I've been keeping tabs on the Chimaera project for quite awhile now. It's the only ICO that I've actually invested any noteworthy amount of time in other than Bitquence(Ethos). I've invested small quantities in a few others based on some cursory evaluation, but Chimaera is the first White Paper I've read front to back, word for word. May have skipped over the team members below founder level... Sorry guys, bios get really dull after awhile. Even Bitquence didn't get me to check the linkedIn pages of the founders to prove they were legit.
This is partly genuine interest in the project and partial disbelief that a project could be as ambitious as they are and not be scamming/insane. After going over their paper, verifying their profiles, checking that they've actually been involved in NameCoin, and checking that their HunterCoin prototype is real, I'm fairly confident that these guys aren't playing games. Pardon the pun. They even appear to be sane with actual plans on how they're going to make their project work. So what's the idea?
Warning: Even if you are not a gamer, you really should read the whole following section. It could have HUGE economic impact.
Well, the simplest way I can think of describing it is "Like the Ethereum Network, but completely built to cater to gamers and game developers." They are building a platform on which developers can build games on the blockchain much like Token projects do on the Ethereum Network. They have their own currencies and use CHI, Chimaera's coin as gas. Even assets in these games will be turned into a form of coloured coin so that they can be traded on the blockchain.
Why is this so cool? Is it just needlessly putting things on the blockchain again?
Hell no. Speaking as someone who grew up on MMOs and spent a fair bit of time playing Entropia Universe, this has CRAZY economic ramifications. By turning the currency and assets of a game into cryptocurrency/tokens, you are giving them direct real-world value combined with fungibility. This means that the gathering of those currencies has value. Gamers can earn a living not only by competing at a pro level or by entertaining on YouTube/Twitch, they can make a living by simply playing the game. It might seem crazy to some, but things have been building to this for years. The technology to enable it just needs to be put into affect and I think that technology has finally been found. Crypto.
Okay, that's my hook for this article. It's my first time writing anything like this. Probably a bit rough, but if you're still interested, I'm going to expand on some things that intrigue me and some that concern me.
PROS:
- Human Mining - This is what they call it and it intrigues me. The actual blockchain is facilitated by a proof of work system. I believe it's deal with the miners functions similar to Ethereum, but this conclusion is based more off logical deduction than fact. This detail is a bit fuzzy in the paper. The human mining part though was explained fairly well and is essentially how players will earn money. Simplified, it's playing the game. Your actions in the game generate money just like in other games except that money is the game's token and has that real world value. As a way of monetizing the game, the developers can take a cut of that earning. This is essentially human mining as I understand it. A person's literal effort translates to earning real money. Proof of Work might have made a good name for it, think that was taken though.
- Human Readable Addresses - It appears they have worked including actual names for public addresses into their design. This is important for appealing to gamers as many will be crypto noobs and will never leave the casual user group of crypto. Starting from the get-go with this in mind will be required.
- Ephemeral Timestamps - This really needs more elaboration, but it is something they've developed to deal with the inevitable chain bloat that comes with putting games on the blockchain. It involves off chain referencing, but I'm not sure exactly how it will work. It needs more elaboration, but I didn't find anything on it.
- Pre-Mined Items - They addressed some pre-mine concerns with games. If items in game are generated by the developer, it is essentially a form of pre-mine, but they've included systems for the generation of these items in the normal everyday play of users.
- Developer Tools - They've built their platform with the developers fully in mind. They are including what they describe a suite of tools for developers to create games on the network. This is a big deal since if they did not have development tools, most devs would avoid it. Even experienced game devs wouldn't know where to begin with the crypto side of this. With a suite of tools, it's conceivable they will try since this could be a good opportunity to get on the cutting edge.
CONCERNS
- They advertise this as a way to make online games serverless. I can understand this to a point, but it gets very questionable with full MMORPG games which would undoubtedly be their biggest opportunity. These games are live-action with a lot of data moving back and forth quickly. How players will interact quickly without piling data onto the blockchain is not explained well. They seem to have some plans, but I would assume they will take awhile to work out at the very least. This is a guess though.
- I would like to have seen more information on things like ephemeral timestamps, their PoW model, their human mining, etc. There are not enough supporting documents on their site, but I don't suspect them of nefarious reasoning for this. Much of their code is IP and not open-source. I don't have a huge problem with this, but they need to put some plain English papers out on these subjects.
To conclude, I have my concerns, but I believe the project is legitimate. I've personally decided to invest in it. I hope that it will be a profitable decision for me, but as an MMO gaming enthusiast, I also just REALLY want to see this project succeed. I'm more than happy to sit on these tokens for years if need be. I'm also happy to mine it and prop up the network in the early days if they need. I'm excited for this.
I would like to see this get funded well and developed, but as always I must warn people. Particularly if you have not invested in an ICO before. ICOs are NOT, NOT, NOT guaranteed to be successful. There are many scams, companies exceeding their capabilities, and simply ideas that don't take off. If you want to invest in this project, great, but do so because you think it deserves to exist, not to get rich quick.
Lastly, I take NO responsibility for the success or failure of your investment. I am not a stock trader, I am not a financial adviser, and I have no qualifications in those fields. I am a crypto advocate and gaming enthusiast. Your investments are your choice.
With all that being said, I'm pretty keen on the whole thing and I'd like to get fairly involved in it. The following link is my referral code.
https://token.chimaera.io/user/register/?ref=TYM6T4KKV4DB
Not sure how people share these without being awkward.
I'm going to write any updates to my findings in the comments below. I'm currently trying to get HunterCoin to work on my PC, but I haven't had a lot of time to fiddle with it.
Also, let me know what you think of the article. Style, information presentation, etc. I like to keep things more personal in my works, but it can be tricky to do. The line between personal and unprofessional is a very thin one.