The Abyss is a next-generation digital distribution platform

The Abyss is a next-generation digital distribution platform, delivering all types of video games (Free2play MMOs and cryptogames being a key priority), including AAA-titles, to the fast-growing global game community. Unlike other platforms (Steam, Origin, GOG, etc.), The Abyss offers a groundbreaking motivational and multilevel referral system, allowing gamers to earn from in-game and social activities, and other gamers’ payments as well. By joining The Abyss, developers will reduce their marketing expenses and receive an extra income from referral payments made in other games on the platform.

ABYSS tokens are a priority internal mechanism for interaction on The Abyss platform. Earnings from referral and motivational programs are paid in ABYSS tokens. The majority of internal services rely on ABYSS tokens only

We have reached a point in the digital era, where there is no lack of game options. Whether played on a personal computer, video game console, mobile phone, tablet or even a watch, video games are accessible at absolutely any time. Over the past three decades we have witnessed the unprecedented development of video game industry, from plastic boxes with black-and-white Tetris to virtual reality helmets. Video games initially challenged other forms of entertainment; now they are the definitive leader.

It would seem that the biggest headache for video game developers should be creating content and an interesting product. In fact, the hardest part is finding a way to make the product stand out among the masses of other video game options and reach the end user. Advertising expenditures often account for more than half of the budget for video game development. The cost of traffic has steadily increased with the rise of the offers on the market. But what amount of advertising expenses is really effective?

The emergence of blockchain technology has enabled the creation of a next-generation digital distribution platform, delivering all types of video games (Free play MMOs and cryptogames being a key priority), including AAA-titles, to the fast-growing global game community. Unlike other platforms (Steam4, Origin, GOG, etc.), The Abyss offers a groundbreaking motivational and multilevel referral system, allowing gamers to earn from in-game and social activities, and other gamers’ payments as well. By joining The Abyss, developers will reduce their marketing expenses and receive an extra income from referral payments made in other games on the platform. Other benefits imply automatic payments to cryptocurrency accounts, the internal CPA Network5 and numerous additional services.

TOKEN SALE DETAILS

Token sale (daico): mar 7 — apr 7, 2018 (09:00 utc)
price: 1 abyss = 0.24 usd. Accept eth and bnb.
Soft cap: 6m usd. If this goal is not met, all funds will be returned
Maximum total token supply: 603.75 m. All unsold tokens will be burnt by smart contract
Hard cap:
+ 40m usd
Minimum contribution is 0.1 ETH
Days 1–7 Maximum contribution is 10 ETH
Days 8+ no ETH contribution limit
days 1–7 maximum contribution is 10 eth
days 8+ no eth contribution limit

+ 300 000 bnb
Acceptable from the international (non u.s.) participants only
Minimum contribution is 1000 bnb tokens

Bonuses: don’t miss the chance to get more abyss tokens by participating in token sale at time
+ First 48hrs: +25%
+ Days 3–7: +15%
+ Days 8–14: +10%
+ Days 15–21: +5%

Tokens distribution

ABYSS tokens assigned to the Company will be frozen by the DAICO smart contract for a period of 1 year.
ABYSS tokens assigned for Reserve will be frozen by the DAICO smart contract for a period of 6 months. Reserve will be used to provide motivational rewards to players to accelerate the ecosystem growth at the early stage of platform operation, and also to bring amazing new games to the platform.

CURRENT DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS

Digital distribution platforms are successfully developing on the video game market today. According to information from open sources, it is possible to note a global trend of increasing audiences and incomes of the platforms.

To cover a maximal audience, developers aim to place their projects on various digital distribution platforms. When choosing a game, users tend to opt for services with the most convenient functions and additional possibilities. A good example is The Witcher 3, which is presented on both STEAM and GOG.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT

+ Increasing income from a single user: a powerful, multilevel referral program whereby a user brought in by a developer provides the developer an income (paid in ABYSS tokens) from all payments and achievements in any other game on the platform.
+ The player also profits: An analogous referral system is built on a viral basis whereby players receive income (paid in ABYSS tokens) for bringing in friends and their payments. Also the gamer can earn from different activities on the platform (achievements, content generation, internal CPA Network, etc.).

