This groundbreaking sci-fi blockchain game could help create a metaverse that no one owns

For Bhardwaj and other true believers, the Dark Forest is proof of several new concepts at once. First, it demonstrates how to use advanced cryptography to add new features to the online world. Dark Forest-inspired developers and computer scientists are discovering new games and apps that leverage zero-knowledge proofs.

Gubsheep and others even established an R&D organization, called 0xPARC (a reference to PARC, the longstanding R&D company that Xerox founded 40 years ago), to support this work. Bhardwaj recently worked as a 0xPARC intern.

The range of 0xPARC is not limited to the game. One application the team is interested in, for example, is digital identity. Repeat the passport example. Zero-knowledge proof can make it possible for you to prove everything about yourself without revealing anything else. You can prove that you are over a certain age without disclosing your actual age or that you have more than a certain amount in your bank account without disclosing the actual amount. Gubsheep says it’s also possible to use unknown cryptography to prove that you’ve run a machine learning algorithm on a sensitive data set while keeping the data private.

A new vision for the metaverse?

Knowledge 0 is also not the only focus at 0xPARC. Dark Forest thinkers seem to agree that while the use of cryptography is indeed inventive, an even more convincing proof of concept in the game is that the game world is “self-explanatory”. its value” — an online environment that is unregulated and unusable.

So far, the Dark Forest has existed in temporary circumstances, known as rings, lasting one to two weeks. But since it exists entirely in blockchain smart contracts — computer programs that the blockchain stores and executes — a Dark Forest world could be deployed in such a way that no one would be able to stop it, said computer scientist and 0xPARC co-founder Justin Glibert. “You can think of it like a Minecraft server but it can’t be taken down,” he said.

Once a smart contract is deployed, it is like a robot that lives in the digital space – a robot that can run forever. Unless the creator installs a mechanism that can be activated to kill the program, it will continue to run as long as the network exists. In this case, Glibert argues, the virtual world would be more like a digital planet than a game.

What happens on a digital planet? Whatever the world’s rules – its “digital physics” – allow, he said. Dark Forest players have used its digital physics to build in-game markets, tools that automate game functions, and even bots that can play games themselves. It’s also free for anyone to copy, modify, and build on.

Glibert’s team at 0xPARC is focused on creating systems that make it easier for game developers not only to create autonomous worlds, but also for the inhabitants of those worlds to interact and create.

This is the natural evolution of the internet, says Gubsheep. “The digital world is becoming the repository of more and more of our most meaningful interactions,” he said. But he bets people will be less likely to accept a version of the “metaverse” run by a company or any other centralized organization.

What they want instead is “a trusted neutral platform for people to express themselves in relatively unrestricted and self-organizing and self-regulating ways,” he argues. “For me, it’s a much stronger vision of the metaverse and I hope the 0xPARC trials can contribute.”