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[levyjl1988]

The idea of NFT is still confusing to me.
Can someone ELI5 (Explain Like I'm 5) how it will negatively impact gaming.

To me so far in the gaming landscape, things that piss me off are:
-Stupid store exclusive preorder bonuses lock to retailers that you cannot purchase later on.
-Day One Online Passes.
-Stupid charts for CE for what content is included in which edition.
-Loot Boxes, gambling to get in-game content.
-Artificial extending the grind to sell level up time savers. Feels scummy as developers created a problem and selling you a solution like in most Ubisoft titles.
-Skins are locked behind time-limited Twitch Streams from absurd hours or live streaming unable to get that content in the future.
-Servers that impact single-player games like The Saboteur DLC when taken down and unable to redeem code vouchers.
-Gaming content that is being removed due to closures of E-Shops or games taken down by publishers from purchase.
-Games are not being backward compatible due to shitty license hurdles.
-Games are not being cross-play for multiplayer because the online community is dead and divided.
-Games are being censored unnecessarily or content cut when it moves to a different region ie) One Piece
-Games are launched broken and fixed later. You are essentially guinea pigging the game at full price.

I don't get what NFTs will do to the landscape of business or whatever stupid practice they will come up with.
Can someone enlighten me on the potential disaster this can affect gaming in the future?

 

[Black_Stride]

 

[RoboFu]

Nfts only work in 3 situations.

1. All game devs agree to build games that use a central nft api service that can make your purchases available in all games .. ( not going to happen )

2. One platform with multiple games under that one service / engine ( think Roblox) that you can use your nfts you buy in that service across multiple games. ( devs still have to add interesting ways to use the nft)

3. The ready player one model. One game world with one central gameplay system. program the nft one time for use in that world only.

 

[Three]

Nfts only work in 3 situations.

1. All game devs agree to build games that use a central nft api service that can make your purchases available in all games .. ( not going to happen )

2. One platform with multiple games under that one service / engine ( think Roblox) that you can use your nfts you buy in that service across multiple games. ( devs still have to add interesting ways to use the nft)

3. The ready player one model. One game world with one central gameplay system. program the nft one time for use in that world only.

I don't understand why people misconstrue NFTs to mean cross game dlc. NFTs are just a tool to show/verify/track ownership and resell. If a game were to use it it would use it to verify you own some limited digital asset. That's all.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Is eli5 the new “fetch”? It feels like the new fetch

 

[RoboFu]

I don't understand why people misconstrue NFTs to mean cross game dlc. NFTs are just a tool to show/verify/track ownership and resell. If a game were to use it it would use it to verify you own some limited digital asset. That's all.

Well yeah but that’s biggest problem with them as I was trying to point out. For items to have any real value they need to be Omni use items. That’s the real dream of nfts. Keep it rare but usable everywhere. Other wise it’s just resell-able dlc that loses value over time.

 

[Guilty_AI]

NFTs are just glorified mtx, or at least are used as such.

 

[Quasicat]

Something that makes me wonder about why companies are supporting nfts. Let’s take a look at the free to play stuff and skins. If I buy a skin of a character from Fortnite, I own that skin and can sell it. If anyone can buy the skin, what makes it valuable? Also, wouldn’t companies make more money selling the skin to everyone that wants it instead of making a rare nft that is transferable to other players?
I wish I understood it more, but the online explanations go into areas of technology that are unfamiliar to me.

 

[Three]

Well yeah but that’s biggest problem with them as I was trying to point out. For items to have any real value they need to be Omni use items. That’s the real dream of nfts. Keep it rare but usable everywhere. Other wise it’s just resell-able dlc that loses value over time.

I don't think the publishers' main concern is resell value, and cross game mtxs would not be something they favour. There was a hats and trading cards market on steam without cross game support for example but I'm not sure if it's still about. If publishers wanted cross game mtxs they could do it now without NFTs but they don't benefit from that. The only thing I can think of that NFTs would facilitate is limited edition assets sold at high prices. i.e only 5 specific people own that armour set and they can maybe resell that to somebody else.

 

[Three]

Also, wouldn’t companies make more money selling the skin to everyone that wants it instead of making a rare nft that is transferable to other players?
I wish I understood it more, but the online explanations go into areas of technology that are unfamiliar to me.

The difference is that they can charge higher prices for rarity. If a skin was $3000 but anybody could buy it would you buy it? If a skin was $3000 but only one person could own that skin once bought would a whale be more likely to buy that? What if the publisher got a 10% cut every time it was resold at higher and higher prices. This is how NFTs work.

 

[baphomet]

NFTs will be years dead by the time any AAA game developer would have been able to actually build a game around them.

Ubisoft have tried a few NFT cash grabs, but they were obviously shoehorned in last second.

 

[BennyBlanco]

TF2 hats and CSGO gun skins are basically the NFT in games concept fully realized. Valve ahead of the curve as usual.