The Abyss utilizes the principle of affiliate marketing: a maximal income is obtained by players and developers who are the first to bring in users to the platform. The system is oriented at more effectively inviting and retaining users than any other in the video game sphere.

+ Low entry threshold for the first check: dual currency options whereby all operations can be conducted in fiat money and the platform’s own ABYSS tokens.
+ Convenience of using tokens: tokens can be transferred to cryptocurrency accounts both manually and automatically.
+ Saving money on marketing: an internal system of advertising offers (based on ABYSS tokens) enables traffic to be exchanged with other developers, receiving and passing along only relevant users.
+ Gamification of Masternodes service: a well-planned system of syndicates.

THE ABYSS’S ADVANTAGES FOR DEVELOPERS

The Abyss offers a fundamentally different logic of advertising interaction to the developers. By directly buying and selling targeted traffic to each other and receiving payments even from users leaving the game, developers become a sort of partners. The model for interaction is thus altered from being competitive to being collaborative and mutually beneficial. It provides an ability to reduce expenses on being competitive and accordingly entails potential income growth for developers.

+ Payments are accepted in ABYSS tokens as well as fiat money13;
+ The minimum share of payments by users of the platform for developers is 70%;
+ Referral programs can bring a developer’s share to more than 100% in overall terms;
+ Developers can receive payments in tokens without verifying documents or waiting until the end of a reporting period;
+ The developer can fully receive his share in fiats, regardless of the currency in which the initial payment was received by the platform;
+ Developers immediately at the start get access to a targeted audience, including those generating content;
+ Developers get access to specialized player statistics;
+ Developers are offered a customer support service operating 24/7;
+ Developers define the depth of support service’ integration into their projects (three levels of integration are available);
+ Developers are offered a convenient and understandable mechanism for rotating traffic among any games on the platform via an internal system of advertising offers;
+ Developers are offered a simple mechanism for getting traffic both within and outside the platform;
+ No fraud and fewer refunds in operations with ABYSS tokens compared with those using
fiat money;
+ An opportunity to launch projects as an alfa or beta version for gathering opinions, testing and figuring out what aspects require the most work to improve the game, particularly regarding content and monetization;
+ An exhaustive amount of information, including user feedback and media reviews, is presented to aid in promoting the game and protecting it from unfair competition;
+ Users are unable to delete negative comments that contain a falsehood or are otherwise libelous following an official reply by a developer in which the situation is explained;
+ Open guidelines for free games promotion within the platform, including a banner on the main page, a slot in pop-up windows when a client opens the platform, project evaluations and other marketing solutions on the platform.

Further plans imply connecting to crowdfunding platform, since young teams that need financing for the development of their own MMO projects. Developers will be able to raise the needed funds, and sponsors will be able to participate in the creation of prospective games.

