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I’m 100% genuinely confused - what’s the point of NFT’s again?

NinjaBoiX

Member
So the news of Konami releasing NFT’s for Castlevania’s anniversary got me questioning the purpose of these again (and Googling the definition to make sure I understand), as it genuinely doesn’t make sense to me. Not like in that exaggerated way where you ignore the obvious to make your point, I literally don’t get why you’d spend money on them.

Unless I’ve got it twisted?

So you buy an NFT that is some artwork for example. But you can’t actually have a copy of that artwork for yourself, to look at whenever you wish, correct? It’s just that you’ve “bought” that artwork, and nobody else (including yourself apparently) can do anything with it?

What if it was a music track? How do you listen to it? Can you listen to it whenever and wherever you want?

Help me understand GAF, because I’d like to get think, for my own sanity, that there is more to it.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
I considered making this thread too. My almost completely uninformed opinion makes me think it’s a fad largely bolstered by, or somehow entwined with, Zuck’s Metaverse plans.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Collectors who are too lazy or late to get physical collectibles. And want their entire life existence uploaded into a server.

Companies that are too lazy and cheap to make physical collector's items.

Add those two together and it's a match made in heaven.
 

eddie4

Genuinely Generous
It's a picture, or a gif, or a audio/video file that comes along with a 'code' and that code is proof that you own that digital item so that when you go and sell it, they can get that picture with that specific 'code'.
I guess it's kind of like selling an account, for example, I remember people selling steam accounts with a low steam ids, since it's one of the earliest, or something in that sense, and it was worth more to some people.
 

UnNamed

Banned
For now its just speculation.

In the future, buy an extremely valuable NFT and people will still print it on a t-shirt without paying royalties.
 
The point is to make money.
Morgan Freeman Reaction GIF by MOODMAN


It does not matter if it is a scam, this is just a new way to make money out of others. Do I think it is fair? No. Do I support this practice? No, but at least I won't be paying for this scam or making a game using it.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Fallout 3 lunchbox edition 2008
Gamer: I want one
Bethesda: Great, but you'll have to look around stores and see who has any left

Fallout 3 lunchbox edition 2022 NFT
Gamer: I want one
Bethesda: Great, just download a copy

Gamer: It looks like it's sold out???
Bethesda: Dont worry. Our ecom team will make more soon. We expect them to be able to upload another 10,000 NFTs in the next 24 hours
 
It is essentially a digital claim to digital assets. So think of someone who collects Magic cards or a celebrity's used napkins. Normal people will think it is ridiculous to spend money on things that are essentially worthless. They are correct in their assessment, however, collecting is not about objective "worth" or "value" and is more about recognition, pride, and greed within those collectable communities. NFTs are just a way to make people collect digital goods and "claim" them as their own. It is definitely not going away anytime soon and will probably carve a sizeable niche out of the internet userbase like any other collectable community.
 

chromhound

Member
it's like doing music and you own the masters but digitally. But some NFTs are useful. Some have special perks (being a group full of rich people, investing in games and earning crypto, etc).

It's also a way of not paying taxes lol
 
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TheMan

Member
I basically think of them as electronic trading cards. Except with NFTs, what you actually "own" is a specific copy of the picture/gif hosted on a specific website. So basically you're buying a URL, which by the way can go down at any time and that's it. Just like a trading card, you don't own the copyright for the picture or artwork.
 

gradient

Resident Cheap Arse
They do have potential application in some commercial roles where a unique key is to be assigned to an owner in order to prevent resale - for example event tickets where the ticket can be tied to an NFC which in turn prevents resale and scalpers.

In the context of selling images and the like they're a scam. All an NFT holds is a small bit of text data. This is being used to store links to images hosted on the net and presented as a means of buying that image. In reality all you're buying is a link that that image (or other digital "asset"). It doesn't convey any legal ownership or copyright, it doesn't give the owner any legal rights over the digital asset and if the link in that NFT goes away then that's it - the "owner" doesn't have any more right to the image than someone who downloaded it or took a screenshot.

It's the modern equivalent of the "do you want to buy a bridge" scam.
 

thefool

Member
A good way to have this discussion is: what don't you understand about nfts?
An nft is a non-fungible token. It's an unique token (its actually a contract...lol) that represents the ownership of an item.
 

Majukun

Member
some people buy them for exclusivity, like people that buy the original painting for millions when you can buy a copy or evedn a print for way less (much like you can copy an nft file, but only one person has the ownership of the original.


otheder people use it for more nefarious things, like laundering money (much like real life art)

the rest just jump on the bandwagon try to make money from nothing (and the videogame industry LOVES making money for nothing)

that's at least what i got from it
 

Alebrije

Member
NTF are items for collection but instead a physical item like the Monalisa or a Faberge Egg they are just 0 and 1 (binary) digital archives encripted.

And the same way we have millions on Monalisa copies , NFTs can be copied...

The controversy is that you can distinguish between a Monalisa copy vs original but not between the NFT ant its copies since all share the same binary code....By example : someone bought an NFT on an image for $50,000.00 U.S. but you can download or.copy it for free ; the only difference it that the guy owns an encripted code that says he is the owner, so the 50,000 U.S he payed basically is not for the image but fot the code since the image.can be copies millions of times bit not the code.

