Thoughts on Razer SoftMiner | Razer Insider

Thoughts on Razer SoftMiner

  • 14 December 2018
  • 14 replies
  • 64 views

As a long time Razer fan, I am conflicted with their recent announcement of SoftMiner. SoftMiner is obviously mining something for Razer at the expense of your electricity and GPU life, which is what zSilver is paying for.

I would rather they go back to the Paid to Play model and refine it to Razer's advantage. The old model only made Razer bleed money. They could have collaborated with game developers by only allowing certain games to earn zSilver and sell advertising space and adaptively adjusting zSilver rates. Collaborate with new games and make gamers download these games and try them for x hours to get zSilver. Collaborate with games for their games to be streamed by gamers in exchange for zSilver, viewers could also get zSilver for viewing these streams.

Our passion for gaming - in terms of gameplay hours, stream views, and game advertisement, is what should be capitalized on as we actually enjoy these processes, not at the expense of wearing our GPU out and raking in electricity bills.

Don't get me wrong, I love Razer and appreciate that they reward gamers with zSilver, but SoftMiner just isn't doing that. What are your thoughts on this?

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14 Replies

Userlevel 7
I agree with you, people should really tread carefully with with SoftMiner. I am not into mining myself, but I do understand that any extra load on your GPU will eventually cause to malfunction. Maybe not for a day or two, but in couple of months.... Not to mention electricity bills.

I just want that if my GPU dies, that it's death would be a honorable death by playing games, not by mining.
I'm not accelerating the wear on my GPU so Razer can issue me currency that they alone control the value of. ZSilver is cool I guess but people really do jump through hoops for it and I cannot understand why.
Well, Paid to Play is back but not with the 900 Silver cap we all love. But it's back! 😃
Userlevel 7
iStinger
As a long time Razer fan, I am conflicted with their recent announcement of SoftMiner. SoftMiner is obviously mining something for Razer at the expense of your electricity and GPU life, which is what zSilver is paying for.

I would rather they go back to the Paid to Play model and refine it to Razer's advantage. The old model only made Razer bleed money. They could have collaborated with game developers by only allowing certain games to earn zSilver and sell advertising space and adaptively adjusting zSilver rates. Collaborate with new games and make gamers download these games and try them for x hours to get zSilver. Collaborate with games for their games to be streamed by gamers in exchange for zSilver, viewers could also get zSilver for viewing these streams.

Our passion for gaming - in terms of gameplay hours, stream views, and game advertisement, is what should be capitalized on as we actually enjoy these processes, not at the expense of wearing our GPU out and raking in electricity bills.

Don't get me wrong, I love Razer and appreciate that they reward gamers with zSilver, but SoftMiner just isn't doing that. What are your thoughts on this?


Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports. Does that make Esports Mogul bad because some people hate on it? No - and in fact, we want more esports sites to use it and give more options to our users to earn Razer Silver. Likewise, is Softminer bad? Of course not - it's another option to earn Razer Silver and we want to see more companies like GammaNow using Razer Silver.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.
Userlevel 6
mltan
Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.

Thanks for the explanation honorable Razer CEO Min Liang, I wanna ask will there be any possibilities that Razer Synapse be unified into one? maybe Razer Synapse 3.0? I really hope it can be unified because it prevents confusion on what Razer hardware to download what software and make the windows taskbar cleaner, nice job btw for making the Razer Softminer unify with Razer Cortex.
mltan
Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.


Thanks for taking your time to clarify things. Now that Paid to Play is just released again, I can see where you guys are coming from.
mltan
Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports. Does that make Esports Mogul bad because some people hate on it? No - and in fact, we want more esports sites to use it and give more options to our users to earn Razer Silver. Likewise, is Softminer bad? Of course not - it's another option to earn Razer Silver and we want to see more companies like GammaNow using Razer Silver.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.

How about collaborating with some companies from other industry sectors? Thinking 'bout "KitchenAid" or something. A crazy idea would be some kind of toaster generating zSilver with every slice of bread toasted (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Userlevel 7
mltan
Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports. Does that make Esports Mogul bad because some people hate on it? No - and in fact, we want more esports sites to use it and give more options to our users to earn Razer Silver. Likewise, is Softminer bad? Of course not - it's another option to earn Razer Silver and we want to see more companies like GammaNow using Razer Silver.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.

I dont get people like CEO ssad there are many ways to get zSilver if you dont want to use softminer just dont take another options to get it's that simple.
mltan
Perhaps I can shed some light on the thought process for this.

In short, the main way to earn Razer Silver is by spending Razer Gold. This is the default method.

However, we wanted to see if we could help our loyal fans earn Razer Silver in other ways - and we're mindful that not all the ways are suitable for our customers.

There are some ways in which our customers invest their time - i.e. Paid to Play - where it provides for additional ways to earn Razer Silver. And we are also working with third parties like Esports Mogul and GammaNow (that powers Softminer). We are looking for more third parties to work with to give out Razer Silver.

So in short, all these are additional avenues which may or may not be good for specific individuals. For example, those who are into esports etc (and have no time for playing games) may prefer to go the Esports Mogul route (and will not do Paid to Play). Either way - these are all opt in avenues but the main way, will still be Razer Gold.

