The holidays are close at hand, and the VEXI team just couldn’t resist tiding you over with a festive $GALA rebate before the Thanksgiving and Black Friday fun!
If you haven’t started playing VEXI Villages yet on your favorite mobile device, what are you waiting for?
This is where it pays to be good at math. ✖️➕➗➖🧠 Just kidding. The VEXI team loves to keep it simple.
On one hand, if you take advantage of 100% rebate sales like this one, you’ll end up with some awesome playable VEXI Villages goodies AND $GALA!
On the other hand, if you miss out, you might be jealous of all the players who jumped at the opportunity. After all, they got the item and the $GALA while you sat there twiddling your thumbs and dreaming about turkey.
Available Now For a Limited Time…
Get The Bundle with the very VEXI Turkey now using any of the qualifying payment options below and you’ll immediately receive a $GALA rebate valued at 100% of the purchase price.
Qualifying Payment Methods
Credit Card
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USDC
The Bundle with the very VEXI Turkey
Remember that time that Gala Girl put a Turkey on her head?
Inside this mouth-watering bundle (do not attempt to eat contents of bundle), you’ll find a Rare “Stuffles” ProtoVEXI Costume NFT (pictured above).
🦃 Hurry! This opportunity will vanish into a cloud of feathers, suddenly and without notice!
How many of you have a file cabinet sitting around for records? Do you find it useful… or is keeping all those physical records more of a hindrance than a help?
Blockchain technology has the potential to totally rethink the way we interact with records. Bear with us for a minute here… we’re going to walk you through the riveting history of the file cabinet, and why decentralization is the answer to a problem you didn’t know we had.
From Revolution to Necessity
There was a time when filing cabinets were cutting edge technology. In the late 1890s, the filing cabinet came onto the scene and gained popularity quickly. When you think back to the organizational tools available at the time, it’s not really surprising.
Before the filing cabinet, if you wanted to store and retrieve vital information, you probably kept it in a cellar, safe or ledger. That’s all well and good… but what if you have A LOT of information?
As business and formal, modern economic systems began to gain steam in the world, it was more and more necessary to have easy access to information and records. For businesses, they’d need to keep customer records for growing regulatory forces and to understand a wider business scope than was previously possible. The advent of mail and telegraph communication brought more remote transactions, making complex balance sheets and receipts. As ownership systems became more formalized, you’d need to prove that you owned things more than with a single deed that entitled you to your whole estate!
So… file cabinets changed the world. Think of doctors, clerks, librarians, museum curators, lawyers — these people had tons of records. Their ability to access them quickly was directly related to their ability to accomplish more.
Fast forward 40 or 50 years after the second world war. A middle class is emerging as a majority of most 1st world countries, and they have an increasing amount of paper records. Printing developments made it easier for written documents and records to be provided to them, and they crammed them full of house deeds, wills, bank statements, voided checks, medical records, birthday cards… the list goes on.
See how fun it was to search for records in bound volumes before file cabinets with this list of 1700s birth records digitized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!
That file cabinet that was such a boon to business soon became something that every person who had any sort of financial footprint needed to have in their house. The information in it wasn’t all vital, but there was stuff in there that could mean serious harm if they lost it… so file cabinets stayed important.
Into the Digital Background
File sharing, cloud storage and insanely cheap (relative to yesteryear) external storage abound today. Most people, however, still have that file cabinet in their house. That file cabinet may not be the shining example of technological progress anymore, but it still holds incredibly valuable documents.
Anyone who owns a house knows that there’s that packet you got at closing. We won’t blame you for not knowing what all is in there… but we all know that we need to keep it handy. Same with your car — your title is your certified proof of ownership. If you lose that, you’ll need a new one before you can register or insure your vehicle. Tax records have to be kept for years in case of an audit — business records even longer!
I open this file cabinet exactly 1 time a year. Please, find me a better way.
‘Wait a minute —’ you may be saying, ‘Some of those things aren’t paper anymore where I live!’. You’d be correct. In fact, most of those things will likely be transitioning away from paper records very soon. With it, your file cabinet will likely get a lot more roomy on the inside. This can make you feel like that big ugly piece of furniture is a waste of space, but also that the standardized and safe place that you’ve put your records your whole life is gone. Whatever will you do!?
