KICKBTC - Player vs. player gaming platform - feedback needed

[aleee]

I am working at a player vs. player gaming platform and I've decided it's time to release it on testnet so that I can get some feedback before I release it on livenet.

Description
The platform will offer you the possibility to create/play the following two games: Rock-Paper-Scissors or Coin Flip - all games are player vs. player, nothing will be played against the website balance.
For Rock-Paper-Scissors the picks are made by the users and shown only at the end.
For Coin Flip at the beginning, we will show a sha256 hash which is created from a random string and a random pick between heads/tails. At the end of the game the random string and pick will be shown so it can be checked against the initial hash.

Good to know
The platform will take a fee from each game winning (from the total won amount). In the case the game ends as a draw (that is possible for Rock-Paper-Scissors) the played amount will be fully refunded and there won't be any fee.
The percentage (5% at the moment of the creation of this topic) is shown on each game creation page. Fee reduced to 1% for the moment.

Deposits
For the testnet version we won't be looking for confirmations - so any deposit should go through in 1-2 minutes. For the livenet version we will most probably look at 6 confirmations or more in order for a deposit to go through.

Withdrawals
For the testnet version the withdrawals will be automatically processed. For the livenet version most probably they will be verified at the beginning (like to make sure there are no winnings from bugs).
There is no transaction fee imposed by the platform, however, of course, there is a transaction fee imposed by btc which will be automatically calculated by bitcoin core in order to avoid stuck transactions (unconfirmed). The fee is subtracted from the withdrawn amount. (still not sure if this is the best way to go).

Security
For the user security, the sign up will be done by having a password and later you can set up two factor authentication (Google Authenticator App) + backup codes. For the important actions, the website will log the ip, user-agent and date time which can be later checked by the user. In case there is an action with a potential risk (ex.: the confirm password is wrong) it will be shown as a warning on the user action logs page.

Options
Live chat between users, real time actions/notifications...

Site test
URL: https://test.kickbtc.com
Note: You can use a website like https://testnet.manu.backend.hamburg/faucet to deposit btc on testnet. You can create multiple accounts and play between them to see how the platform works.

I tried to be as direct as possible with the presentation. Looking forward to your feedback.

Thank you,
Alexandru

[Xylber]

Can you just give some free test coins to new users?
Creating an account and asking for the testnet deposit is an unnecesary hassle

Unless you are testing the deposit mechanism, of course.

[aleee]

Well would be nice to test that too! However, as you requested every single new user will have a starting balance of 2.69 tBTC .

I guess, now the wallet might run out of tBTC because of that but #yolo.

[johniadeluca]

Idea behind this is really cool. I'll definitely be testing it, PM me for further assistance, I'd love to help on this project..

[Xylber]

I played some games, and created others. Everything looks cool and clean

My recommendations:
- Make the minimum bet lower, right now is 0.0002 (3 dollars). A guy with 30 dollars can lose 10 games. But if you make a lower bet limit, like 0.00001 (0.15 dollars), that same guy can lose 200 games. It means more traffic, more time on your website, more activity.
- The 5% of the winning prize looks excessive, it remembers me the prices on Counter Strike betting websites. In casino's games, you normally have something between 0.5% (Blackjack) and 2% (roulette). Think about that you are not risking your own money like casino websites, but just taking a part from a prize created by users themselves. You can easily offer a 0.5 or 1% house edge fee as much. Calibrate; I would not play for real if the fee were 5%
- Add a fast creation mode, maybe a guy wants to create 5 bets, all the same and equal, of 0.001 each.

That is all I have to say for now.

PD: Don't take my advices as harming, just my honest opinion.

[aleee]

@johniadeluca:
Cool man! Will think at some kind of way that I can involve the users to help if they are able to.

@Xylber:
Perfect!

- Make the minimum bet lower, right now is 0.0002 (3 dollars)... - Will lower it to 0.00002 (added one more zero) which should be ~$0.3.
- The 5% of the winning prize looks excessive... - Makes total sense, that is why I first went with testnet, will lower it to be between 0.5% or 1.0%.
- Add a fast creation mode... - Sounds good - will add this. Also I was thinking to add some default amounts that you can click (ex.: 0.025, 0.050, 0.75) on the game creation page so that you don't have to type every single time an amount, what do you think?

Your advices are great, I really appreciate it! Will most probably tackle those tomorrow - will keep you updated!

[Vod]

- Make the minimum bet lower, right now is 0.0002 (3 dollars). A guy with 30 dollars can lose 10 games. But if you make a lower bet limit, like 0.00001 (0.15 dollars), that same guy can lose 200 games. It means more traffic, more time on your website, more activity.

The owner of a gambling site does not make money on traffic, time and activity.  They make money when you lose money.

