(Below is a news release by earth2.io. Reproduced as published by Earth 2)
As promised, since launching User-to-User HB Trading on our platform just over two weeks ago, our team has held an internal review of the feature while taking community feedback on board. For information on this, the HB Trading Withdrawal Protocol, Downloadable 3D Models, Accusations of a Security breach and Other News, including final updates on Egg Hunts, please read on below.
We have begun working hard on major updates to the U2U HB Trading System with some already in the pipeline as a direct result of our internal review and community feedback. To those of you in our community who have provided feedback on this feature, we thank you.
We are particularly grateful for your support as we continue to improve our platform.
HOLOBLUEPRINT TRADING v1.1 IS IN THE PIPELINE
U2U HB Trading is the first iteration of our future User-Generated Content (UGC) Trading system being built on the Earth 2 platform. We’d like to share the core scheduled updates for version v1.1 of this feature which include significant improvements to the U2U trading mechanics, the usability of HBs in general, the rewards for HB Content Creators and improved copyright protection for all HB creations listed on the Bazaar marketplace inside Earth 2.
SCHEDULED UPDATES
Our design team has finished reviewing and updating the DDD (Detailed Design Doc) and our UI/UX team have subsequently finished the necessary visual updates to the relevant pages.
One of our smaller development teams have now started implementing the FE and BE changes for Limited Edition HoloBuildings and will then progress onto other scheduled updates in the list.
We expect to have this full list released within the next four weeks over 1 or 2 deployments.
Below is a very brief description of each scheduled update.
Limited Edition HoloBuildings: This update will provide Creators with the ability to set a restricted number for Limited Editions of their HoloBuilding in the Bazaar marketplace. The number will determine how many copies of that HoloBuilding can be sold from the Creator to other Players on the platform.
The Ability to Resell Holobuildings: This update will allow Players to who purchase a HoloBuilding, the ability to resell it again on the Bazaar effectively introducing a secondary market for HoloBuildings.
Royalties for Earth 2 HB Content Creators: This update will see the introduction of Royalties to HoloBuildings and Blueprints. It will ensure that the original creator of a design is rewarded for their hard work and creativity every time that design is on-sold. We are proposing to set this figure at 3% for individual resales.
For resales that include multiple copies of different HoloBuildings from different creators, this figure will jump 3% for each new HoloBuilding used from different Creators, being capped at 12% at 4 creations.
Any new design that includes over 4 pre-existing HoloBuilding creations in it will see the 12% split between all original HB Content Creators whose designs were used.
Bazaar Listing URL: Players will be provided the option to share their Blueprint or HoloBuilding via direct URL.
HoloBuilding Duplication Detection: Earth 2 is working on a system that is designed to protect original HB content created and listed by Players in our community. This system will analyze and in some cases automatically block the listing of creations that are significantly similar to creations already listed on Bazaar by other creators. It will also flag potential copycat listings for our team to review.
Personal Portfolio: The Player Profile page will be expanded to display a gallery of all HoloBuildings that Player has created and has listed.
We can’t wait to get some of these updates live and we’re committed to making future improvements to this marketplace system as we slowly move toward allowing other digital assets and User Generated Content to sell and trade between Players!
In the near future we will also look at improving the placement process of HoloBuildings making it more intuitive and easier for Players to place them on their properties.
HB TRADING WITHDRAWAL PROTOCOLS
One of Earth 2’s core concepts for its metaverse platform is to support the ability for Players to sell or resell digital assets they own, build or create. It is our goal to develop a safe system for all Earth 2 Players to achieve this, something which is embodied in our initial HoloBuilding creation and trading system.
While we strongly believe that Players should have the power and freedom to generate earnings through Earth 2, we also have a duty of protection to HB Content Creators and Players who purchase those creations.
Therefore, we have implemented an internal 14-day delay for withdrawals for those who have participated in the selling of HoloBlueprints on the Bazaar. This delay gives HB Content Creators the opportunity to become aware of, and report, HB listings which they feel infringe on their rights as the original owner and creator of a HoloBlueprint or HoloBuilding.
