Sun Flower Farmers show us Polygon's Limitations, but there are solutions....
I logged into CryptoRaiders to do my weekly grind a few days ago only to fine that the suggested Polygon Gas fees were 10 times what they usually were - they'd risen to 300 from 30.
The reason for this congestion, I later learned was due to a rapid increase in (most probably) bot accounts farming in-game rewards on a relatively new game: Sunflower Farmer - NB the game is currently offline and undergoing redevelopment to make it more bot resistant!
In only 4 days, starting from 1st Jan, the number of users on this game rose from < 100 K to 350K and the number of daily transactions rose to nearly 1 Million, just for this one game. (NB this is compared to around 20K daily users on the popular Quick Swap app, so it's a lot!).
At peak congestion I was having to pay 600 in GAS to ensure that transactions would get through, or around $0.50 cents, when I'm used to paying < $0.1 on Polygon.
I've never played SunFlower Farmer, but I do know that you could harvest/ upgrade every 30 minutes, and as I understand it every building/ crop counted as one TX, so it's no wonder that so many users (bots) congested the network.
In response the Sunflower Devs have pulled the game and are redeveloping it and rebranding (slightly) to Sunflower Land to make it more BOT resistant.
It's an interesting one for blockchain games which highlights the fact that devs need to think VERY carefully about what aspects of the games need to be stored on chain.
Splinterlands is 'ahead of the game' in this respect, having moved the 'battling' elements off-chain and onto their own servers (as I understand it) and keeping 'only' the card contracts (rents/ sells and so on) on chain.
What Splinterlands HASN'T done successfully is deal with bots.
Possibly a solution to this is set up an email account verification system like they do with CryptoRaiders - you have to login with your email address and you are only allowed to associated one blockchain address with that account - you can have more than one account, but only one at a time can play with your log-in.
For an even harder option to this, you could require actual address and/ or personal I/D verification along with the e-mail, although that might be regarded as throwing the baby out with bots as far as most crypto-enthusiasts are concerned!
So there are technical solutions to a chain getting suggested, but all it takes ATM for that to happen on Polygon at least is for someone to develop a game that's profitable in the short term and easily botted.
Sure in this case the Devs seem to have done the 'right thing' by stopping the game for the sake of the network, but it can easily happen again and it doesn't give me confidence in Polygon's future.
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So what's stopping bot owners to have hundred or thousands of email addresses?
KYC for a game? That's drastic and I'm not sure how many humans would want to go through this either.
The first point is why I thought KYC might be necessary. I didn't say it would be a popular solution!
I guess just having emails adds a layer of hassle to setting up bots, it maybe also makes it easier to shut them down to if access is via email?
Maybe it could be made a little more complicated for bot owners if only certain email providers are accepted. But overall, I don't think this poses much of a barrier for someone who can code a bot and knows how to read or send emails via code (very easy!). That would be needed if there is some interaction via email, for example a security code.
I think that self-sovereign identity (SSI) blockchains will ultimately be the solution to this.
"These solutions use cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs, and blockchain elements to create systems of identification that can be cryptographically proven without the need for centralised certification."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alastairjohnson/2021/11/15/beyond-the-device-with-self-sovereign-identities/
I think that this would allow people to demonstrate that they are individuals whilst at the same time revealing no personal data about themselves to the game owner. Or something! I need to read up on it more. zk proofs always confuse me.
Cheqd is doing this on Cosmos and I know I've seen similar ideas in other ecosystems.
Ah that sounds really interesting. Otherwise Polygon is potentially screwed!
Thanks for solution friend
I love this
I'm not sure how effective they'd be, but it's certainly worth giving some thought to!
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Interesting development over there on Polygon. Is this the first sign for games moving to their own second layer solutions, like Axie?
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With Polygon touted as the solution to Ethereum's scaling problems, I'm shook that a single farm game essentially screwed the entire chain.
You and a few others in the comments have offered some solutions, but surely Polygon has to be able to handle this sort of thing regardless of bots?
Really not ideal for them going forward.
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Presumably if it's just one game, if ALL the dapps are growing and more being developed then it won't be that long until it's screwed. TBH I don't know what plans they have to scale to meet increased demand.
It's not the first time I've had problems with Polygon, it doesn't give me confidence.
Might have to dig into it, their solutions!
I can honestly confess to only ever having played one online game in my 58 years of life, ever. And I'm fascinated by the lure (and the creativity!) and really appreciating how much the gamers prop up the show for everyone else.
Learning everyday. 😊
What game was that?!?
I'm not really a gamer myself, but do appreciate the artistic efforts that people put in!
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Well, I love the bots in Splinterlands, as they give me some good streaks when they are online.
KYC on a game would scare people off, me included. Bots also need cards to play and the more they are, the more cards are needed, which brings value behind those.
On a sidenote, do you have a reff link for CryptoRaiders? Is it worth trying?
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Fair point about Bots, I don't think CR do referrals!
The game is a bit naff as it stands, but it's a fun community and it keeps evolving. Gen 4 recruitment is on the 12th so there should be a bunch of cheap Gen 4 raiders coming to market very soon if you want to give it a go.
Best thing about it has been the drops, but if you get in now you've missed them all!