The Future of Vital Storage
The file cabinet didn’t just give us a way to organize and retrieve information for over 100 years. It also gave us an absolutely essential way to keep records safe. File cabinets were a place to keep our sensitive information, usually behind lock and key in an office or our home. Newer file cabinets are even fire resistant to protect your records in the event of a disaster. So what happens with all our digital records in the event of an equivalent digital disaster?
Traditionally cloud storage just doesn’t cut it for sensitive records. Do you know what this year is? The worst year ever for cybercrime. Do you know what last year was? Also the worst year ever for cybercrime. And it goes on like that, back to when cybercrime became a thing. Do you really want your tax records or financial documents on a cloud service that’s only as secure as its practices?
Now it’s blockchain’s time to shine. Blockchains are essentially decentralized databases. Databases are the digital equivalent of a file cabinet in terms of organization, recall and storage. Like with file cabinets, information on a database can be tagged, grouped and referenced easily. Blockchain, however, brings new advantages that traditional databases do not.
A blockchain is decentralized. On most chains, there’s no central authority that you have to rely on to ensure security or access. The chain can be accessed without a centralized portal and validation occurs by consensus between users, meaning no one has to direct the blockchain per se, it just keeps functioning off of the established logic and the consensus of its users.
Blockchains are also secure, while still having public transparency. You could, for example, use a blockchain file system to prove that you have had a certain document in your possession for a given period of time without having to unmask what the contents of that document are. The blockchain itself can serve as proof of when and how files are changed without actually giving away what those changes entail unless you have the document in hand to reference. In short, a blockchain can provide the same chain of ownership that physically possessing a document provides, while also creating a digital paper trail that proves possession and history as long as the document has been on the blockchain.
Mundane… but Massively Important
This may seem like small potatoes… but technological advancements sometimes feel that way until you think about all of their ramifications. There are hundreds of thousands of hours wasted in courts around the world every year to determine the validity of documents or to verify chain of custody. With a blockchain there wouldn’t be any reason to argue… all the data is there on the chain forever!
Again, it’s hard to say that this is the most glamorous or exciting use of blockchain technology… but it’s pretty dang useful. How we store and maintain necessary documents is ripe for disruption, and we do need a way that’s more suited to our modern situation.
We’ve all had all sorts of ideas for how blockchains could change the world. This one may not make headlines, but it’s important. The biggest changes don’t always seem like big changes until they totally alter the way we do business and approach life.
The future is bright… and maybe it involves getting that ugly file cabinet out of your house and office sooner rather than later.
It’s time for a competition rundown for the next opportunity in the most rewarding live Gala Game, Common Ground World! The new competition starts Tuesday, November 19th at 9am PT!
Each week’s new competition hosts CGW players from all over the world in the games’ Competition server for three days of building, crafting and upgrading to see who can make the most Stars for selling goods!
In a standard Common Ground World competition, the top 1200 leaderboard finishers win varying $GALA prizes, with everyone in the top 25 winning at least 10,000 $GALA! For Gala Gamers, this is one of the most powerful reward opportunities in the entire GalaChain ecosystem, so remember… It pays to get good at Common Ground World!
This week, in addition to the standard $GALA rewards, all leaderboard finishers will also receive a special Blueprint NFT that will upgrade certain buildings throughout your town!
Enhancing Gameplay with NFTs
Common Ground World is entirely free to play and all players are automatically eligible to compete for $GALA rewards. But by strategically owning and using in-game NFTs like buildings and effect cards, you can enhance your gameplay in crucial ways to get an edge over the competition!
The CGW NFT catalog contains hundreds of unique NFTs, each with their own purpose and many that include their own specialized worker units to help you in the game. For example, check out this newest NFT building that was just released, perfect for helping out in this week’s competition!
Epic Tiki Bar
It may be getting cold outside but sour latest NFT building will put your game into a tropical wonderland.
