For the sake of clarity, I will do the briefest of recaps on what an NFT is before delving into my main business for today. An NFT, or "Non-fungible token" can be thought of as a purchasable digital proof of authenticity linked to a digital work. When an NFT is minted and sold on a marketplace, it can be bought and the buyer will receive the work and the digital code to mark their ownership. The word "receive" is not literal, as there is no physical work mailed to them. This is where most people get tripped up. Yes the work is digital and anyone can simply hit right-click and download the art. But then again, I don't have to pay millions at auction to own the Mona Lisa, I can order a cheap print of Amazon. Think of the NFT as being the mark that the buyer has rights to the authentic original. Yes, there are plenty of arguments against NFTs, from their use to their adverse effects on the environment. But, I am in no mood to get to them now and lucky for me this is my blog and no one pays me to do this (don't be afraid to send a donation my way though) so I get to talk about what I want.
Video games built around the use of NFTs. That is todays topic. Now, I am no stranger to video games but am honestly a pretty big fan. I used to stream a weekly show on Twitch before personal issues forced me to take some time off, and I still regularly play a variety of games from Triple A titles to more indie games (shoutout to Roof Rage). But now a whole new genre of gaming has arrived in the form of NFT video games. These games revolve around the use of NFTs, where players buy NFTs in the form of characters, tools, real estate, etc. They can then sell them to other players for cryptocurrency and either reinvest in the game or cash out for local currency. The argument is that these games work for everyone, that players with time work to collect items and weapons and whatnot in game, and players who lack the time but have the money buy them from players as NFTs. So when playing the game, you are essentially earning small amounts of crypto that you can either use to make in-game purchases or sell for real local currency to other players; all through NFTs.
Here's the thing though - I don't really care. Like NFTs are cool and the concept of a Skylander type game but digital is certainly interesting but that alone wasn't enough to warrant a post. My issue is that it was recently announced by Twitter user Space Pirate that Steam had added to its terms that all video games making use of NFTs will be banned from the Steam store. This is a new addition to Steams's onboarding documentation. Specifically, the new rule prohibits any "Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs." Now according to Space Pirate, who is part of a development team for the NFT based game "Age of Rust", Steam is making this move because items in these games would have real world value which is not allowed on their platform. And that is my fundamental gripe. How dare does Steam claim they don't allow games that use items with real world value. Let me start with the most blatant counter argument for that; the community market. The community market within Steam allows players to buy and sell skins with one another at a market price. This is for real money. By playing a game for more time, players can unlock more and more skins of varying worth. These can then be sold on the Steam community marketplace for real money that is deposited in a sellers Steam wallet. The funds can then be used within Steam, to buy more games for example.
Perhaps the most common argument against Steam's latest move is the long and often controversial history of CS:GO skins. Counter Strike Global Offensive is an FPS that, while popular for its genuine gameplay and competitive nature, is also well known for its use of a large assortment of different weapon skins that change a weapon's appearance. These skins can be bought and sold online, sometimes for outrageous prices. If one is inclined they can even gamble on skins, where they may be a medium priced skin and then gamble its worth in the hopes to win a better, rarer, more valuable skin. And of course, CS:GO is on Steam. So Steam making the argument that it does not want games that use items that have real-life value is strange to say the least.
I am not blind however, to the fact that technically CS:GO skins and TF2 hats do not count as items per say, but rather as accessories. The difference being that Steam may classify "items" as in game tools that change the user's gaming experience rather than just visuals. (I know that sometimes TF2 hats change the experience like the Pyro goggles or whatever but hey that's still just visual it doesn't make them better at the game or more powerful). So maybe that is Steam's gripe with NFT games. But then what about any of the pay to win games that exist on the platform, where players can pay real money to get better items (not accessories but genuine items) that allow them to be better than a player of equal skill who is not paying for items. Maybe because then the money is going only to the game developers and Steam, rather than to everyday players? This is just my opinion keep in mind, and as of now I really cannot think of a reason why Steam is doing this. Even the possibility that they are banning games because they would not get a cut of any in game transactions makes little sense as they would still want the game on their platform. I am still looking at the situation, but wanted to get this written up to serve as preliminary thoughts.
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