The internet is a maelstrom of chatter — even a brief exposure can make everyone wish they’d shut up — but does any of it matter? A chorus of social media critics, in fact do anything? This is the biggest insecurity of the internet. Self-confident social media users diagnose each other with poster disease (opens in new tab) and sarcastically say “we did it, Reddit” to imply that no, posting on the internet doesn’t save the day.
Are publishers pulling back because they don’t see the value in NFTs, or because they’re mercilessly mocked online every time they talk about them?
Internet mobs were undoubtedly the cause some of them things are better and worse though. The frenzy surrounding loot boxes was at least partly responsible for attracting the attention of politicians, leading to the continued decline of the practice today. We had them turn an ugly Sonic movie into a boring Sonic movie. I wonder where the absence of the internet mafia was felt: CS:GO buttons and the Steam Community Market, how would things be different today if Valve had met the kind of resistance it did when trying to add paid mods to Steam?
Which brings me to the question I want to ask here: Are game publishers shying away from NFTs because they don’t see value in them, or because they’re mercilessly mocked online every time they talk about them?
As an example, in late 2021, Discord CEO Jason Citron teased NFT integration for the chat app, and thousands responded to say “no thanks” in less polite tones; the most shared answers suggested canceling Discord Nitro subscriptions. Two days and thousands of comments later, Citron said the screenshot was just an “internal concept” that the company had no plans to implement, and that it would share more soon. He hasn’t shared much else yet, though he’s just biding his time.
Stalker studio GSC Game World, Worms developer Team17 and voice actor Troy Baker have also pulled out of NFT projects after an online outcry. After suggesting that NFTs are “the future” of gaming in 2021, EA CEO Andrew Wilson later revealed (after much internet chatter) that he was just talking about collectability in general. Back in April, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra said in response to an Activision Blizzard survey designed to gauge public interest in them that “no one is doing NFTs” at the studio—I think the company got its answer.
Ubisoft is one of the few big companies that actually gets the job done. obstructed by comments like (opens in new tab) “This remains the dumbest and most pointless thing in the damn world,” the publisher said, briefly teasing the non-workable goodies in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. These NFTs are worthless today, Breakpoint is no longer updated, and Ubisoft now says it’s just a research project, not to be taken too seriously.
Every NFT person looks at video games and thinks “what if you could have mario’s hat” and everyone is like “are you stupid and high?”January 2, 2022
Perhaps the internet’s anti-NFT rhetoric is just turning mainstream gaming companies on the prospect of NFTs, which they’ll be embracing anyway: Interesting, but cautious, especially after all the scams and thieves seen over the past few years, the volatility of cryptocurrency markets, and virtually killing them. lack of primary interest to purchase. Ubisoft may be telling the truth when they say they’re just cheating: If they really were making a profit from NFTs, would they have started with gun skins for one of their least popular games?
There are also many pro-NFT commentators online, and not every traditional game publisher has shied away from the idea. Announced somewhat quietly in November, Square Enix is among the highest risers (opens in new tab) Symbiogenesis is a “digital collectible art project” made for “Web3 fans”, not Square Enix fans. Ubisoft reeks of half-heartedness.
SQUARE ENIX NFT REVIEW pic.twitter.com/Mmfxes4MNmApril 28, 2021
How come I only hear about their virtues from meme-brained financial gurus and weirdos like Tom Brady?
Beneath the general complaints that they’re environmentally costly and more or less stupid, I think NFTs generate a lot of hate on social media because it looks like people are actually screwing something up. do I want. In the era of mass production, sameness is everywhere, and what started on assembly lines has been almost perfected by computers that can reproduce data instantly. From this perspective, the scarcity and uniqueness of NFTs can be seen as subversive: They move against the tide of history. It feels like something can be cool about it, somehow. But not in this way. While individual NFTs are unique, the obvious goal of corporations is to do what they’ve always done and mass-produce that uniqueness. Most NFTs are just another type of commemorative gold coin, like the mass-produced plastic tchotchke or the ones sold on 2 a.m. TV. There’s nothing good about handmade, one-of-a-kind items they contain; All they do is gloss over the concept with high-end art collector snobbery and Beanie Baby-style financial speculation. What is a “Web3 fan” who likes to buy and own things? Isn’t this about art?
Most of the time I think it’s just a fad, but every now and then I come across a passionate Web3 believer promoting it and I start to think I’m missing it. I Do you want to earn money playing video games? The thought makes me want to turn off the monitor forever, but I probably also said iPads were a stupid idea and then Apple sold 300,000 of them on the first day. But then, iPads are real things, and none of this looks real. Remember the NFT guy who claimed he burned a Frida Kahlo painting? Or when Seth Green’s monkey is stolen and then he demands its return like a kidnapped child? Why didn’t anyone say “joke”? If NFTs are truly a transformative technology, how come I only hear about their virtues from meme-brained financial gurus and geeky celebrities like Tom Brady?
I think the NFT bully of the internet has affected the mainstream game publishers: If we all shrugged, they’d be trying out more NFT weapon skins by now. Even if not, maybe making fun of things online is something we do for each other, to remind us of what’s real and validate the feeling that it’s all so silly. And I think that’s cool.
To make this clear: I want nothing to do with any crypto project, even if blockchain is a small dog in your “game”. Trade your planet-burning scams elsewhere.August 12, 2022