Say aloha to maximum efficiency with the Tiki Bar! This compact tropical-themed Brewery takes up less space but packs a powerful punch 🍹😉
The competitive fun begins tomorrow (Tuesday, November 19th) at 9am PT and ends at 9am PT on Friday, November 22nd.
“Rum and Done”
The Plains are calling and the spirit of competition is strong! Distill your way to victory by selling White Rum to show who’s the real “toast of the town!”
Ingredients: 10 Sugarcane, 2 Water Barrels, 1 Yeast, 1 Oak Barrel Made in: Brewery Stored in: Storehouse Craft time: 260 seconds Affected by: Nothing
New Town Hall – Friday, November 22nd
Check out the latest Town Hall replay at the link below from November 8th and get ready for the next one this coming Friday as the weekly competition wraps up!
Join the Discord community
If you’re new to Common Ground World, be sure to join the Gala Games Discord server, where you’ll find the most loyal and dedicated community anywhere in web3 gaming. You’ll always see Common Ground World updates firstin Discord!
Have you been hearing a lot about prediction markets recently? You’re not alone.
The concept of a prediction market has entered mainstream public consciousness in a big way lately. The viral success of sites like Polymarket during the recent US Presidential election has shined a spotlight on the concept, but prediction markets aren’t anything new.
While there seems to be a much more widespread awareness of these systems, misunderstandings about them abound. In the article below we’ll take a look at exactly what a prediction market is, what it’s not and exactly how the process works.
What Is a Prediction Market
A prediction market (sometimes referred to as a betting market or idea futures market) is a place where users can make predictions on the likely outcome of an unknown event. A correct prediction is typically incentivized with financial rewards, so that each participant is competing for correct predictions directly.
The structure of predictions are traditionally set to binary options, with each option being valued at its share of the “vote” placed on it. More complex options change the predicted likelihood in the same manner, just spread out across more possible predictions.
How Prediction Markets Work
Prediction markets do not work like traditional betting pools on sports or other gaming. The value of any given prediction is only based on how many users relative to the total have predicted that specific outcome.
For a decentralized prediction market, it often works like this:
You want to predict on a question, so you purchase $10 of “Yes”, which is currently at 25%.
This means that you now have $10 of Yes tokens on that question, but there are 3x as many “No” tokens as there are Yes tokens.
If new developments cause people to buy Yes tokens, No tokens become relatively less valuable and “Yes” tokens become relatively more valuable.
You may sell your “Yes” tokens before the issue is decided. If you bought when Yes was at 25% and sold when it was at 50%, the prediction you placed would double to $20.
Once an issue is decided, that correct prediction has all the value from the question. If you have not sold and the final objective answer turns out to be Yes, your Yes tokens would be valued at $40.
A crucial misunderstanding about these platforms is that percentage chances do not indicate “odds” in a prediction market, as they would in traditional gambling. The likelihood shown instead indicates the number of predictions placed on that option versus other available options. This means that prediction markets aggregate the predictions of the crowd, rather than any odds based on objective facts.
Prediction markets are intended to tap into the “Wisdom of the Crowd Effect”. This phenomenon was first observed by Aristotle in his 350 BCE book, Politics, but statistician Francis Galton is widely credited with bringing it into the modern day. He observed in the early 20th century that often the median prediction of a crowd would be closer to the final result of an event than even qualified opinions.
“It is possible that the many, though not individually good men, yet when they come together may be better, not individually but collectively, than those who are so, just as public dinners to which many contribute are better than those supplied at one man’s cost”
-Aristotle, Politics
This doesn’t mean that prediction markets are always right. When people are betting on roulette, for instance, they can be confident that they have a 2.7% chance to hit any individual number (2.63% with a 00 wheel). This is based on the physics of the wheel and the high level of predictable randomness in roulette.
Prediction markets are only based on what the users of the platform are saying. If a given option is listed as 70% (Yes) and 30% (No), that just means that 70% of the funds used to predict on that question have chosen yes. This isn’t inherently bad, but it is wise to consider that these predictions are often vulnerable to manipulation, misunderstandings or cognitive biases within the users of the market.
