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Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

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Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#31

Post by heptathorp »

Note for those surprised by the price tag and talking about whales: this is not like your typical in-game purchase like a special sword, unique mount, or even skins in CS:GO. These tokens implement core gameplay functionality that other players will have to pay to use -- think dungeons in Legend of Zelda, but if another player could own a dungeon and you had to pay them to go inside. So really, these people are buying a stake in the game with the expectation of profiting if the game is a success.

I expect the SEC will be all over this once they catch up. It took them long enough to take action against XRP though which is pretty open-and-shut, so this might take a while.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#32

Post by ljm »

drchopchop wrote: post #26
CptFribble wrote: post #16

The fact that co-founder of Zynga and creative director of FarmVille 2 are behind this enterprise is extremely telling. A few thoughts: 1. There is a small-but-non-trivial segment of gamers that are willing to spend huge amounts of money for in-game privileges. 2. There is a similar, somewhat-overlapping segment of gamers willing to spend huge amounts of time on a game, if that huge amount of time is rewarded with th…

They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here. It's like Minecraft, if you were farming for meaningless loot boxes all day. Just read some of these insane quotes: "The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining.…

The last quote makes this entire thing look like a scam to fleece gamers/gambling addicts and then (probably) run away with the money.

I mean, I will not at all be surprised if this is, at its core, an ICO-style con. It has blockchain, it has early 'investors' throwing money at it with the promise of exclusivity or scarcity, it's probably designed to reel in people hoping for the next Bitcoin, as if there ever would be one of those now. The main article is full of quotes about the scarcity of resources that will instantly get a lot of gullible people's attention.

This report of someone spending 800k already might well even be part of the scam, the same way any con artist on the street will have stooges pretending to throw in cash in order to convince others that it's legit.

The creators will roll along with the hype for a bit, and then take all that wonderful, liquid cash and ride off into the sunset, leaving everyone else's appendages (and useless digital 'assets') flapping in the breeze.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#33

Post by grawprog »

drchopchop wrote: post #26
CptFribble wrote: post #16

The fact that co-founder of Zynga and creative director of FarmVille 2 are behind this enterprise is extremely telling. A few thoughts: 1. There is a small-but-non-trivial segment of gamers that are willing to spend huge amounts of money for in-game privileges. 2. There is a similar, somewhat-overlapping segment of gamers willing to spend huge amounts of time on a game, if that huge amount of time is rewarded with th…

They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here. It's like Minecraft, if you were farming for meaningless loot boxes all day. Just read some of these insane quotes: "The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining.…

>The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining. Or you can just buy a farm bot preassembled at an expensive price.

>The people who were first to play it are going to get more than people who are last to play it. So, I mean, there’s definitely a reason to come in.”

So it's designed with pretty much the worst aspect of long running online games in mind and is pretty much a loot box farming game where you're mining for what is hopefully a chance at building something that might get you what essentially supposed to be a new digital currency?

Sounds pretty awful to be honest.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#34

Post by ketzo »

marcinzm wrote: post #19
NathanKP wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks to me like its in the same vein as Pokemon Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, etc. Very few people actually "play". They just collect for the sake of collecting, and they buy out of fear of missing out on exclusives. It isn't a model that appeals to everyone, but it appeals really well to some whales, hence it exists.

>Very few people actually "play". I don't think I've ever met anyone who collects but doesn't actively play these games. However I've met tons of people who play casually and don't really collect.

I'm with you that there are definitely a lot of players. But recently, speculation on/collection of Pokemon cards in particular has become kind of a big thing.

[1]https://kotaku.com/twitch-streamers-are-opening-90s-pokemon-...

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#35

Post by jayd16 »

duskwuff wrote: post #8

Man, I really don't get the point of this. (And I mean the game in general, not just the sale of this franchise.) It's like blockchain play-acting. Using a blockchain to track the status of objects which only exist within an online game, and which are only accessible within that game, makes no sense to me. Ultimately, the status of those objects is subject to the whims of the game and its operator, not the blockchain…

This is true of anything "on the chain." The world can just decide to not care what the chain says.

