On a morning in Bangalore, programmer Rajesh received a strange email: “The achievement ‘Top 100 in Diablo 3 Ladder’ you submitted has been verified and securely stored in your YGG passport. According to your settings, this achievement will be visible to the recruitment team within the guild, but not visible to the game developers.”
Rajesh had not applied for this verification—because he did indeed reach the top 100 three years ago, but that account has long been inactive. How did the system know and proactively help him verify it?
“This is the first step of our ‘Sleeping Data Awakening Plan,’” explained Lina, head of the YGG digital identity project. “Many players' achievements, assets, and social connections in traditional games are locked in closed servers. We are building bridges to allow these data to be reclaimed and utilized by the users themselves.”
This is not just a technical experiment, but a revolution about data ownership, privacy, and value. And the YGG passport stands at the forefront of this revolution.
From 'being recorded' to 'proactively managed': A paradigm shift in gaming identity
The data logic of traditional gaming worlds is very simple:
· Game companies own all data
· Your win rate, online duration, and spending records are stored on their servers
· This data is used for: 1) Improving games; 2) Pushing advertisements/products to you; 3) Serving as evidence when banning accounts
· You leave the game = data is frozen, unable to take away
The promise of blockchain games is:
· You own your assets (NFTs, tokens)
· But until recently, gaming behavior data still belonged to game companies
"This is the gap we need to fill," Lina sketched on the whiteboard, "Asset ownership is just the first step. Your behavior, skills, reputation, and social network in the game are more valuable digital capital. Why can't these belong to you too?"
Core design principles of the YGG passport:
1. Users have complete control: Data stored on users' local or encrypted decentralized networks
2. Selective disclosure: You can disclose specific information to specific entities
3. Verifiable but invisible: Can prove "I am ranked in the top 5%" without revealing specific accounts
4. Value circulation: Data can be safely used to create economic value
The revelation of the "zero-knowledge tournament"
At the end of 2023, YGG organized an experimental tournament with very special rules:
· Participants need to prove "I have achieved diamond rank or above in any MOBA game"
· But not allowed to disclose specific games, accounts, or season times
· Need to use zero-knowledge proof technology
"We were initially worried that no one would participate in such complex requirements," event operations officer Marcus recalled, "but the number of sign-ups exceeded expectations by 300%. Players are eager for a reputation system that doesn't rely on single game data."
Participants included:
· A 36-year-old father, who was diamond in (League of Legends) ten years ago, but now has no time to play competitive games
· A former professional player of (DOTA2) wants to participate in casual competitions anonymously
· A female player who has only reached high ranks in mobile MOBA games does not want to reveal her main platform
"The value of this competition is not in the prize money," Marcus analyzed, "but in proving a concept: player ability can become a portable, verifiable, and privacy-protecting asset."
Key insights collected by the YGG passport team after the match:
1. 87% of participants are willing to permanently store achievement proofs in their digital passports
2. 62% hope these proofs can be used to "unlock" early benefits of other games (such as high rank starting points)
3. 45% are willing to use data for game balancing research after strict anonymization
The three-layer architecture of the passport: balancing security and utility
The YGG passport is not a single technology but a layered system:
Layer one: Local core (completely private)
Stored on the user's device, no information uploaded:
· Raw data: game screenshots, videos, achievement screenshots
· Behavioral fingerprints: operation habits, decision patterns, learning curves
· Social graph: frequently teamed up teammates, trusted teammates list
· Security rules: Which data can be used how
"This layer is like your diary," chief architect Chen Ming explained, "Only you can access it. The tools we design help you organize your diary, but we don't touch the diary itself."
Layer two: Verification layer (selective proof)
Based on zero-knowledge proofs and trustworthy execution environments:
· Achievement prover: Generates a mathematical proof of "I have reached diamond rank," without revealing account information
· Skill certificate: proving "my APM (actions per minute) remains stable above 200"
· Behavioral pattern signature: proving "I am good at late-game decision-making" without showing specific match data
· Reputation scorer: Generates a comprehensive reputation score based on multiple sources
"This is the most technically complex part," Chen Ming demonstrated code, "We borrowed from financial privacy protection technologies and academic paper verification systems. The core is: you can prove you possess a certain attribute without revealing what that attribute specifically is."
Layer three: Application layer (value creation)
Usage scenarios of data under user authorization:
· Guild matching: using skills to find suitable teammates without revealing specific data
· Scholarship levels: Proving historical achievements to obtain a higher profit-sharing ratio
· In-game benefits: Unlock privileges for new games using cross-game reputation
· Research contributions: Anonymously contributing data to obtain token rewards
· Employment proof: Proving abilities to gaming companies for job applications
"Imagine this," product manager Sophia gave an example, "A Brazilian player wants to apply for our (CS:GO) scholarship. Traditionally, he would need to hand over his Steam account for us to check all the data. Now, he just needs to provide a zero-knowledge proof: 'My competitive rating has been above 1.5 in the past 6 months with no cheating bans.' We verify the proof's validity and know he qualifies, but we don’t know his specific account, match records, or even which game the 1.5 rating is from."
Reverse auction experiments in the data market
But how can data create value without infringing privacy? YGG is experimenting with a "data reverse auction" model.
