We’re in the early days of Non-Fungible Tokens, and it’s hot and hectic. With so many brands racing to announce NFT deals, you might think they’re popular, but each announcement tends to be met by a wave of disappointment and backlash.
While NFTs, which prove digital ownership, have some ardent fans, others are worried about the environmental impact associated. Sometimes these concerns come from confusing NFTs with cryptocurrencies or some of the blockchain approaches, sometimes because the technologies and investors overlap and sometimes are spot on. There’s also concern around some of the pyramid scheme like structures built around NFTs.
Itch.io, the indie computer game storefront that’s doing more and more tabletop projects, went first.
A tweet from the platform says;
A few have asked about our stance on NFTs: NFTs are a scam. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet the we ask that please reevaluate your life choices. Peace
The reaction was mixed, hot and argumentative.
DriveThruRPG, to whom many people demanded a stance, went next;
In regards to NFTs — We see no use for this technology in our business ever.
The reaction was just as mixed, hot and argumentative.
As it stands now, two of the most well known digital RPG storefronts are firmly anti-NFT.
Tension about NFTs, blockchain and cryptos rose dramatically in the tabletop hobby space after Kickstarter announced plans involving a blockchain model.
We’re waiting to see what Hasbro, D&D’s owner does with NFTs but an article last year from Polygon quoted Brian Goldner, the company’s CEO at the time, considering NFTs.
He had said;
NFTs are a real opportunity for us. As you know, we have so many brands that really operate on multiple demographic levels; whether it’s Transformers, whether it’s Magic and the D&D brand, and brands like G.I. Joe. We have a team that is leading our effort out of the west coast. We have our arms around this and see multiple opportunities on the NFT side, and you’ll hear more about that as we move forward. But we are actively developing our opportunities here, and we do see it as substantial.”
Sadly, since then, Goldner died after a battle with illness and WotC’s Chris Cocks was promoted to step into those shoes.
Equally, Fandom who run D&D Beyond, Fanatical and are building a Cortex marketplace still have avenues open.
Creative Commons credit: AVENGERS SHIELD 2.0 by Fonpaolo.
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