FirstBlood Announces Partnership with Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC)
Blockchain tech will change the way esports governs itself
The esports industry is growing at a phenomenal rate, with the global market value set to exceed $1 Billion this at some point this year. But amidst all the hype, it’s easy to forget that the esports industry is still very much in its infancy.
From a spectator’s point of view, this may not be immediately obvious; born of the internet, we as an industry have done a phenomenal job of producing top notch content from day one. Our biggest tournaments attract tens of millions of viewers worldwide (more than the NBA Finals), our prize pools are astronomical, and our production quality is second to none.
What is not immediately obvious from the spectators’ point of view is immature the underlying infrastructure and support systems for the industry are.
It’s the wild west out there.
Unlike their traditional counterparts, esports organizations, teams, and players are yet to self-organize into large scale associations for self-governance and self-regulation designed to create a fair and sustainable industry; think FIFA, FIBA, WADA, the IOC, or the NBA players association, all designed to protect their members and sustain the value they and their industry create by stamping out unfair, nefarious, and often illegal practices.
But things are moving in the right direction…
Enter the Esports Integrity Coalition. In 2015 a group of key esports stakeholders formed ESIC, who’s mission statement is:
To be the recognized guardian of the sporting integrity of esports and to take responsibility for disruption, prevention, investigation and prosecution of all forms of cheating, including, but not limited to, match manipulation and doping.
This mission is something we believe in wholeheartedly, so the team at FirstBlood are proud to announce we are now a member of ESIC and look forward to using our technology to strengthen the esports ecosystem as a whole.
FirstBlood will benefit from this partnership by helping to create shared standards for esports competitions and the sharing of information between ESIC members. This open sharing of information will allow us to be on the same page with game publishers, hardware developers, and regulators as we develop our platform. Likewise, these standards will discourage and prevent toxic players from interacting with our platform by mandating clearly defined punishments for offenders and restricting access to repeat offenders.
ESIC will be able to benefit from FirstBlood by observing the advantages of an Ethereum dapp that logs trusted data on an incorruptible blockchain. Pertinent information like match results, financial transactions, and social interactions can be use to identify toxic behavior without compromising an individual’s personal information. These improvements are made possible using our Witness Node System and Jury Voting Portal (JVP). This technology has a massive potential to strengthen esports integrity because of its decentralized, automated, and highly scalable design.
Together, the possibility exists to create a technological blockchain standard for esports that will produce a safe and enjoyable environment for amateur and pro players alike. Esports is already a massive ecosystem but it can only thrive if individual gamers believe they have a voice and an opportunity to shine. That’s why our team is using our technology and partnership with ESIC to build esports integrity and give power back to gamers, allowing them to justly achieve notoriety and capitalize on their skills.
If you would like to learn more about ESIC, check out their website at esportsintegrity.com or this great writeup over on esports-pro.com.