Hope NFTs bombs ,but there are always people with money that fall o this speculation trend....
 
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Thaedolus

Member
I do see why people value the original copy of a painting or something, rather than a printoff, because no matter what...the original is the original and it can't actually be duplicated. But of course the art trade is a bunch of horseshit too, just like the diamond trade.

Owning the "original" digital copy of something just seems...even stupider in comparison. A digital copy is an exact copy. Burning down a rainforest to be able to say "yes but THIS copy is the original and THIS certifies it" has no inherent value, it's just yet another form of currency being created for...reasons? It's taking the art trade, already bullshit, and making it digital, which in this case may have terrible ramifications considering how much energy crypto transactions use.

But maybe I'm just not big brained enough to get in on scams early enough.
 

HoodWinked

Member
Counterstrike is essentially the original NFT game.

All the collectible gun skins are items that have value and are owned by a player

The only real difference is in this game valve operates the database of collectables.

For NFT games that record of items is saved on the blockchain (not the item itself just that 36678743 has item 35664566). So it's less efficient but because it's public, a different game could use that record and include your ownership of that item in that game but there would be little incentive to do so.

You don't really need NFT or blockchain technology to do any of this it's just by making it convoluted it makes it appear more valuable.
 
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Fbh

Member
My slightly edited reply from the other thread:

In the case of stuff like the Konami thing, they are trying to sell you the concept that you are basically buying "the original", like a painting. Just like how the original Mona Lisa is worth way more than a reproduction or a print, they'll argue owning the "original" version of some digital art piece will give it more value.

And just like a painting, owning "the original" doesn't give you any copyright over it. If you somehow owned the original Mona Lisa it wouldn't mean you could go to souvenir stores to demand royalties on every item with the painting printed on it. If you buy a painting from a living artist you'll just own that particular painting, but generally the artist will continue holding the copyright over it.

Of course the big fucking difference is that you can't just right click on the Mona Lisa and get an identical version of it, the original is a real tangible object that was actually painted by Da Vinci himself and no print or reproduction of it will ever be completely the same, that's why it has value. Meanwhile your NFT is essentially just a JPEG or Gif or token indicating that "you own the original"
NFT sellers will also often sell multiple versions with slight differences as "different unique art works". So imagine there were 50 "original" versions of the Mona Lisa, just that in one she is facing to the right, in the other one she has slightly different clothes, in the other one she has a slightly different hairstyle, etc.
 
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ZywyPL

Banned
Buying NFT = you own a unique hyperlink. Which brings potential risks like for example, if the server goes online you don't have acces to your NFT. Or if the domain expires, someone else can renew it and replace whatever you vought with a dick image or something. All in all it's pretty much a scam/fraud for the already filthy rich to get even more money.
 
I considered making this thread too. My almost completely uninformed opinion makes me think it’s a fad largely bolstered by, or somehow entwined with, Zuck’s Metaverse plans.
Bruh that so Mata. Now when the Metaverse and Chrono Trigger cross, we'll have the Chrono Break.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
They are certificates of ownership tracked on a descentralizad ledger.

So far NFTs are mostly famous for being tied to digital images, but they can in essence be tied to anything; like a house ownership certificate. Their inherent value is the proof of ownership that exists outside of the control of a centralized authority and the facilities associated with it; no government legislation that determines who can participate on the transaction or obscure fees imposed by a third party are some of the benefits.
 
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haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
They are certificates of ownership tracked on a descentralizad ledger.

So far NFTs are mostly famous for being tied to digital images, but they can in essence be tied to anything; like a house ownership certificate. Their inherent value is the proof of ownership that exists outside of the control of a centralized authority and the facilities associated with it; no government legislation that determines who can participate on the transaction or obscure fees imposed by a third party are some of the benefits.
This explanation makes the most sense out of any I've heard. I guess NFTs aren't just useless trinkets.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
This explanation makes the most sense out of any I've heard. I guess NFTs aren't just useless trinkets.
Obviously they aren't conceptually useless, but how they have been used, they have been subjected to rampant speculation that has given them some insane valuations.
 
Majority of NFTs are dumb, but I'm in a few crypto projects that actually have use cases for their NFTs. For example, being able to make my character in game wear a limited edition (but free) NFT; Just had to pay Ethereum fees.

On top of this, when other games are released on their platform you will be able to use them interchangeably between games.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
People have too much money and they need to spend it on some thing. So we have things like NFTs and fortnite skins. Dont overthink it.

This is not for normal people. only for the filthy rich.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
It's the new FOMO swindle where an extremely vocal minority of 300,000 NFT owners try and trick you into thinking NFTs are the future and you should spend money on it using vague and abstract concepts like "blockchain", while every tech company and their mom try to jump on the bandwagon more often than not without fully realizing what the hell they're even talking about [see Samsung NFT televisions, Konami NFTs].

That 300k is not a joke, there are literally only 300k wallets in the entire world at the moment.
 
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