THE ABYSS’S ADVANTAGES FOR PLAYERS

The Abyss offers a wide range of profitable options for players, such as referral payments, rewards for game achievements (one’s own, as well as those by friends brought into the game) and payments for creating content.
+ Players get worldwide access to numerous games in one place;
+ Players are offered individual referral programs in which an income (paid in ABYSS tokens) is calculated based on a five-level referral chain comprised of friends brought in and users brought in by friends;
+ ABYSS tokens rewards earned from personal or joint game achievements;
+ Monetization of content created (reviews, streams, guides, commentary, fan art);
+ Additional ABYSS tokens income at an internal auction;
+ Players can earn additional ABYSS token rewards by fulfilling tasks within the system of offers for developers;
+ Beyond the framework of a given game, users are able to form syndicates and earn additional ABYSS token rewards from collaborative activities;
+ On demand, ABYSS tokens are transferred to the personal Ethereum wallet;
+ There is an internal overlay for in-game communication with any user of the platform and a fast access to important functions;
+ An overview of the activities of friends on the portal, including game achievements, sessions and other information. The user privacy settings can be adjusted individually;
+ A comprehensive, individual system of client settings for each user to see only what is needed;
+ FPS counter is used to obtain information on game performance for PC users;
+ Analysis of the frequency of achievements influencing the value of rewards for users and their ratings;
+ Automatic updates of games enable players not to care about how current a version is, while the ability to limit download speeds of needed files will be convenient for users with a slow internet connection. Regarding these options, it is possible to set a schedule or simply turn off the automatic update regime;
+ A hibernation regime enables computer resources to be freed up when clients are working in a background regime or when users are in the game;
+ An “out of network” regime enables players to maintain access to some of the platform’s functions even if there is no internet connection;
+ During game sessions, users are able to get data about all players with whom they are interacting during game play so that they can make their acquaintance and become friends;
+ Screenshots and video captures of game process enable publication of any moment important to a particular player. The user can adjust the quality of the screenshots and video, as well as hotkeys and the location for saving the data with dates and times of the process saved;
+ An opportunity to organize computers in a virtual local network even if they are physically distant (in different towns, countries or even continents). This enables game play with friends for whom the official game servers either do not work or are inaccessible;
+ Convenient search engine for finding and adding friends, according to their unique ID, nickname, email address or any other parameter.

PLATFORM STRUCTURE AND BASIC SERVICES

The Abyss is a comprehensive ecosystem , consisting of mutually-referenced elements.

Unified Authentication. The functionality of a unified system of authentication (including social networks) enables users to easily connect to the platform and get access to all the opportunities offered by the service. Two-factor authentication and the possibility to instate IP blocking strengthen the capability of protecting user accounts.

Unified Billing and Dual-Currency Operations. A unified system for receiving payments via reliable payment servers provides for all the requirements of the platform. As blockchain is a relatively new technology and has not yet become massively used, dual currency operations are a crucial instrument for every game. Developers can receive payments for their games in a usual fiat currency as well as in ABYSS tokens, the latter providing a range of advantages for all participants of the platform.

Customer Support Service. An around-the-clock, support service enables the reduction of natural user outflow. The deeper the support service is integrated into a game, the higher the loyalty of its players is. We already provide a bilingual, 24/7 user support service for Destiny.Games projects. If needed, the offering of languages will be expanded. We propose three levels of integration for projects: basic, advanced and the complete package, whereby employees of the support service can answer questions regarding the particular project.

Transparent System for Statistics and Reporting. Beginning developers are not always able to compile and interpret game metrics so that they can use the obtained information to develop their game projects. The metrics that are most in demand in the video game industry, as well as convenient forms of reporting, are presented for every project immediately following integration. We compile fundamental events, interpret them and then report our analysis and forecasts to the developers. Uniformity in compiling data from the projects excludes discrepancies in the statistics. For every project, ARPU, MAU, LTV and other metrics are considered similarly.

Forum. A common space for communication among all participants of our video game ecosystem. We plan to create our own common forum for all games of the platform where each user can select the themes he/she is interested in.

In addition, the forum will include an area for communication between developers and contractors where issues can be resolved, such as searching for localizers and marketing experts or hiring employees in a different country. Players can directly communicate with developers and offer their own services. The Abyss plans to verify contractors so that the selection of partners for collaboration is maximally productive
Developer’s Personal Account Section and Personalization

A particular developer’s personal account section will comprise of two areas: public and private. The private area is to contain reporting on all the developer’s games, current advertising offers and profits from referral programs. The private area is to serve as a center for managing the developer’s games, traffic and audience.

The public area is a unique page for the particular developer. It can be personalized to the level of a corporate site, consisting of news, announcements, competitions, voting, and messages.
Player’s Personal Account Section and Personalization

ММО games, our key focus, are unique in their exclusive socialization. Viral connections between players and MMO projects are so strong that local game communities stick together even after the closure of a particular project, opting to search for a new way to play together

This means that players certainly need personalized pages to maintain a presence and communicate on the platform. A particular player’s personal account section provides information about all his/her financial operations, current balance and advantageous offers for setting up games, an opportunity to bound a personal Ethereum wallet, order the ABYSS tokens transfer, obtain full statistics for all referrals and motivational programs, as well as current rates for rewards for game achievements, functionality of direct communication with referred players and friends, and much more.