Why Prediction Markets?
While it’s easy to dismiss prediction markets as just another type of gambling, they have applications that are far different from traditional gambling. Prediction markets have been used to glean insights for generations — typically in politics, business and investing.
The first widely known modern electronic prediction market was the Iowa Electronic Markets, established by The University of Iowa. This is run as a non-profit, and users can make predictions about elections or key economic indicators. This has been run continuously since the 1988 presidential election for research and education, and at times it has been more indicative of election results than polling.
The 1990s saw several prediction markets rise and fall, speculating on incredibly diverse issues across science, world events and culture. As the age of data began to rise, however, more entities started utilizing the powerful predictions used by aggregating median opinion.
Pharmaceutical companies and investors have noted that they often use internal prediction markets to forecast which new developments are likely to get through clinical trials. Google announced in 2005 that it uses internal predictions to forecast likely launch dates. Even the US Department of Defense had a short-lived project to use prediction markets from the public to indicate likely threat occurrences.
Into the Decentralized World
In the world of web3, prediction markets have understandably risen back to public prominence. Due to the nature of decentralization, these prediction markets can create a very wide benchmark on opinion. The choice/token structure of a prediction market is perfect for a blockchain, and smart contracts ensure a trustless exchange between platforms and users.
The first on-chain prediction market was Augur, created on Ethereum in 2018. While it received some use early in its lifetime, it quickly stagnated due to the lack of community in the web3 world and due to its sidestepping of regulatory agencies. Augur v2 would later release and revamp the concept as a totally decentralized and open source platform, but it has since faded into obscurity due to Ethereum gas prices and developers moving on.
Polymarket’s launch on the Polygon blockchain in 2020 pushed prediction markets into the modern world. While Polymarket had early troubles with the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), they were able to resolve the issues and cooperate with commodity exchange regulations. While volume has receded sharply on the platform over the past several weeks, more than $3bn of total predictions have been placed on the site so far in 2024… much of it on questions focusing on the US presidential election.
Crucially, prediction markets have become somewhat self-sustaining in the era of blockchain. Users can propose questions and interact with a wider variety of prediction events than ever before. This is both good and bad. More data can provide us with more insights, but with the question end of the process more highly democratized, it’s far more possible to encounter leading or misleading questions without realizing it. Perception also does not always equal reality. The unavailability of reliable information or predictors failing to inform themselves can easily shift results.
Prediction markets aren’t perfect, but they do show us important things about the opinions of their users.Think of them as a different kind of poll, rather than objective truth or “odds”. While traditional polling on issues has low response rates and low participation, prediction markets incentivize participation. Since they incentivize being correct as well, they accurately show us a picture of what participants think is more likely. That’s not truth, but it’s good data.
Hopefully we’ve given you a little more insight into how prediction markets work and what they’re used for. Decentralization isn’t intuitive for most of us, and it’s almost like prediction markets were just web3 ahead of their time.
Because prediction markets originally were more about data than wagering, it can be incredibly insightful just to browse through predictions on issues even for those who have no plans on actually placing predictions. No one has built a prediction market on GalaChain yet, but if you do choose to engage with these platforms elsewhere, we hope this article has given you some crucial knowledge to help you do so safely and wisely.
Where goblins prowl and curses crawl, Beyond the waves of yonder squall, The brave are drawn by legend’s call Where few shall stand as many fall.
Led by fate, the unseen guide, Ambition and adventure’s pride, Across abysmal seas they ride, In search of magic magnified.
Exemplars Embark
Today is an historic day for Gala Games’ web3 MMO as the Public Preview build opens to all Exemplar owners.
While the game is still in development, the Mirandus team wants you to experience its evolution in real time, exploring and enjoying the nuances of gameplay for yourselves. This Public Preview build will remain open until launch, interrupted only by server resets, updates and troubleshooting.
Owning an Examplar is the way to access this exclusive early preview experience of Mirandus. While Exemplar NFTs are sold out from the primary store sales, they are still available on the peer-to-peer secondary markets listed below:
