Major League Baseball Is Going Crypto (engadget.com)

The blockchain gaming company Lucid Sight is partnering with Major League Baseball to launch MLB Crypto Baseball. Engadget's Daniel Roberts explains: Ethereum, launched in 2015, is a decentralized platform for "smart contracts," which are automated agreements for an exchange of value. It runs on a blockchain, the same peer-to-peer, immutable, public ledger technology that bitcoin runs on. The cryptocurrency of Ethereum is ether. Because of Ethereum's usefulness for smart contracts, it has become a proving ground for blockchain-based games, where users collect and trade one-of-a-kind items that no one can duplicate or steal. On a blockchain, each digital item (or contract) is verified and tamper-proof.

In MLB Crypto Baseball, users will pay in ether to buy digital avatars tied to specific moments in recent games. They can then sell the items, or in some cases, earn rewards and stickers. The game is a decentralized app, or "dApp." [...] To play the game at launch, users must own some amount of ether and must transfer it to a web plug-in called MetaMask. (CryptoKitties works the same way.) Lucid Sight hopes to have an easy mobile app ready shortly after launch. "We are not building this just for tech savvy people," says Lucid Sight cofounder Octavio Herrera. "That said, the game will roll out in stages. So yes, for version 1 you will need ether, you will need MetaMask, it will be a little bit difficult to get into. But I do think people will open up Coinbase accounts, buy some ether, and transfer it to MetaMask, in order to collect these things they'll enjoy so much."

Comments

Lucid Sight is trying

[Anonymous Coward]

But check out the graphics from one of their recent games. There are screenshots. They aren't trying very hard.

*eyecross*

[Hognoxious]

Didn't understand a word of that.

Think I'll wait for the movie to come out.

Re:*eyecross*

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Didn't understand a word of that.

"Bitcoin Beanie Baby Baseball Cards"

Major League Baseball is worried that a future enraged, confused and heavily armed O. J. Simpson will rob a baseball card traders convention in Las Vegas, claiming that he is just "looking for his shit".

With Bitcoin Beanie Baby Baseball Cards, there is nothing physical to steal.

So, what can he do . . . raid a data center . . . ?

Re:*eyecross*

[meglon]

I'm thinking it's something like that Pokemon Go, only staring really boring baseball game characters.

Here is an idea for free

[Sqreater]

Do it with collectibles like coins. Own the blockchain version of a particular coin. Buy and sell collectibles of all kinds without the hassle of actually dealing with a physical copy. Why not blockchain stamps also. Cars too. Anything people collect can be blockchained I believe. People who own and warehouse a thing can sell the blockchain ownership rights to it. End of physical auction houses.

Re:Here is an idea for free

[Megane]

You think you're just joking.

Re: Here is an idea for free

[Sqreater]

Not joking. Aware of kitties.

Re: I see

[c6gunner]

I'm pretty sure I didn't understand what the fuck this was talking about,

It's cryptokitties for baseball dweebs. Like collecting baseball cards but without the cards.

but I am still quite certain that it is completely retarded just the same.

Yep. You know it'll make money though, so "retarded" is more descriptive of the target audience rather than the venture itself.

Better Idea

[dohzer]

A better idea would be blockchained loot boxes containing baseball cards.

Oh boy! More funny money!

[Chas]

And the new buzzword is "CRYPTO!"

Like "The Cloud" before it.

And like "The Internet" before that.

*Dumb Idea* + *BUZZWORD* = a bunch of stupid lemmings screaming "BRILLIANT!" and diving off their cliffs.

immutable?

[dontbgay]

Accenture recently proposed a blockchain editing tool. Sure seems like immutable isn't what it used to be.

It's only a matter of time before blockchain is easier edited than the actual books

Re:immutable?

[Ol Olsoc]

Accenture recently proposed a blockchain editing tool. Sure seems like immutable isn't what it used to be. It's only a matter of time before blockchain is easier edited than the actual books

Damn, I laughed when I read that article. Of course, the financial industry "needs" to get in there and massage the data.

i just got an idea.

[Blaede]

What if we put CRYPTO...in the CLOUD...via MOBILE...using a THIN CLIENT...on the INTERNET?!?!?!?

You just made me a rich person.

Crypto-Collectibles?

[Xnet Project]

I have a feeling if Major League Baseball continues down this path the the term "Crypto-Collectibles" will be coined at some point in the marketing realm for collector items.

Re:Crypto-Collectibles?

[Ranbot]

..."Crypto-Collectibles".... marketing... collector items.

Tangentially related to the idea of "crypto-collectibles" (and I don't see a better place to put this thought)...

If in the near-ish future average people could easily and unobtrusively display virtual/crypto collectibles, then it becomes less crazy to think they could have real world demand/value. For example if AR becomes commonly-used technology, which really isn't a far-fetched idea, then it would be pretty natural for people to use AR to display opinions or interests in subjects as they already do with T-shirts, bumper-stickers, jacket patches, keychains, ball caps, posters, photographs, trinkets, license plate covers, etc. In an AR-capable world with blockchain to prove authenticity, the early adopters could have something relatively rare and valuable. Virtual (i.e. not-real) stuff goes against everything I conceive of as value, but only the stuff no one expects to have value ends up rare and valuable. If not for all those kids who used to jam Mickey Mantle rookie cards into their bike spokes to make noises, the card probably wouldn't fetch more than $3 million at auction today ( http://www.sportingnews.com/ml... ).

Re:Oh boy! More funny money!

[blackprint]

Lemmings don't actually commit suicide. Let's not sully the good lemming name by connecting them to our marketing zombies.

ERC-721

[fulldecent]

Hello, I'm the lead author of ERC-721 (the "Non-fungible Token Standard" or "Deeds") which is how collectable crypto-assets can work interoperability with crypto-collecting wallets.

I believe this is the technology that is implied to power MLB Crypto Baseball.

Right now I am skeptical that this project is real. First all of the news is related to ICO/blockchain news/nerd news. Can anybody point to a press release or Tweet FROM Major League Baseball that confirms this licensing deal is authentic? I have seen other crypto companies that announced a deal with Visa and Mastercard, later to find out that those companies did not actually authorize any deal.

Also the website here https://www.lucidsight.com/ does not have a trademark symbol next to MLB Crypto Baseball. Nor does it have a registered trademark symbol next to the MLB logo. Nor does the bottom of the website say "The MLB logo is a registered trademark of Major League Baseball." So I'm going to say this is pretty much bullshit. I went to the LIMA licensing conference in Las Vegas this year -- entities like MLB don't draft rookies like Lucid Sight.

In other news, the 0xcert promo video (I'm an advisor to them) did just release a promo video listing collectable baseball cards as a target use case. So we are planning to make this work. And if MLB is reading this, call me.

Wha?

[Rick Zeman]

Was there even any content in that article beyond the buzzwords?

Re:Oh boy! More funny money!

[Chas]

It's, again, another "popular term" that's understood.