The public area of the personal account section is a place for personalization and selfexpression, communication and publication of various achievements.

ECONOMICS OF THE ABYSS PLATFORM

We are issuing a limited volume of ABYSS tokens. 1/3 of the platform’s commission from the internal CPA Network and the auction transactions will be burnt.
Priority of ABYSS tokens

For the purposes of popularizing ABYSS tokens, we introduce the additional bonuses:
+ Payments to developers as a share of payments in ABYSS tokens is performed by request or automatically;
+ The cost of purchases in ABYSS tokens is lower;
+ The internal system of offers among developers functions only in ABYSS tokens;
+ All referral and motivational programs are calculated and paid out only in ABYSS tokens;
+ Auction of in-game and platform items is conducted only with the use of ABYSS tokens;
+ The syndicates system relies on ABYSS tokens only;
+ The rewards for content creation are calculated in ABYSS tokens;
+ ABYSS tokens can be freely transferred to friends within the framework of the platform.
+ When paying for game purchases with ABYSS tokens, users are granted a discount at the expense of the platform. This makes ABYSS token more advantageous than fiat currency.
Distribution of User Payments

After deduction of payment system commission and taxes, the developer receives 70% of each payment, while the platform receives the rest 30%.
Crypto Reward Ecosystem

Multilevel Referral Program
The user is counted as a game referral if the game is the player’s first game. The game developer always receives an additional percent of all payments by its user in any other game on the platform.

The developer receives an additional percent of all payments not only by the player, but by all those referred five levels deep in any other game on the platform.

Every game that brings in at least one new loyal user of the platform. The one, who brings the friends in, forms a network of referral payments from all other games on the platform.

The player receives a percent of the payments by all the platform’s users whom the player brought in through a referral link 5 levels deep. The players brought in begin to form their own referral chains. If an invited player comes into the platform on his or her own — that is, not by any kind of referral program — that player becomes the founder of his or her referral chain.

F2P MMO games are a special type of games in which players spend hundreds of thousands or sometimes even millions of dollars14 in order to show up. According to the six degrees of separation theory15, by which any two people on the Earth are separated by no more than five levels of common acquaintances, each player on the The Abyss platform has the chance of landing such a big fish in his or her referral network. The fortunate combination of circumstances will allow for the capture of a whole pod of whales.

With the help of the targeted promotions of individual developers based on payments from referrals from other games, the general payout to developers in calculation of income from the game can exceed 100%.

When The Abyss receives a payment, 70% goes to the game developer and we keep the remaining 30%. 1/3 of our income is distributed to our multilevel referral program. Referrer receives 4%, 2%, 2%, 1%, 1% from payments made by his 1–5 level referrals.

Motivational Programs
Motivational programs are financed from Reward Bank, formed by:
+ Remainder of the budget from broken referral chains;
+ Reserve (will be used to provide motivational rewards to players to accelerate the ecosystem growth at the early stage of platform operation).

The preliminary distribution for the Reward Bank is planned as follows:
+ 60% — Game achievements (personal and collaborative)
+ 25% — Syndicates (Masternodes)
+ 15% — Content creation

Game Achievements
MMO projects entail long-term activity in which the player can be retained for years. One of the ways of retaining players is through game achievements. The Reward Bank is regularly used to make payments to all users for personal game achievements. The size of the payouts for each personal achievement is proportional to the income of the particular game and depends on the overall number of achievements at that level of rarity performed on that particular day throughout the entire platform. The size of a reward for achievements and activity outside a game (syndicates and content creation) depends on the daily size of the Reward Bank.

