involved:
Developers & Projects
eSports Players & Ecosystem
→ Developers & Projects
Developers are forced to use centralized distribution channels that prioritize platform holder profits.
Centralized platforms charge high platform fees, restrict innovation, and require additional fees for better promotion.
Developers design games with perpetual-monetization tactics that are viewed as predatory 'dark patterns.’
→ eSports Players & Ecosystem
eSports and Gaming Video Content (GVC) segments represent over $10B in annual game-related revenue.
Only a fraction of the 2.7 billion gamers worldwide can take advantage of the benefits offered by these segments.
Top players worldwide have earnings over $1 million, excluding endorsements and other opportunities. The ability of up-and-coming pros and casual players is limited.
Top players can earn millions from competing, but casual players and up-and-coming pros have limited financial opportunities.
→ Casual Gamers & Others
Casual gamers recognize fewer benefits over time when playing games on centralized platforms.
Large winning pools are used as marketing tools, and less money is distributed to players outside the top 1,000 worldwide.
There is a niche to pair casual and up-and-coming players with liquidity for prize pools.
There is a significant income disparity between the top 1,000 global eSports players, with the top player grossing $7.2M and the 1,000th-ranked player earning $240k
Core offerings of Reboot
This is where Reboot comes in. It’s building an open protocol - working towards making a cohesive ecosystem for both the developers & gamers.
So, what’s exciting about Reboot?
Autonomous market making for competitive gaming rewards
Auditable fair play
Governance for gamers by gamers
Let’s understand each of them 👇
→ Autonomous market making for competitive gaming rewards
Reboot Protocol enables the creation of decentralized reward liquidity and matchmaking marketplaces for any skill-based games.
Developers and token communities can enhance their gaming ecosystems by using the developed tokenomic fly-wheel.
→ Auditable fair play
The Reboot Protocol allows for the automatic validation of game sessions to ensure accuracy and fairness.
It provides a common standard to track player performance across all games built on the protocol, helping to create fair matches based on historical gameplay data.
→ Governance for gamers by gamers
Reboot Protocol has a participatory governance structure.
The more users play, build, provide rewards, and validate gameplay; the more say they have in the evolution of the protocol and onboarded games.
The Reboot Protocol
Let’s understand the essence of Reboot.
The Arcade Economy
The arcade model exemplifies a transparent and straightforward value exchange system between developers and gamers, where payments are directly proportional to the fun experienced.
This eliminates exploitative monetization tactics and encourages innovation. Arcade rewards are skill-based, allowing players to choose preferred prizes.
The Reboot Protocol is modeled after the arcade model. It creates a clear per-play chain of value that incentivizes stakeholders to bootstrap, enable, and scale marketplace operations around their favorite games.
On Being Decentralized
Reboot empowers developers, players, benefactors, and fan communities through decentralization.
It supports games based on popularity and economic potential.
The protocol creates a marketplace for attention, rewards, and infrastructure around each game. The motive is for the market demand to drive a game’s existence without any centralized control hindering its success.
Demolishing Barriers to Entry
The Reboot Protocol is an accessible, low-cost solution for game developers to integrate a stable web3 growth economy into their games through APIs, skilled gaming, auto-balancing marketplaces, and clear entry points for various stakeholders.
Its decentralized validation infrastructure allows games to scale automatically, proportionate to their success, without additional costs for developers.
Let’s understand its benefits to the different user types: Players / Developers.
Player Benefits:
Ownership of game items: Blockchain technology enables true ownership of digital assets, allowing players to earn value through trade.
Game mobility: Public ledger usage facilitates item and statistic sharing across games and platforms, encouraging interoperability.
Democratization of eSports: Blockchain-based asset distribution simplifies gaming competition creation with fluid rewards, making eSports more accessible.
True risk/reward games: Reboot Protocol introduces game designs featuring risk-reward trade-offs involving digital asset ownership.
Developer Benefits:
Creation of premium digital assets: Developers can design high-quality, limited-quantity assets as coveted prizes, increasing player engagement.
Secondary revenue streams: Blockchain-based game items enable monetization through secondary transaction fees when traded on secondary markets.
Player advocacy and community: Players holding premium digital assets align with the game's success, forming an engaged fan base that promotes the game and supports its community.
The Unstoppable Arcade
The Reboot Protocol enhances skill-based games by enabling competitive play, tangible rewards, and a unified accounting system using the Native Digital Token (NDT).
The protocol ensures a balanced game economy, rewards liquidity, and fair matches by collateralizing digital assets and utilizing a dynamic player ranking system.
Additionally, the integration of session-based gameplay and VRGDAs allows automatic balancing of game-item distribution.
Lastly, the protocol features token-gating with an NFT rental system, promoting accessibility to premium features while maintaining low entry barriers.
