NFTs are coming back

[something_else]

21 hours ago, LordFall said:

Why on earth do we trust random corporations that fundamentally have different incentives than us to hold our assets?

Most people give zero fucks about this, though. Few people really care about privacy enough especially if privacy requires the slightest inconvenience or sacrifice, and similarly, most people trust corporations out of convenience or ignorance. NFTs taking off in the way you suggest would require corporations to support them heavily, which they’ll only do if it makes them more money somehow. Otherwise why would they give up any control?

21 hours ago, LordFall said:

Being able to see an image of the asset somebody else owns is pretty limited though. You don't get much of the value of that yourself. Here is a picture of a million dollars, enjoy.

Ownership only really matters if it gives you some actual benefit. A million dollars does. If an NFT proves I own an album or movie or some digital knick knack but everyone else can download the exact same thing anyway, then the NFT is barely doing anything useful.

Multiplayer video game items make more sense for NFTs because they trigger the same part of our mind that gives objects in the real world value, largely because our mind is modelling the video game world as the real world. But even then the games company still has to recognise the NFT for it to have any real value so they still hold most of the power. If the game shuts down your NFT becomes worthless. So it's still ultimately pretty gimmicky.

Also, a lot of game enthusiasts hate monetisation of games. It actually ruins the experience in many ways because it becomes less about the quality of the game and more about getting rich.

I think if you can actually explain what the day to day experience of using NFT tech would look like for an average person in this scenario where it becomes ubiquitous, I'd be more convinced. Most revolutionary tech of the past 30 years has revolutionised the world because somebody made extremely useful but abstract tech accessible and easy to use, think

• computers > Windows/MacOS/Desktop/Laptop/Keyboard/Mouse/Smartphones
• the internet > browsers/web design/apps
• AI > Chat based assistants and agents

It's hard to imagine what would come after the > here for NFTs. 

Edited Wednesday at 09:25 AM by something_else

[LordFall]

On 9/9/2026 at 5:23 AM, something_else said:

Ownership only really matters if it gives you some actual benefit. A million dollars does. If an NFT proves I own an album or movie or some digital knick knack but everyone else can download the exact same thing anyway, then the NFT is barely doing anything useful.

• computers > Windows/MacOS/Desktop/Laptop/Keyboard/Mouse/Smartphones
• the internet > browsers/web design/apps
• AI > Chat based assistants and agents

It's hard to imagine what would come after the > here for NFTs. 

NFTs -> General public owning assets

It seems to me that the next few years are gonna be filled with generative media. The best shows/movies/games that humanity has ever seen will come out in the next 5 years. All the while, the cost-of-living crisis underneath will keep dragging on and likely get worse.

This will lead to a few up-skilling themselves in AI technology. That's way too complicated for most people so they'll take the easier option of just trading the fun assets that come out of their favorite media. Today the music album is the scarce part because good music is in short supply. In 3 years you'll be able to take 10 songs that you like and ask AI to generate you 10 songs that are even better. It will take AI slop and make it actually good. Now you have an oversupply of media.

The only thing that regulates that are individual artists to attach their name to it and also proof of scarcity to make certain pieces memorable. NFTs both help this trend of sorting through piles of good stuff to find the great and attach a ledger of ownership to it. 

> Also, a lot of game enthusiasts hate monetisation of games. It actually ruins the experience in many ways because it becomes less about the quality of the game and more about getting rich.

I think it's more that there haven't been any good games that really nailed the formula. The closest thing to your point is competitive ranked games. Ranked multiplayer can ruin games if there is not a casual mode that's well fleshed out but overall it helps make games better and more worth playing.

I used to play League of Legends 14 hours a day sometimes because I was rewarded by in game status from being a high rank and also in real life status due to so many people playing the game. When people can reliably pay their mortgage while playing the top games it'll become even more ingrained in culture than it is today. 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by LordFall