‘Ethereum Hosts ‘Doom Olympics’ Gaming Contest Launch’

A weeklong competition named the “Doom Olympics” has kicked off, offering a $15,000 prize pool for gamers who think they excel at the classic shooter Doom. The event, fully on-chain, is organized by the crypto gaming project RIVES, known for integrating retro games like Tetris onto the Cartesi blockchain and Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network incubated by Coinbase. This integration ensures that every move, score, and interaction in the game is recorded and verifiable.

RIVES, short for RISC-V Verifiable Entertainment System, has designed the “Doom Olympics” with seven challenges that present innovative ways to test players’ skills in the iconic first-person shooter. Participants can engage in game contests like Knuckle Crusher and Treasure Seeker, offering unique twists on the traditional gameplay, as well as social activities like referring friends for a chance to win a share of the $15,000 prize pool.

While the original developer of Doom, Id Software, is not directly involved in the project, RIVES has chosen to use the “Freedoom” version of the game, which incorporates open-source assets onto the Doom engine. The competition runs until September 19, allowing gamers to play Doom in-browser with all gameplay elements permanently recorded on the Cartesi network. Each gameplay session is stored as a “tape,” similar to classic Doom speed demos, ensuring fairness and establishing a new level of trust.

The initiative aims to address challenges faced by the speedrunning community, where remote competitions can lead to cheating and doubts about the legitimacy of records. By recording every movement on-chain and making the resulting “tape” accessible for replay by anyone, the system aims to prevent cheating during gameplay.

RIVES co-founder Max Hatesuer highlighted the advantages of decentralized verification for speedruns, eliminating the need for third-party validation and enabling the creation of custom rules and mods. The integration of Doom into the blockchain ecosystem opens up new possibilities for gameplay validation and the establishment of persistent leaderboards.

Despite the humorous notion that Doom can be played on various unconventional platforms, such as pregnancy tests and gut bacteria, RIVES has successfully brought the game on-chain through Cartesi’s infrastructure. By leveraging RISC-V VM and rollup technology, RIVES has embraced the challenge of integrating Doom into the blockchain ecosystem.

In conclusion, the “Doom Olympics” presents a unique opportunity for gamers to test their skills in a fully on-chain competition, demonstrating the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing gaming experiences.