Components of the Reboot Protocol
The Reboot Protocol comprises several decentralized services and functions that create a skill-based gaming ecosystem with high liquidity. The main components include:
Game Credits: A stable-price wrapper for NDT tokens, ensuring consistent game session costs.
Player Ratings: On-chain, per-session player rating system accounting for rating uncertainties.
Matchmaking: Creates fair matches using player ratings in skill-based games.
Proof-of-Play: Generates undeniable, community-supported proof of player results in games.
Vesting Rewards: Collateralized NFT and token rewards underwrote by NDT for rewards liquidity.
Rewards AMM: On-chain market maker, enabling NDT holders to earn fees from rewards marketplaces.
Reboot Shop: Dynamic, market-aware prize shop for discovering the fair market value of in-game items.
Reserve Pool: Holds NDT or ERC 20 tokens to collateralize Game Credits, Vesting Rewards, and game items.
Protocol Governance: Decentralized governance through NDT holders, allowing stakeholders to shape the protocol's direction.
Game Cards & Game Credits
The Reboot Protocol enables players to access games using Game Cards holding Game Credits or directly with NDT or vNDT. Game Cards are soulbound ERC-721 tokens, while Game Credits are soulbound, uncapped ERC-1155 tokens (we’ll learn about them below).
Developers can determine the number of Game Credits required for their game and issue game-specific promotional Game Credits. Developers also earn a percentage of sales through their channels and may be eligible for ecosystem funds.
Game Cards Summary:
Game Cards are soulbound ERC-721 tokens that hold a player's Game Credits.
Upon registering with the Reboot Protocol, they are granted to a player and come pre-loaded with Game Credits determined by Protocol Governance.
Game Cards can have one associated delegation wallet for convenient access without holding Game Credits in a hot wallet.
Game Credits Summary:
Game Credits are soulbound, uncapped ERC-1155 tokens burned to redeem a gaming session. They can be used universally or targeted to specific games.
Game Credits are fully collateralized against the Reserve Pool, and the player cannot burn the underlying NDT for liquidity.
They must be stored on a Game Card and are non-transferable once loaded onto the card.
Player Ratings
The Reboot Protocol uses a modified Glicko rating system to track player ratings in skill-based games on-chain efficiently.
This system calculates risk, fees, and vesting rates based on player ratings and incentivizes regular-ranked play by offering lower fees and higher vesting rates for players in good standing.
The protocol discourages high-rated players from exploiting lower-ranked players by charging higher fees for inconsistent or volatile play behavior.
Player ratings are automatically updated on-chain after each game session, and inactivity leads to increased uncertainty in the rating system, encouraging regular participation in the protocol.
This system considers the difference in ratings and players' rating deviations, making it adaptable to single-player, multiplayer, and team-based games.
Players with high uncertainty in their ratings face closer to 50/50 win probabilities, increasing their challenges and offering reduced rewards.
A lower rating deviation benefits players, as the protocol can confidently calculate aggressive odds and potentially offer better rewards for winning game sessions.
Matchmaking
Reboot offers autonomous, fair, and auditable matches for players using public ranking data and on-chain random number generation.
It includes default matchmaking archetypes for popular game types and provides flexible APIs for developers to cater to their game's specific needs.
Rewards AMM
The Rewards AMM is an Automated Market Maker that distributes rewards to gamers in skill-based competitions. It manages the pool of tokens and considers factors such as player risk, session risk, and volatility risk when accepting game commitments.
Rewards, fees, and proceeds are automatically distributed to players, validators, and reward providers. Session rewards are held in escrow by the Rewards AMM with a time-locked on-chain commitment until a player's session is completed and approved.
Let’s understand the flows when a user wins vs. when they abandon/lose a match:
Players earn rewards by vesting NDT (vNDT) and vesting NFTs (vNFTs) based on their participation in the protocol.
Factors affecting rewards include completed game sessions, gameplay streaks, stable ratings, participation bonuses, and developer settings.
Rewards providers earn fees and a share of Rewards AMM proceeds for providing funds. They can choose the game portfolio they want to support, incentivizing their engagement with the Reboot Protocol's economy.
Proof-of-Play
Proof-of-Play is a cryptographic commit-reveal structure at the Reboot Protocol's core, enabling automated game outcome validation.
It provides a publicly verifiable and provable chain that demonstrates the fair participation of all parties in generating the game's outcome. This proof can be submitted to the Rewards AMM to claim rewards payouts.
Validators can also act as slashers to earn additional network protection fees.
The Reboot Protocol's tokenized incentive structure ensures good-faith participation as the optimal strategy, allowing the Rewards AMM to automatically accept and issue rewards to the Proof-of-Play claim.
A second layer of security is added by issuing provisional Vesting Rewards, which are usable only after passing validator review.
