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Comment by TheOtherHobbes | Hacker News Reader

Is this supposed to be a game?

Why would anyone pay $11 to play something so poorly documented with almost no fun factor?

True enough on documentation. To be clear, you aren't supposed to join THIS game, it's a test network. You're supposed to either run an instance of this game yourself (and change parameters like the registration fee).

I'm also considering running an instance myself on the live network with different parameters (larger board, different fee).

>You're supposed to either run an instance of this game yourself

How is this different than hosting your own game server without a blockchain?

He means deploying to a public blockchain. You can then play this with your friend or someone else. It's different from running a game server since the contract will enforce the rules of the game, while if you control your own game server you can temper with it.

It's a common theme in the ethereum world that you pay a bit here and there. Factors:

- it's ok as it establishes Ether as a real "currency" that is being used to pay for stuff

- greed is considered okay

- the presence of intermediate tokens like casino chips or video game currency makes it easier to spend money (unless you deliberately rephrase it as something like "$11")

Usually fees are there for a reason, in this case it's part of the game (and the fun) as the fee goes into the prize fund.

In the "ethereum world" most of the community doesn't actually care too much about the currency aspect, it's the least interesting aspect of what you can do with Ethereum.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com