Chaosium Suspends NFT Plans

After widespread backlash across social media, Chaosium has announced that it has suspended its plans for future NFT releases.

All of us at Chaosium are deeply concerned by the issues raised around the VeVe digital collectable releases from last July. We take these concerns very seriously—our fans and the communities built around Chaosium are our lifeblood. We go back a long way, and that means a lot to us. We want to make sure you are comfortable with the way we do business.

While we address the concerns of the tabletop gaming community we have halted our plans for future NFT releases.

Let’s go through what’s happened to date:

• In early 2019 we began discussions with VeVe. At the time NFTs and digital collectables were relatively unknown tech (at least in the TTRPG sphere).
• VeVe is managed by long-time fans and collectors, and we completed multiple rounds of due diligence before deciding to move forward and granting VeVe a license to sell digital collectables based on our IP. It is notable that VeVe’s other NFT licensors include Disney, Marvel, DC Comics, Warner Bros., Star Trek, Star Wars, Cartoon Network, Adventure Time, James Bond, GhostBusters, and many other leading popular culture brands. VeVe even has a license from the United States Postal Service.
• The environmental impact of VeVe's NFTs was crucial in our decision making. VeVe operates on a blockchain platform, (Immutable X), that is carbon neutral. The creation of VeVe NFTs, and their trading takes place “off-chain,” reducing the environmental footprint of VeVe NFTs by 99.9% when compared to those minted on Ethereum.
• Chaosium publicized VeVe’s initial offering (July 2021) across all of our social channels. Our announcements didn’t receive much attention from the gaming press or TTRPG community, but the release was successful and well received, demonstrating an enthusiastic and sizable community of Cthulhu fans on VeVe.
• With our licensee TYPE40, we built an NFT creation model that is protective and respectful of the artists involved—the digital collectables created for VeVe are all entirely new and original. The artists involved share fully in the proceeds of their sale.

However, we understand that a lot has changed since we started down this road in 2019. The issues relating to NFTs are increasingly complex and controversial. In recent months, the debate has become prominent and contentious. Bad actors in this sphere have received widespread coverage. Many people are justifiably baffled, incredulous, and deeply skeptical.

Based on both our research and experience with them, we believe that VeVe is an ethical company, pioneering a new digital community for collectors which uses this distributed ledger technology in a legitimate, meaningful, and environmentally responsible way.

We appreciate that many of our fans are angry and disappointed. We hear you. Your concerns must be listened to and addressed. That is why, in cooperation with TYPE40 and VeVe, we have made the decision outlined above. We do not have another scheduled release on VeVe or any other NFT marketplace. We will never require anyone to own an NFT/digital collectible to enjoy any Chaosium product or game.

Thank you for sharing your feedback. Thank you for patiently waiting for our reply. So much passion for what we do is a good thing. It’s been that way since 1975, and in this digital age we remain The Chaosium.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I'll call this one good enough, for now. I really like NuChaosium's product. There are some valid criticisms with how they handled their not open open license, and their handling of the Cthulhu Reborn thing. But, they're also putting out all time great stuff now and they went back and made sure all the freelancers from the Krank era of Chaosium got paid, which they didn't need to do. Now I can look forward to that new version of Beyond the Mountains of Madness in 2024 (or whenever) and all the other good stuff.

 

[overgeeked]

The Sackler's, and the pharma company they control (Purdue), engaged in deliberately manipulative and dishonest activities in order to convince more Americans to purchase their opiod drugs.

NFTs are a transparent “buy in but leave some other rube holding the bag before it crashes” ponzi scheme.

 

[John Dallman]

I get folks viewing NFTs as foolish, dangerous tech, unregulated, environmentally unsustainable, bad investments, and bad ideas. I agree with all of that. There are definitely a lot of bad actors in the NFT space, and a lot of foolish actors as well. But the step further than the entire NFT space is nothing but scams . . . that everyone involved is either the scammers or the scammed . . . I'm just not seeing it.

"At each poker table look around for the sucker. If you can't spot them, it's you."

 

[Dire Bare]

"At each poker table look around for the sucker. If you can't spot them, it's you."

So . . . NFTs are all scams like Poker is always a scam? Okay.

 

[Jer]

NFTs are new territory, the wild, digital west, but Chaosium's parternship with VeVe seemed innocent enough, well-intentioned, and most definitely not a "scam".

