A game that educates people about Bitcoin

[jungly]

Hi all,

I recently started working on an educational game that informs the player about some of the important concepts about bitcoin and am looking for some feedback.

The target player is not an engineer or an economist, but a person on the street that still believes fiat is good and that we are fine with money controlled by the state.

The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.

For example, the first game is a simple "scratch the screen" game to reveal the bitcoin emission schedule.

Here's a list topics for which I am currently developing mini games:

• Inflation hedge. Digital Gold.
• How to pay using Bitcoin. No need for Credit Cards or banks.
• How payments work - mining intro.
• Double spending is almost impossible.
• Censorship resistance.
• Fleeing a war zone with bitcoin.
• Keeping it safe. Secret sharing.
• Purity of bitcoin vis a vis gold purity tests.
• Address the fear of losing coins.
• Anonymity and privacy.
• No banks or state or single miner or developer regulates Bitcoin. Essentially, "no one" regulates Bitcoin.

Would love to get any input on the list if topics. Is there something I am missing as the first introduction to someone new to bitcoin? Is there something I should take out?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

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[Gladiator25]

Hi all,

I recently started working on an educational game that informs the player about some of the important concepts about bitcoin and am looking for some feedback.

The target player is not an engineer or an economist, but a person on the street that still believes fiat is good and that we are fine with money controlled by the state.

The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.

For example, the first game is a simple "scratch the screen" game to reveal the bitcoin emission schedule.

Here's a list topics for which I am currently developing mini games:

• Inflation hedge. Digital Gold.
• How to pay using Bitcoin. No need for Credit Cards or banks.
• How payments work - mining intro.
• Double spending is almost impossible.
• Censorship resistance.
• Fleeing a war zone with bitcoin.
• Keeping it safe. Secret sharing.
• Purity of bitcoin vis a vis gold purity tests.
• Address the fear of losing coins.
• Anonymity and privacy.
• No banks or state or single miner or developer regulates Bitcoin. Essentially, "no one" regulates Bitcoin.

Would love to get any input on the list if topics. Is there something I am missing as the first introduction to someone new to bitcoin? Is there something I should take out?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Being a game developer that can promote the whole cryptocurrency is a nice way to easily spread the knowledge to other people. I think one of the topics you should include in developing your mini games is basic like saying the importance of bitcoin for people and/or how bitcoin works but not just bitcoins include also other coins.

[hatshepsut93]

I don't think games are a good tool for educating adults about new concepts, they are time-consuming and distracting. You could use them to teach kids, but why would you want to teach kids about Bitcoin in the first place, it's not like they will be using it till they grow up.

Adults play games to relax and have fun, and educational games generally have poor gameplay, so I can't imagine such game being popular.

[ChrisPop]

I don't think games are a good tool for educating adults about new concepts, they are time-consuming and distracting. You could use them to teach kids, but why would you want to teach kids about Bitcoin in the first place, it's not like they will be using it till they grow up.

Adults play games to relax and have fun, and educational games generally have poor gameplay, so I can't imagine such game being popular.

I don't agree with you. Games are one of the most powerful ways to actually conceptualize new things. I believe there were few studies made that proven that learning gamification is better than just scanning through some text or listen to lectures.

Also why do we need to stop playing games if we're adults?

[SpirancaH]

Being a game developer that can promote the whole cryptocurrency is a nice way to easily spread the knowledge to other people. I think one of the topics you should include in developing your mini games is basic like saying the importance of bitcoin for people and/or how bitcoin works but not just bitcoins include also other coins.

I think that such games will help people to know more about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. It is good that appears games that educates people and explain how Blockchain technology works. The more people will understand how Bitcoin is working and how Bitcoin is useful the more people will use Bitcoin. It will increase the value of Bitcoin.

[Mttewndew]

Hi all,

I recently started working on an educational game that informs the player about some of the important concepts about bitcoin and am looking for some feedback.

The target player is not an engineer or an economist, but a person on the street that still believes fiat is good and that we are fine with money controlled by the state.

The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.

For example, the first game is a simple "scratch the screen" game to reveal the bitcoin emission schedule.

