The future of GameDAO that Soul Bound Token (SBT) will bring
§Intro
§SBT
- Background of SBT
- Singularity of SBT
§Difference
- NFT
- DID
§SBT in GameDAO
- Evaluation criteria about the behavior of a player
$PGDAO
Intro
Vitalik Buterin proposed the concept of Soul Bound Token (SBT) through a contribution to the treatise titled ‘Decentralized society: Finding Web3’s Soul’ in May of this year. After the publication of the treatise, people became very interested in the concept and utility of SBT, which can prove identity in the Web3 ecosystem. I would like to briefly summarize reasons and concepts of paying attention to SBT and estimate the future of GameDAO where SBT will be used.
Background of SBT
SBT used by Vitalik Buterin is a borrowing of the name of an item in World of Warcraft (WOW). Soul bound items are fully owned by the player upon acquisition and cannot be transferred to other players, but function as the character’s property to prove their achievements. The reason Vitalik paid attention to these Soul bound Items is to solve the problems derived from the unchecked identity in the Web3 ecosystem.
The problems identified in the existing Web3 ecosystem are as follows.
- Sybil attack (a method in which a few or one account brings governance voting rights to a large number of accounts and manipulates voting with advantageous proposals): Obstacles to DAO operation
2. Relying on exchange wallets for proof of identity
3. Reliance on Centralized Web2 Platform to Prove NFT Authenticity
The difference between SBT and existing NFT
Soul in SBT means an address wallet that can mint and store SBT. Therefore, the subject of Soul can be derived in various ways such as individuals and organizations, and it is appropriate to understand it as a wallet containing identity. The upside is that these different entities reinforce each other’s trust by minting tokens that authenticate actions or characteristics to each other. In particular, it is different from existing NFTs in that it can contain qualitative information.
Next, the most noteworthy attribute of SBT is ‘non-transferability’. ‘Non-transferability’ is the most distinct point from NFT, and even though NFT has a function to check whether it is original or not, ‘Identity’ could not be confirmed because of transferability. Also, because of their transferability, NFTs make their asset value more prominent. Therefore, beyond these transactional functions, a token with the function of identifying an individual’s identity has become necessary to identify individual characteristics, open contractability, evaluate contributions to the community, and brand themselves.
Vitalik seems to be attempting to enable identity verification in a so-called decentralized society (DeSoc) through SBT and to technically solve problems derived from existing ones.
SBT identity verification needs to be differentiated from the DID
However, despite the fact that the identity of the wallet can be distinguished due to the functional characteristics of SBT, it is inappropriate for the government or institution to fully select SBT when identity verification is absolutely necessary. In the recent case of DAO in Ukraine, there has been criticism that it is not DAO-like because it cannot clearly prove identity on-chain. Of course, Ukraine DAO may have fully considered that when issuing existing governance tokens, it can be a plutocratic election and it is difficult to defend against people with malicious intent. However, it is questionable whether such a case can be solved through SBT as Vitalik claims. In the case of the Ukraine DAO, even if it proves its conduct, it is because the institution’s support is essential to achieve real identity verification completely on-chain. The subject of Soul can be a country, and it will be more reliable to perform the work of governments and institutions with the existing concept of DID rather than choosing a method to guarantee identity as an SBT. Therefore, it should be seen that SBT will not be able to completely replace DID in the future, and I think that it will build its own territory.
Unlike this, in a general DAO, the process of forming a community and forming an identity within the DAO is confirmed mainly through activity proof rather than identity proof. In particular, the method of building trust through contribution evaluation makes each community segment the scope of the soul and continuously evaluates its importance. In other words, the formation of identity within the organization through proof of activity must be accepted as the core of SBT utility. Therefore, identity verification within WEB3 should be viewed as belonging to identity within the organization through activity verification.
The process of granting souls in DAO
Relationships are multi-layered and complicated. In many relationships and in a group, not just one identity is formed. This is the same with DAOs that will be created within Web3. Depending on the nature and purpose of the DAO, SBT, which will be linked to the wallet, can itself build an identity formation process within the DAO. In the end, this process will help build governance for DAOs.
On the other hand, Web3 users may not want to reveal one person’s role in each DAO. In the case of distributed management of wallets, the career certificate that you want to reveal can also be distributed management, so it can be understood that you are not limited to each activity even if you do not accumulate all SBTs in one wallet. In this way, DeSoc will be able to build various human identities in an on-chain through SBT.
SBT to be used in Game DAO
Through the definition of SBT summarized above, let’s look at the criteria for SBT to be issued in Game DAO.
- Game play time
2. Game Play Performance
3. Game Special Event Play Proof
3. Sharing gameplay tips
4. Utilization of INDEX criteria weighted on SBT set by DAO
This is most simply related to the in-game item that SBT was inspired by. In other words, SBT can be issued continuously with things that are easy to prove in relation to the game. In addition, contributions to games can be measured within an organization called DAO, and SBT can be issued by evaluating the degree of positive influence on other gamers. Therefore, it seems that the development of SBT and weights that can evaluate specific proofs of activity will be the key to DAO operation.
Since it is mainly a proof of activity, some factors should be evaluated differently for careers in new seasons, episodes, or new games after a certain period of time. It seems that the calculation of the contribution should be limited in time, and research is needed until the use of limited-time SBT and the application of governance operation.
According to the analysis of DAO activities, it seems that game companies will be able to respond appropriately. Game quality can be improved through active exchanges between DAO and game companies. In addition, since there can be multiple GameDAOs, it also has elements that can form a specific SBT through analysis of each DAO.
Game DAO believes that gamers will form an identity and operate governance through the above process.
PRO GAMER DAO (PG DAO) to lead GameDAO
So far, we have summarized the newly emerged concept of SBT and looked at its application in GameDAO. I believe that through SBT’s research, we will be able to find a suitable path for GameDAO operation. Accordingly, I drew a process of DAO that will narrow the gap between game companies and gamers and expand through the activities of gamers. We are sure that PG DAO is the way to go in the future, and we look forward to many gamers who will join us.
