SE's pivot towards crypto and NFTs has me scared

[KayRadley]

That crap better be kept far away from FFXIV, because if this game starts using crypto and NFTs, it will be the one thing that makes me unsub for good.

[Seraphor]

SE is much bigger than just FF. If it gets into anything it'll be 'service' games, likely mobile stuff, things like First Soldier.
I'd be very surprised if it had anything to do with FF14 or 16, beyond maybe some completely seperate Y'shtola art or something.

[GordonLiu]

If it gets into anything it'll be 'service' games, likely mobile stuff, things like First Soldier.

Do you have any basis whatsoever for this statement?

its no different then any other microtransaction, just because it gets added to the game does not mean you are forced to buy it.

^^^ and this type of player, right here, is who we will have to thank if every nook and cranny of video games is infested with blockchain nonsense pushed by predatory hucksters, and all our games built around the idea of transferrable assets.

First of all, microtransaction also suck and have been a negative presence in the market for gamers, and we have people like you and sentiments like yours to thank for that already. Had you white knights of corporation hadn't been aggressively pushing a myopic, blase attitude around the phenomenon when it first began, the game market might look different than it does today.

Second of all, this is very different from a normal microtransaction. The underlying promise of NFTs, in and outside of video games, is that you can get rich off of them like some sort of stock - which is essentially what they are, only with zero regulation around them, a framework that allows for flagrant gaming of the marketplace, and virtually zero security in terms not only of your possession of your investment, but of its continued existence. At least when you purchase items on a game's marketplace, you know what you're getting. All these corporations and individuals trying to force-feed us NFTs are trying to sell people on a promise that will go virtually completely unfulfilled for the overwhelming, vast majority of gamers.

That aside, if you have any concept of how game design has been compromised by the need to cultivate a framework for monetization beyond the sales of the games as a result of microtransaction, you should be disturbed by what the impact would be should those in-game items be treated as the main course of a title, with the games themselves being a side-dish that the vultures driving blockchain commerce can take or leave.

Here's a question for you to consider that can maybe prevent you from making such uninformed statements on any matters in the future:
If NFTs in games are just like microtransactions, that why does anyone want to incorporate NFTs? If they're the same thing, we already have microtransactions, and don't need the NFTs, right? These aren't wild philosophical musings, it's just basic scrutiny that you seem to have neglected when printing a comment about something you know absolutely nothing about.

[Doragan]

Do you have any basis whatsoever for this statement?

Actually, yeah, there is. Back during SE's NFT announcement in early 2021, they announced Shi-San-Sei Million Arthur using LINE's blockchain/bitmax wallet tech. Considering how big mobile-wise LINE in Japan is, it's not a stretch to believe this will target phone games first, or any card game in general. I wouldn't be surprised to see the DQ Hearthstone ripoff to have NFT soon, since it's JP only.

Now.. to be sure if it will (or not) ever target FFXIV, that will depend on Sony allowing that stuff on their platform. Which I sure hope they will forbid entirely. Lord knows they need to. Fast.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I think a majority of the people who are heavily against NFT’s won’t care whether or not 14 specifically includes them. If SE period starts messing with them, that will more than likely completely turn them off of the company itself and its games. Just because it doesn’t affect 14 doesn’t make it entirely right is how most people see it from what i’ve seen on the forums.

[Shibi]

Now.. to be sure if it will (or not) ever target FFXIV, that will depend on Sony allowing that stuff on their platform. Which I sure hope they will forbid entirely. Lord knows they need to. Fast.

Well, in news today

Samsung has revealed a new "NFT Aggregation Platform" designed for its smart TVs. The platform, which will be available on Samsung's MicroLed, Neo QLED and The Frame models, allows users to browse and buy NFTs directly from their sets. The platform pulls in NFTs from several marketplaces, so users can preview the art and see other relevant details, like who created the work, as well as relevant blockchain metadata.

So, I don't thinkit's a far stretch to imagine another CEO who, looking at their Bravia and Playstation lines, thinks... "you know, we could put ugly apes into these too"

[Doragan]

So, I don't thinkit's a far stretch to imagine another CEO who, looking at their Bravia and Playstation lines, thinks... "you know, we could put ugly apes into these too"

Christ. Sony would never forbid that kind of stuff, now. Maybe SIE.. but.. yeah, it is a done deal already,huh?