 

[levyjl1988]

The difference is that they can charge higher prices for rarity. If a skin was $3000 but anybody could buy it would you buy it? If a skin was $3000 but only one person could own that skin once bought would a whale be more likely to buy that? What if the publisher got a 10% cut every time it was resold at higher and higher prices. This is how NFTs work.

That's a lot of effort to put into a skin that only one person can use.
It wouldn't be much different from a user-created skin vs something officially distributed by the developers then.
I don't think this can fly in games when it's limited to one person's use only. At this point, no one can be a completionist as there isn't an allotment.
It feels more customized then.

If it's limited to gun skins, then I don't give a shit.
But once it moves to character skins, then we have a problem.
It's like showcasing a character skin that no one can ever obtain, no matter what effort you put in the game or time spent, you will never obtain it.
So there is no goal if that's the case, so why even bother playing the game then, if there is one and only. It has to come in limited quantities if one is to establish prestige. It wouldn't be much different from creating my own artwork then.

Yeah, NFT's will fail then. I doubt there is one company that wants to create a shared world ecosystem any every other company build around that.
It's similar to platform wars at this point.
You have Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony in this space.
Google, Amazon, and Apple has their own app store.
Same with streaming apps.
No one is going to just one ecosystem, there will always be competing media.
Everyone knows whoever is the platform holder will always be the one that calls the shots and take a bigger % of that pie.
Companies will fight tooth and nail to be that platform. There will never be that cooperative effort.

That metaverse is so distant. And the thing is Facebook, er Meta will fail in this regard because it has no good games and good IP built over time and that nostalgia.
Nintendo lacks the hardware and technological competency to create a metaverse. Microsoft will most likely establish it. That is why they are so damn friendly and open these days to be pro consumer.
They need to be that friendly company to attract publishers and developers into their ecosystem.
They know when they fucked up, people abandoned that Xbox One ship and went to PS4.
Microsoft cannot fuck this up so they have good guy Phil Spencer.
They know what's up.
Show one moment of anti-consumerism and people will fucking bail.

Gamers want to own the content they purchase.

 

[bender]

TF2 hats and CSGO gun skins are basically the NFT in games concept fully realized. Valve ahead of the curve as usual.

Is my Sam and Max pre-order shit for TF2 still worth a mint?

 

[th4tguy]

The only way a game could use NFTs that would work for me is if the digital game itself was the NFT and it would allow for borrowing/ gifting/ reselling.

 

[kirby007]

horse armor

 

[Three]

That's a lot of effort to put into a skin that only one person can use.
It wouldn't be much different from a user-created skin vs something officially distributed by the developers then.
I don't think this can fly in games when it's limited to one person's use only. At this point, no one can be a completionist as there isn't an allotment.
It feels more customized then.

If it's limited to gun skins, then I don't give a shit.
But once it moves to character skins, then we have a problem.
It's like showcasing a character skin that no one can ever obtain, no matter what effort you put in the game or time spent, you will never obtain it.
So there is no goal if that's the case, so why even bother playing the game then, if there is one and only. It has to come in limited quantities if one is to establish prestige. It wouldn't be much different from creating my own artwork then.

Yeah, NFT's will fail then. I doubt there is one company that wants to create a shared world ecosystem any every other company build around that.
It's similar to platform wars at this point.
You have Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony in this space.
Google, Amazon, and Apple has their own app store.
Same with streaming apps.
No one is going to just one ecosystem, there will always be competing media.
Everyone knows whoever is the platform holder will always be the one that calls the shots and take a bigger % of that pie.
Companies will fight tooth and nail to be that platform. There will never be that cooperative effort.

That metaverse is so distant. And the thing is Facebook, er Meta will fail in this regard because it has no good games and good IP built over time and that nostalgia.
Nintendo lacks the hardware and technological competency to create a metaverse. Microsoft will most likely establish it. That is why they are so damn friendly and open these days to be pro consumer.
They need to be that friendly company to attract publishers and developers into their ecosystem.
They know when they fucked up, people abandoned that Xbox One ship and went to PS4.
Microsoft cannot fuck this up so they have good guy Phil Spencer.
They know what's up.
Show one moment of anti-consumerism and people will fucking bail.

Gamers want to own the content they purchase.

Absolutely, but completionist has already died with GaaS a long time ago I would say. There is time windowed content, content that takes years to grind and therefore content you won't get, mtx only content some don't buy. A lot of people no longer care about being a completionist.

You're right it would be no different to user generated content in terms of being able to create something unique to you but unfortunately user generated content slowly died in favour of MTXs created by the publisher, Bethesda, the creators of horse armour that ushered in the mtxs, even tried to start charging for fan mods. And they did this over and over again. Free user generated content becomes less desirable in a world where you're trying to charge for mtx content because somebody can just replicate your $3000 armour and pay nothing.

 

[ReBurn]

Well yeah but that’s biggest problem with them as I was trying to point out. For items to have any real value they need to be Omni use items. That’s the real dream of nfts. Keep it rare but usable everywhere. Other wise it’s just resell-able dlc that loses value over time.

