Attempts to integrate NFTs into video games have largely failed for a few reasons, but essentially it can be reduced to two main points:
1. They add nothing of value, and
2. There is a nil chance that the digital stuff you own will be stolen from you, aka a ‘back pull’ (opens in new tab).’
Not to mention the environmental damage caused by NFTs. But as seen in a new Rest of World (opens in new tab) report, that doesn’t stop NFT evangelists from coming up with even worse ideas for the future.
Most of the nonprofit journalism organization’s story is about a Minecraft-based NFT game called Critterz (opens in new tab), which was successful enough in the early days that some players started hiring others to build up their in-game properties in exchange for a cut in profits. One such high-roller, who goes by the name Big Chief, had “his team” – mostly children in the Philippines – collect building materials for a casino, which he then paid “professional Minecraft builders” $10,000 to actually build it. to make.
“I have a lot of kids who play for me, and they play because they want to make extra money in a country that basically just locks them up,” explains Big Chief. People in the Philippines were willing to play the game this way, he added, because “they could earn just enough where it was worth it.”
However, it didn’t stop at play. Big Chief said members of his play-to-earn guild had to work eight hours a day, the equivalent of a full-time job, to recoup the cost of NFT purchases — the digital “plots.” maximize revenue as quickly as possible. Still, he said he was “annoyed” by the suggestion that his exploitation of underprivileged people in poor countries, you know, exploitation.
“I couldn’t tell you what the hourly rate is, but I could tell you that people make very little money and the cost of living is very low in the Philippines,” Big Chief said.
But as Critterz grew in popularity, its value began to plummet: Big Chief said players had to use their $BLOCK . sold (opens in new tab) tokens used in the game instead of holding them “because they need money to live”, which combined with the increased number of players caused a token abundance that drove prices down. Following the trajectory of most cryptocurrency in 2022, $BLOCK dropped from a high of 85 cents in January to just 3 cents in May. However, the wheels didn’t come until July, when Mojang stated that NFT integration in Minecraft “isn’t something we will support or allow. (opens in new tab)That halved the value of $BLOCK, which had already fallen dramatically. Revenues were down, player counts were down and right now Critterz’s future is uncertain at best.
Understandably, Big Chief lamented his loss — that is, the loss of his ability to do so much good for others.
“I’ve treated a lot of these kids like they’re my kids, so it’s a little sad now that I can’t really offer them much,” said Big Chief. “I used to help a lot of these kids and give them a chance to earn some extra money for their families and it just kind of sucks that I can’t really do that now.”
Fortunately, for him at least, people are coming up with fresh ideas about how Third World citizens can be productively employed by wealthy Westerners. Mikhai Kossar from blockchain gaming consultant Wolves DAO (opens in new tab)suggested, for example, that they could be added to video game backgrounds for the entertainment of other, presumably wealthier players.
“With the cheap labor of a developing country, you could use people in the Philippines as NPCs, real NPCs in your game,” Kossar said, apparently seriously. They would “just populate the world, maybe do a random job or just walk back and forth, fishing, telling stories, a shopkeeper, anything is really possible.”
It’s an abhorrent idea, perfectly in-character for the NFT field, and literally the dictionary definition of exploitation: “Egoistic use…mainly for profit.” As much as I hate to admit it, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility at all. Paying people to do the heavy lifting in your favorite video game is nothing new – most of us are at least casually familiar with the practice of gold farming (opens in new tab) in MMOs, but the introduction of real money into these systems only encourages bad behavior. It’s dystopian, but it’s also fundamental: as long as real money is involved, there will always be people willing to pursue it, and there will always be others eager to take advantage of it.
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