As someone who has played real cash economy games in the past and just sees NFTs as the next evolution of gaming. I can understand that not all gamers are thrilled to see companies coming up with yet another way to milk them with wild claims the player could profit from such practices. There is quite a lot to unpack.

While I won’t be calling out any game development studios by name for legal reasons. I hate to see players try and blame NFTs for the bullshit they have been putting up with for years from money-grubbing developers out there.

One of the stranger but expected trends I’ve started to see is people call out larger gaming companies trying to sell NFTs in any form. Many of those same players seem ok with spending $60 for a skin in those very games. The moment however they become NFTs that they could resell for more but likely less it’s suddenly an issue.

I do believe there is a major difference in what kind of NFT that some companies are trying to sell to their player base and that many players are having a bad experience. This is important to think about in the different directions the industry could be going. Worthless junk as it’s always has been wrapped in a new NFT bow or something with a use case.

There are many game development studios out there that are more or less just giant art studios. Instead of innovating and/or creating new experiences for the players to have adventures on. They create new skins for the player to buy at insane prices and offer it as a “premium experience”.

With an NFT model in play, game developers can just roll out thousands of limited edition run skins that have zero utility in-game other than looks and turn a massive profit with a decent-sized art department. If this is part of the NFTs in gaming that people are taking issue with that is a good thing to call out. Call out the greed and hopefully, over time, there will be some changes. Expect, before NFTs, this was already a thing many games did and many seemed just fine with it that are now that.

Then you have the people who will spend $100k or more on microtransaction in pay to win games. There are an endless amount of games out there that did this long before NFT was a thing. Many have their reasons for playing such games. Suddenly once NFTs are included it’s all of a sudden an issue? No, it was always an issue for many.

You also have game developers that want to DLC every little thing they can. Do you want to play in new zones every year? That will be $60. Do you want a new class to play as? That will be $15. People were happily paying these amounts till oh no that dirty NFT word yet again walks into frame.

You also have people who will spend 100 hours no joke camping for a single item in a video game. While I’ve had some long camps in my day and so many raids waiting to have enough DKP to buy some item I wanted. Once that DKP has a value or you can sell that item for real money out in the open it’s all of a sudden an issue.

A lot of these angry gamers seem to be lashing out at NFTs like it’s the reason out of nowhere any game that has them in it sucks. As if those NFTs are the reason the same game development studios are doing something shady like it’s their first time trying to pull a fast one on their player base. It’s not and more need to open their eyes.

Players seem to want to forget items that could be traded between players were always selling on black markets. Yes, that iron you farmed in some game was always worth X cents an hour to someone. The difference is NFTS can move sales of items from shady black market sites to markets the game developers “endorse” to be used. In theory, creating a safer environment for those who want to partake in such practices.

People even more so gamers are willing to do something for zero dollars for years on end. The moment however they find out and are confronted to their face their time spent was worth $50 they start to struggle with what I’m calling the gamer dilemma. Where the gamer not only is willing to pay insane amounts for things but willing to grind forever for items they deem to have zero real-world value outside of the game.

The moment they can sell something for real money and the developers are fine with it they feel their time was wasted and could have been better spent elsewhere. This is not the case for everyone as some live in such a low-cost area making a few bucks a day in a game beats anything else. Then you have the smart gamers pulling in hundreds or thousands a day.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Shitty game development studios that were always ripping you off will continue to do so no matter what the latest trend is. If a game adding an NFT is suddenly your wake-up call that things are not right. Perhaps you need to reevaluate that companies business practices before NFTs were added in. I have a hunch how that will go.

There are far too many companies out there willing to sell you physical gaming goods for $100+ that cost them $5 to make if that. That failed to deliver on time and even failed to deliver the product as advertised. While on occasion those companies get called out that is a rarity. People keep buying shit expecting a different outcome.

NFTS is simply the next evolution in video games. Many game developers of all types will leverage them if they can. Many for good and some for bad as any trend has been over the decades just like: mobile gaming, p2w, microtransactions, physical goods, DLCs, pre-sale, day 1 patch, and so many other trends. It’s up to the gamer to use their dam brain and decide which studios and games deserve to have their hard-earned money and which ones it’s time to kick to the side.

It was never the NFT's fault that many gamers supported shitty game practices in the industry before there was NFTs. It’s just the thing many will try and blame as a scapegoat to stay in their bubble of ignorance.

How do I know this? It’s still a profitable thing for game studios to allow pre-orders on games weeks before “launch” that they know will be delayed for years on end. Yep, someone knew 100% that game was never going to ship on time and still permitted pre-orders of $59.99 with the gamer having the assumption that in just two weeks you were going to be playing that game. Many allow themselves to be rugged pulled every time and instead of changing habits they are just “happy developers are taking their time fixing things.”

Final Thoughts

While a portion of gamers rant about NFTs and how they are “destroying” the industry and “corrupting” game studios. The rest of us are just going to have a fun time playing in different sandboxes out in the open. With the understanding that shitty and shady game studios will keep finding new ways to exploit their players. Game studios that respect their players will look for new ways to empower and enrich their player's experiences regardless of whether NFTs are involved or not.

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The content was written by @Enjar.

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