The value in NFT's is the ability to make normally infinitely reproducible digital assets scarce, thus increasing their prices. What you're talking about is their utility, There is some intrinsic value to utility, but what really drives the value is their uniqueness and their prior ownership. An NFT that belonged to a celebrity may be more valuable in the marketplace than one you or I owned.

NFT's are designed to have a clear chain of custody on a blockchain. This allows them to be tracked as they change ownership and to provide a way for issuers to collect royalties as they are sold and resold. Their issuer can get a commission every time they're sold, which is what makes them attractive to game developers. The ability to sell horse armor the first time and also get a cut every time it changes hands is tempting and potentially lucrative. This is why developers want to include them in games. Horse armor used in the battle of whatever in some MMO could be worth more than a new set of horse armor from the in-game blacksmith.

Their utility more defines their use within and across platforms. The standard for what makes an NFT an NFT is pretty clear, but how and where they can be used isn't as clear. They aren't omni-use because they aren't currently designed to be. For them to be usable across all platforms for gaming they would have probably have to carry metadata in the token itself about how they can be used and how they have been used. Or all developers would have to agree to use the same blockchain, as in all of them basing their tokens on something like Etherium. Like you said, that's probably the part that's going to keep them from being widely adopted for gaming for the time being. They're not going to all want to agree on how and where they can be used.

 

[killatopak]

Artificial Scarcity.

 

[Black_Stride]

There is no advantage to them for players vs serverside "ownership".
Assuming tokens are crypto based the "real world cost" of the tokens can and will fluctuate wildly.

 

[Hoppa]

Is eli5 the new “fetch”? It feels like the new fetch

Fetch has not and will not ever be a thing

 

[Miles708]

Artificial Scarcity.

Exactly.
It boils down to find new ways to squeeze whales.
How's that not detestable.

 

[anothertech]

Is eli5 the new “fetch”? It feels like the new fetch

More like NFT is the new fetch

Just not going to be a thing. Stop trying so hard

 

[OldBoyGamer]

Imagine paying for a jpg that can be freely copied and shared across the entire internet where the only differential is that it has a number associated with the file that stores it in a unique place on a server somewhere.

Then imagine losing access to that thing because the server it was kept on shuts down

Then imagine what unscrupulous business people would do with that system taking into account what that same group of people did and do with predatory mechanics:

Imagine paying $70 for a game
Then spending lots more via micro transactions to make the game better for you
Then imagine liking the game so much you’ll pay for that jpg
Then imagine losing access to that jpg

See ya sucker!

 

[Elder Legend]

Imagine paying for a jpg that can be freely copied and shared across the entire internet where the only differential is that it has a number associated with the file that stores it in a unique place on a server somewhere.

Then imagine losing access to that thing because the server it was kept on shuts down

Then imagine what unscrupulous business people would do with that system taking into account what that same group of people did and do with predatory mechanics:

Imagine paying $70 for a game
Then spending lots more via micro transactions to make the game better for you
Then imagine liking the game so much you’ll pay for that jpg
Then imagine losing access to that jpg

See ya sucker!

Imagine imagining...

 

[crackajack]

Some games are designed around MTX, P2W, GaaS or at least heavily rely on that income, and that ongoing Fortnite, Battle Royal, F2P fever is similar to CoD4, WoW, GTA3-times where everyone wanted to do the same (and mostly failed) so those influence "my" games directly and indirectly. NFTs on the other hand seem to be aimed at whales that can afford that nonsense and have speculative money to spare (and I guess some die hard fans/adicts will sell their farm for that bs) but seem so far not at all alter anything of the core in any game.
Star Citizen's expensive ships sound a lot like what NFTs are trying to be. Limited nonsense, that could equally be sold to more people for individually far less, in sum maybe generate more money. Although SC seems to have attracted massive whales so it works for them.
Whatever, I speak with my wallet, but I have to accept that it is not the only voice and probably not the voice publishers listen to.

 

[ANDS]

Is eli5 the new “fetch”? It feels like the new fetch

No. This phrase has been around long before internet memes and Mean Girl.

 

[SJRB]

Developer turns 'future of gaming' talk into a surprise attack on convention's NFT and blockchain sponsors

The speaker was applauded enthusiastically after his talk.

www.pcgamer.com

This gives a solid insight.

 

[Beer Baelly]

I don't understand either ELI4

 

[JackSparr0w]

For one simple reason: With NFTs you open the floodgates for speculators.

 

[Jigsaah]

Worst game launch of all time was Brink, published by Bethesda. It's not even close.

 

[chlorate]

NFTs don’t really add any features to gameplay. NFT games like Axie are shallow and could function with centralized servers like the old Diablo 3 Real Money Auction House or the Steam Marketplace.

But, NFTs may be useful as a DRM system to sell games if you don’t want to use Steam. The advantage of NFT technology here is that people can resell the game if the publisher’s licensing deal expires (as was the case with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for many years: it took me months to hunt down a copy on PS2 circa 2006)

 

[BennyBlanco]

Worst game launch of all time was Brink, published by Bethesda. It's not even close.

 

[Jigsaah]

Lol whups wrong thread.