Why no crypto?

[Pamphlet]

It's always fascinating to see the assumption from blockchain adherents that the only reason for not using them is ignorance.

It's entirely possible to have a solid understanding and reject crypto*. While a largely unregulated space might offer you interesting opportunities it also comes with the same sharks who prey on you in the traditional financial realm but fewer restraints on them. Meanwhile the system inherently has ever increasing maintenance costs. While I'm at it, anybody who talks about crypto as something that isn't fiat currency is absolutely full of it and doesn't know what fiat currency is.

*Traditional scramble-yo-shit cryptography excluded. That's useful.

 

[Sir.Fred]

I'm just gonna break this to you now: Bitcoin (and crypto in general) is only "unbannable" right now, because only a miniscule fraction of the population actually use it. The moment it starts becomming a threat to the banks, it will be shut down. HARD. The government doesn't like what it can't control, so crypto won't remain unbanned if the banks are threatened.

We're on F95 talking about how successful governments are at eradicating certain types of behavior?
I'm gonna break this to you: banning something already in demand will increase its value and often have very little impact on demand - sometimes it can increase it.
And, for what it's worth, banks, paypals, other financial institutions were threatened by it right up until the point they adopted it and now they're all, to varying degrees, diving into it. Bitcoin didn't go from $0.65 to $65,000 in a decade without their deep pockets.

I do also want to say that some of us (I refuse to accept I'm the only one here) have been doing non-shady mainstream crypto activity for several years now (yes, including purchases, paying bills etc.). I was merely trying to highlight, to a community that would benefit from this solution, that it exists and is way less shady and unapproachable in 2021 than it was in 2012 when the media started telling everyone how shady it was.

If you're a crypto nay-sayer and reckon you're staying out because you don't trust it and you know it all, just take a moment to challenge some of those assumptions and possibly false information you're operating with. Just friendly advice. Do please feel free to ignore it, and me, and anyone else bringing news of the future present.

I may have another crack at that walkthrough some time. I really don't see how signing up to Bitpay or whatever and sharing that address is any different to signing up to Patreon and sharing that address but maybe I'll do some Googling and try to help clarify things.

Again, thanks all for contributions - I learned a lot. And good luck to all the devs exploring the topic!

 

[Yngling]

I don't do crypto, but I think it's not a bad idea.

I don't do patreon either (for privacy reasons) and to be honest, with this good site here, I don't really miss it.
Yes, I will need to wait a bit longer for an update than others, but I can handle that.

Zargon_games (seeing that he's in the thread anyway) would be one of the first ones I'd send some money to, if I could. I love his game and loved last update!

Back on topic, in my opinion, if a dev were to accept bitcoin as a payment, it doesn't mean that he'd need to become a bitcoin investor. It also doesn't mean that he believes in conspiracy theories or doesn't trust banks or whatever. It's just another way to get some cash in, and if it's as easy as FreeFred says it is, it shouldn't be much of a hassle.

I don't really see the problem with taxes either, unless maybe if game development really does become a full-time job. But at that point I think you may find some ways around that. You aren't the only one using crypto payments for your business.

 

[pharal]

I am not a game creator, nor do I have much knowledge on crypto.
I tried it once and it was so much trouble and hardly more anonymous (in some cases worse since individual sellers often require ID).
Maybe I did it wrong because I am sure that there are sites out there that sell directly instead of through individuals (who also wants your ID), but one thing is for sure, I bought at a loss... not because it is loosing value, but because one has to pay for conversion.
AFAIK Bitcoin wallets are also open to view, so the purchase can be tracked. So if you are worried about governments and such, they can still track it back to seller and potentially push for ID.

 

[Sir.Fred]

Privacy coins like Monero are intended to be anonymous and impossible to track and trace when used correctly.

Bitcoin was never intended to be anonymous, although unless your hypothetical investigator is willing to throw huge amounts of expensive resources at analysing blockchain transactions, it's pretty bloody discreet when used correctly.

In short, if you wanna dodge the man because you're doing something that would really take their interest, use a privacy coin.

If you only want convenient, secure and pseudonymous transactions, Bitcoin works great.

Naturally, you'll find Bitcoin on all the major exchanges and wallets and much easier to use. Those exchanges are no stranger to ID requirements though - for the uninitiated they're much more akin to Payal or a banking site or something.

Monero and the other privacy coins are usually only available on less mainstream exchanges, which often have less stringent KYC/AML requirements due to the nature of their customer base being mostly dodgy af.

I will also repeat: never leave your coins or assets on exchanges for longer than necessary. They're not banks; they're just companies with a website and bold claims. Keep your private keys offline, in a wallet or on a piece of paper but don't leave coins on an exchange.

 

[Nunu312]

To be another developer weighing in, There are all the previous concerns but to reiterate the major one, when we accept payment we are doing it as a legitimate business. Some people might not like it but porn isn't anywhere near as underground as it used to be, because of this there is generally less desire to lean towards the more anonymous, less regulated system.

The systems and support structures for regular payments from patreon and such provide a great deal of comfort in many regards, which have basically all been covered. The short list is ease of use, ease of distribution, ease of fulfilling promises, large potential customer base and the compounding effects of success. A thing that is also relevant is that if you are making financial decisions, knowing you have a reliable income source rather than receiving a random amount of donations each month, this goes for any amount of money, from 50$ a month to 10k$. As a developer subscriptions are just better than straight donations, even if we eventually get less money from it.

Then as said, given all these reasons there is just relatively little desire to open up yet another revenue stream that is not going to substantially increase the potential customer base. Starting and managing it costs time and I would probably attract more customers if that effort went into development than maintenance, not to mention... I like development, I imagine we all do and the constant progress on the game helps in innumerable ways. I'm in the process of getting a twitter set up and going to manage that basic advertising is something I don't want to have to do, but even though this isn't my job job, I take it seriously and want my game to be as successful as possible because that makes me feel good as a creator.

There are already so many avenues for us to spend development time that would pay better in both money and general audience than allowing payment by crypto. Add on that these days we just don't NEED the specific benefits of crypto because we are tax paying businesses. All in all I feel that covers why we aren't against crypto, it just doesn't fit the needs of most of us.