Go and the blockchain
In the next few weeks until October 29th, the illuminated BIX Facade will become the game board for the strategy game Go every day from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Interested parties from all over the world play Go in two teams every evening for a month over the Internet. Based on a computer-generated community consensus, each team places a stone every twenty seconds. Everyone who helps decide the next move will receive a so-called PLAY token of the cryptocurrency of the same name as a reward. Anyone can earn these free of charge and anonymously at www.play4privacy.org.
By playing along, everyone can set an example for privacy. The Play4Privacy (P4P) art project brings the blockchain closer to a broader public in a playful way as part of the play! exhibition - in the literal sense of the word.
The blockchain for more transparency and privacy
Blockchain promises comprehensive protection of privacy and personal data on the internet. This is exactly what the initiators of the project, the Graz-based cooperative lab10 collective eG, want to convey to the general public with Play4Privacy, with the aim of spreading more knowledge about privacy and blockchain among the population.
Every game can be imagined as a series of decisions which, once made, can no longer be reversed. It's the same with blockchain. Once the decision has been made ("consensus"), it is finally inserted to the blockchain as a new block and can never be changed again ("finality").
In addition, the concept of "transparent anonymity" is to be introduced to the public in a playful way. All game moves are displayed transparently in the public space and in the live stream and are therefore directly comprehensible to the general public. This allows everyone, whether player or spectator, to experience how the blockchain works - namely as an anonymous, distributed network with a public database that is not subject to central control.
Playing for a good cause
Regardless of whether you end up as the strategic winner of the game, all players receive "virtual tokens" called PLAY for their efforts. This is also the technical innovation of the Graz-based blockchain developers. Instead of consuming electricity for computer processing power - as is usually the case with blockchain - Play4Privacy uses human creativity and playing time (proof-of-PLAY) as the raw material for this new cryptocurrency "made in Graz". These virtual coins can be loaded onto an existing virtual wallet as a souvenir and investment.
But not only all players benefit from the current blockchain boom. For every move, another token is generated and donated to initiatives to strengthen privacy on the Internet. At the end of the exhibition, this pool of additionally mined PLAY tokens will be auctioned off. The total proceeds from this auction will be donated to non-profit organizations that are committed to data protection in civil society.
