First off let me clear up a common misconception that's been seemingly pushed pretty hard... NFT's are NOT only art and pictures. And yes, they will effect you in some very good ways!
Remember when Steve Jobs came on stage with the 1st iPod and introduced iTunes? Within a few years the CD racks at Best Buy, Walmart, and other retailers were all but gone? Apple created a multi-million dollar industry out of nothing and changed the way people bought and consumed music. Now every phone has this and more in it not that many years later. A massive paradigm shift in tech and culture. Many sub industries came along as a result while others were disrupted. Podcasts were born and now thrive for example. Anyone can start one and if your content is good you can out do a huge budgeted professional syndicated radio show in the NBC building in NYC by just recording from your home studio.
The point is change happens fast and in unexpected ways when new tech comes in that disrupts industries and NFT tech is as disruptive is a group of ADHD toddlers with power tools slamming Red Bull is to a China Shop. The key is seeing it and imagining where it will go. I will attempt to just scratch the surface of what will come if you'll bare with my ramblings....
First off NFT means "NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN" which is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. Basically it's like a super TRANSFERABLE proof of ownership & certificate of authenticity that can do a marinade of other things.
Let me give you some use cases:
Art. - This was the first and currently most common use of NFTs. Very simple to implement and allows artists to sell their work directly to consumers. This will massively expand into other fields like stock image and clipart sites. Kinda neat but no big deal. Please read on for the REAL game changers....
Games. - a $200 Billion dollar industry that is about to see a massive shift away from gatekeepers like Steam where you don't actually "own" anything. With NFT games you can actually buy, sell, trade, loan, and even rent out the games you purchase AND you don't need to go through a gatekeeper like STEAM to do so. Developers can also publish their games and sell them directly without the need for studios and retailers. It also opens up in game items and currency to be transferable as well meaning you can sell things you earn in games (Basically get paid to play)
Music. - Songs and albums as NFT's again allow you to sell, trade, loan, and rent out your purchases. artists can also self publish as well as do limited releases. This cuts out record labels. It also keeps consumers from being tied to one ecosystem like iTunes.
Apps. - Again you would fully own an app (sell, trade-in, give away or loan it if you like) and not be tied to any ecosystem like Apple or Google. You could buy apps directly from creators and they wouldn't have to give Apple or Google 1/2 the sale price.
Movies. - Full ownership. Sell, trade, loan. Not tied to any marketplace / service and no geo-locks.
Books. - Full ownership. Sell, trade, loan. Not tied to any marketplace / service. You could even set up a digital library to share the books you're not reading!
Tickets. - Highly fraud resistant tickets to any type of event form concerts, sports events, to movies. Bands could sell tickets directly to fans. GOODBY TICKETMASTER FEES! RIP you bastards!
Stocks. - This fixes most problems on wallstreet. Naked shorting, synthetic shares, Payment for order flow, dark pool trading, and eliminates the need for brokers. Trades would cost pennies. Companies would no longer be cellular boxed by Amazon into bankruptcy so they can take their market share. Full transparency! Virtually no need for the useless SEC.
Securities. - (Same as above)
Authentication. - All transactions are on the blockchain and can be looked back at and verified. You can also have a one of a kind NFT as a key for digital assets and verification.
Counterfeiting protection. - Popular items that are frequently counterfeited can come with a unique NFT of that item that cannot be copied or counterfeited and even a virtual copy you can use online in a game or metaverse. Nike, Coach, and many other big names are already signed up for this
Asset titles. (Physical & virtual) - Kiss title insurance goodbye.
Banking. - The full ability to be your own back using fast and secure layer2 networks with Fiat on and off ramps. Staking your crypto and assets to earn better interest than any savings account while not getting killed by inflation. Instant transactions from your phone, watch, drone, car that cost virtually nothing for you AND the retailer.
Loans - Taking cloud sourced loans out against real / digital assets in a worldwide market of competing rates and terms.
Mortgages. - Posting your digital mortgage and getting better offers / rates from all over the world on top of a smart contract that protects you without the need for lawyers or banks.