We understand that those who have become accustomed to virtually instantaneous payouts on our platform may be inconvenienced by this procedure. However, it is first and foremost our highest priority to fulfill our duty to protect Earth 2 participants by following the above procedure.
Our team will be monitoring and restricting HB Content Creators who continue to abuse the system and negatively impact the experience of others by blocking them from being able to sell on the Bazaar and depending on the extent of the wrongdoing, potentially more. Players who set a good track record of participating in the HB trading may experience increasingly faster listing approvals and payouts.
A delay of payment is routine practice across many established platforms and we ask your understanding of this measure, especially during these initial stages.
USER GENERATED 3D MODELS and ACCUSATIONS OF SECURITY RISKS ON EARTH 2
Protecting our Players on any level is very important to us and when a potential risk to Players arises, whether it be a public accusation or a privately reported risk, our security team and developers will always conduct an investigation to eliminate the possibility.
Earth 2 hires one permanent security specialist and relies on Quality Assurance to pick up and mitigate against potential security weaknesses being pushed to production. As with any software company, the potential for security issues is always possible and fixing such issues is an ongoing commitment.
Below are some responses to the recent public accusations made toward the ability for 3D HoloBuilding models being downloadable from our website and an apparent version of our Front End code base + API keys being acquired.
3D Models
GLB files are files that are downloaded whenever a 3D model is shown in a browser, including when a HoloBuilding is shown on our map, or previews in the bazaar. This is normal browser behaviour and if it were not possible to some how download the 3D model, it would not be viewable by anyone in a browser.
The downloadable version of the GLB files would require significant time and effort to re-uploaded and would be close to impossible to re-import these downloaded GLB file into our holo editor due to the data processing mechanism we have in place, let alone use it or resell it on the HoloBlueprint Bazaar.
Were someone to go to all of this effort to do such a thing would be a question of plagiarism, not a security issue.
Accusation of a Security Breach
We want to reassure all Players that there was never a security breach or leaking of customer data and if anyone in the community has additional feedback or concerns, we welcome you to share them with us so that we can continue to make Earth 2 better for everyone.
We have reviewed the contents of a zip file a YouTuber claimed proved a security breach and discovered the file was captured from one of our small test servers as a downloaded dump file in early August. It was not from our production server, did not link to any live data on our production server and did not contain any API keys linked to our production server or data.
We will continue to take any such accusations seriously and our team is committed to reviewing any reported security breaches that may exist in our website. We understand that some people can be very convincing and use their knowledge of software development to misconstrue issues to the public, but we would ask that anyone reporting such issues might follow an unspoken code of conduct between proactive software developers and quietly report potential security risks as opposed to broadcasting it across social media, luckily incorrectly in this case.
OTHER NEWS
Accidental Early Release of Martinique
We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the accidental opening of Martinique, ahead of its scheduled opening time, which was a result of human error (setting the release time to 12AM instead of 12PM UTC). We understand any disappointment or confusion caused by this honest mistake and hope that those players who missed out on Martinique were able to be present for the opening of Comoros instead 24 hours after the intended release time of Martinique.
Opening the next new country on Tuesday the 13th of September was a decision we felt was best and fairest to all Players affected.
The next country release will be on the 19th of September and the following one two weeks later on the 3rd of October.
2021 Egg Hunt
Thank you to all Players who submitted their proof-of-entry for the 2021 Easter Egg Hunt! We have finished reviewing and updating the final winners and runners-up lists for all hidden 2021 Eggs, which are now available for you to check here. Our team will aim to award prizes over the next 2 weeks:
2022 Egg Hunt
Our team has continued monitoring social media for evidence of unfound 2022 Egg Hunt eggs, but unfortunately three of the Eggs from this year’s Egg Hunt have still not been found. The 2022 Egg Hunt has officially ended now. The remaining eggs will be rehidden in the next scheduled Egg Hunt which we expect to take place inside of E2V1.
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