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

Jer

Legend
Supporter
To me, they're a solution in search of a problem.
This is exactly right. Blockchain technology is useful in exactly one area - when you want to have a database that a) all information in it can be publicly read[*] and b) has no central authority that you can trust to maintain it. If you have that problem then blockchain is your solution.

That problem is very, very niche. It's rare that you have need for a database where all transactions are public knowledge, and it's even more rare to have a database where there isn't a central authority that has responsibility for the data in the database that folks just need to trust if they want to use it. The original "problem" that blockchain was trying to solve was to create a form of currency that would exist independent of any government body - the desire to remove the central authority means that folks who want to use that currency are willing to make all of their transactions public knowledge.

Everything that isn't a currency that has come after has been crypto folks trying to figure out how to force that model into other areas. The collectible market is an area where what's being traded is "like" currency in that collectibles kind of follow the same kind of markets that stocks and currency trading does. But that's viewing the market backwards - the ownership of a collectible is important to the folks that collect them which creates a market of investors who skim money off of trades between the folks who see the collectible as having an intrinsic value outside of its monetary one. Trying to bootstrap a collectible market from nothing instead of tapping into one that already exists to make money off of the trades shows a severe misunderstanding of the collectibles market - almost a cargo cult like reproduction of what's going on organically.

(Ironically, the folks who designed cryptocurrencies to be independent of state governments have created a currency that is a godsend to authoritarian regimes because intrinsic in its use is the ability to see every transaction anyone makes with it. But you might ask - I thought crypto was used for illegal transactions? Yes - the anonymity is in the account you create that holds the crypto so it doesn't literally have your name on it. But if that account can be connected to you every transaction you've ever made from it is linked to you, and not linking that account to you depends on you doing everything right to keep it anonymous. If I didn't know better I'd think that crypto was an invention of the FBI or some other police organization to encourage folks to make their illegal transactions with a highly traceable currency to make their jobs easier).
 

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BrokenTwin

Biological Disaster
Authenticity of what?
The authenticity that your character is "legitimate" or "earned" or whatever. It's rare-collector gooblygook, in the same sense that people get certificates for toys/comics/etc to prove that they're 1st edition runs or whatever. It's doesn't actually MEAN anything beyond arbitrary emotional value. It's just a way for people to try to flex and say "my character's more legitimate than yours, because I have proof that what I say he did actually happened". Which is why I called them vanity items. They're status symbols.
 



UngainlyTitan

Legend
Supporter
This is exactly right. Blockchain technology is useful in exactly one area - when you want to have a database that a) all information in it can be publicly read[*] and b) has no central authority that you can trust to maintain it. If you have that problem then blockchain is your solution.

That problem is very, very niche. It's rare that you have need for a database where all transactions are public knowledge, and it's even more rare to have a database where there isn't a central authority that has responsibility for the data in the database that folks just need to trust if they want to use it. The original "problem" that blockchain was trying to solve was to create a form of currency that would exist independent of any government body - the desire to remove the central authority means that folks who want to use that currency are willing to make all of their transactions public knowledge.
By the techno equivalent of goldbugs.
Everything that isn't a currency that has come after has been crypto folks trying to figure out how to force that model into other areas. The collectible market is an area where what's being traded is "like" currency in that collectibles kind of follow the same kind of markets that stocks and currency trading does. But that's viewing the market backwards - the ownership of a collectible is important to the folks that collect them which creates a market of investors who skim money off of trades between the folks who see the collectible as having an intrinsic value outside of its monetary one. Trying to bootstrap a collectible market from nothing instead of tapping into one that already exists to make money off of the trades shows a severe misunderstanding of the collectibles market - almost a cargo cult like reproduction of what's going on organically.
Yup because cryptocurrency is techno gold.
(Ironically, the folks who designed cryptocurrencies to be independent of state governments have created a currency that is a godsend to authoritarian regimes because intrinsic in its use is the ability to see every transaction anyone makes with it. But you might ask - I thought crypto was used for illegal transactions? Yes - the anonymity is in the account you create that holds the crypto so it doesn't literally have your name on it. But if that account can be connected to you every transaction you've ever made from it is linked to you, and not linking that account to you depends on you doing everything right to keep it anonymous. If I didn't know better I'd think that crypto was an invention of the FBI or some other police organization to encourage folks to make their illegal transactions with a highly traceable currency to make their jobs easier).
Which is why the crypt thieves target the wallets not the actual blockchain.
 


hunter1828

Adventurer

Staffan

Legend
There are ways to mitigate and even eliminate the energy waste by using renewables.
No. Because if you didn't have NFTs and crypto, those renewables would still have been there and been used for other things. It's not like NFTs have caused more renewable energy to be produced.

