D&D 5E The Glimmering - NFT Heroes in a Blockchain Campaign?

[Retreater]

This 5e campaign is being promoted heavily at GaryCon. Maybe I just don't understand this, but it's paying artists to create and design you an NFT character, tracking their online play through Blockchain. No prices are clear, it's like you pay in fake money (that doesn't have an exact exchange rate).
This seems like the ultimate corruption of our hobby. Some big designers are on board, and I don't want to think of them as scammers. Can anybody help me understand this?

The Glimmering | The Adventure Starts Now

The Glimmering is a new 5e campaign designed to preserve the magic of classic tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) while innovating the player experience. The adventure expands beyond the traditional gaming world and onto the blockchain.

www.theglimmering.com

 

[bedir than]

This 5e campaign is being promoted heavily at GaryCon. Maybe I just don't understand this, but it's paying artists to create and design you an NFT character, tracking their online play through Blockchain. No prices are clear, it's like you pay in fake money (that doesn't have an exact exchange rate).
This seems like the ultimate corruption of our hobby. Some big designers are on board, and I don't want to think of them as scammers. Can anybody help me understand this?

The Glimmering | The Adventure Starts Now

The Glimmering is a new 5e campaign designed to preserve the magic of classic tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) while innovating the player experience. The adventure expands beyond the traditional gaming world and onto the blockchain.

www.theglimmering.com

This was part of why WotC wanted to change the OGL.

It is unfortunately completely legal to prey on people through this grift

 

[Bacon Bits]

Given that it involves NFTs and uses blockchain as a buzzword, it's a grifter scam. I don't really see a benefit in thinking about it any deeper. It's like multi-level marketing, but with dice instead of cosmetics or plastic food containers.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

It has the worst web site design I have seen since the nineties, and from a Gizmodo article, It is type of "living campaign" but you pay to have your character updated to the blockchain and an associated NFT and can only accept a pregen. Looks like they nickel and dime you on the character updates and hold out the promise that the character NFT(s) will be worth something at some point.
Looks like they want to turn D&D in to a job and to be honest if that is what you want to do Twitch is a better route and more likely to make you money.
I think there was a thread about this here before, or possibly the Gizmodo article.
Yup there was.

 

[Clint_L]

Seems like pyramid scheme using NFTs and block-chain. Join, recruit others, get a cut.

 

[payn]

 

[Tonguez]

Not that much different to MTG though is it? Your buying a rare character card and tracking its performance, trading it as an option

 

[bedir than]

Not that much different to MTG though is it? Your buying a rare character card and tracking its performance, trading it as an option

Well, with Magic you own a real thing, not a receipt

 

[Dausuul]

Normally I am one of the first to assume that the words "NFT" and "blockchain" signal "scam incoming," and I still think that's the most likely explanation... but I can see a real, useful, non-criminal application for blockchain technology here, which is somewhat mind-boggling. I didn't think those existed.

The use of a blockchain for a "living world" setup provides a way to track the history of everything on a character sheet -- not only can you verify that the PC got a given item, you can see when and how they got it. And because it's decentralized, you don't rely on one company managing a server for the living world, which might vanish if the company goes out of business or just decides to pull the plug one day.

They also make an interesting point about being able to track usage. You'd be able to actually verify how many people played a given adventure or used a supplement.

Of course, the fact that there is a way it could be legit does not mean it is legit. I'm certainly not buying any.

 

[robus]