Syndicates (Masternodes)
Syndicates is a mechanism for bringing together players who may not be connected in a single game, and an additional method of monetizing the social activities of the platform based on blockchain technology. A syndicate is a collaborative game activity enabling receipt of an additional income depending on the rating of the syndicate. The syndicate’s rating is influenced by three indicators:
+ Number of ABYSS tokens in the syndicate’s account;
+ Shelf life of each lot of tokens;
+ Personal rating of each participant in the syndicate, figured from the sum of motivational accruals.

Special badges, the types of which depend on the rating of the syndicate, are regularly accrued for each participant. All the badges in the platform are redeemed from the budget of the Reward Bank.

Furthermore, the syndicate’s rating influences the personalization of an individual user page (configuration, elements of socialization, rank, emoticons and emoji, additional options, including the weight of a like or unlike, and much more).

Content Creation
There are many mechanisms for sustaining the interest in a game and shaping public opinion about it, such as articles, streams, reviews, guides, fan art, videos and stories. Everything can be evaluated and rewarded via the platform or users themselves thanks to blockchain technology. There are two options in the interface for publishing any material:
+ Like/Unlike, which can be monetized;
+ Opportunity to receive ABYSS tokens from other users in the form of rewards for a quality content.

The platform assesses each publication of content as a ratio of likes and dislikes. As such, the rating of a user that evaluates a publication is important. The user’s like with a high rating carries a lot more weight than a like from a player who has recently registered.

Based on the assessment, the author of a publication enjoys special badges of various denominations that must be combined into a collection. Once a day the platform purchases presented collections, based on the share of the daily Reward Bank. Any user can freely buy or sell any type of badge at an auction on the platform.
Auction

An auction is a way to buy or sell game components or non-play badges of various types for ABYSS tokens. The commission for transactions is minimal and is determined as following: 3% of the sum of the transaction goes to the platform, 5% to the game.

INTERNAL CPA (COST PER ACTION) NETWORK

On The Abyss platform, developers get access to a universal advertising account for bringing in targeted traffic (interested in the game) with the following possibilities:
+ Offer one’s own traffic to other games;
+ Purchase traffic from other games via clear targeting and offers;
+ Get external traffic, connecting leads to the internal system for statistics

For internal traffic, a 10% commission in ABYSS tokens is charged. Tools for work with external traffic are presented for free.

Regarding its function, the internal CPA Network appears like a window with accessible options of offers that are presented by developers, proposing that other games and individual players take part in working with the traffic. Each game independently determines the type and targeting of its offer.
Link Referral System

After the launch of any project, an active advertising campaign with various depths of coverage is commenced This utilizes an advertising network, bloggers, media ad placements on specialized resources, etc.

To simplify things for the developers and compile analysis of the traffic of projects in one place, we offer a classic system of referral links generated by the system. Developers can fully analyze their advertising campaigns, including ad placements in other resources. A complete section of metrics is translated into the system so that all the necessary indicators (including ROI) are considered for each project. Additionally, developers have access to options for making external offers with clear KPIs to automatically calculate metrics.

Within the framework of the internal system of offers (CPA Network), there will be a mechanism for developers to publish offers through which they purchase traffic on the platform as well as from other projects or players on various terms. Developers can set requirements for the traffic, such as game settings, ability to pay, rating of players on the platform, and social activity, and select the type of advertising offer and load the advertising materials. It is possible to name the price for each offer in only ABYSS tokens. A project interested in the offer can in turn share traffic that is no longer pertinent to the project, such as when someone has not entered the game for a long time or has not made payments
Motivated Traffic

Motivated traffic is not so effective as converting motivated traffic into active players is rather rare. Marketing experts invent complicated goals for motivated offers on the assumption that the potential player will be drawn into the project as the task proceeds. Complicated offers, of course, raise the conversion rate but are inferior in quality to most types of traffic. One of the reasons for this problem is that everyone can participate in a motivated offer without any particular interest in video games.

