[j15t]

> Right, but the gas cost cannot be distributed over _all_ nodes

All computation on the Ethereum blockchain is done through the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The protocol defines a gas cost for each opcode in the EVM, hence the gas cost is distributed across all nodes.

Any singular node can change the gas cost in their client, but if they pay less than the cost that the miners expect then their transactions will not be processed - as it typical with distributed consensus systems.

> I'll keep looking around for more info, but I do hope Ethereum people realize that YouTube videos are not the same thing as proper documentation

There is a lot of documentation on their Github page. I would recommend starting with the white paper, then check the wiki and if you are still not convinced (and also brave) check the yellow paper: -https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper -https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/Design-Rationale -https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/FAQ -http://gavwood.com/Paper.pdf

[tom_mellior]

> The protocol defines a gas cost for each opcode in the EVM, hence the gas cost is distributed across all nodes.

What I meant was this: Not every node that executes a contract can be paid for the gas. Some one node (or maybe a few) must "win" and get the gas cost. I was wondering which one it was.

Based on the White Paper (thanks for the link!) my rough understanding is now as follows: If a node executes a transaction and is the first to include that transaction in a block, then this node gets the transaction's gas cost plus a mining reward. Is this correct? Essentially, it would be like Bitcoin's transaction fees + block reward.