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

[Fanaelialae]

Normally I'd grant that, but it's affecting even companies I would consider to be relatively long-term-minded. Square Enix, for example, had a press release or interview of some kind where some bigwig (I think the CEO?) mentioned investigating the use of NFTs in the gaming sphere. The FFXIV fanbase was instantly NOT happy about that, such that Naoki Yoshida, the (beloved) producer/director for the game, had to do a bit of damage control and say "no we are not going to put NFTs into the game, that's not happening on my watch." (Which he can actually say with some force, since he's on Square's Board of Directors.)

I give the example in part because it's relevant to me as someone who plays the game, but also because I know about the otherwise very "invest in the future" attitude and actions Square has had regarding FFXIV. That is, they've done some legit "we are losing money" actions in order to maintain customer goodwill, like when they shut down sales of new account codes due to the server overload with the release of the current expansion. You don't choose to just stop letting people buy your product for two whole months, especially when it's in a critically-important growth phase, unless you're committed to the long haul.

So it just came across as really weird and out of place. They've shown they do think about the long term, and as a general rule Japanese companies tend to be pretty tight-lipped and extremely cautious about what they say to the media, but apparently (as @Dannyalcatraz said) the siren song of buzzwords was too much.

Naoki Yoshida's one of the good ones. It's easy to view companies as monolithic entities, but that's not necessarily the case. They're made up of individuals who may following diverging philosophies. What I think we saw there was an executive looking at short term potential gains with $$$ in his eyes, and Yoshida, who is definitely focused on the long term health of the game, essentially responding "hell no" (albeit, phrased more respectfully).

 

[Eltab]

For sale: polyhedral dice. Never rolled.

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Something that still confuses me is, the big-name companies out there that are "looking into" NFTs have to know that these things have HORRIBLE reputations already. Like, bad enough to straight-up drive off a bunch of their existing customers. Why on earth are they still making public announcements about "looking into" this stuff? If they're actually gauging whether there is any merit in it, for God's sake, you'd think they'd look into the overall media and consumer response to them!

The companies might be "looking into NFTs" in the sense that they want to know how to armor up their product against being used in one, and/or who to beware of should they receive an unsolicited business proposal.

 

[Professor Murder]

I feel it's a great illustration of how NFTs overall are a scam by design. A geared out lvl 20 wizard has no inherent value because anyone can make one for free. The supposed value here is the permission to play the character on their non existent system. Characters have no value. Play opportunities have value. That is what is hard for many to come by. What I resent is how schemes like this undermine legit attempts to make GMing into a viable employment path. Pay people real wages, not in company store credits like it's the gilded age 2.0.

 

[LongTimeLurker]

You left out the best part: "So in order to play on the Gripnr protocol, players will not only have to purchase a Gripnr NFT-PC, but they’ll have to buy (or earn) OPAL to pay for a game session or make purchases of digital goods such as items and adventures. Those purchases will help keep the tech company running."


LOL. The scam is strong with these ones.

 

[Jer]

Something that still confuses me is, the big-name companies out there that are "looking into" NFTs have to know that these things have HORRIBLE reputations already. Like, bad enough to straight-up drive off a bunch of their existing customers. Why on earth are they still making public announcements about "looking into" this stuff? If they're actually gauging whether there is any merit in it, for God's sake, you'd think they'd look into the overall media and consumer response to them!

Different companies will have different rationales. To start with, a lot of upper management types are cut off from the real world - they have their buddies who are all also upper management types and they talk amongst themselves and the idea of an NFT to these folks seems really good - a collectible that has no material costs and that you can sell for money as if it were a manufactured item? Sounds like printing money! Once those types get an idea in their head it's tough to dislodge it (note that not all upper management types are like that - the ones who are good at it are more plugged in and usually have more diverse voices giving them advice. But there are a lot of bad ones).

The other side of it is the cynical side - to keep investors happy many companies (especially newer and smaller ones) have to keep up with the buzzword bingo that the investors are enamored with this week. Saying "we're looking into crypto" might be an announcement for the investors and owners of the company to keep them mollified while the folks actually doing the work have no intention of doing anything but blowing smoke about it.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Welp, NFTs are here to ruin Star Trek too.

The RECUR Portal Pass

The RECUR Pass is a collection of unique NFTs providing Pass Holders with special privileges and access to digital collectibles from the world's most beloved brands.

startrek.xyz

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Welp, NFTs are here to ruin Star Trek too.

The RECUR Portal Pass

The RECUR Pass is a collection of unique NFTs providing Pass Holders with special privileges and access to digital collectibles from the world's most beloved brands.

startrek.xyz

Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago and haven't had the heart to post anything about it.

Hopefully, fan backlash will get to them, but Paramount ... well, 'nuff said.

 

[Mort]

Welp, NFTs are here to ruin Star Trek too.

The RECUR Portal Pass

The RECUR Pass is a collection of unique NFTs providing Pass Holders with special privileges and access to digital collectibles from the world's most beloved brands.

startrek.xyz

NFTs are an easy way for companies to inject artificial rarity. Something companies have been doing for a long, LONG time.

 

[Mort]

Welp, NFTs are here to ruin Star Trek too.

The RECUR Portal Pass

The RECUR Pass is a collection of unique NFTs providing Pass Holders with special privileges and access to digital collectibles from the world's most beloved brands.

startrek.xyz

Also, bit sad but not the least bit surprised.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago and haven't had the heart to post anything about it.

Hopefully, fan backlash will get to them, but Paramount ... well, 'nuff said.

I clicked on it hoping, praying a little, that it was one of these companies that's stupid enough to think they can just NFT-ify IPs without a partnership or license. No dice.

What freaks me out about it even more, though, is that I can see this having appeal outside the usual cryptobro crowd. If you're into Star Trek, wouldn't you want to "own" a uniquely weird, randomly generated ship? Setting aside how ridiculous most of those ships will likely look, there really is something a little neat about that.

But what do you do with it? Why would anyone care? Without a true metaverse-y situation or guarantee of a series of videogames what will last in perpetuity, none of these nerd culture NFT collectibles are anything. We need Snowcrash to be a real thing for it be valid--and we definitely don't want Snowcrash to be a thing!