Simple question for determining this. What do you get when you buy an NFT? And what is the expected value you get from that thing.

For example - when I buy a Funko pop, I get a little bobble head statue to put on my desk. The value is whatever value I get when I look at a little bobble head guy on my desk. When I buy a comic book I get a story with art.

What do you get when you buy an NFT?

 

[Umbran]

Yeah, even though I bowed out of the discussion, still read through many of the posts. Still don't agree.

I didn't expect you to agree. I have a different point here.

Imagine two people, A and B, who are having backyard barbecues. At each place, a bottle of charcoal starter fluid falls into the fire, and a pillar of flame goes up.

Person A calls the fire department.

Person B closes the lid of their grill, and grabs a fire extinguisher.

These two people are in fundamental agreement about what is happening, but one has a more severe reaction than the other. You might say one of them is over-reacting.

However, you and others are NOT in fundamental agreement on what is happening with NFTs. Assessing the reaction should be done in the context of what they think is happening, not in the context of what you think is happening.

I submit to you that given what they think, their reaction (which is, let us be clear, just talking about it online), seems pretty mild in the realm of reactions. And it has, for now, handled the issue with a minimum of real harm to anyone involved.

Or, do you think just talking about it is too much? Talking about stuff is an over-reaction, to you?

 

[Malmuria]

But the step further than the entire NFT space is nothing but scams . . . that everyone involved is either the scammers or the scammed . . . I'm just not seeing it. I'm certainly not seeing anything wrong with Chaosium's canceled NFT plans.

With regards to Veve, I would say their business model seems predatory in the same way that video game monetization and loot boxes are potentially predatory. As I understand it, to own a Veve digital collectible, you have to convert real money in "gems," which is their internal currency. Then you wait for one of their "drops" in which you can purchase a digital collectible. These are similar to loot boxes in that you don't know the "rarity"of the item you purchase until after. You might have gotten a common version or an ultra rare version. Of course, the rarity is artificially produced scarcity. Then these items can gain in value on the Veve secondary market, where you can buy or sell your collectibles to gems. But there is no way to cash out these gems back into real currency.

So it's predatory in two ways
1. The use of loot box style gambling mechanics, particularly in products that are aimed at children (Disney, etc), have been shown to exploit those with compulsive gambling problems and children who manage to spend their parents money.

2. Through the artificial rarity of these items and the secondary market, they are ostensibly selling users investments, things that can increase in value. But there is no possibility to sell these investments for real world currency, you can only get more digital "gems."

Whether you think the above is predatory will come down to your view of consumer exploitation and responsibility. The traditional view might be that people with compulsive gambling disorders ought to be the only ones responsible for their decisions. Similarly, if others mistakenly view these products as good investments, then only they are to blame when their investing strategy fails. But I'm skeptical that the companies involved--from video game companies to veve--don't know exactly what they are doing here.

As Frank said: "We used to make s___ in this country, build s___. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket."

 

[OblivionDrive]

I spent so much wasted time on Twitter today slapfighting these clowns in that thread, almost none of which seemed to know what Chaosium actually makes and sells. The one guy who got closest seemed to think they sold board games. Most of them just evaded or didn’t answer when pressed. Every single use case they tried to outline as a benefit of NFTs I had to point out were already being done fine without blockchain for years or were unrealistic pipe dreams.

Everything is an investment to them. Everything has to be able to be resold for a profit. Nobody seems to understand weird concepts like “joy” or “relaxation” or “having friends.” It’s so exhausting.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

If you want a funny/sad experience, start scrolling through this website-

Web3 is Going Just Great

A timeline recording only some of the many disasters happening in crypto, decentralized finance, NFTs, and other blockchain-based projects.

web3isgoinggreat.com

Of importance, I was surprised to see that Chaosium made the cut! That's right, our little hobby is on there now.

 

[Jer]

Everything is an investment to them. Everything has to be able to be resold for a profit. Nobody seems to understand weird concepts like “joy” or “relaxation” or “having friends.” It’s so exhausting.

Yeah this is definitely the mindset of a lot of folks. If it weren't for the various negative impacts I'd actually be happy to let these folks go off and trade imaginary collectibles in their blockchain. It would keep them out of actual collectible markets where these kind of folks just drive up the prices for the folks who aren't looking to buy them as an investment.