Bitcoin mining and protein folding

Discussion in 'Other' started by Show, Jun 23, 2013.

  1. Show

    Show Phantasmal Quasar

    Since we've seen the integration of other services into actual in-game devices, I think it might be cool to have some bitcoin mining going on in Starbound as well : )

    Never done it myself, but it's always been kind of an interesting idea to me.

    So imagine if we either had a funky device we could turn on that would dedicate some processing power to bitcoin mining, or if there were planets made of a special material. Every block you break could trigger a few calculations.

    Another passive computer operation that could be cool (and actually beneficial to the world) would be to run one of the home protein folding calculations. Imagine if your Starbound medical lab was actually helping make calculations that could cure diseases and save lives irl : )
     
  2. frostybubbles

    frostybubbles Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    I dont understand T-T
     
  3. DaviDeil

    DaviDeil Ketchup Robot

    I doubt this would happen, but I very much like your creativity.

    Cool idea!
     
    KirasiN likes this.
  4. Show

    Show Phantasmal Quasar

    Thanks! And yeah, I doubt it would as well, but maybe something to hold on to for some far future update : )

    There have been a couple dev comments about putting actual items in game that interact with the internet outside of the game.

    For example, think about a computer you could drop in your base, and when you clicked on the computer you could send a message out on twitter. Tiy has said these will all be completely optional, but I think it's an awesome idea that could make the game even more special.

    This thread is just about a couple more things that could be implemented into Starbound in the same way
     
  5. SLOW_oranges

    SLOW_oranges Pangalactic Porcupine

    Bitcoin mining is basically dedicating your computer's processing power to do calculations that will earn you virtual money ( bitcoins ) . (correct me if I am wrong)

    The idea of implementing this into the actual game sounds pretty cool. I think it would be great if using the bitcoin mining system in-game can contribute to a bitcoin mining pool and all bitcoins earned from it can be used to support the devs.
     
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  6. frostybubbles

    frostybubbles Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    what do you use the coins for?
     
  7. SLOW_oranges

    SLOW_oranges Pangalactic Porcupine

    It's supposed to be used as money. It can also be used to convert into cash. However, it's not really stable so not alot of people use it as currency.
     
  8. DaviDeil

    DaviDeil Ketchup Robot

    My doubts largely come from the fact that I've never seen this in a game. Not that it wouldn't be a good idea.

    Because I think it would be!

    I just think the devs will integrate gameplay wayyy before they integrate "real life play" like this idea.
     
  9. Show

    Show Phantasmal Quasar

    That's what I was thinking : ) Apparently it takes a ton of time and computing power to successfully mine any bitcoins any more...but if we pooled all player resources that were willing, it could be fun to see what happened. (And maybe get enough to buy all the devs lunch one day :p)

    Agreed, and I think they should focus on gameplay. This wouldn't introduce much engaging gameplay at all, mostly just add another interesting footnote to Starbound.
     
  10. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Is Bitcoin mining even legal? The term sounds like gold farming.
     
  11. Show

    Show Phantasmal Quasar


    Bitcoin mining is completely legal.

    Basically, the whole thing is an experiment in currency. The number of bitcoins in circulation is controlled by an algorithm that scales in complexity. As more bitcoins are found and as computing power increases, the algorithm becomes more difficult so that it's harder and harder to introduce more bitcoins into the system.

    All bitcoins in existence have been created by solving this algorithm, which people call mining. The creators of the system set it up that way.
     
