Did I read that correctly?
As someone who has spent the last 15 years of my career in banks and fintechs, when I tell people that I’ve made it my mission to take NFT gaming mainstream with Tribally, I get some funny reactions. And even publishing this post across my network of experienced professionals, I know there’ll be a few raised eyebrows. So let me get to the point…
Web3 is the future. You either already agree with me, or you don’t know what it is yet.
Web3 and the potential for social change
Web3 is like a new and improved internet, giving people the ability to send money around the world as freely and easily as we send data over the internet. It’s set to be one of the most impactful social improvements of our lifetime. Financial independence for the unbanked. Imagine. An entire world of financial opportunities that the majority of the world’s population could only dream of before. I believe this is something worth fighting for.
Web3 and NFT technologies give us the chance to take back ownership of our identities, our data and our finances, creating a shift away from centralised overlords towards peer-to-peer transactions in decentralised systems. This is our opportunity to make the middle-men redundant and redirect their revenues to the real creators of value - the users.
The case for NFTs
NFTs, or “Non-Fungible Tokens”, are unique blockchain-based “access codes”, which entitle the holder, and only the holder, to making use of the underlying asset the code is tied to. To put it simply, NFT technology was created to allow provable, transferrable and transparent ownership of digital assets.
Provable. There can be no disputes over ownership when it comes to NFTs and blockchain technology. You either have an NFT in your wallet or you don’t.
Transferrable. If you own an NFT you have the right, and the means, to transfer that to whoever you want via a blockchain transaction. You can also lose it, send it to someone random, and in many cases, irreversibly destroy it too, if that’s what you want to do.
Transparent. NFTs operate on blockchain technology, and so inherit the same transparency of wallet holdings and transaction history. In other words - anyone is free to look at anyone else’s wallet, what holdings they have and what transactions they’ve made previously.
Digital Assets. I don’t believe NFTs can deliver any significant benefits to physical assets. The translation between a digital NFT and a physical asset just isn’t bulletproof. Perhaps innovation will change my mind in the future, but for now the only application of NFT technology which provides indisputable ownership is with digital assets such as digital media, art, cosmetics, collectibles, in-game assets, etc.
The rise of digital assets
As things stand, there’s a big difference between physical and digital assets. Ask most people from my generation and older (I’m 37yo at time of writing), and they probably won’t even understand what digital assets are, let alone grasp their potential value. On the other hand, ask someone under the age of 18, and they’ll most likely not only know about digital assets, but have purchased some themselves, often treasuring them above even their physical assets.
So, why is that?
Young people are spending more and more time socialising digitally rather than physically - whether that’s through social networks, video calls or even games. Here in the UK, the majority of secondary and university education is now delivered digitally, too - our future generations are being raised to be digital-first. By that I mean - their digital life is their primary one, and their physical life is secondary.
This is a profound change, and can be a little scary to think about for older folks like myself! But this isn’t some imaginary future scenario - this is happening right now, and the pandemic has only served to accelerate this trend.
True ownership
Digital assets did of course exist before NFTs. The world doesn’t need NFTs for us to buy our favourite songs from iTunes, download Breath of the Wild from the Nintendo Store or purchase the Hotdog skin in Fortnite. But there’s a common theme in all these examples - you can’t re-sell them, you can’t lend them to a friend, and (unfortunately in the case of the Hotdog suit) you can’t destroy them. That’s because you don’t really own them. The system isn’t designed for your benefit, it’s designed to make the developers as much money as possible.
This is where NFTs come in. They provide us with true ownership of our digital assets.
Imagine purchasing and downloading art, songs and gaming assets which you can sell, lend, customise, commercialise, destroy, and all the other things we do with our physical assets.
NFTs in mainstream media
NFTs are so much more than just monkey JPEGs - vacuous exploitations of the technology which bring no personal or social benefit. I believe most, if not all, profile picture or “PFP” projects are short-lived fads and in 5 years time we’ll look back and laugh at how primitive the NFT industry was…. which will at least give the monkey JPEGs a sense of sentimental romance :)
NFTs have so much more to offer the world than what mainstream media tells us. What we need is an application that truly harnesses the benefits they provide. A vehicle with real utility beyond just scarcity and FOMO.
NFT gaming - “Hold my beer.”
NFT Gaming
NFT Gaming is the perfect solution, providing a way for NFT technology to unlock new opportunities and benefits in an existing, booming industry. It’s no surprise that gaming examples are the most compelling way to explain NFTs to someone unfamiliar with them - they are such a natural fit.
Imagine looting a 1 of 1 golden pistol whilst playing Call of Duty and then being able to take that gun into Minecraft, lend it to your friend, display it in a virtual showcase or maybe even sell it to another gamer for cash.
Imagine if when you made in-app purchases on your favourite mobile game, you owned a little piece of equity in that game. Your incentives are aligned with the game’s developers. If the game is successful, everyone benefits together.
I’ve experienced this as a player, investor and community member of the NFT game Axie Infinity, and the mutual alignment of incentives created the strongest and most positive online community I’ve ever encountered. Through Axie Infinity, and the Ronin network, millions of people who have never had access to a bank account have been able to transact, earn and access new opportunities to improve their lives.
The potential benefits of this technology transcend gaming. In December 2021, Typhoon Odette caused havoc and destruction through The Philippines. The NFT gaming community used The Ronin network to provide immediate financial aid to many of those affected, weeks before any official charity could effectively mobilise. That’s tangible social value. And it’s enabled by web3 technology and community.
NFT Gaming, in this sense, is acting as a gateway drug for the wider adoption of the web3 ecosystem and its associated benefits. The multi-billion dollar gaming industry is ripe for reinventing through decentralisation and wealth redistribution, and NFT gaming is bringing about that revolution.
If you build it, they will come
NFT games are still in their infancy, and few gamers are yet to understand the power of these opportunities.
Enter Tribally.
As co-founders, our mission is to become the gateway to NFT gaming, connecting gamers, investors and games developers across the metaverse. In practice, this means:
Attracting new communities and demographics to NFT gaming
Building alongside games developers to improve community engagement
Providing communication and governance solutions to web3 gaming communities
Acting as a trusted party to encourage progressive decentralisation
Attracting and allocating new investment into the NFT gaming space
Connecting communities together to amplify network effects
Promoting the empowerment and social benefits of web3 technology
We’ve got so much more planned, and I can’t wait to share it with the world over the course of 2022. I feel honoured to be building in such an exciting space, amongst amazing colleagues and co-founders, and with the support of incredible friends, investors and advisors.
I speak for everyone at Tribally when I say that we are SO excited to see where this journey takes us.
David de Vilder
CEO & Co-founder @ Tribally
twitter.com/bestaxies
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