The article I've read also mentions they annonced "eco friendly TV remotes" at the same time. The greenwashing couldn't get more obvious. I'm stunned.

[GordonLiu]

Not to be pedantic but this:

...it's not a stretch to believe this will target phone games first, or any card game in general.

has a completely different meaning than this:

If it gets into anything it'll be 'service' games, likely mobile stuff, things like First Soldier.

The latter suggests you don't think it'll make it outside of mobile games at all, where the first suggests only a priority for mobile.

You've offered your basis though, and if I'm going with the latter (in the post, former in terms of the thread) assertion, I'm not sure I find it persuasive, personally. One instance does not a trend make, nor does it seem like much of a basis for extrapolation in this specific case. A concept has to be introduced somewhere, right? Does Ubi's inclusion of NFTs in R6 (or whatever generic, bearded dude in tactical vest with a backwards baseball cap game they introduced them for) suggest it'll be a AAA/console+PC exclusive phenomenon? I doubt it. The assertion about NFTs starting on mobile is certainly a little more founded, but I'm not sure how comforting I find it.

While I don't play or have a personal interest in mobile games in any way, shape, or form, I don't think it's particularly benign in that realm either. My concern for what NFTs portend for games doesn't end and begin with only the titles I want to play. I don't want games other people enjoy to suffer the consequences of this phenomenon catching on either. Even if I did only care about my own area of interest though, NFTs appearing anywhere in a publisher's library or mission statement leaves open the door for the possibility that the success of them in that paradigm could lead to it appearing in others.

It's why I think people who buy and play games need to ring alarm bells now, and loudly, while this thing is still in its nascent stage. I'd liken it to other unwelcome presences in gaming, like overbearing DRM and microtransactions, both of which people who weren't directly effected by took to the internet to say "whatever" or "no big deal" to others about, and both of which are pretty standard today. Any developer or publisher thirsting for this need to know definitively that people who buy their games will not be happy about NFTs being shoved down their throats. It's the only chance there is of kneecapping this industry venture before it takes off.

[Pawkeshup]

Second of all, this is very different from a normal microtransaction. The underlying promise of NFTs, in and outside of video games, is that you can get rich off of them like some sort of stock - which is essentially what they are, only with zero regulation around them, a framework that allows for flagrant gaming of the marketplace, and virtually zero security in terms not only of your possession of your investment, but of its continued existence. At least when you purchase items on a game's marketplace, you know what you're getting. All these corporations and individuals trying to force-feed us NFTs are trying to sell people on a promise that will go virtually completely unfulfilled for the overwhelming, vast majority of gamers.

That aside, if you have any concept of how game design has been compromised by the need to cultivate a framework for monetization beyond the sales of the games as a result of microtransaction, you should be disturbed by what the impact would be should those in-game items be treated as the main course of a title, with the games themselves being a side-dish that the vultures driving blockchain commerce can take or leave..

Oh but see, I don't think you go quite far enough. The new trap of the Cryptogame/NFT market is to have a closed infrastructure where you have to use their branded crypto to buy and sell items, and they charge fees on every transaction and exit fees if you try to cash out, with limits on how much you need to have to cash out.

The big deal with preorders for companies wasn't for ensuring sales. Back when they used to make physical copies, those discs were going to be minted out. Maybe they'd make a second run if they had a wild amount of pre-orders. The real reason was that the money could immediately be acquired months before the game's sale to be re-invested either in the company or literally in other ways to make that money make them more money. Even just interest on it would be insane at even tiny percent amounts.

Now imagine turning the Mogstation into fully Crysta based, with Crysta becoming their coin. No more just hopping in to buy a mount, now you need to convert your money to their fake money. Then they charge you a fee on that. Then you buy the mount. Fee there too. Then let's say they make mounts tradable if bought this way, and you sell one. Fee for both you and the buyer. Then let's say they allow a cash out. Fee there too.

They can literally make money by doing NOTHING but being a vendor of the exact same digital goods while at the same time misleading speculators about the market's viability for "making content" or whatever corporate speak the head of the company spewed out.

Hopefully the dev team knows better to let them touch the game after all the feedback they ignored pre-1.0 that could have led to FFXIV being better at the start.