Specifically for Softminer, this is powered by GammaNow and they will vary the way Razer Silver is paid out - which may go up or down. It's the choice of the user if he/she wants to use it. Just like some may hate on Esports Mogul (because they aren't into esports) but many others are happy to participate as they're into esports. Does that make Esports Mogul bad because some people hate on it? No - and in fact, we want more esports sites to use it and give more options to our users to earn Razer Silver. Likewise, is Softminer bad? Of course not - it's another option to earn Razer Silver and we want to see more companies like GammaNow using Razer Silver.

I hope it provides more context - in short, we hope to work with other third parties who will offer Razer Silver - but the fundamental premise is the same, it's a reward for spending Razer Gold - if someone dislikes Paid to Play, Esports Mogul, Softminer or other options in the future - they can always spend Razer Gold to get Razer Silver.


How is Softminer not bad? It's a bitcoin mining software that puts your CPU and GPU under 100% load while in use in turn wearing out the user's PC hardware and destroying it in the long run. So we install Softminer, Razer in turn makes profit from bitcoin and we are awarded a small margin of zPoints in comparison. I installed Softminer on my PC today as well as Cortex in conjunction with Synapse (which I've had due to my Razer peripherals) and I was very saddened to see the route Razer has gone with Softminer and the extremely low amount of zPoints earned via Paid to Play now. So in turn I can destroy my Intel i5 8600k, ASUS Prime Z370-A motherboard, 16GB GSkill Trident Z RGB Ram, Samsung 960 EVO NVMe SSD, Corsair RM750x PSU, and GTX 1080 (basically around $2,000 worth of PC hardware) to get a $80-$200 Razer peripheral? That makes so much sense! Thanks Min! I'll be sure to keep mining and destroying my PC.
My main issue is that why in the world can we not pay for Razer gear (not just games) with Zgold? By not allowing this the rewards literally feel useless. The main way to build on Zsilver is to use ZGold right? So yeah why not let us use that currency to actually purchase big ticket items like keyboards and headsets?
Userlevel 6
CXTKRS1
My main issue is that why in the world can we not pay for Razer gear (not just games) with Zgold? By not allowing this the rewards literally feel useless. The main way to build on Zsilver is to use ZGold right? So yeah why not let us use that currency to actually purchase big ticket items like keyboards and headsets?


I have had this same thought myself a few times. However, I can't help but wonder (and I can't find the answer on the Vault pages) do you still earn some Silver when you purchase Gold?? If you do, then I can totally understand Razer not wanting us to earn Silver twice on those transactions. (earn some Silver to buy the Gold, then earn Silver again when spending the Gold)

However, if there is no Silver earned upon purchasing the Gold, then I can't see why it would change anything if you used it to buy regular items in the Razer store. Unless maybe they feel that's a way to earn too much Silver too quickly? (imagine how much you could earn buying the latest Razer Blade, for example) If they did go this route maybe they could offer some Silver for each item purchased, but have there be a cap on what could be earned.
If you're a gamer and avid Razer fan who tends to leave your PC on 24/7, this is a great way to earn some zSilver to buy even more Razer gear. It's definitely a win / win for avid Razer fans. That's possibly the nicest way I can talk about SoftMiner.

However, if you're an avid crypto miner, this may not be for you.

@mltan I applaud the absolute balls it takes to do something like this, and it's genuinely a clever idea. However, I have some thoughts which I'd like to PM to you.
njbmartin
If you're a gamer and avid Razer fan who tends to leave your PC on 24/7, this is a great way to earn some zSilver to buy even more Razer gear. It's definitely a win / win for avid Razer fans. That's possibly the nicest way I can talk about SoftMiner.

However, if you're an avid crypto miner, this may not be for you.

@mltan I applaud the absolute balls it takes to do something like this, and it's genuinely a clever idea. However, I have some thoughts which I'd like to PM to you.

The issue isn't necessarily about the concept...
It's that people feel "cheated" almost, because once upon a time all we had to do was play games to earn zSilver. Now, we can earn Zsilver again, but here are some issues:

1. There is a cap on how much zSilver we can earn.
2. It costs about 3x more electricity than just gaming for our Zsilver.
3. It puts wear on our GPU.

I think the community is just trying to say that we while appreciate the new system, it just isn't... Monetarily enticing enough. I mean, we went from "Free Razer gear just for playing games!" all the way to "Free Razer stuff... But higher electricity costs, sacrifice your GPU, oh and you can only earn so much". It just doesn't sit right. I mean, it used to be about Razer rewarding us for our gaming. And building a consumer/customer relations. You couldn't get that anywhere else! But if we are going to be real - We can use our GPU and electricity for real money, not just Razer products, at literally hundreds of other places. There is nothing enticing, or special, about the new program. There is nothing in this new program that shows Razer expressing their care for us, their fans.
While I personally, and hopefully the community, appreciate what the team has brainstormed up and given us, it just isn't what we were hoping for.

TL;DR: It feels like an ordinary program disguised as an appeasement gift.
Userlevel 7
I'd just like to see what specs are needed to make Softminer run.

My GC are able to make a bit of crypto currency but i can pass the evauation test.