I would argue games are the only place where this situation is reasonable as the gamers desire self enforcement (or there is no game).

In other situations with DRM (which is what the chain if being used for, DRM) it's trying to force the user to stop themselves. Here the community can police itself.

You're right that trusting a closed source game to stay up is crazy, but people "buy" digital goods all the time. That situation is not unique.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#36

Post by Nacraile »

drchopchop wrote: post #26
CptFribble wrote: post #16

The fact that co-founder of Zynga and creative director of FarmVille 2 are behind this enterprise is extremely telling. A few thoughts: 1. There is a small-but-non-trivial segment of gamers that are willing to spend huge amounts of money for in-game privileges. 2. There is a similar, somewhat-overlapping segment of gamers willing to spend huge amounts of time on a game, if that huge amount of time is rewarded with th…

They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here. It's like Minecraft, if you were farming for meaningless loot boxes all day. Just read some of these insane quotes: "The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining.…

> Then you can mine the currency and provide them to other players in the game, either by giving it away or selling it.

> “It’s a way to compensate people who really believe in us in the beginning,” Schiermeyer said. “That’s how we’re structuring the blockchain. The people who were first to play it are going to get more than people who are last to play it. So, I mean, there’s definitely a reason to come in.”

So, uh, it's a pyramid scheme, thinly disguised as a game?

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#37

Post by m463 »

drchopchop wrote: post #26
CptFribble wrote: post #16

The fact that co-founder of Zynga and creative director of FarmVille 2 are behind this enterprise is extremely telling. A few thoughts: 1. There is a small-but-non-trivial segment of gamers that are willing to spend huge amounts of money for in-game privileges. 2. There is a similar, somewhat-overlapping segment of gamers willing to spend huge amounts of time on a game, if that huge amount of time is rewarded with th…

They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here. It's like Minecraft, if you were farming for meaningless loot boxes all day. Just read some of these insane quotes: "The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining.…

> They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here.

Funny, that's what I think of the gaming tables at Las Vegas.

Yet Las Vegas has been doing it for almost a century.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#38

Post by heptathorp »

ljm wrote: post #32
drchopchop wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll run out of money before they attract enough whales to survive, because I don't see anything resembling a fun game here. It's like Minecraft, if you were farming for meaningless loot boxes all day. Just read some of these insane quotes: "The game will also have 1,000 farm bots which can mine a token, like a Bitcoin miner. You can buy a loot box, assemble the parts to make a farm bot, and set them loose mining.…

The last quote makes this entire thing look like a scam to fleece gamers/gambling addicts and then (probably) run away with the money. I mean, I will not at all be surprised if this is, at its core, an ICO-style con. It has blockchain, it has early 'investors' throwing money at it with the promise of exclusivity or scarcity, it's probably designed to reel in people hoping for the next Bitcoin, as if there ever would…

> This report of someone spending 800k already might well even be part of the scam, the same way any con artist on the street will have stooges pretending to throw in cash in order to convince others that it's legit.

That's exactly what it is. This sale was to their "partner" company Polyient Games, and they're putting 10 more up for auction next week. This sale was to anchor the price.

Re: Historic sale of a Gala Games Fantasy MMORPG in-game NFT item for US$800K

#40

Post by vorpalhex »

monkpit wrote: post #9
jbob2000 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like whale-catching mobile games on a much bigger scale; Create a fake world with a bunch of fake restrictions, line up a bunch of bored computer nerds, get them to feel superior over one another by demonstrating their wealth with the purchase of expensive bits and bytes. The cryptocurrency talk is just the mumbo jumbo to catch the idiots. It’s like those alternative healthcare practitioners who sprinkle in th…

Sounds like Linden dollars and Second Life... round 2

I remember most SL players at least being near break even, often times bulk selling hair styles or furniture to pay for activities. Though then again I also remember sinking $60 in a single month to develop out an ingame research laboratory...
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