Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2020年4月 亞博匯 51 專欄 A t the core of any successful gaming business is the need to innovate across all areas of product and game development. Incorporating new technologies and platform advancements delivered to an audience continually hungry for innovation, and making the delivery and processes easier and more transparent, are keys to success. The latest innovation to grab the interest of forward thinking gaming executives is something called the blockchain. An undeniably ingenious invention that has actually been around for a number of years, blockchain is the brainchild of a person or group of people known by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. Before looking at what applications blockchain can bring to your gaming enterprise, lets first answer the question that everyone is asking: what is blockchain and how does it work? As a basic explanation, picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet from thousands of different computers. Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared and continually reconciled database. This way of using the network has obvious benefits. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet, so for an online gaming business these attributes are particularly helpful by providing an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions which are transparent and that can be programmed to record not only financial transactions but virtually everything of value. By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology has created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for digital currency, the tech community is now finding other potential uses for the technology. And the good news is that like the internet (or your car), you don’t need to know how the blockchain works to use it. Given all the hype and buzz around blockchain, for gaming operators at least, what does this technology offer? Well despite all the buzz and hype, it doesn’t offer much right now other than being able to accept and make payments using digital currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. A big plus though is that digital currencies 任 何成功的博彩企業，都需要在包括產品及 遊戲開發等所有領域有所創新，而成功的要 素，就包括把新科技與平台的優勢結合，然 後帶給對創新有不絕渴求的受眾，同時令這 個過程變得更容易及更透明。 最新近能夠吸引那些思想前衛的博彩管理層的創新發明，是一樣 名叫區塊鏈的東西。區塊鏈這種其實已存在多年的產物，不能否 認是一樣絕妙的產物，是由一位或一群以Satoshi Nakamoto一名 自稱的人士所創生。 在檢視區塊鏈可以在你的博彩企業中如何運用前，讓我們先 答一個所有人都在問的問題：到底甚麼是區塊鏈，以及它是怎樣 運作的呢？ 如果要基本地解釋一下的話，就請想像有一張試算表被一個 網絡內的電腦複製數千次，然後想像這個網絡被設計成要定期在 這數千部電腦中更新這張試算表。 在區塊鏈內的資訊，就如存在於一個共享及不斷地調和的資 料庫當中，這種使用網絡的方式有多個顯然易見的好處。區塊鏈資 料庫並不是儲存於任何單一位置，這代表當中的紀錄都是真正公 開及容易查證的，黑客並不能找到一個中央化的資料來進行破壞。 區塊鏈內的數據被同時寄存於數百萬部電腦內，並讓互聯網 中的任何人查閱，所以為網上博彩營運而言，這些屬性都特別有 用，因為能夠提供一個不能被毀損之餘還是透明的經濟交易數碼 帳目，同時也可被編排作記錄包括金融交易的任何數值。 通過允許數碼資訊的傳播而非複製，區塊鏈技術為一種新型 的互聯網創造出主幹。該技術在起初是為電子貨幣而設，但科技 界現在就找到這項技術的其他潛在用途。好消息是它就與互聯網 (或你的汽車)一樣—你可以在不知道區塊鏈運作方式的情況下使 用它。 觀乎關於區塊鏈的炒作，最少為博彩營運商而言，到底這技 術可以帶來甚麼呢？事實上，雖然區塊鏈看似聲勢浩大，但它現在 除了以例如比特幣或乙太幣等電子貨幣來接收款項及付款外，還 未能帶來太多其他東西。可是一個很大的優處是，電子貨幣都非