Community Gaming, a crypto-powered esports tournament platform, announced today that it has teamed up with Worldcoin contributor Tools for Humanity to integrate World ID within its infrastructure. That means that tournament creators will optionally be able to require players to verify their identity before taking part in competitions.
Worldcoin is a blockchain-based digital identity project that lets people “prove their personhood.” Primarily, this is done by scanning their irises with a device that the project calls the “Orb.” Verified users receive a World ID that can be used to verify their identity across various games and apps, and in some parts of the world—but not the United States— they’ll also receive a share of the WLD token.
The integration will be purely optional for tournament organizers, Community Gaming said, but it provides a way to verify users who may be participating from far-flung places. Events that use the feature will require players to verify a World ID before registering. Such users will also have a verified badge on their account pages.
Community Gaming CEO Chris Gonsalves told Decrypt's GG that its level of World ID verification does not require use of the Orb, and that users can simply verify themselves via a mobile device. There are multiple levels of security available to app creators, including with or without iris scanning via the orb.
According to the company, World ID functionality will be useful in cases where tournaments have been manipulated by users creating multiple accounts in a single event to try and create an unfair advantage.
"Verifying the identity of participants in online esports events poses a recurring challenge—confirming that the person behind a device is indeed who they claim to be,” Community Gaming Latin America Regional Manager Bryan Mier told Decrypt’s GG.
“By implementing device verification as an initial measure, we take a step towards tackling this issue,” he added. “With the backing of esports communities, our aim is to foster greater trust in online event participation and solidify a core dynamic of esports participation."
The rollout will begin over the next few weeks across Latin America, with events targeting Argentina, Peru, and Brazil in particular. The platform will host verified tournaments around games such as PUBG, Marvel Snap, Axie Infinity, and Free Fire.
The company will also host future in-person events in Latin America to showcase how Worldcoin and World ID work, though Gonsalves said that details are still being finalized regarding whether those events will be used to verify players with the Orb.
Worldcoin, which was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has been hailed in some corners of the tech world as a way to ensure human identities amid the rise of AI tools that can be used to generate misinformation. However, Worldcoin has also faced regulatory pushback, including investigations in France and Germany.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to clarify that the Orb is not needed for Community Gaming's World ID integration, as it uses a lower level of identity verification.