So, recently in the PeerPlays Witness Telegram Channel, there has been a lot of questions regarding witnesses, rather that may be what they do, why should I vote, is it profitable, or basically anything you can think of that has to do with a PeerPlays witness. I'd like to address most, if not all of these questions in this blog post today! So, let me begin by telling you what PeerPlays is, because if you don't know what PeerPlays is, this will be very confusing for you, I will try to explain everything as simple as possible for all the non-tech people.

What is PeerPlays

Ok, PeerPlays is a cryptocurrency on graphene blockchain. Very similar to how STEEM is a cryptocurrency on the graphene blockchain. This wonderful graphene blockchainwas created by the founder of STEEM, BTS, and EOS, that is @Dan Larimer. This graphene blockchain allows 3000 transactions/second to happen, a blocktime every three seconds, and this blockchain utilizes a Delegated Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, meaning that the difficulty of producing a block should be proportional to the stake in the network.

So, now that we know what blockchain PeerPlays runs on, let's me explain to you what PeerPlays is. Essentially, PeerPlays is the world’s first decentralized tournament management and wagering platform that is built entirely on the graphene blockchain. PeerPlays will have both "on-chain" casino games, which means the games are fully decentralized and fair without the use of a third party and it will have sports betting in the form of fantasy sports and regular sports betting. PeerPlays will also have server hosted games that will include graphics intensive games and popular eSports titles, and in fact any game in the world that is hosted on a server can be connected to Peerplays.

What Is A Witness?

So, the three main cryptocurrencies who use the DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) consensus mechanism are BTS, STEEM, and now, PeerPlays. The DPoS differs from mining (like Bitcoin and other Proof of Work systems) as the delegates (witnesses) are chosen by the stakeholders of the crypto tokens. If you wanted to mine Bitcoin, nothing would stop you from doing so, but PeerPlays is a slightly different story. One benefit of DPoS over PoW is in DPoS, you know who is signing the blocks, you make sure they are reliable, unlike PoW. Another benefit includes the fact that with DPoS (graphene blockchain) transactions are way faster than PoW which can take hours to days. An issue with PoW is the cost, you have to buy a bunch of mining equipment and your electricity bill will go through the roof!

A witness's (delegate) job is to sign blocks, similar to how in Bitcoin, miners mine bitcoin by way of solving complex math problems. Witnesses nodes are ran on dedicated servers (computers), most are ran in a data-center full of servers, and they run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They run 24/7 because if they shut down for some reason, the witness will miss blocks.

Why It's Important For You To Vote For Them

Recently, in the PeerPlays telegram channel, many people have been asking, "Why should I vote for witnesses?"... Well, there are a numerous amount of reasons to why you should vote for witnesses. First of all, without us, the blockchain would not be able to operate. Yes, you read that right... If it were not for us, you would not have a working PeerPlays blockchain. Why? Because we are constantly signing blocks (hence the name blockchain) and without block signers, it would be impossible for any transaction to happen.

How Do You Chose Witnesses To Vote For?

I suggest you read as many witness introduction blogs as you can. There is lots of information in these blogs that explain why you should vote for each witness. Another thing to consider is around the time PeerPlays comes out with it's first application. You will need to check out the PeerPlays witnesses price feeds and sports data feeds. If they have a reliable sports data feed, it may be a good thing to vote for that witness. Also, PeerPlays witness voting is quite different than STEEM witness voting, on PeerPlays you can vote for up to 1001 witnesses (assuming there is 1001 witnesses). That being said, at any given point & time, there can be anywhere from 11-10001 active witnesses, but it is not very likely for 1001 witnesses to be active at once.

Is It Profitable To Become A Witness?

Once again, this question has been tossed around a ton in the PeerPlays telegram channel. At this moment in time, many would say it's not profitable. Currently, in total, there are 48 witnesses with 23 of those 48 being active. Many of the witnesses in the top 23 ran test-net witness nodes and put up their main-net witness node on the day PeerPlays launched, which ended up giving them a huge advantage, thus far. Nobody knows for sure what gap separates a active witness from a non-active witness right now, but the gap between the last active witness and the front-runner for the non-active witness is about 7 GV.

So, with that being said, I'd say right now, it is not profitable. Also, if your thinking of becoming a witness, make sure you know the cost to just set up the PeerPlays witness account! The cost is 13 PPY and from the one exchange it is listed on, that 13 PPY fee has ranged from $100-$300 USD. And, after that, you are not even guaranteed a witness spot after paying that hefty amount of money.

But, keep in mind that each block signed is equivalent to .0075 PPY. There is a block signed every 3 seconds, which equals 20 blocks every minute, 1200 blocks every hour, and 28.8k blocks everyday. So after multiplying .0075 x 28,800 we get a total amount of 216 PPY's a day, split equally among every active witness. Also, keep in mind that you have to either purchase a server dedicated to PeerPlays or rent a server and that can cost quite a bit, and if you are not an active witness, it is basically a waste of money.

How To Set Up A Witness

First, you will either need to rent a server from @privex or another company (I run a server with @privex and I highly recommend them) or you will need to buy a server. Also, most witnesses run a seed node, a seed node creates entry points to the PeerPlays network, their main function is to be public, connected to the network 24/7, and accept a lot of incoming connections to ensure that people can always join the network. After you complete this step, you will go over to @someguy123's PeerPlays-in-a-box and follow all the steps. After you have completed these two steps, you are officially a witness and you have just began your witness journey!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS THAT I DID NOT COVER IN MY BLOG, I WILL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS! THANK YOU!

GO TO PEERPLAYSDB.COM IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE CURRENT WITNESSES AND BLOCK EXPLORER!

Steemians Who Want A Free Plane Ticket, GO CHECK OUT MY Blog ASAP, CONTEST ENDS ON FRIDAY! THERE ARE ONLY 2 SUBMISSIONS

How to Vote For @theprophet0 STEEM Witness

1. Click Here

2. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the little upvote button next to my name, @theprophet0 - I am in 50th place.

3. You will be asked to authenticate with your active key, the main key may work also. Once you have done that, you just voted for theprophet0 witness! Wohoo, Thanks!

How To Vote For theprophet0 PeerPlays Witness Through The GUI Wallet

http://i.imgsafe.org/a3180c1439.png

1. After the wallet has downloaded, log in and navigate over to the vote tab in the top left corner. After you click on that, navigate over to the tab where it says Witness.

http://i.imgsafe.org/a9a754ed4f.png

2. On this screen, you will have to find my name (theprophet0) and all you have to do is click add...

http://i.imgsafe.org/a9af32e49e.png

3. For the last step, all you have to do after clicking my name is scroll down to the bottom and click Publish Changes!

Please also consider voting @aggroed for a STEEM witness!

Lastly, if you need help with anything with STEEM/Steemit, this game, or PeerPlays or have any questions, feel free to direct message me on Discord @theprophet0, Steemit.chat @theprophet0 or in the #help channel, or for PeerPlays, stop by here: https://t.me/PeerplaysHelp - I hope you guys feel I am deserving enough of a witness vote, thank you!