Razer's new Razer SoftMiner, which rewards gamers with virtual credits in exchange for their computing power, has been met with negative responses.
Gamers have expressed their dismay at the new mining initiative of famous gaming brand Razer.
The company recently released its Razer SoftMiner application, which uses the processing power of a computer when idle to mine a yet-to-be-disclosed cryptocurrency.
Have a gaming rig on idle at home? Here's a new way to score Razer Silver: launch Razer SoftMiner on your PC and start racking up Silver—one step closer to the reward you want, for doing nothing at all.
Check out Razer SoftMiner now: https://t.co/PRND2BQ3xU pic.twitter.com/qrHXCdQrjC
— R Λ Z Ξ R (@Razer) December 12, 2018
In return, gamers lending their computers remotely to Razer are rewarded with Razer Silver, a virtual credit that can be used to redeem Razer-branded peripherals.
Razer explained:
“When your computer is idle, the Razer SoftMiner desktop application utilizer your idle GPU processing power to supplement distributed network needs for the mining process. You will be rewarded with Razer Silver, which varies depending on the amount of idle time and strength of your hardware or graphics card.”
The outrage of many in the gaming community stemmed from the SoftMiner’s lack of enticing benefits.
One prominent YouTuber argued that it would be virtually impossible to purchase a Razer Huntsman Elite keyboard using only Razer Silver earned through the SoftMiner app. This is because it would take 500 days of full-power mining—if a single day will reward 500 Silver—to match the keyboard’s 280,000 Silver price tag.
Not to mention the Silver earned from mining has an expiry of 12 months?!
So realistically it's impossible to earn a £199 keyboard…
— Scott Chicken (@scerstt) December 12, 2018
Another added that the electricity required to power a mining computer outweigh the benefits a gamer could receive when mining with SoftMiner.
Yo I'm excited to get involved with this.
I'm just going to need to forward my electricity bill to you every month and have you pay it.
I think that's a fair exchange.
Thanks!
— Ben "DizzyDizaster" Moody (@DizDotTV) December 12, 2018
Nevertheless, gamers interested in earning Razer Silver through mining can download the Razer SoftMiner app on the gaming company’s website. The first 5,000 registered users can win a bonus of 1,000 Silver. However, that amount is still not enough to purchase even the cheapest entry on the Razer Silver catalog—a US$5 discount on RazerStore purchases.
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