S.t.a.l.k.e.r. 2 developer quickly cancels NFT plans after fan outcry
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
But I’m very tired of hearing why NFTs are a scam. Cool, you don’t want to buy video games skins that way - who cares?!?
I’ve heard -one- good argument against NFTs and -one- good argument for, and both those posters were drown in a sea of angry replies. I guess I just don’t understand why it gets people so riled up in either direction.
We’ve had contests before in games where “the winner gets to be in the game!”
We’ve had games with and without cosmetic upgrades, and it seems if you don’t have them now, then “there’s no incentive to keep playing” and “why can’t I make my character more unique?”
But with them, then “they’re just trying to take more money from us” and “I don’t care about this cosmetic stuff so neither should anyone else”.
NFTs are an additional layer on top of what has been part of gaming in some capacity for a long time.
There are a couple of additional arguments to be made around the ecological impact with NFTs, but otherwise it’s the same old, tired debate that just seems to get more angry and less rational with every iteration, and I don’t get it.
Mostly, I don’t see any scenario where anyone ends up actually happy with the result. Like people are complaining just to complain. When there is a rational complaint to be made, it gets downvoted to oblivion by one side or the other.
NFTs are fashionable right now and some people love to attack fashions. Multiply that sentiment by the fact that many (most?) don’t understand crypto or at least the attraction to it. Raise that to the power of the tribal dynamics this issue has assumed under increasing media and political scrutiny. An issue ripe for the obsessions of our time.
Other people think that's insane.
They aren't equally right.
Case in point. Some people collect stickers. I don’t but I’m not going to take every opportunity to obnoxiously point that out every time sticker collection comes up.
This isn’t about micro transactions, you don’t need or even use NFTs for that. Replace NFT with gambling and it should make sense.
Many people don’t like it when video games try to build gambling merchanisms into them. And saying “its not gambling its NFTs” is like trying to get around a ban with a defense of “No it wasn’t a death threat, it was a haiku”.
Now obviously gambling exists both in games and real life, and you’ll find people who support it on both sides of the fence, but for many who it still feels like abuse of the weak of mind, and should be heavily regulated and penalized on the business side.