Hello, Vadim! Let’s talk about your experience before you started the PlayHall project. What can you tell us about it?
I created my first computer program on the automation of the company’s working process as a school student as far back as 1991. Six years later, I received a Bachelor’s degree from Belarusian State University. My thesis was on “Protocols for replacing physical money with an electronic equivalent,” — a highly relevant topic considering today’s popularity of cryptocurrency. After that, I went to graduate school, where in 1998, I presented my Master’s thesis on the topic of “Sufficient condition for encryptic protection of cryptographic algorithms.” I combined work with study and participated in different projects and collaborated with different companies. All of them were connected to the sphere of information technology. Along the way, I created several development centers. At the moment, my professional interests are blockchain and machine learning.
How did you become a part of PlayHall? How did it draw your attention?
We have already worked with PlayHall CEO Eugen Kaufman. I viewed the projects as an extremely attractive opportunity to work with an interesting team, but also as a chance to change the game industry dramatically.
You’re saying that the project attracts you by the opportunity to change the game industry. Is it the spirit of revolutionism? What exactly are the changes PlayHall will bring to the game industry? What will this industry be like after the platform is successfully launched and developed?
It is an opportunity to increase transparency in games, increase confidence and reduce marketing costs by lowering the number of intermediaries between gaming studios and players.
Today, blockchain is widely discussed. It could not escape the game industry, which is always very sensitive to technical innovations. What exactly does blockchain offer this industry today and what opportunities does it provide?
First and foremost, Blockchain is technology that allows us to increase both the transparency of almost any system and the level of confidence in it from the community, as well as to make the decision-making process decentralized. In addition, the introduction of decentralized platforms enables the redeployment of funds, so that players and developers have more benefits over intermediaries.
How important is cryptocurrency for the project? Does using it imply a way to attract loyal, technically savvy and solvent audiences to the project, or is it more of an effective alternative to fiat money? What are its benefits specifically for PlayHall?
It is an opportunity to make a project for people who strive to develop new ecosystems, who are not afraid to run risks and want to change the world for the better. And it’s awesome. It is people who are important to the project. By all means, the popularity of cryptocurrencies and new models of attracting investments are phenomena that contribute to the success of many projects, including ours.
The underlying idea of the platform is the opportunity for players to monetize their skills and intelligence. Which means that the cryptocurrency wallet is an integral part of the account. Hence, the question arises: will the protection of users’ funds be performed in a due form? What security methods will be used?
Briefly speaking, we will use asymmetric encryption. I think there’s no point in going into technical details, since it’s quite boring. It’s enough to say that with implementing this technology, we ensure an extremely reliable and secure storage system for cryptocurrency.
The role of cryptocurrency is clear, but what is the role of the original PHT token then?
It is difficult to overestimate its role in creation of the ecosystem: it is literally impossible to create our system without it. Moreover, the token allows us to formulate an indicator of market valuation of the project, what is important both for investors and for the platform itself. With the use of our own token and own blockchain we will also be able to reduce transaction costs and to allocate more funds directly to the platform development.
Game platforms itself are not a novelty at all, but it seems that introduction of blockchain technology can be a game-changer. Tell us more about technical innovations of the PlayHall project rather than conceptual ones.
That is a good and important question. Omitting complex technical details, it can be said that blockchain allows us to implement an idea of almost ideal meritocratic community, which is managed by the participants themselves, rather than by just a limited number of project founders. All technical details are one way or another connected with implementation of conceptual innovations. An idea is a key to success, while technology is just a way to breath life into it.
Tell us more about the requirements that the games that seek porting to the PlayHall platform should meet. What will be the procedure for already released games and those that are just under development to be adjusted to the PlayHall platform?
Technically, it should be PvP games, in which for a gamer to win and earn, it will be necessary to enhance certain skills. Our goal is to reduce the time for integration of such ready-made games to two weeks. To do this, we are ready to assist third-party developers in the process of adjustment at first. Also we are preparing documentation and regulations that will allow them to integrate their games into our platform on their own in a simple and fast way.
What are the costs that game developers can face in the course of this adjustment? The PlayHall team itself will participate in the process of finalizing the games for porting to the platform, won’t it?
At the initial stage, the PlayHall team intends to assist and participate in the game development process together with the developers. It will allow us to port more games in less time, which might lead to a rapid growth of popularity. However, in the future, we plan to concentrate only on the platform development, and leave all procedures regarding adjustment of games to developers, providing them with detailed guidance and regulations.
Besides, we are considering an opportunity to create a system of grants, which will be awarded to the games developers by our users. It will fully or partially compensate costs and will simplify games implementation and make it easier. As a result, the users will be able to play the games they like on our platform and the developers will have no financial costs caused by adapting apps to the platform.
Are there common requirements dictated not by your platform’s features but by pragmatism? Are your games compatible with iOS and Android? On which types of devices can your games be played?
We do not intend to limit the activities of our developers and users. We plan to give maximum freedom to developers and make the platform maximally available to everyone. Accessing iOS and Android platforms as well as web-based applications is planned at the initial stage. Accessing games on different devices is determined by the needs and preferences of the developers, but today most apps can be accessed both on iOS and Android.
The project will give the users the opportunity to use some cryptocurrencies to work inside the system. Could you explain, what was the principle of choosing Bitcoin и Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum и Ethereum Classic, ZCash и Litecoin and Dash?
The principle is very simple. We have chosen the cryptocurrencies which are most popular and the simplest to use. All the cryptocurrencies from the list match our needs and the ones of our users the most. The high liquidity is also among their distinguishing features which means that everyone can exchange them into classic money.
Can we say that PlayHall is similar to Steam or Battle.net but it is a blockchain-based Skill Gaming platform? Or are there any other important distinguishing features? Could you specify?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this question in detail at the moment. There are some similarities with Battle.net and Steam, because PlayHall is also a gaming platform, but we have totally different directions. Our platform only deals with Skill Gaming games, which aim at disclosing intellectual powers of our gamers and intellectual tournaments, in which everyone can earn prize money. After our platform is launched we will be able to discuss similar and distinguishing features in more detail.