Vesting Rewards
The Reboot Protocol uses vesting tokens, vNDT, and vNFTs, representing wrapped NDT and NFTs that must vest over time as players actively participate in the protocol.
Vesting boosts can be unlocked through gameplay, promotions, and positive behavior. vNDT acts as the prized currency, while vNFTs cover customizable in-game rewards.
Vesting Rewards incentivize gameplay, reward continuous engagement, and deter bad actors.
Players earn expedited vesting for completing game sessions, and regular engagement leads to promotions that speed up vesting rewards.
The protocol disincentivizes smurfing by anchoring vesting rates to Glicko-score convergence, rewarding those who play at their true skill level.
Reboot Shop
The Reboot Shop is an AMM for in-game digital tokens, using Variable Rate Gradual Dutch Auctions (VRGDAs) to manage distribution rates and prices.
VRGDAs: Variable Rate Gradual Dutch Auctions
Developers register digital tokens and distribution curves with the Reboot Shop, which sells tokens directly to players or as vNFT rewards through the Rewards AMM. Items are represented as vNFTs and can be purchased with vNDT currency.
The shop configuration involves choosing a target number of sales and adjusting prices based on sales rates. Developers can select linear or logistic curves for supply management.
To mitigate risks associated with front-running purchases, the developer can hard code tolerable slippage or allow purchasers to set a max price on items. This helps prevent front-run attempts and minimizes failed transactions.
Reserve Pool
The Reserve Pool contains the protocol's native ERC-20 token (NDT) and additional ERC-20 tokens. It automatically collateralizes distributed tokens such as Game Credits, vNDTs, and vNFTs.
The pool manages the conversion of other ERC-20 tokens used to purchase Game Credits, such as ETH or USDC, back to NDT through an external AMM.
Rewards AMM contracts can provide liquidity to the Reserve Pool through LP positions, which earn fee distributions. Providers can redeem their LP anytime, and the Reboot Protocol ensures proper risk-adjusted liquidity in the Reserve Pool.
Protocol Governance
The Reboot Protocol's decentralized governance body allows NDT holders to have decision-making authority over various aspects:
Approval of new game session validators
Acceptance of games built on the Reboot Protocol
Revenue Distribution Policies
Support of developers building on the Reboot Protocol
Reserve Pool Policies
Player suspension and reinstatement
Rewards AMM Policies
Validators & Auto-Affiliate Program
The Reboot Protocol features validators who hold and stake its Native Digital Tokens (NDT) and must be approved by Protocol Governance. Validators are responsible for validating game sessions and earn fees proportional to the number of sessions they validate. Bad-faith validators can have their tokens slashed.
The Auto-Affiliate Program is an on-chain referral program with two affiliate levels. Affiliates activate referral codes and links, and when new players redeem them, affiliates earn a share of the fees generated by these players. The program includes promotional bundles and Game Credits distribution, with promotion to Phase 2 based on a decision by Protocol Governance or auto-promotion after reaching a fee threshold.
Providing Rewards AMM Liquidity
The Reboot Protocol allows users to provide liquidity to the Rewards AMM pool through liquidity provider (LP) positions.
LPs receive tokens representing their share of the rewards pool and earn a portion of transaction fees based on their share.
The Rewards AMM pools have a seed operational threshold to ensure solvency and protect LP positions from active volatility.
If the pool balance falls below the seed threshold, the Rewards AMM suspends operations until the point is reached again. The max payout is correlated with the pool balance.
A seed balance is allocated to maintain solvency, creating a buffer for liquidity and mitigating the risk of a liquidity drain.
The seed balance is a buffer to reduce the chance of a liquidity drain due to excessive player wins. As the seed balance increases, the required number of wins to drain it decreases, reducing the probability of a liquidity drain. The protocol calculates the minimum seed balance needed to maintain a low risk of liquidity drain.
Moreover, complex protections are coded into the protocol, ensuring that it never allows a game session to proceed if it cannot be collateralized with rewards.
Simulation Testing
The simulation testing aims to assess the long-term stability of the Rewards AMM pool by simulating 10,000 games over 1,000 trials, with a seed balance of 276 tokens.
The simulation results show that the pool remains solvent even when the balance dips below the seed level, and the growth rate aligns with the analytically calculated expectation.
The model has limitations as it does not account for dynamic payout ranges with higher payouts and volatility than considered in the model.
Team
The project is being built by the fantastic team at PixelVault - led by Sean Gearin.
Check out their latest podcast: link
Some of the Partners PixelVault works with 👇
How to get involved / links / references
Their debut game is being launched in May, powered by Reboot; check out this thread for more reference: thread
I hope you enjoyed learning more about what Reboot is building and found it interesting.
If you are interested to learn more and explore, please check them out:
As always, I thank you for reading; thank you for the support!