Here's a list topics for which I am currently developing mini games:

• Inflation hedge. Digital Gold.
• How to pay using Bitcoin. No need for Credit Cards or banks.
• How payments work - mining intro.
• Double spending is almost impossible.
• Censorship resistance.
• Fleeing a war zone with bitcoin.
• Keeping it safe. Secret sharing.
• Purity of bitcoin vis a vis gold purity tests.
• Address the fear of losing coins.
• Anonymity and privacy.
• No banks or state or single miner or developer regulates Bitcoin. Essentially, "no one" regulates Bitcoin.

Would love to get any input on the list if topics. Is there something I am missing as the first introduction to someone new to bitcoin? Is there something I should take out?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

This is a great idea. In a playful and informal way, knowledge is transferred much easier.
Quite a good list to start with. Although, the last point can be argued. I’m not sure about regulation, but you can definitely manipulate it, having huge resources for that.
Be that as it may, I wish you success in your endeavor.

[pakhitheboss]

Hi all,

I recently started working on an educational game that informs the player about some of the important concepts about bitcoin and am looking for some feedback.

The target player is not an engineer or an economist, but a person on the street that still believes fiat is good and that we are fine with money controlled by the state.

The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.

For example, the first game is a simple "scratch the screen" game to reveal the bitcoin emission schedule.

Here's a list topics for which I am currently developing mini games:

• Inflation hedge. Digital Gold.
• How to pay using Bitcoin. No need for Credit Cards or banks.
• How payments work - mining intro.
• Double spending is almost impossible.
• Censorship resistance.
• Fleeing a war zone with bitcoin.
• Keeping it safe. Secret sharing.
• Purity of bitcoin vis a vis gold purity tests.
• Address the fear of losing coins.
• Anonymity and privacy.
• No banks or state or single miner or developer regulates Bitcoin. Essentially, "no one" regulates Bitcoin.

Would love to get any input on the list if topics. Is there something I am missing as the first introduction to someone new to bitcoin? Is there something I should take out?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

A very nice and interesting initiative I must say. Everyone plays online games but how many of them will seriously understand the concept of how many of them will implement Bit pin in their daily lives is something you need to keep a track of in your game. I think you give your players a small questionnaire after the end of each module to determine the chances of them using Bitcoin.

[BrewMaster]

I don't think games are a good tool for educating adults about new concepts, they are time-consuming and distracting. You could use them to teach kids, but why would you want to teach kids about Bitcoin in the first place, it's not like they will be using it till they grow up.

Adults play games to relax and have fun, and educational games generally have poor gameplay, so I can't imagine such game being popular.

I don't agree with you. Games are one of the most powerful ways to actually conceptualize new things. I believe there were few studies made that proven that learning gamification is better than just scanning through some text or listen to lectures.

Also why do we need to stop playing games if we're adults?

it will greatly depend on how it is implemented and the little description that OP included seems like the target is more of younger generation rather than adults.
and hatshepsut93  is correct, adults don't play game to learn stuff. they play for entertainment. for example you'd play Call of Duty to have fun and won't learn anything!

[ololajulo]

He should develop it and make it available to the public, if we have to pay later lets have a feel of what we should expect. I think at the developing stage, you might also need some critical look from experienced gamers so they could provide some advice, I found a lot of games on cryprocurrency boring, I wish you provide an interesting one. Educative games are first meant for the adult before recommendation to kids

[pawanjain]

You can include ways on how to earn from bitcoin i.e., mining, trading, staking etc... as some of the methods on how users can earn from crypto.
You can also take mining separately and make it as a game where users are in a simulation, mining transactions and earning money.

[bitbunnny]

I don't think games are a good tool for educating adults about new concepts, they are time-consuming and distracting. You could use them to teach kids, but why would you want to teach kids about Bitcoin in the first place, it's not like they will be using it till they grow up.

Adults play games to relax and have fun, and educational games generally have poor gameplay, so I can't imagine such game being popular.

Such games are probably for adults who stee haven't grown up.
I agree that games are not the best education method for adults because majority of them ( who are not gamers) would not take them seriously or would not be interested for them at all so they will not have desired effect.
Educational games are not bad idea but for children and young people not adults.

[fiulpro]

But the problem will be , why will people download it ?
Maybe you can provide some rewards with this game ?
This would make it sell way way fast in the market.
There are already many games and people who do not know anything about Bitcoins am worried how will they search for it? Grown ups don't have time for games and such the only circle you can put on is on the teenagers , who have a lot of free time.
Best of luck with the project.

