Spriggan - a blockchain platform for selling games

The mission of Spriggan

The Spriggan project aims to provide creators with complete artistic freedom by eliminating censorship. Spriggan was created by creators for creators. It is fully decentralized and open-source, allowing creators to publish and sell their products directly to interested users. In this case, intermediaries and payment gateways have no place.

The Spriggan project's initial target is the computer games market, focusing on giants like Steam, owned by Valve.

What is Spriggan?

Spriggan began as an idea to create a decentralized, freely accessible video game market using peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies. Since then, this idea has evolved significantly. Spriggan became an attempt to break the monopoly that is an inherent part of centralized digital distribution platforms, not only for games but for all forms of digital media.

From the user's perspective, Spriggan functions like any other platform for distributing computer games. It allows gamers to browse, purchase, install, and play games. The only difference is that they would buy games using cryptocurrency and own copies of their games as NFT tokens.

This does not require the use of tokens specific to a particular platform, which customers or publishers would have to acquire. Spriggan does not participate in transactions since they occur directly between the publisher and the user. The platform provides creators with free, open-source tools, enabling them to create copies of their games and sell them directly on an open market using Offer files. Games can be sold at any price set by the publisher. Payments can be made in any current or future token supported by the Chia blockchain, including XCH, Wrapped Bitcoin, Wrapped ETH, and stablecoins.

A new market for "used" games

Games are sold within the free market using Offer files. This is not limited only to the Spriggan market. Currently, it uses a decentralized DEX (dexie) exchange to find the best game Offers. Customers will be able to buy games directly from the publisher or "second-hand" from someone who sells their copy at a lower price.

Spriggan games are represented as NFTs, making them transferable and resellable. Publishers can set a licensing fee percentage to recover a portion of each resale. This will create an interesting secondary market where the game's value can find its market price over time, which the creator can control by limiting the supply of new copies. This is just one of the possibilities enabled by Chia's flexibility, but by no means is it a necessity. It is also possible to set a high licensing fee (up to 100%) to effectively prevent resales. Any such fees are enforced by the Chia blockchain. In the future, a system of programmatic transfer restrictions will be implemented to prevent resale.

The role of NFTs

Spriggan NFTs differ from their classical counterparts. They represent ownership of the product, in this case, the game. They are not unique or collectible. They are not investments, speculative assets, or representations of capital - they simply represent a copy of the purchased product. While it is possible to create limited "special editions," it is not the primary purpose of Spriggan NFTs.

Users who possess Spriggan NFTs in their wallets can cryptographically prove ownership of a specific product in a way that can be publicly verified. This is used by the platform's software to verify ownership. Based on this, users gain access to torrent files that allow them to download the game. They also receive passwords to decrypt game files without the need for user authentication systems. In the future, plugins for popular game engines may be created that require ownership verification to launch a game or access its premium content, aiding in the fight against piracy.

A market of markets

The most exciting feature of Spriggan is its modular design. The platform itself is not a market but an environment for building one. Currently, Spriggan is built with three independent applications within this environment: a market, a library, and a publishing system. In the future, a fourth component will be built, which will be an app store. The platform is open-source, and its code is accessible to anyone, allowing other developers to create additional applications for Spriggan, including alternatives to those already built-in. Ultimately, Spriggan's scope is planned to expand into markets for other types of content, such as e-books, audiobooks, and more.

How does Spriggan make money?

Unlike traditional platforms, Spriggan does not charge and cannot charge any commissions from sales. This platform generates low operational costs as it is fully peer-to-peer. Currently, Spriggan does not have any revenue-generating mechanisms. It also does not have investors, as the idea of not making money usually does not appeal to them. The creator of Spriggan refuses to accept funds from anyone who could threaten the platform's vision. So far, all work has been self-funded by the creator of Spriggan. The creator is actively seeking individuals and organizations that would be willing to sponsor the project's development.