The list goes on with use cases we can only dream of & GameStop / GMErica has launched the platform to do it built on LoopRing's ultra fast and cheap Layer2 technology. Every one of these transactions is virtually instant and costs a few pennies. Far less than any credit card fee.
No middle men, contracts, labels, studios, or lawyers needed. More money for the creators / artists, cheaper prices to consumers, more features, flexibility, security available.
Guys this is HUGE. Don't let the MSM sour you to the idea of NFT's. It's one of the biggest threats to their system out there. The timing of this is also pretty wild. The GameStop stock split / dividend is at the end of next week. It also looks like they may be launching something else next week on their digital marketplace. They and the LoopRing team have strongly hinted at taking down the global financial system and replacing it with something better. A new digital NFT stock market system that would wildly shift money and power away from Wall-Street to a fair system that would never need another bail-out due to greed and corruption again
I'm of the opinion this is a key component of the financial side of the plan. Taking away power, money, control, and resources from the establishment and gatekeepers must be done at some point right? This very much looks like the best way to do that. The GameStop short squeeze (That should be happening pretty soon after the split / dividend on 7/21) and the massive market crash that should happen right around the same time will set the stage for a new financial system to replace Wall-Street instead of ANOTHER bail out after the SEC has once again failed to protect investors and punish financial terrorists.
Ultimately an NFT marketplace (and hopefully stock system) means Power to the Players & Power to the Creators while taking the power away from the existing system all while eliminating much of the need for government oversight and regulation. The rules and regulations are programmed in and fully transparent. Eliminating the need for trust and responsibility to those in control once and for all.
Q said "Game Over" a few times. Sounds like "Game Stop" to me.
Are we sure they're thrashing NFTs and crypto? To me it seems like the opposite, that crypto and NFTs are being pushed, HARD. Be that ads, news on Google (YouTube included), big corporations announcing their own crypto wallets and coins and letting you pay in crypto... It's priming people to accept a fully digitalized identity that includes spending your life and all your money in the "metaverse". Everything you do will be under heavy surveillance, yet giving you the illusion of privacy thru "block chain" tech and encryption.
NFTs are a big ponzi scheme. No thanks. It reeks of you will own nothing and be happy. Another push for digitalization of everything...it's really not as safe as they make it out to be, your NFTs can be hacked & stolen and you have no legal recourse just like Seth Green, you'll have to buy back your NFT (if possible) or accept the loss. Also, as someone who's also part of the gaming industry I can say that gamers want nothing to do with NFTs in their games as it's clearly another form of squeezing money out of customers.
No they are trying to associate NFTs with only art and virtual items and bomb you with stories about loosing them and money which you just parroted out. See how well that works?
You're thinking in a small category and missing the points about actual digital ownership via NFTs that you DON'T have now. You currently own zero digital items on google, apple, steam, or any digital gatekeeper even if you've spent thousands.
So gamers don't want to be able to play and earn or sell the games they don't play anymore? That's not remotely true.
I see your point about digital ownership. As an example Ubisoft recently announced they would disable content for some of their games that are single player but required an internet connection. Dick move IMO.
However, with an NFT you still only own a token that says you own the game. It only has value if people agree it has value i.e. its still fiat.
The problem is that you can't really own anything digital.
No the game IS tokenized. It IS a digital asset that you CAN own. You DON'T have that level of ownership currently for most any digital content.
It creates new value where none existed like the ability to trade / sell / loan digital content.
It's no different than a piece of paper that says you own land, cars, or homes. It's just better in every way.
Can you explain a bit more how that works? Surely the whole game can't be a token on the block chain (too much data).
Would the token be like a serial number that you need for the game to run? How does that work if the block chain is public? Its encrypted?
Can't someone still copy and crack the game so it runs without the token? Being able to make a perfect copy without affecting the original makes the digital space different to the physical.
That's how I understood it too. The piece of paper means nothing if there isn't some social agreement to honour it. Currently its the police who enforce ownership via threat of violence if you steal something.