[abel1337]

But the problem will be , why will people download it ?
Maybe you can provide some rewards with this game ?
This would make it sell way way fast in the market.
There are already many games and people who do not know anything about Bitcoins am worried how will they search for it? Grown ups don't have time for games and such the only circle you can put on is on the teenagers , who have a lot of free time.
Best of luck with the project.

A proper advertising can do so people will reach this kind of game that teaches most about bitcoin. The OP might have given some reward to motivate others to play this game in the future when the deployment happen, OP will surely have a plan about the spread of this game.

This kind of game is suited for the people who want to learn from bitcoin but entertained as well. I might share out this game (after OP finished deploying the game into public) to the people who are asking me how will they able to use bitcoin.

[kryptqnick]

I don't think games are a good tool for educating adults about new concepts, they are time-consuming and distracting. You could use them to teach kids, but why would you want to teach kids about Bitcoin in the first place, it's not like they will be using it till they grow up.

Adults play games to relax and have fun, and educational games generally have poor gameplay, so I can't imagine such game being popular.

This might be a fair point, actually. At first, I thought it was a great idea, but if the game's heavily educational rather than a cool game on its own which somewhat touches on the topic of Bitcoin, it's not likely that it would become popular. When people want to learn something, they read an article or watch a video, but probably don't play a game. However, since Bitcoin is largely unknown to any sort of audience, the game could adjust to the academic curriculum and pushed as something that could be used in Economics classes in high school. The usage of games to make students interested is getting more and more popular (I, for instance, use Kahoot quite often as a teacher, and teenagers enjoy it), so if this game's education, it can fit right in. In that case, however, it should probably be more about different kinds of money, Bitcoin should not be a single topic. And it should be possible to play it for, like, 5-10 minutes in a classroom.

[princerepon]

I guess OP just trying to developing a gaming platform which can tell about bitcoin those people whom still don't know about it or have some interest to learn about it. It's true that people can learn easily if they can enjoy the lesson and i guess choosing a gaming platform is quite good idea for that. Now the question is how much capability got your platform for that..? For kid i think it's okey but how about mature people..? I think for them it's quite old idea. don't you think the same..?

[jungly]

Hi all,

Thanks for this excellent feedback. This is exactly what I was looking for. I'll address the concerns raised until now.

1. Adults vs kids.

The target of the game remains people who are curious about bitcoin, but don't have time or energies to read books. The impact of Bitcoin and how it can be used is pretty tough to grasp. By breaking down concepts and letting people engage with a single concept at a time will help them understand more.

I personally read the white paper and was sold. However, I found out more and more as I kept reading and engaging with the community. My hope is to convince some of my friends who aren't convinced about the importance of bitcoin. They are very smart people, but lead a busy life and don't have 2-8 hours to read a book etc.

My aim is break the game into small nuggets, so each session is a couple of minutes and the player walks away with that single concept. Slowly over 15-20 sessions, with 15-20 mini-games, the player would have understood a lot of small concepts and hopefully sees the bigger picture.

2. Distribution

My goal is to make the game useful and interesting enough experience so that people here can point their friends to it. You know those smart friends of ours who are being too lazy to read the books/articles/videos we keep sending them.

I am building this in Unity2D and am aware of apple's reluctance to accept bitcoin related apps. So I am being careful and developing both for webGL and mobile. I might just have to distribute it via web.

3. Play testing

I will definitely need a lot of help play testing and gathering feedback. So everyone here who would like to help me with testing will definitely get free access to the game.

To be honest, I would love to give the game away for free so that there is no friction for people anywhere in the world to play it and get started on understanding bitcoin. However, this depends on sponsorships I can get once the game is ready.

3. I like the suggestions to include other things like how mining makes money for miners. The mini-game for miner profits is probably not too hard to build too. Thanks @pawanjain for the suggestion.

4. Thanks @pakhitheboss for the suggestion about a questionnaire. Reminds me of quizzes on coursera. That could actually work. Super suggestion. Let me see if can fit that in without breaking the continuity.

Once again, thanks everyone for all the encouragement and also for a healthy dose of skepticism.

I hope to start sharing some screenshots soon. Just need to get the artist to deliver some art work!

