How Refereum works
Hi everyone, you may have noticed my introduction to the community over on our blog, or seen me in Discord. I’m Philippe, and I’m Head of Community for Refereum. I’m here to talk a little bit about the history and the future of Refereum, and to answer some of the most frequently asked questions that we get.
If you have questions about games and streams or ones that are more long-term or strategic, that’s me.
I wanted to do a simple FAQ-style blog post to give everyone as much context as possible about how we work and what our plans are. Feel free to ask us questions on Discord, Twitter, or reddit — we’re around to help.
Why do streamers want to work with us?
If you stream, you’ll earn points and tokens that can be exchanged for games and rewards. By streaming specific games, you can earn more of those tokens. All this is transparently tracked on the blockchain, so you know that everyone is getting rewarded fairly and equally. All you do is earn rewards for what you’re already doing.
Why do gamers want to join?
By watching Refereum streamers, you too earn points and tokens that can be exchanged for games, access, and rewards. You can also earn by watching videos and sharing on social. Just like streamers, these are things you already do, but now you’ll earn points and tokens for doing them.
What are the rewards? I like those.
Games! You can spend your tokens right on the refereum.com website. We’re working on a ton of deals with studios and game developers to get you access to the games and gaming-related products you want. Along with games, we got cash rewards and exclusive beta prizes. What else do you want? Swag? Loot boxes? Early access? Skins? Weapons? Let us know what you want, because we’re working on all of them.
Wait, this seems too simple and now I’m scared. How does this make any sense at all?
The loop goes something like this: streamers want viewers. Viewers want good streaming content. Viewers and gamers both want cool games to play and watch. And gaming companies want you to play their games. Refereum and RFR tokens align all these incentives and track them transparently, so everyone gets rewarded for what they’re already doing.
Who works for Refereum? Does Elon Musk???
No, we are way cooler than Elon Musk. Refereum was founded by Dylan Jones and Alistair Doulin. Dylan is formerly of gaming studios like Unity and Kixeye, and he met Alistair building games over in Australia many years ago. The rest of us are from around the way — Twitch, reddit, Wikimedia Foundation, and Expedia, to name a few — you can find out more here.
What happened with the token sale? I heard there was drama.
The short answer is “it went too viral”.
The longer answer is that token economies, communities and companies are a new and emerging field without many laws yet. It can be difficult to stay legally complaint when the laws are changing all the time. Dylan and Alistair are designed the RFR utility token to be a holder of value for services and content. That way, streamers, viewers, and developers can be confident that the incentive loop I talked about earlier remains closed and viable.
If a token sale is infected with fraud, it can lead to instability in its ability to deliver that value. Those problems may not manifest themselves for months or even years, but the issue doesn’t disappear.
At the time, our options became a. expand the token supply and significantly alter the long-term token economy with some legal risks or b. limit token purchases and ensure that the token has room to grow in a legally compliant way. It was not an easy choice, but we chose b.
What’s our long-term vision?
Imagine a world in which hundreds of thousands of streamers and viewers are connected to each other via Refereum. The streamers earn rewards based on how many viewers they have and what games they’re playing. The viewers, based on who they’re watching and which game they’re playing. And developers receive the love and attention of their most dedicated fans, so they’re happy to lavish gifts on streamers and viewers.
Longer term? Think about your Xbox. When you pull off three headshots in five seconds, it pings you with an achievement. What if those achievements also generated reward tokens for you that you could exchange for games?
On Refereum, all the rewards are plain as day to read on the blockchain, so you know that everyone’s playing fair. And Refereum can power recommendations for you based on what you’ve bought and who you’ve watched, so you can keep earning. That’s the goal: more people, more rewards, more gaming for all.
I’m just a rhetorical construct that allows you to explain yourself, but I have a question.
Discord, Twitter, or reddit! I’m there! Kenzi’s there! We’re very friendly!