Traditional data market:
· Companies collect data → Analyze → Sell to advertisers
· Users are unaware, have no control, and receive no benefits
YGG's reverse auction:
1. Demand release: Game developers release demands: "Need 1000 players who are 'good at fast-paced FPS' to test new weapons"
2. Qualification anonymous matching: The system checks the user passport locally, and eligible users are notified
3. User authorization: Users choose whether to participate and set reward expectations
4. Zero-knowledge proof: Users prove they meet conditions without revealing specific identities
5. Task execution and payment: Users complete tasks and receive rewards
"We just completed the first full cycle test," economic designer Ahmad shared, "An independent game studio wanted to test the balance of their new shooting game. They need two types of players: 'tactical' and 'aggressive.'"
Results:
· 2473 players anonymously verified that they meet one of the categories
· 892 people agreed to participate, average expected reward $12
· Ultimately, 300 people were selected (studio budget limited)
· Users average $11.5 earned, YGG charges a 10% platform fee
"The key breakthrough is," Ahmad emphasized, "The game studio got the test data they needed, but didn't know which specific players provided it. Players were compensated but did not expose their gaming habits to unfamiliar companies. As a platform, we never accessed any raw data, only verified the validity of the proofs."
From passive players to 'data entrepreneurs'
In Mexico City, 23-year-old Anna discovered a new use for the YGG passport. She is a versatile player:
· (Hearthstone) Arena constant winner
· (Minecraft) Redstone circuit designer
· (Among Us) Advanced reasoner
Traditionally, these skills were scattered across different platforms and could not create comprehensive value for her. Now, she uses the YGG passport:
Step one: Achievement aggregation
· Store achievement proofs from three games in the passport
· Set access permissions: Open only for projects that need multi-dimensional testers
Step two: Skill combination packaging
· Create custom tags: "strategy game expert" + "strong logical thinking" + "social reasoning ability"
· This is her unique skill combination, rare in the market
Step three: Accept targeted invitations
· A new digital tabletop game company needs testers
· They need to understand card strategies, rule logic, and social interactions simultaneously
· Anna's passport automatically matched this need
Step four: Participate and receive rewards
· She participated in a two-week test and received $300 compensation
· Test data is anonymized for balancing adjustments
· Her passport added a "professional tester" badge
"I now see myself as a 'freelancer in gaming skills,'" Anna shared in the community, "My passport is my resume, my portfolio, my negotiation tool. Most importantly, I control who can see what."
Red team drills for privacy protection
Of course, the biggest challenge is security. YGG has established a full-time "privacy red team"—their task is to try to breach their own system.
Recent drills have uncovered several key vulnerabilities:
Vulnerability one: Metadata leakage
· Even with zero-knowledge proofs, metadata like transaction time and frequency may expose patterns
· Solution: Introduce time obfuscation and batch verification
Vulnerability two: Cross-reference attacks
· Attackers may cross-reference multiple anonymous data sources to identify individuals
· Solution: Differential privacy technology, adding statistical noise to data
Vulnerability three: Social engineering
· Attackers may trick users into revealing proof information
· Solution: User education + proof validity expiration limits
"We conduct a full offense and defense drill once a month," security chief Elena said, "Every time we find a vulnerability, it's a victory—because we have patched it before a real attack occurs. Our goal is to achieve a level of privacy protection for users equivalent to that of Swiss bank accounts."
Future: When passports become the cornerstone of digital life
The vision of the YGG passport goes beyond gaming. The team is exploring:
Educational certification
· Logical thinking, teamwork, and resource management skills in the game
· Can it be transformed into proof of ability in the real world?
· Will companies recognize that "achieving master rank in (StarCraft) = excellent multitasking ability"?
Mental health support
· Early detection of psychological pressure patterns through gaming behavior data
· Providing resource recommendations to users under complete privacy protection
· Not storing sensitive data, only providing real-time analysis
Creator economy
· Game video creators prove their creative abilities
· MOD developers prove their programming skills
· Establishing a verifiable portfolio through a passport
Cross-platform reputation
· Can reputation built in game A be transferred to game B?
· How to prevent abuse of the reputation system?
· The game theory design of decentralized reputation
"The biggest opportunity may be beyond our expectations," Lina said in the project roadmap meeting, "Just like in the early days of the internet, people didn't know what browser bookmarks, cookies, and social graphs would become. We are building the infrastructure for digital identity, but what new value users will create with it requires their imagination."
Back to Bangalore, Rajesh
Rajesh ultimately decided to package the several game achievements he verified into a composite identity of "multi-type strategy expert." He set permissions as follows:
· To the YGG scholarship team: Completely open for applying for higher-level projects
· For game developers: Only open "overall ability scores" and "types of games excelled in"
· For research institutions: Open anonymized behavioral data, charged per use
· Hidden from everyone: Specific account information, real game time, spending records
"What reassures me the most is," he said, "I know the data is stored on my local device. If YGG disappears tomorrow, my passport remains valid. This is my true digital property, not rented."
Outside, the traffic in Bangalore begins to roar. But in the digital world, a new economic system is quietly growing—in this system, data is no longer a resource to be extracted but capital controlled by users; privacy is no longer the cost of convenience but the foundation of value; gaming is no longer just entertainment but evidence of skills, a source of reputation, and a carrier of value.
The YGG passport is not just a set of technical tools. It is an answer to a fundamental question of the digital age: How do we ensure we remain the owners of data when everything about us is digital?
And gaming might be the best starting point to answer this question—because here, the risks are virtual, but the value and principles are real.
Your gaming story deserves to be remembered, verified, respected, and most importantly—owned by you. The YGG passport is making this idea a reality, one proof at a time, one authorization at a time, one player at a time.
Now it's your turn to think: What achievements in your gaming life do you wish to own forever, share controllably, and gain recognition and value from?
Your digital passport is waiting for its first stamp.@Yield Guild Games #YGGPlay $YGG