[20kevin20]

~
The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.
~

I'm wondering how that will work without making the game itself pretty boring. By "conversations between two people" are you talking about a design similar to Seen?

To promote the game to a higher extent and make it more likely to become popular, I'd add a game inside your app with weekly winners. The game would only become unlocked if you pass 1/2 of the courses, but only practice mode. If you want to win the prizes, you have to finish all the courses beforehand.

Say there's a trading game in there and you have to guess if the price of BTC is going to fall or rise within the next 30 minutes. If you get it right, you get a point. The more you get right, the more points you earn. If you miss a prediction, 2 points are deducted OR your score resets. The winner at the end of the week (with the highest points) would be rewarded a little prize ($10?).

I know there's a quite large number of people willing to spend their time on apps to earn even a few cents. If you're going to make a little competition, more will be interested to join.

Kids vs adults shouldn't be a concern. Kids learning about BTC and financial freedom is a great idea. They should grow up with decentralization in mind imo. Fuck the state-controlled worthless paper money. Adults who are interested to learn more about BTC (or, if the idea above turns into reality, even those interested in trading only) will download your app if the design is user-friendly and fun enough.

Best of luck with the development, make sure you leave some updates here every now and then!

[jungly]

~
The game is designed as a series of conversations between two people, one asks questions and the other responds. The responses almost always include a mini game where the player solves a simple task to understand the concept.
~

I'm wondering how that will work without making the game itself pretty boring. By "conversations between two people" are you talking about a design similar to Seen?

To promote the game to a higher extent and make it more likely to become popular, I'd add a game inside your app with weekly winners. The game would only become unlocked if you pass 1/2 of the courses, but only practice mode. If you want to win the prizes, you have to finish all the courses beforehand.

Say there's a trading game in there and you have to guess if the price of BTC is going to fall or rise within the next 30 minutes. If you get it right, you get a point. The more you get right, the more points you earn. If you miss a prediction, 2 points are deducted OR your score resets. The winner at the end of the week (with the highest points) would be rewarded a little prize ($10?).

I know there's a quite large number of people willing to spend their time on apps to earn even a few cents. If you're going to make a little competition, more will be interested to join.

Kids vs adults shouldn't be a concern. Kids learning about BTC and financial freedom is a great idea. They should grow up with decentralization in mind imo. Fuck the state-controlled worthless paper money. Adults who are interested to learn more about BTC (or, if the idea above turns into reality, even those interested in trading only) will download your app if the design is user-friendly and fun enough.

Best of luck with the development, make sure you leave some updates here every now and then!

I was thinking more about something like this:

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_gfs_107557_2_30_6046.jpg

Some brilliant suggestions here. The weekly rounds is something I have been thinking about too. I was thinking of a mining competition, but really left this all for phase 2 or 3. I just want to focus on a tool that I can give to a friend and they come back saying thanks, now they get a bit more about bitcoin than they did before trying the game.

[Rengga Jati]

The target player is not an engineer or an economist, but a person on the street that still believes fiat is good and that we are fine with money controlled by the state.

When you decide to create a game, so the target surely the game lovers and a few people that may be interested in it. This is not a bad idea but I assume it won't involve significant numbers of people. Moreover, not all gamers always try a new game, some of them just play with their favorite games and stuck on them. So, how to handle this fact?

[FlightyPouch]

I would go with anonymity and privacy. As you said, the goal consumer of this game is just normal people that do not know what bitcoin or crypto currencies are and they prefer to keep their personal information to themselves. I think only a group of people will be interested in a story-driven game that you are planning if you ask me you should aim for something addicting, simple but addicting games. Though that would be hard to pair with anonymity and privacy, I don't know. Here's the thing, I played a game in the past where you buy something and while you leave the game the profit is going up and up. I don't remember that game but that is amazing since while you have a lot of money or profit, you could upgrade your house, your PC, your room, etc.

In that game, you could start the player as one wanting to mine bitcoin and maybe 100 to 200 sats are enough profit of it per hour. Then there is this upgrades in his PC where it would speed up his earnings or profit. He could upgrade his PC, his house, he can even buy a miner to more develop his earnings. He could switch to solar so he could reduce his payment in electrical bills. You could add a feature where a hacker can hack his computer, if you will be doing it online, you could match up to other players hacking their PC in that game with a simple mini-game. This is just an idea of mine, hope it gives you something helpful.