On the Road to Game of Domains - Paving the Path to Permissionless Participation
Introduction
An updated engineering roadmap has been one of the most common community requests since our launch of Mainnet Phase-2. After sprinting to that milestone, the team focused on operational stability and validation work - and now we’re ready to share what’s next.
In this first post, we’re zooming in on the work currently on the critical path to Game of Domains (GoD) - our upcoming incentivized initiative that opens the door to permissionless participation on the Autonomys Network. Once these foundational items are in place, we will be ready to fully support open operators, new domain instantiation, and third-party runtimes.
A second update covering the broader roadmap (scalability, tooling, research, governance) will follow shortly. As always, the roadmap remains indicative and may evolve dynamically in response to network usage and ecosystem feedback.
TL;DR
- Game of Domains is our next major incentivized event designed to stress-test the network and unlock permissionless participation.
- Current engineering focus areas:
- Handling offline operators
- Staking interface readiness (scale & feedback)
- Protocol support for GoD (issue investigation and testnet readiness)
- These milestones will enable: permissionless operators, permissionless domain instantiation, and third-party domain development.
What is Game of Domains?
Game of Domains is the next phase of our community led, decoupled execution testing campaign. Think of it as a large-scale, incentivized exercise where operators, nominators, and builders engage under realistic conditions - but within a testnet environment designed for experimentation and improvement. We’ll observe performance, identify edge-cases, validate tools, and surface protocol issues before we rollout to mainnet.
Currently we’re completing the preparatory work: addressing foundational protocol requirements, refining tooling, and fixing any issues arising from prior testnets. This post outlines that foundational work and gives everyone a taste of what’s coming next.
Handling Offline Operators
Operators are the backbone of domain execution. When an operator registers but fails to process transactions, domain‐level liveness can degrade - particularly when large stakes are involved.
The “Handle Offline Operators” update adds logic to detect and mitigate or remove inactive operators from the active set, protecting domain health and ensuring fairness.
This capability is essential for transitioning from a permissioned operator model to permissionless operation and work is progressing with internal testing underway.
- Specification: Protocol Specs PR #72
- Implementation: Autonomys PR #3711
- Operators primer: Operator Guide
Staking Interface Readiness
The staking interface introduced with Phase-2 already supports operator/nominator delegation and basic analytics. For Game of Domains we are focusing on scale-readiness and feedback gathering, rather than major redesign.
Key areas:
-
Ensuring the interface handles high usage volumes, especially during contest conditions.
-
Inviting feedback from the community around usability, operator and nominator performance metrics, and data transparency.
Your input now will shape the final polish before the contest begins.
Protocol Support for Game of Domains
Our engineering teams will be on standby to investigate issues reported during Game of Domains, including the main contest phases and targeted Trials of Innovation.
The purpose is clear: surface findings in a testnet context, resolve protocol or tooling bugs, and ensure we deploy clean, production-ready code ahead of mainnet rollout.
We’re not publishing a full list of trials and their rules upfront - the rationale and context for this were detailed in our earlier forum thread on Game of Domains. Essentially, we will need to see where the initiative leads us as it unfolds. This controlled rollout helps preserve the integrity of the exercise while still delivering a meaningful challenge.
Speaking of Trials of Innovation, The Watcher’s Oath is still running for those of you who are interested in feeling for the edges and being rewarded for finding issues with the staking protocol. Thanks to those who have already taken part!
The Road Beyond Game of Domains
When GoD is complete, we unlock the next phase of Autonomys’ evolution:
- Permissionless Operators - allows anyone meeting basic criteria to register and run domain operators.
- Outcome: wider decentralization, faster participation, more operational diversity.
- Permissionless Domain Instantiation - once secure, new domains using known runtimes will be deployable without governance approval.
- Outcome: ecosystem grows faster, innovation accelerates.
- Third-Party Domains - grant-backed support enabling developers to launch custom runtimes for tailored use-cases.
- Outcome: a rich marketplace of domain types and services harnessing the Autonomys fabric.
- This progression shifts our model from coordinated decentralization to living decentralization, where the community leads. The network becomes more resilient, more open, and more aligned with the core web3 vision and values.
Conclusion
This phase is about preparing the network for open participation. By tackling operator resilience, ensuring staking interface scale, and supporting Game of Domains with focused engineering resources, we’re laying the foundation for true permissionless operation.
Stay tuned - our next update will dive deeper into the broader roadmap: scalability, tooling, decentralized governance, and what comes after the contest.