What you are suggesting would increase his hosting costs without increasing profits.  :/

[aleee]

The owner of a gambling site does not make money on traffic, time and activity.  They make money when you lose money.

What you are suggesting would increase his hosting costs without increasing profits.  :/

Well this is a little bit different, the platform will actually make money when someone wins and of course when someone in the same time loses. Will see if the current new fee of 1% is enough when the livenet platform gets released.

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Update for the platform (it's up and running):

• For the moment, I changed the transaction fee (winning fee) for the new games (created from now on) to be 1% - I hope it will stay like this for a long time when I do the livenet release.
• Lowered the minimum game amount from 0.0002 (~$3) to 0.00002 (~$0.3).
• When you create a game you will have six new options: Min (it will set the amount to the minimum amount), 1/10 - 1/6 - 1/4 - 1/3 (it will set the amount to 1/x from your balance), Max (it will set the amount to match your balance).

I believe this way it will be easier to create games, however, I am still thinking to create some kind of fast game creator.

• Made the live games listing page a little bit nicer.

More feedback is always welcome !

Thanks,
Alexandru

[DiabolicAnt]

For me very important is the safety of the money in system and easy-fast withdrawal.

[aleee]

For me very important is the safety of the money in system and easy-fast withdrawal.

Feel free to test the deposits/withdrawals system.

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Update for the platform (it's up and running):

• On the game listing page you are now able to use filters for a better experience/view: show only your games, search by game status or player username and filter by the played amount.
• On the game listing page you are now able to order by the played amount or creation date.

[nc50lc]

How can we be sure that our opponent is not a bot?

If happened to this platform, player vs bot will always makes the house win whenever we win or not.
It is like gambling at 50% chance with x2 profit.

[Kakmakr]

The owner of a gambling site does not make money on traffic, time and activity.  They make money when you lose money.

What you are suggesting would increase his hosting costs without increasing profits.  :/

Well this is a little bit different, the platform will actually make money when someone wins and of course when someone in the same time loses. Will see if the current new fee of 1% is enough when the livenet platform gets released.

---

Update for the platform (it's up and running):

• For the moment, I changed the transaction fee (winning fee) for the new games (created from now on) to be 1% - I hope it will stay like this for a long time when I do the livenet release.
• Lowered the minimum game amount from 0.0002 (~$3) to 0.00002 (~$0.3).
• When you create a game you will have six new options: Min (it will set the amount to the minimum amount), 1/10 - 1/6 - 1/4 - 1/3 (it will set the amount to 1/x from your balance), Max (it will set the amount to match your balance).

I believe this way it will be easier to create games, however, I am still thinking to create some kind of fast game creator.

• Made the live games listing page a little bit nicer.

More feedback is always welcome !

Thanks,
Alexandru

Lowering the minimum game amount from 0.0002 (~$3) to 0.00002 (~$0.3) was most probably your best decision that you made with this game. Most 3rd world players would have been priced out at $3 per game.

I would much rather have 300 000 games at $0.3, than 300 games at $3. ^smile^

The successful games out there at the moment, offer very low minimum micro bets. People want to be entertained much longer.

[aleee]

How can we be sure that our opponent is not a bot?

If happened to this platform, player vs bot will always makes the house win whenever we win or not.
It is like gambling at 50% chance with x2 profit.

I see what you mean, well to prove that is quite hard. Maybe I can create a component to show statistics from each user on their profile? However, some players might want to hide that... Not totally sure what is the best way to handle this, if you have any suggestions please let me know.

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Lowering the minimum game amount from 0.0002 (~$3) to 0.00002 (~$0.3) was most probably your best decision that you made with this game. Most 3rd world players would have been priced out at $3 per game.

I would much rather have 300 000 games at $0.3, than 300 games at $3. ^smile^

The successful games out there at the moment, offer very low minimum micro bets. People want to be entertained much longer.

I am here to listen what the community wants so thank you !

---

Currently, I am working on a new game mode like jackpot where players can join and at the end someone wins the pot (of course there will be a provably fair method for this like there is for the coin flip game).
After I finish with the jackpot game mode, I will probably plan a livenet release.

Thank you,
Alexandru

[aleee]

Hello,

I am back! I created a new game mode called Jackpot.
How it works? Before each game there is a random number generated between 0 and 1 that has 8 decimals (ex.: 0.12345678). Each player can enter with any amount in the jackpot, for example if you enter with 0.3231BTC that means you have the tickets from 0.00000001 to 0.32310000, next player will have the tickets from 0.32310001...
When the game ends, 25 players or 30 seconds after 2 players joined, the winner will be chosen using the following method: winning ticket = ceil to the 8th decimal(random number * jackpot totalBTC).

The fee for this game will be also 1%.

I am planning to do a livenet release next week.

What do you think? Feedback is always welcome !

Thank you,
Alexandru