    Jonesy likes this.
  12. Lobo

    Lobo Spaceman Spiff

    yup, it's legal :up:
    you just use your computer's CPU and/or GPU to solve over-complicated mathematical problems, called "blocks" (this is "mining")
    if you happen to solve a block, you earn 25 bitcoins! (aprox ~US$2700)

    problem is... everytime you mine a block, the next one is more difficult to solve, and considering the actual difficulty of the blocks, even with a very above average PC, it'd take a couple years to solve a single block, and you'd probably spend more with energy than the amount you'd receive for it. :notworthy:
    you can join your computer with a net of other "miner" computers for faster results. it's called "pool mining", and this way you can earn money almost daily! (even tho your share is only a few cents :rofl:)

    second problem is...
    there's this new hardware called ASIC chip, that serves the only purpose of mining bitcoins. it's a lot faster than the fastest GPUs available, and consumes way less energy, and it's hitting the market this year.
    as soon as the ASIC machines start working, there'll be way less blocks for us, normal users to mine :(

    TL;DR: mining bitcoins is legal, but it's so hard you'd prolly get more money from begging on the streets :V
     
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  13. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I see. I'm not very familiar with Bitcoins, so it sounded a bit suss. That's actually quite interesting, but probably not something I'd want to try.
     
  14. Sophisticated Mayhem

    Sophisticated Mayhem Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Okay, first off, you're not going to want to run other programs when Bitcoin mining or protein folding. There are dedicated programs for doing either of these actions and you can easily do it now without needing Starbound. I'd suggest not running other programs while doing those, but more on that later. Integrating Twitch.tv makes sense, because otherwise you need xsplit or something else to stream (xsplit costs money). Not so much the folding at home/Bitcoin stuff, though.

    Also, Bitcoin mining requires you to set up a wallet code, which is very insecure to just link to a game like Starbound. The most secure way to store Bitcoins is on an offline computer, I kid you not. They are accounted for on a server, but can't be transferred without accessing the data. Even when you join a group effort, like a mining pool, you need a wallet code. This requires you to get the Bitcoin software anyway. I would never link my wallet code to Starbound, because it's another way for it to be compromised.

    Third, using your processor is really inefficient to mine Bitcoins, especially when it's taxed doing something else because you are only paid in bitcoins depending on how many chains you find. For a while, people were pooling up tons of crappy computers in a farm. This worked for a while, but then competition got fierce, and people started doing multi-GPU solutions. These are also outclassed by ASIC miners, which are supplemental processing computers that hook up to a regular computer for instruction. For comparison, Intel HD 4000 graphics is rated at 110 mhash or below, which is what a high end Nvidia card is also at (they're not good for bitcoin mining), while a 7970 is probably around 630-650 mhash. A crappy ASIC, for comparison, is 5 ghash (So like having ~46 laptops with Intel HD 4000) and go all the way up to 500 ghash. Thus, you wouldn't really be able to compete for bitcoins without a pool, This is why no one mines solo anymore without an ASIC or 10.

    While the goal is noble, integrating both or either one of these services is needless as you will get poor performance from Starbound while it's occurring (and possibly your entire PC, depending on it's specs) and you really wouldn't be pushing a lot of progress out. My suggestion? Make a Starbound folding at home team or Bitcoin mining pool. Same basic goal, right?
     
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  15. Supreme Suprise

    Supreme Suprise Scruffy Nerf-Herder


    Yeah, that pretty much sums everything up that I was going to say. Having one's GPU (or was it CPU? oh well) not solely dedicated to bit-coin mining is going to provide one with a huge hit to performance (if you using an average machine). Personally? Integrating bit-coin mining into starbound is a bad idea. On a side note: I didn't know about those ASIC processors...there goes my hopes for bit-coin mining. :(
     
  16. Show

    Show Phantasmal Quasar

    Oh, it never would have been optimized for it. Just an idea of mass computing spread out. No one would include something in their game that would crash their player's performance : )

    The idea was just to have it run a bit of the process. Just think, even if you ran at 1% of the standard miners/folders computing power, and you had 30,000 people build the items in game to run it...that's a pretty serious network.
     
  17. vinshero

    vinshero Void-Bound Voyager

    how about, a teeny percentage of every gamers cpu is used to make coins that are placed in game blocks randomly, so when you mine ingame random blocks drop coin :) (offcourse the cpu is mining towards a chucklefish mining pool)... could be litecoin...
     

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