1. Abstract 
 

Following the surge of dApps (decentralized apps) at the beginning of 2018, a growing number of 
cryptocurrency holders are becoming involved with the ethereum gaming ecosystem. Despite this, 
adoption is still in the early stages due to the technical barriers required to navigate the 
cryptosphere. Another growing problem is the occurrence of “pay-now-play-later” projects, which 
involve allowing players to purchase in-game items before the players have the chance to see real 
gameplay. These projects damage the legitimacy of the ecosystem by either not delivering on 
timelines, scope, or by failing to account for monetization once the presale is over (often leading 
to projects being abandoned after launch). 

World War Goo follows on from the success of EtherGoo by building on the core mechanics most 
enjoyed by its players, whilst avoiding its shortcomings. The gameplay focuses both on the 
competitive aspect of attacking other players, and rewarding those who maintain the strongest 
armies. This is encouraged with the introduction of clans, allowing players to work together and 
gain lucrative bonuses. The game also appeals to a wider range of players than EtherGoo, with key 
focus on longevity by strictly controlling inflation. 

 
 

2. Building An Ecosystem 
 

EtherGoo predominantly focused on one aspect, a single factory which produced “Goo” for players and 
rewarded them based on their relative production capability. Although World War Goo still adopts this 
mechanic, it innovates by further expanding gameplay beyond a single factory to allow for more 
strategic variety. Additionally minigames will also be introduced periodically into the ecosystem to 
accompany the core gameplay, engaging and expanding World War Goo’s player base. 

Each player has a random tiled-map, consisting of tiles with a range of benefits which allows the player 
to build a variety of factories. There are two types of factories: goo production and barracks. Each 
manages its associated unit type, and players spend their Goo to hire additional units and upgrade their 
factories, which increases either their total goo production / their army power. 

In addition to factories, tiles house communal locations (such as the marketplace or clan headquarters) 
as well as minigame locations. Most minigames will be loosely integrated into the ecosystem by 
allowing the ‘winner’ of each to own the associated tile, granting a permanent gameplay bonus. 

 
 

Players can craft items from materials, these items come in a 

variety of rarities and increases the effectiveness of 
unit/factory. Materials are usually rewarded for successfully 
attacking other players, and are ERC-20 tokens, which allows 
them to be bought and sold by players as desired. Crafted 
items are tiered into rarity classes, and each unit can only 
equip one item, so players can strategically maximise their 
units strength by combining items to craft those of a higher 
rarity. In addition, items are based on the ERC-721 spec, 
allowing them to be easily traded between players. 

 
 

With the launch of World War Goo, there will initially be twenty unique clans, each attached to a 
specific ERC-20 token/cryptoproject (such as BAT or BNB). Such an association serves to spread 
mutually beneficial awareness between the relevant communities, and introduce beginners to a 
wider range of projects. Players in a clan benefit from increased rewards when attacking by 
gaining a chance to secure some of their clans’ associated token, giving players a chance to 
expand their crypto-holdings beyond ethereum. As well as this, clan members share upgrades 
financed by the clans’ war-chest of Goo. Finally referring players in World War Goo is gamified by 
allowing members to invite new players into their clan to share the benefits. Clans mutually 
benefit from an increased playerbase with the associated increase in Goo in their war-chests 
(from their share of daily dividends). 

Like EtherGoo, players have the ability to attack other players in-game. Due to transaction fee 
concerns, attacking has been evolved to allow a wider variety of players to benefit from it. For 
example, the ability to directly steal Goo has been removed; no longer is attacking dependent on 
the enemy hoarding enough Goo to steal, and instead the player steals from their enemy’s clan 
communal war-chest. An independent bonus loot system for materials and items has also been 
added, as has the chance to gain free ERC-20 tokens from one’s clan. Players can even now 
upgrade their armies by gaining experience points in battle, allowing units to level up and thereby 
granting a competitive edge in later attacks. Finally, during attacks each player has a chance of 
destroying a small amount of the opponents army units, allowing players to establish militaristic 
dominance. 

3. Ecosystem Economy 
 

To facilitate the longevity of the ecosystem numerous economy considerations have been 
implemented, fixing the shortcomings of the original game. In World War Goo, the focus has 
shifted away from linear production towards attacking (a more dynamic system), allowing 
production to slow down without significantly impacting the speed of the gameplay.  

This is a result of changes to the dividend mechanics - players are no longer rewarded for 
proportional goo production, but instead proportional army power. Goo production is still 
important, but should be seen as slower long term passive income. 

More specifically, whenever Goo is spent ingame (e.g. to buy units/upgrades) it goes to the ​‘Goo 
Bankroll’​ of which then 4% (subject to balance changes) is distributed daily as dividends back to 
players. Half goes directly to players, based on their respective army power. The other half goes 
to clans’ warchests based on the total army power of their members. 

 
 

The consequence of all this is that World War Goo is self-sufficient (unlike EtherGoo which relied 
on consistent ethereum volume). Players invest Goo currency into units and upgrades, and in 
return gain long term Goo dividends back, which they then can reinvest into the game or 
speculatively sell. The Goo token aims to be a relatively-stable appreciating currency which will be 
tradeable on exchanges, much like other digital assets.  

Goo production by units typically adopts a benchmark of 0.2% a day, i.e. spending 500 Goo on a 
unit can be expected to produce an additional 1 Goo interest per day. Since Goo can no longer be 
stolen this is a safe way to gain interest on your Goo, reminiscent of a Proof of Stake system. Goo 
‘staked’ on units can be returned to the player at any time (by selling units) for a rate of 75% of 
their purchase price. This slow and predictable rate of inflation should ensure its demand as 
currency, and a viable reward for players. Inflation is also mitigated by 1) dividend distribution of 
Goo to clan warchests keeps it (implicitly) out of circulation from players, and 2) the ability to 
burn Goo by selling it back to the system. 

Burning the Goo token is enabled with a small ‘Ethereum Bankroll’, which is used to directly buy 
back (and burn) Goo from players, allowing players to get an instant (but low) price for their Goo 
-if they do not wish to trade it on exchanges. The bankroll is also used to periodically purchase 
more ERC-20 tokens for clan members to receive when attacking. 

 
 

Whilst World War Goo has removed the premium upgrades/units purchasable for ethereum (and 
thus reliance on ethereum for dividends) the concept of this Goo-burning helps enforce a 
price-floor on Goo (as well as mitigating inflation) and is funded in three ways: 

● Small % fee on trades in the marketplace (whenever users buy and sell items/materials). 
● Eth purchases of “loot crates” from the system, which are initially available to seed & 
distribute Goo to players. 
● Small % fee on all mini-games introduced into the ecosystem.  

The minigames are important to the ecosystem, and they vary, from independant games (i.e. 
homages to existing dApps) to integrated systems such as raffle contests. Each will help sustain 
the ecosystem by bringing in ethereum or burning goo. They will be accessible in-game, but also 
via an independant website allowing new users to play (and hopefully later join in with World War 
Goo). 

The first minigame launching shortly will be a set of premium factories (that players buy from one 
another for an increasing price) which constantly produce premium units which can be sold on the 
marketplace or equipped by the owner to increase their production/total army power. 

Finally the Goo token will have a limit/total supply of 21 million, once hit further Goo production 
will stop (leaving remaining Goo as shares indefinitely). However with our low Goo inflation in 
practice the timeline estimation for this hardcap is no earlier than 2021.