Within the framework of the internal system of offers, game goals can be fulfilled by players, meaning a higher conversion rate for active players according to achievements of paid targets.
E-mail Promotions

For complete functioning of the platform it is necessary to have its own e-mail service. In the internal CPA Network developers can order targeted e-mails to be sent to the users presented by another developer. Personal user information is not provided to the receiving developer.
Media Advertising

Developers can order content media advertising. Several advertising positions are foreseen for these purposes: banners on personal pages, forum sections branding, and non-standard advertising formats.
Content

Developers can order content creation within the framework of the internal system of offers according to a specialized brief or pay ABYSS tokens to the author of an interesting publication directly within the framework of the platform.
DAICO

DAICO is an innovative fundraising model (suggested17 by the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin) that merges some of the benefits of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), aimed at upgrading and making the initial ICO concept more transparent and secure. The Abyss Token Sale is an advanced and improved DAICO model, allowing token holders to control the fund withdrawal limit, also providing an option to vote for the refund of the remaining contributed money in case the team fails to implement the project, with Oracles (appointed industry leaders) acting as arbitrators.

The main features of our DAICO will be as follows:
+ The Abyss Team defines the necessary fund limit (tap = wei/sec) to support the platform’s development process after the crowdsale is complete. The initial project’s tap, established by smart contract, is 115740740740740 (wei/sec) = 300 ETH/month. If the tap is not disbursed, it keeps accumulating over time;
+ If the team needs more funds for whichever reason, it can launch a poll either for raising the tap or receiving the buffer (a one-time extra sum for project’s purposes. The initial buffer is 0 ETH). Token holders can vote, depending on the amount of tokens they hold on their wallets (N, where N≠0), if they approve of the disbursement of extra funds or not;
+ The company and the reserve tokens do not have a right to vote. Prevention (proof-of stake algorithm) protocols have been included to protect against abuse by large token holders like exchanges. The weight of each Ethereum-wallet’s vote is limited by a certain amount of tokens:
“vote weight ≤ 0.1% of TotalTokenSupply”

+ To prevent the abuse of the system, the %, by which the tap may be raised at a time, is limited to 50% of the initial amount. The tap can be raised only once in 14 days period;
+ The amount of tokens needed to participate in the poll is calculated this way:

“UserTokenAmount = Balances[userAddress]
if (UserTokensAmount > TotalTokensSupply х 0,001) {
UserTokensAmount = TotalTokenSupply х 0,001
}
Yes/No VoteTokens += UserTokensAmount”

+ For a poll to be effective, a quorum must vote in it, measured as a percentage of the total Token supply. The amount of Tokens that constitutes a quorum will vary over time. The first poll requires no quorum (X%=0). The required quorum for all subsequent polls is adjusted automatically, and calculated this way:
“(PreviousPollTokenAmount %)/2 ≤ 10% of TotalTokenSupply”
+ This is due to the large amount of locked Tokens. Holders of locked Tokens can vote, but transferring them from wallet to wallet is technically impossible.
+ To eliminate the fraud during the voting process (when tokens are transferred from one voter to another), after transaction is complete we will reassess the votes in accordance with the renewed balance;
+ The token holders will be duly informed of time and date of a new poll. The poll is announced by the team at least 4 days before the start, with the voting process lasting 3 days. Votes are not accepted after the poll is closed (VoteStartTime ≤ block.timestamp ≤ VoteEndTime). The voting results (YesVoteTokens > NoVoteTokens, or vice-versa) will be visible to all participants;
+ The team is not allowed to launch two parallel same-type polls. But the tap poll may well be conducted at the same time as the buffer poll;
+ Before the start of Token Sale (DAICO) we will introduce the team of arbitrators, or the Oracles, — the appointed industry professionals, with established reputation in the relevant field, who would have the exclusive right to hold polls for the refund. If the decision about the refund is made, token holders will be able to request a refund in the amount equivalent to the amount of tokens in their possession;
+ In case the Abyss Team shows unsatisfactory performance, resulting in the decision about the refunds, the Smart Contract switches to withdrawal mode, at the same moment blocking or burning the team’s and Reserve tokens;
+ If the decision about the refunds is made, the remaining funds are returned to token holders at the rate calculated with this formula:

Current Contract Balances ETH/Total token supply = Token Rate