Ethergoo — A New Kind of Crypto Game

DCLReview
DCLReview
Sep 8, 2018 · 5 min read

It is broadly accepted that Ethergoo, the formerly popular “cookie-clicker”, is past its prime. Several deficiencies in its mechanics implied a finite lifespan, but those considered, it remains less flawed than most dapps on the market. This article serves as a review and analysis of Ethergoo, with suggested mechanisms to improve the game. A link to the game is here.

Overview — What is Ethergoo?

Ethergoo was released in a period of relative calm for the Ethereum dapp community which it was soon to upend. After an initial bugged launch, the game’s anonymous creator “Mr. Blobby” relaunched it successfully, and the first decentralized idle game was born.

Recalling many dapps, the incentive to play is profit. Players purchase units which with varying intensities produce “goo,” the game’s native ERC-20 token. 25% of the buy volume is redirected to a “research pot,” 10% of which is distributed daily to players, according to the proportion of total goo they produce.¹

Goo, which accumulates at this rate of goo production, can be redeemed for units, to upgrade existing ones, or even deposited in a secondary pot for another daily proportional reward. Two classes of units are available to be bought; “production” and “barracks.” The first is self-explanatory - expensive units produce goo at higher rates - and with the second the player can amass “attacking power,” using this to steal small amounts of goo from others, with a half-hour forced cool-down between crusades. Of course, this means that the player can himself be attacked, and so he must also purchase units to bolster his defense. All of this is in the name of winning the race of unit and upgrade collection which constitutes the game, in turn producing large proportions of goo for which he is rewarded in Ethereum.

What does Ethergoo do right?

Ethergoo is an owl’s game in which the patient and bored emerge victorious. Taking its inspiration from the “cookie-clicker” genre, the player will find himself in intense observation as goo accumulates at his rate of production, momentarily becoming active as he is able to afford a unit, or decides to attack. One might criticize the genre’s passive nature, but we ought to ask whether Ethergoo maximizes the player’s experience within this chosen context.

Generally, Ethergoo successfully conforms to the addictive principles which underlie traditional idle games, and transforms them for the blockchain. Although the first unit is free, players are best off starting by investing small amounts on highly productive units to get a head start. If they do so, the experience ahead is smooth. The urge to succumb to the next micro-purchase will set in, and players will try to avoid it by perfectly timing their procurement of newly available units and upgrades. Knowing that there is a tangible reward at the end of this race for productivity is ostensibly motivating, and reason enough to play the game even if sub-optimally. In combination, we have a profitable cookie-clicker as one might imagine it from the outset - integrating the pleasurable experience of virtual accumulation with real cryptocurrency rewards to addict the player for weeks.

But the game is more than an idler’s fantasy — even in its subversion of “cookie-clicker” principles does it manage to capture attention. The player is continually enticed to consider his choices: Should he spend on units? Upgrades? What percentage of the secondary pot would he like? All good questions, of course, to which the answers are subjective and therefore add an element of active thought to an otherwise passive experience. In doing so Blobby seamlessly finds the intersection between idle and blockchain games; a gambler’s domain for computer science students with too much time on their hands.

What are its limitations and potential solutions?

None of this is to paint Ethergoo as the ideal conception of its goal. An unwise player who ignores my advice may choose to spend not a cent and expect a tangible reward nonetheless. In Ethergoo, those who fall behind are swamped with overproduction by those willing to buy expensive units, a self-reinforcing cycle which means they are unlikely to profit at all as time progresses. As the Ethereum Network charges gas fees for miners on each transaction, and given Ethergoo is a zero-sum game, these players are likely to come out in the red. It is a slight on the game’s mechanics that these players cannot do otherwise by way of careful strategics.

This points to a larger problem with Ethergoo - the inevitability of its finite lifespan. A saturation point is eventually reached when no new Ethereum enters the game, dooming Ethergoo to a pyramidal structure. In other words, early investors profit the most, and little is left for even those whales who might want to play upon reading this article, as the game is well-past its saturation point with a small pot of 3 ETH. What is the solution to this conundrum which plagues so many dapp games? For his next installment, Mr. Blobby might want to take a page out of Fomo3D, the continuing Ethereum lottery which encourages late purchases with the potential of an “exit scam.”² Incentive needs to be provided for late players, perhaps in the form of Fomo3D’s airdrops, or reserved rewards for new entrants. A simple “reset game” mechanism would suffice to solve this problem without harming many players.

Even if the game’s structure is not fundamentally changed, some minor tweaks could improve the game. The leaderboard is antagonistic and laborious in its lack of a “search address” feature. There are too few ways to spend goo, especially for later players, although a reset mechanism might render this problem moot. Most significantly, however, bots poison the game. If there was any doubt that bored computer science enthusiasts were behind Ethergoo’s popularity, the existence of fake account networks designed to saturate production rates to the advantage of the botter who created them surely proves otherwise. Until recently, no solution was available for this - but the famed dapp developer “cryptoopinions” has since created a service for “verifying” Ethereum accounts to ensure each account is associated with one user. It is impressive, and dapp developers are slowly but surely catching on. It is an unfortunate consequence of Ethereum’s immutability that none of these fixes can be implemented in Ethergoo — but the game’s successes and failures offer fantastic lessons for dapp developers going forward.

Conclusion

Ethergoo remains one of the most successful dapps, even as it has waned in influence due to the saturation effect. Its release prompted a number of clones to spawn, all of which failed to capture the charm of the original, reminding us all of the importance of innovation to success. For it certainly was innovative — the first decentralized “cookie-clicker” was, and still is, addictive and fun to boot.


Notes

¹ Upgrade costs in Ether are wholly directed towards the pot; no Ether remains for the player to “reverse” these transactions even if they so desire.

² Two notes are relevant here: first, in relation to Fomo3D, an entertaining link which explains its mechanics more thoroughly. Second, a note that Mr. Blobby intends to release a “sequel” of sorts to Ethergoo tentatively named “World War Goo” — it remains to be seen if the mechanics are at all reminiscent of the first installment. (I hope he considers some of my suggestions if it is.)

Written by

DCLReview

On the cutting edge of smart contracts.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade