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

[Snarf Zagyg]

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.

So here's the thing- it's the perfect storm of greed.

If you're a company, why not? I mean, there is a possibility of a hit to your reputation, but ... otherwise, it's practically free money.

If you're a cryptobro, this is exactly what you want- every announcement like this legitimizes the whole enterprise. It's like when you go back a few years, and they were constantly pushing out stories about how bitcoin would be accepted at all these places in the third world (when it wasn't) or putting the stickers everywhere or getting companies to accept it - you remember the announcements, and then never notice when, later, it turns out that it isn't real, or that the company no longer can accept bitcoin because it never really functioned as a viable currency. It appeared to be a currency alternative, when it was always a speculative investment that facilitated black-market transactions and money laundering.

Same here, but worse- NFTs are a sucker's game. Some people will make money from it. Because the hope is always that there will be a bigger sucker. Eventually, however, there won't. And that's when the edifice comes crashing down; until then, you just have to keep expanding the pool of suckers.

So we will keep hearing about companies that enter into NFT, and we won't hear about all the many many failures that happen even more often. The most recent analysis shows that of all NFT offerings, 1/3 have no value (are expired), and 1/3 trade at less than the amount to mint them (are underwater). And this isn't taking into account the fact that the remaining 1/3 are often self-traded ... nor the long-term failure rate after the hype! And the common retort .... is that failures are due to "poor marketing." Ahem.

Look, people can blow their money in all sorts of ways. But responsible companies shouldn't be assisting in it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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

To boldly grift, where no one has grifted before.

 

[Mort]

To boldly grift, where no one has grifted before.

Now you just have to have the NFTs "accidentally" corrupt after a random time, forcing new ones to be bought.

Then you have a grift worthy of Harry Mudd

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Everyone working on the project is being paid in Gripnr NFTs.

Defrauding the customers is a pretty obvious downside to the project, but this is basically company scrip used to rip off the workers. Add in bonus "rarity value". If this were legal, I could literally pay people in my own sweat since that's "unique". It's my sweat, not my twin's, or whatever, and there's a limit to how much I can generate.

 

[Staffan]

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

But you can just as easily do that with objects in a database without the blockchain energy-guzzling nonsense. I mean, I don't know if Arena works the same way, but Magic Online created "digital objects" of each card, with the same rarity as the physical version. No NFTs or crypto needed.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

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.

Linda Codega's been doing great work with these RPG industry articles on Gizmodo-io9. What a great, detailed breakdown of Gripnr. No better condemnation of Gripnr than by sitting down with the people involved and finding out exactly what their plan is. And wow, does that plan stink.

Comer even praised the article, because of the concept of "there's no such thing as bad press." Hilarious.

 

[Mort]

But you can just as easily do that with objects in a database without the blockchain energy-guzzling nonsense. I mean, I don't know if Arena works the same way, but Magic Online created "digital objects" of each card, with the same rarity as the physical version. No NFTs or crypto needed.

Fully agree, I don't see any REAL need for NFTs at all.

But companies see the new shiny buzzword, which they don't really understand AND see the artificial scarcity, which they do - and see $$$. Which is why they go there. And then there are the grifters, which NFTs are PERFECT for.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Somewhere, a cryptobro's google alert just went off.

"Oh no," He thinks, "A forum doesn't thin positively of crypto! That could affect the worth of my link to an image of a procedurally generated woman labeled as my girlfriend! (yes, really) I must go forth the educate them on how selling procedurally generated images and taking advantage of impoverished people with play-to-earn games is good actually!"

He is on his way right now.

Go home sir. Go home to your ape and your frosty; your cryptopunk and your gigachad, and your weird island with a casino in a country that prohibits gambling that your DAO couldn't actually buy and your rapping econ major who stole billions of dollars and somehow felt a $500 Walmart card was a priority to buy and not something other than a baggie marked 'burner phone' to hide her burner phone in.

 

[Delve SRM]

Hello everyone,

My name is Stephen, and I am the Lead Game Designer at GRIPNR LLC. I just wanted to poke my head in here and clear up some misconceptions. Don't worry. I'm not here to evangelize NFTs or crypto to you. I know people have strong opinions about technology, much of which I understand. And believe me, when the folks at GRIPNR first approached me, I came in with a healthy dose of skepticism.

For those of you who don't know me and my work, I started working in the TTRPG sphere in 2000 as the editorial assistant for the RPGA in Wizards of the Coast's Organized Play division. From there, I administered the Living Greyhawk, Living Force, and D&D Campaigns organized play programs before joining R&D as a developer for Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars Saga Edition. In 2011, I joined Paizo, where I was a designer for Pathfinder (first edition) and Starfinder, and then the Senior Designer for Pathfinder Second Edition. I left Paizo in 2019 for a variety of reasons. Over the past few years, I've been working on my own roleplaying game, Delve Roleplaying, and doing freelance work for various companies in the TTRPG (including Paizo--you can find my work in most of the major Pathfinder 2nd Edition releases in the Abomination Vaults adventure path, and I still design most of the Pathfinder Flip-Mats and Flip-Tiles) and computer games industry. I joined GRIPNR in December of last year.

Did crypto bros beguile me? Far from it. I was impressed with the people I encountered who were already on the team. Brent and Patrick had a fantastic clarity of vision, a love for roleplaying games, and some innovative ideas on how GRIPNR could benefit game creators in a way that is sorely lacking in the current TTRPG industry. I've worked full-time at the two major TTRPG for nearly 20 years. And let me tell you, I have seen some naughty word in that span. Some of the things I've seen and dealt with were included in the Paizo employee's decision to unionize this year. In short, TTRPG companies have a terrible habit of not treating their creatives well.

GRIPNR, in my assessment, after working with this beautiful, professional, extremely ethical, and amazingly talented team, has been a breath of fresh air. It's been the best working experience I have had in my 22 years in the business. It lacks the strange fear and loathing rife in other TTRPG companies. So wherever your imagination leads you to believe about the company, let me tell you, you're dead wrong. Here are some points I would like to clear up.

1) Neither I, nor the other designers working on the project (and yes, there are others, and there will be even more in the near future, and the names on that list will surprise you), are being paid in cryptocurrency. The rates at GRIPNR for creative work are some of the best in the gaming industry. And I should know because I worked at those places.

2) We are not stealing anyone's artwork. The artists we have working on the project are some of the best in the business, and I'm constantly impressed by their dedication to their craft, technical know-how, and unique creativity and talent. I am a stickler for all aspects of intellectual property rights, and we have a major IP law firm that reviews our stuff for compliance.

3) We are creating rules and stories using the 5e OGL and SRD. Working with the OGL and SRD, I know what we can and cannot do better than almost anyone else, and I'm confident folks will enjoy what we are putting together. And you know what? You can check it out and even play using some or all of those rules without procuring a single NFT.

4) The NFTs we are creating will be something not seen in the space before. The organized play for the system will be robust, interactive, and a hell of a lot of fun. Their functionality and art will blow people away.

5) Contrary to what you have read in the article, we are very concerned with fraud and are creating protocols to confront and squash it before it starts. Our tech team is one of the best in the business.

6) I am not a bro, nor have I ever been.

Thank you for reading this.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good luck with that!