D&D General NFTs Are Here To Ruin Dungeons & Dragons

[Fanaelialae]

Authenticity of what?

Think of it like a digital certificate of authenticity, for a digital resource, with a fair amount of tech complexity behind it to try to ensure that other people can't forge a copy of your certificate.

 

[Cadence]

There are ways to mitigate and even eliminate the energy waste by using renewables. It's been done, though admittedly most don't (because it cuts into short term profits).

And near inherent scamminess is not the same thing as as actual scamminess. Selling Amway is practically a scam, but I'm not going to call the police on an Amway salesman because, at the end of the day, it isn't an actual scam.

I don't agree that NFTs are inherently bad, or at least not moreso than many other things out there. M:TG cards have an inherent speculative aspect (if I buy a booster, it might or might not contain a card that is worth more than the booster itself, and the cards may appreciate or depreciate in value over time, in response to a variety of factors including the meta). They're also arguably not good for the environment (how many trees do you think they've cut down over the years for all those cardboard cards, not to mention the factories making those cards that could be powered by renewables, but probably aren't). That said, I don't think that M:TG is inherently bad.

Frankly, if you're seriously concerned about the environmental impact of NFTs, I think that your energy would be far more wisely spent on the promotion and implementation of renewables, which would render any concerns regarding the environmental impact of NFTs moot. They're bad for the environment because they're usually generated with dirty energy. The same dirty energy that likely powers the phones/computers of many of the posters here.

From my perspective, it seems that NFTs are just the flavor of the week of bad, akin to the satanic panic that vilified D&D back in the day. I think that they're a bad idea without a lot of redeeming value, and I'm instantly wary of any project that uses them. Despite that, I disagree that they are inherently bad. NFTs simply are new. It's what you do with them that is good, bad, or neutral. Based on the evidence presented so far, I think that this business plan seems more inherently neutral than bad (my opinion that it's a bad idea notwithstanding).

As a world we have lots of energy production to replace with renewables. Until we're at a place where we've come close to doing that, saying it's ok to do something exceptionally energy wasteful because we can use renewables for it seems a bit odd to me. They could, for example, use any of the standard things above for distributing and authenticating, run it with renewables, and use the extra renewable capacity saved by not using blockchain to run the rest of their offices or sell it to the grid.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

There are ways to mitigate and even eliminate the energy waste by using renewables. It's been done, though admittedly most don't (because it cuts into short term profits).

Has it been done though, really? Proof of stake is still essentially (and seemingly perpetually) a glimmer in Ethereum's eye. Who else has made it work, outside of pilot projects and vague promises?

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Think of it like a digital certificate of authenticity, for a digital resource, with a fair amount of tech complexity behind it to try to ensure that other people can't forge a copy of your certificate.

If you want that, do it with plain old public key cryptography.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Has it been done though, really? Proof of stake is still essentially (and seemingly perpetually) a glimmer in Ethereum's eye. Who else has made it work, outside of pilot projects and vague promises?

A quick Google search brings back plenty of results.

Are you honestly saying you don't think it can be done with renewables? Do you honestly think there is any difference in the nature of electricity generated by burning coal vs that generated by a solar panel? There isn't.

Can it be done? Absolutely. Will they? Unfortunately, I doubt it. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't. In fact there are people speculating that Bitcoin mining et al could potentially fuel a revolution in renewables (not unlike how the porn industry helped fuel the development and adoption of internet technologies). Will that actually happen? Who knows? I'm hopeful on one hand but skeptical on the other.

 

[Fanaelialae]

If you want that, do it with plain old public key cryptography.

I was explaining what it was, not claiming that there weren't alternatives.

 

[Cadence]

If you want that, do it with plain old public key cryptography.

But then you don't get to have the ritual cutting down of a tree, flooding of a city, killing of an endangered species, or taking up of current renewable capacity everytime you need to check your ultra-secure hot-new-thing certificate of authenticity. ;-)

 

[Mallus]

Hello everyone,

My name is Stephen, and I am the Lead Game Designer at GRIPNR LLC...

First of all, thanks for wading into this pool of (mostly) skepticism and snark to give us your firsthand experience working for the company.

Can I ask, though - who is this meant for? Since the pandemic lockdowns, both my groups have moved online, using Zoom and Roll20, respectively. Both are home campaigns with homebrewed settings, though I"m sure some of use would be open to playing in organized online games. What would an on-the-chain service offer gamers who are primarily looking for better tools for their running tabletop games online?

Are we just not the customers you're looking for? Which would be fine. Not every product needs to be aimed at us (and if that's the case, I'd like to withdraw a wee bit of my snark).

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Think of it like a digital certificate of authenticity, for a digital resource, with a fair amount of tech complexity behind it to try to ensure that other people can't forge a copy of your certificate.

Since it is their baby I cannot see the need for blockchain nor do I see the value of digital "uniqueness"

 

[Fanaelialae]

As a world we have lots of energy production to replace with renewables. Until we're at a place where we've come close to doing that, saying it's ok to do something exceptionally energy wasteful because we can use renewables for it seems a bit odd to me. They could, for example, use any of the standard things above for distributing and authenticating, run it with renewables, and use the extra renewable capacity saved by not using blockchain to run the rest of their offices or sell it to the grid.

Unfortunately, because they would have little to no incentive to do so. I could potentially see a company choosing to offset the energy cost with renewables, because it's good PR (Tesla did this recently). Unfortunately, having a green office is just not as "sexy" in the general consciousness atm. Not saying that's how things should be, but I do believe that's how it is.