The Minecraft Bitcoin Fountain (AKA Mine 4 BTC)

[SgtSpike]

EDIT:  For anyone looking to join the server to earn bitcoins, the program is no longer active.  You are welcome to join the server still, you just will not earn any bitcoins anymore!

I am looking for donations towards what I am calling a "Minecraft Bitcoin Fountain".  Essentially, it is a give-away of free bitcoins, but people have to work for it by mining blocks in-game.  Now, I am asking for donations to be able to increase the payout to something more significant prior to pushing hard with advertising it to Minecraft players.

So, if you are interested in helping spread the word about Bitcoin to Minecraft players, please donate any amount to 13m8dAb16KqWv7v9oEsr97mYMXbynR6CoD.  100% of funds donated to there will go to players who mine or place blocks on MinecraftCC's minecraft server.  If you donate at least 1 BTC, then you also have the option to include a sponsor name (business or personal) that I will update the informational OP with.

This is already getting dozens of people to use Bitcoin who haven't touched it before, and I am hardly paying out anything right now!  It will only get better if I am able to increase the payout to something more significant.

Here is the text I posted on r/bitcoin yesterday with more info:

MinecraftCC, an established gaming community with several hundred active members, now offers a unique feature: a Minecraft Faucet. You can be paid to play! Every player is paid for every block they mine or place.

See this thread for more information: http://minecraftcc.com/index.php?threads/information-about-getting-paid-to-mine.4613/

Current payout is 10 satoshis per block mined or placed. I would love to increase this to at least 10x, if not 50x, but cannot afford to do it on my own, so am asking for donations to help. If you wish to donate to a unique faucet certain to bring Bitcoin to many people who would not have otherwise tried it, then send any amount to 13m8dAb16KqWv7v9oEsr97mYMXbynR6CoD. 100% of funds sent to that address will be used for this project to pay out to people as they mine blocks.

MinecraftCC was founded in September 2010, and is home to some truly epic Minecraft creations, including the semi-famous Kong vs T-Rex statue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyR5ITy_9vs

Server IP: play.minecraftcc.com
Website IP: www.minecraftcc.com

View MinecraftCC's trailer video, a showcase of some of the incredible things built by MinecraftCC members on our server, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD8fQPFGIRQ

[Stephen Gornick]

100% of funds donated to there will go to players who mine or place blocks on MinecraftCC's minecraft server.

Is the eventual result likely to be "mining bots"?

[SgtSpike]

100% of funds donated to there will go to players who mine or place blocks on MinecraftCC's minecraft server.

Is the eventual result likely to be "mining bots"?

I suppose it is possible, but with the variable terrain, I think it'd be difficult to accomplish a workable bot that doesn't get stuck.  Automated play is not allowed, and if done for the purpose of increasing one's payout, that player will be banned.  We don't put up with people trying to cheat the system.

[Lethn]

Sounds like a fun idea for those of us who don't want to spend hundreds on a new graphics card and not get to do anything on their computers all day.

I take it you'll have some kind of special bitcoin block modded to your client that sends payouts to an address?

[SgtSpike]

Getting some great feedback on this!  I am dedicated at least 1 BTC/month towards this myself, and will adjust payouts accordingly.  I've received 0.16 BTC in donations - thank you whomever donated.  Certainly, this is a great way to get more people involved in Bitcoin who would never otherwise touch it.  This was the most recent payout - lots of players are taking advantage of it already!

Code:

1BtF8Frw8dTPwBye7wKbfKGemzXeEBoYGp 0.007507 BTC
1EeaeMcQ2sTjPoU6kQb6CjdGDvu4b8SXRx 0.0072225 BTC
17rXozRzxiUeebK3E8Tg6ens5MFuMPufka 0.0059975 BTC
1AJaaYqP6NY96GoTDHsmNV1aajsdM5HDtY 0.0043205 BTC
1942JQywiYG9w3H2yHP1LQDbKxAEEn3d1i 0.0043185 BTC
19utk3hH4r8MV4N5HMH6jy8BFF6RLx2EuA 0.003661 BTC
1BLiNkYRxxBmksiNXnjUXeio8KWmpuTjJc 0.002717 BTC
141rEsoY9R7PSpJAKUW1cJdupmiuv5wZ7K 0.0019325 BTC
153yfaAPTiyPxgwCXPWEdenZg6AMEtumgi 0.001729 BTC
156dUkpPuyQT7AvEJJ4n6NEeMLexUzxQe7 0.0009615 BTC
18KGpAyasNhwf4odMowEqGGwVWBvzqAT8s 0.0004125 BTC
13EkhEYeqR2yPfpMCYSnSVRXCCjAAuw7Ec 0.000411 BTC
1JJmLuqwZLAPnyTSAvNB28xBjGf43t6YSy 0.000261 BTC
1AUTuJrjEGcme6WdNJRH29hd4z6PujwoKY 0.0167575 BTC
12RzKxyVx7KXjGUJ8yhG1wFwswAHoQEn3m 0.0002605 BTC
1NBbhSP5xhagnDjfAymX7HgMx7Du8J2Bbv 0.000225 BTC
13zcZYLhZTBypFPtkhuJn9nEauUTX1V7bd 0.0001015 BTC
1YwPXyBt7BRjeNynvGUkXjdBfgL6WWsXm 0.0000835 BTC
1EEbL73ELErhqTZBikYKHDmcjRYucgE7kS 0.00006 BTC
14DXEjcKLuFDqYiSqAQj1uBwnnGFe6xAYR 0.000038 BTC
1DxUQMN9SupT2nYLXWpNP1BK1JHK3rGa3M 0.0000145 BTC
18TKNbSLTrd3a2W8mtoH5uNzFhWRWNcuHU 0.0000055 BTC
1MsMkgqZMZLy6qrQpntgFhbnnfhF55TSmz 0.0000025 BTC

EDIT:  I would also like to get this on as many of the "get free bitcoins" lists as possible.  If you know of any that I haven't already posted on/joined, please do pass them along!

[Elxiliath]

This is a pretty awesome idea, I actually wondered myself if this could be accomplished, are you planning to operate your own pool on this system?  I also wonder though how much resources from a graphics card would be used on the rendering system and if it would cause issues with the bitcoin backend.  If ran in tandem with a ASIC system as the coin miner it would probably operate pretty nicely.

[SgtSpike]

Thank you, it is still going very well.  Lots of people asking questions about Bitcoins, lots of people wanting to acquire more of them, increased activity on the server, etc.

I hadn't really thought about implementing some sort of mining pool along with this, but it is doubtful I will.  With ASICs right around the corner, GPU mining is about to become very useless.  And my guess is, anyone who understands Bitcoin enough to drop $150+ on ASIC equipment wouldn't really want to use that income towards server stuff anyway.