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

[Jer]

Also, aside from the monetization angle (which you could add through a third party app if you were so inclined) can't D&D Beyond or (heck, microsoft onedrive or even google sheets) do EVERYTHING they're planning on charging to do?

This just seems completely unnecessary except for the added buzzwords.

I mean, not quite. There are a couple of things going on here - part of it is the character builder aspect, but that's not the whole thing.

The article suggests that they're proposing a shared world where all of these characters exist and play happens in that shared world. So it at least sounds it's like a combination of Adventurer's League and D&D Beyond except you can sell your characters and also you can't make your own characters, you have to use a pre-gen. Which will have different elements of "rarity" around them in their stats and background and whatnot - so it's like D&D Beyond mixed with Adventurer's League with a bit of CCG thrown in maybe?

 

[CleverNickName]

Here's the weird thing about that... the NFT Character's exploits are permanently on the blockchain. You can't even take the character and pretend they got to their current level through your own made-up background. Everything they've done and will do now that they're in your hands is immutable within the Gripnr's environment.

It makes the NFT Character worse environmentally than an NFT jpeg. For the jpeg, you only write to the blockchain when it's sold to a new owner (which is incredibly close to never), not every time you use it as an avatar somewhere or show it off on social media (so other people can download it for free).

Writing to the blockchain every time the character gets treasure, levels up, defeats an enemy, or who-knows-what-else they'll record, is just a massive waste of resources. Not to mention holding that quantity of data isn't really what the blockchain is meant for.

I'm sure they have all that stuff figured out, or will figure it soon. Somehow. So no problem! Sign up for your free COMPUTER MONEY before they run out!

 

[Jer]

Writing to the blockchain every time the character gets treasure, levels up, defeats an enemy, or who-knows-what-else they'll record, is just a massive waste of resources. Not to mention holding that quantity of data isn't really what the blockchain is meant for.

My gut reaction is that by the time this actually rolls out - if it actually rolls out - what the NFT will actually record is a pointer into a database, and the database will actually hold all of that information about your character, not the blockchain itself. Much like how art NFTs don't actually encode the jpeg into the blockchain but instead just encode the link to the asset.

 

[Mort]

I mean, not quite. There are a couple of things going on here - part of it is the character builder aspect, but that's not the whole thing.

The article suggests that they're proposing a shared world where all of these characters exist and play happens in that shared world. So it at least sounds it's like a combination of Adventurer's League and D&D Beyond except you can sell your characters and also you can't make your own characters, you have to use a pre-gen. Which will have different elements of "rarity" around them in their stats and background and whatnot - so it's like D&D Beyond mixed with Adventurer's League with a bit of CCG thrown in maybe?

Sure, but you can STILL do all of that with D&D Beyond and onedrive (or whatever).

I guess the selling point is the "unique" character and items bit and the recorded for posterity on the blockchain bit - both of which, IMO, are just limp gimmicks.

 

[J.Quondam]

The article suggests that they're proposing a shared world where all of these characters exist and play happens in that shared world.

Ah, a game world shared with... cryptobros! Just exactly the sort of people I've always* wanted to share a shared world with!



* And by "always" I really meant "never".**
** Gross. ***
*** Just... gross.

 

[darjr]

Who here is going to buy someone else’s played character? Even without all this nonsense?

how much? $20? $50?

 

[Jer]

Sure, but you can STILL do all of that with D&D Beyond and onedrive (or whatever).

I guess the selling point is the "unique" character and items bit and the recorded for posterity on the blockchain bit - both of which, IMO, are just limp gimmicks.

I think the selling point is NFT! NFT! NFT! and that's about it. The idea that NFTs are like printing money is embedded now and so everyone's trying to get on board. Mostly these guys all sell this stuff to each other.

The big flaw I see in this scheme from an NFT perspective is that to make it work you need to have people who actually want to play the game, and not just trade NFTs.

 

[Jer]

Who here is going to buy someone else’s played character? Even without all this nonsense?

how much? $20? $50?

Eh - I'll just right click on the image and save it to my hard drive. Scratch out the name "Sir Gregor" from the top and rename him "Sir Tregor" and it's all good.

 

[Sir Brennen]

My gut reaction is that by the time this actually rolls out - if it actually rolls out - what the NFT will actually record is a pointer into a database, and the database will actually hold all of that information about your character, not the blockchain itself. Much like how art NFTs don't actually encode the jpeg into the blockchain but instead just encode the link to the asset.

Entirely possible. Of course, that defeats the entire purpose of a "decentralized" blockchain, as the database will be a central repository. And what if something happens to the database? Supposedly permanent NFT character history goes "Poof!"

 

[Jer]

Entirely possible. Of course, that defeats the entire purpose of a "decentralized" blockchain, as the database will be a central repository. And what if something happens to the database? Supposedly permanent NFT character history goes "Poof!"

But of course, if the company goes belly up it all goes away anyway - what's the value in a character NFT tied to a game world from a company that couldn't make enough of of a profit on this kind of scheme to keep it going?