RedEye9 wrote on Jan 16, 2022, 18:19:
Back when I had money to play around with I invested heavily in Theranos and Enron.

Probably a better comparison to crypto...

Back when I had money to play around with I invested heavily in Theranos and Enron.
If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

Additionally, you have to remember the entire idea of "money" is a bit crazy. If you spend some time thinking about it, it really is somewhat dumbfounding that it "works" at all. However, you are rarely conscious of this because your local currency has been around for everyday of your life. But when this new currency comes along you try to think about it logically and realize there is something goofy going on. Some of that goofiness exists with the currency in your pocket, you have just been living with it your entire life, so you don't notice it.

Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing

Don't feel too bad about not understanding NFTs, they are partly hard to understand simply because they are so freaking stupid to begin with. As for Bitcoin, the technology behind it is very nerdy and mathy, definitely not something easily understood at a low level by the average citizen.

As for the FOMO angle... try to put it aside. Plenty of other things this is true for. If you had just bought $1,000 worth (probably even $500) of Apple stock on the first trading day of the year since 2000 until now (and held onto it), you would be a millionaire many times over...

Edit: $500 each year results in $2.15m.

This comment was edited on Jan 16, 2022, 17:52.

Never dabbled with NFT or bitcoin or whatever. I have seen colleagues 4 steps below my paygrade go from streetkids to Las Vegas Bitcoin missionaries, though! The envy/jealousy I have felt was painful to say the least.

I am not one for taking risks. Never was. So this NFT thing is alien to me.

Talking about risk... I did just start a new company called [url=www.falconflight.nl]Falcon Flight[/url]. Weddings, parties, or anything B2B you could use my service for: I'm at your service. Got a good few companies I'm in leagues with already. I guess drone pilots are in demand!

Am I just an old guy letting a new normal drown me while I don't care, as I die? Or is my apathy the right thing? This is a serious question. This NFT bitcoin shit is too complex for me. Has been from the start. Never dabnled

The article doesn't even begin on touching on the subject.. ie, why it's money laundering unless a regulated stable-coin currency is involved. Why NTFs as they are now are an extremely dumb idea, and why the "entire NFT scene is racked with intractable scams"

And more importantly, if those who supposed to profit from it are primarily against it (creators), what does that tell you?

And yeah, crypto being responsible for GPU shortages also means I have a *HUGE* dislike against crypto-bros

Mr. Tact wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 17:45:

Shock wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 17:45:
Has anyone even attempted to explain how NFT/blockchain makes any game better in any way? What's the benefit?

You can make money by trading!

*lose*
everybody makes money during a bubble, not so much afterwards

jdreyer wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 16:55:

Much of their resentment is rooted in the encroachment of micro transactions in video games. Over the years, game makers have found more ways to profit from users by making them pay to upgrade characters or enhance their level of play inside the games. Even if people had already paid $60 or more for a game upfront, they were asked to fork over more money for digital items like clothing or weapons for characters.

There was some racing game that went for full price, and when you logged in, nearly all the cars were a separate purchase. I think I got the game in a $10 bundle (GRID 2?) so I wasn't that upset, but I would have been had I paid full price.

That would be iRacing.

Cutter wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 14:12:
True value? They're not worth the electricity it takes to power them. Oh there's a long term utility to crypto alright...if you're a crook who needs to launder money. Damn the environment too, full steam ahead!

*throws wine glass*
What is an NFT
but a miserable little
pile of money laundering?

Cutter wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 14:12:
True value? They're not worth the electricity it takes to power them. Oh there's a long term utility to crypto alright...if you're a crook who needs to launder money. Damn the environment too, full steam ahead!

Amen.

I read through some of the comments on that article.

It always seems to be some non-techie non-gamer who is like "Oh, I see, NFTs are the future. Buying and selling digital goods, how novel!". Let's call them crytpo-bandwagoners. They somehow don't understand that people have been buying and selling digital goods for decades, despite all of the evidence and examples. Then there are people like myself, who are trying to explain why NFTs don't bring anything useful to the table that people weren't already doing. And the crypto-bandwagoners start arguing about why those people are old fogies and should get used to the idea of buying and selling digital goods. All we can do is facepalm. They think they are informed and ahead of the curve, but in reality, they are decades behind everyone and following what is essentially a tulip trend.

Maybe we should establish an internet driver's license, and all it should do is test whether the person knows what the Dunning-Kruger effect is and how to not fall victim to it.

First, it is extra work which is something Star Citizen doesn't need. As pointed out, they are already selling thousands of dollars of .jpgs without having to code a blockchain interaction, it is a win-win for them. Second, I have absolutely no confidence they could accomplish it even if they wanted to.

The Half Elf wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 18:13:
Just wait until Star Citizen digs into NFTs...

You joke, but I wonder if they'll even bother. They are already selling jpgs of ships for like $40,000 USD. They literally don't have to bother with the hassle of blockchains, because they aren't selling anything that will ever materialize.

Which of course means they will try to add NFTs to Star Citizen and add another 10 years to the project...

Just wait until Star Citizen digs into NFTs...

Shock wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 17:45:
Has anyone even attempted to explain how NFT/blockchain makes any game better in any way? What's the benefit?

You can make money by trading!

Has anyone even attempted to explain how NFT/blockchain makes any game better in any way? What's the benefit?

jdreyer wrote on Jan 15, 2022, 16:58:
The NYT missed a major part of the story: gamers are already pissed off about crypto since miners have sucked up all the GPUs creating scarcity and driving up costs of gaming systems.

Yeah, that's the truth.

The past year has been terrible for PC gaming because of supply shortages and crypto miners, and now they want gamers to embrace it with no good explanation as to why there's any reason for us to want to. That's a pretty hard sell, especially when nobody really trusts gaming companies in the first place.

The NYT missed a major part of the story: gamers are already pissed off about crypto since miners have sucked up all the GPUs creating scarcity and driving up costs of gaming systems.

Much of their resentment is rooted in the encroachment of micro transactions in video games. Over the years, game makers have found more ways to profit from users by making them pay to upgrade characters or enhance their level of play inside the games. Even if people had already paid $60 or more for a game upfront, they were asked to fork over more money for digital items like clothing or weapons for characters.

There was some racing game that went for full price, and when you logged in, nearly all the cars were a separate purchase. I think I got the game in a $10 bundle (GRID 2?) so I wasn't that upset, but I would have been had I paid full price.