It's like another kickstarter I saw that was about extracting CO2 from the atmosphere and scrubbing it into carbon and oxygen, and then making jewelry from the carbon. They were claiming it was all good, because their energy came from renewables.

Here's the thing: electricity is among the most fungible things there is. There's no difference between the electrons pushed around by a hydroelectrical plant, a nuclear plant, a coal plant, or a solar plant. When you as a consumer buy "renewable electricity", what you actually buy is a certificate from your power company that they in turn buy at least so-and-so much electricity from renewable sources, and they aren't allowed to sell more certs than they actually buy.

There is a certain installed capacity for production of energy from renewable sources. If that capacity is exceeded, power companies start turning on the gas, coal, oil, and nuclear plants to meet demand. Then it doesn't matter that you bought "certified renewable" power, because your power consumption is still part of the overall power demand that makes the power companies turn to dirty power.

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.
Things can be immoral and worthy of scorn without being actually illegal.
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.
M:tG cards have an actual use though. They are tangible things people play with which brings people joy. One can attack the business model with a large number of mostly worthless common cards and a small number of cards people will pay big money for ("chase rares"), but at least they have a clear purpose. NFTs don't. There's nothing you can do with them that you can't do with a regular database at a fraction of the cost.

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.
In order to meet the demands of climate change, we need to both reduce our overall consumption of energy and change more of the energy produced to renewables. To add completely wasteful energy spending on NFTs and crypto in that situation is absolute madness.
 



billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I can't help but think that someone needs to pay Jolly Blackburn for this business model since elements of it have been exhibited in Knights of the Dinner Table since the 1990s. Official GM credentials, a database capable of authenticating bragging rights - the only thing really missing is the whole crypto/NFT link. And that means that Hard 8 Enterprises has a better business model for such things because it's not such an environmental albatross.
 




Fanaelialae

Legend
No. Because if you didn't have NFTs and crypto, those renewables would still have been there and been used for other things. It's not like NFTs have caused more renewable energy to be produced.
Your response seems either predicated on a misunderstanding or wishful thinking.

If a company builds a solar farm to power their crypto farm, then those renewables would absolutely not have been there and been used for other things without the crypto farm. They built the solar farm to power the crypto farm. No crypto farm means that they likely would have had no incentive to build the solar farm.

Of course, now you might object on the grounds of what good are those renewables doing if they are being guzzled up by the crypto? Which is a fair objection, insofar as it goes. However, greater adoption fuels greater industry, driving down costs and fueling ever greater adoption.

When I was a kid, solar panels were so inefficient and expensive, that my dad (a very intelligent engineer) scoffed at the idea that there would ever be widespread adoption. Yet, thanks in large part to government subsidies, the industry was able to advance and today I live in a house that has solar panels (which actually produce more energy than we consume, though I admit that it does not mean that our energy use is entirely clean).

I agree that the buying of energy credits is something of a shell game, and I'm far from a fan of crypto. That said, I think that there is a possibility (if not the probability) that some good might come of them. Although, that could very well be wishful thinking on my own part.
 

Look folks, it's really simple: All confidence swindles are based on appealing to the desire of the mark for an easy win. NFTs in gaming spaces, be they TTRPGs or Video Games are built on the pitch to the gamer that they can make money doing something they were already going to do anyway, which is play games. It's money for nothing. ALWAYS be warry of anyone who tells you that you will get rewarded for no additional effort on your part. It's a con. Don't be a mark.
 


Charlaquin

Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
Strangely, I have never worked for a company that shoots kittens out of canons. But thank you for your feedback.
But you do work for a company that is accelerating climate change more rapidly than any other technology in history, to sell bundles of computer code no one actually wants and who’s function could easily be reproduced in a more energy-efficient way, so they can make yet another aspect of our daily lives into a speculative market.
 


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