NFTs provide nothing of value to the games industry

Gaming NFTs are an inherently ridiculous idea, needlessly reinventing the wheel while spinning tall tales of impossible cross-platform items and skins, ultimately providing nothing of real value to the general gaming populace.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are generally a contentious subject, coming under fire from many different angles. I won’t be discussing the environmental impact argument, as fundamentally-even without their needless energy consumption -- NFTs are a contradictory thing to add to the video game space.

The obstacles preventing the implementation of some universally-recognized NFT blockchain for keeping track of items within video games are practical and easy to comprehend. It’s not a lack of money or even interest that stops NFTs from penetrating into the gaming space. Rather, as Ubisoft has demonstrated, trying to implement NFTs into video games is both redundant and contradictory to the nature of games as a whole.

To start, using blockchain to create an in-game, NFT-based virtual market is already more intensive and costly than the myriad of gaming markets that have existed for over a decade. “Team Fortress 2” arguably made a market of unique, tradeable, and valuable items with the Steam Community Market when it was introduced in 2012, long before the incessant insistence of crypto-bros on the necessity of blockchain for weapon skins. Game publishers and developers have been creating virtual markets with real-life money invested in multiple genres and with varying implementations for a decade.

The tradeoff of implementing a blockchain here would be dramatically in- creasing the processing power required to make in-game transactions in exchange for a 100% guarantee of authenticity for each purchase. However, non-blockchain methods already do this. There is no question that if I pay you $800.00 for an “Unusual Professional Killstreak Modest Pile of Hat” on the Steam Community Market for “Team Fortress 2”, I would get the hat. Valve and any other game developer that’s made a market worth its salt have already made these markets stable and reliable.

But the main dream of NFT enthusiasts isn’t that the blockchain can replace a normal gaming market-as Ubisoft has already failed to do so. It’s that gaming NFTs can be ownable things for gamers to bring from game to game, to sell to other gamers, so they can take them from game to game! This runs into the problem of actually transitioning items across games.

Let’s say Riot Games decides to make a cool “Valorant” skin for the Phantom. It’s colorful, with flashy lights and a cool visual effect on enemy kills. They want to sell it as minted NFTs on this new universal blockchain-disregarding the immense cost to Riot of minting thousands of NFTs for prospective customers- so that customers can play their Phantom skin in a different game. In order for this to carry over to, say, ”Pokémon”, Riot’s and Nintendo’s lawyers and developers will need to have a long conversation about how to import a colorful reskin of an assault rifle into Pokémon. Then, they need to decide who has the rights to the skin, since Riot created it but it’s now also featured in Nintendo’s game. Then, they need to decide how much money each side gets from the skin’s purchase and usage in simultaneous games. And that’s all assuming they can work out implementation. How do you put an assault rifle in Pokémon? Is it a skin that can be applied to specific Pokémon? How? Does the visual effect when killing an enemy with it carry over? Is there a new Pokémon created called the Phantom just so that this skin can be implemented? Who then owns the new Pokémon, legally speaking? Do you see how stupid this sounds? Now multiply all of these questions by all of the countless games in existence and witness how completely impossible this idea is. Different art styles, ownership rights, gameplay functionality and creative design all hinder the implementation of crossplatform gaming NFTs. health is of utmost importance – but quarantining past the necessary isolation period can take an additional toll on students’ academic performance, and may be considered truancy. While students quarantining for longer can get assistance from their professors remotely and participate in class virtually, they’ll still be at a disadvantage not learning material in the way it was meant to be taught, and thus Comets needlessly move away from their desire for a “return to normalcy.”

And so, the ideal environment for universal gaming NFTs is one where all of the games are similar enough so that Timmy’s beanie can be worn in every game he logs onto. They’d all have to share creative rights, or more simply be all created by one studio. And since the NFTs need to keep their value forever, every game has to be made with all of these NFTs in mind. NFT Fantasy 1 through NFT Fantasy 1000 must be compatible with every gun and sword skin NFT ever minted: in a word, stagnant. And isn’t that the antithesis of the evolution of the games industry? Video games are at their best when they are most creative. Pushing the boundaries in gameplay design, graphics, sound and the general experience is where the best video games shine. Trying to push NFTs into the space encourages game developers to make new releases boring and stale, in order to solve a problem that no one really has. The main purpose of playing video games should be to have fun, and the main purpose of developing video games should be to make a unique and entertaining experience. Trying to implement NFTs doesn’t do that, so NFT-pushers can kindly take their monkey business elsewhere.

The Comet Task Force should lengthen isolation guidelines to seven days and update the Comets United page to clearly communicate that as soon as possible, while the semester is still early. And, being diligent, the University should also require that isolated Comets get tested for COVID-19 before their isolation period ends, and recommend they keep an eye out for worsening or returning symptoms to determine if they need to quarantine for longer. In the meantime, students should continue reporting symptoms or positive tests if they contract COVID-19, and until the University updates it's policies, abide by the timeline that is recommended by contract tracers.

SIHANYA ROCHA Mercury Staff

Filled with beautifully-illustrated and poetically-written horrors, this story is short – but not sweet. And being short doesn’t mean it’s any less complex: the craftsmanship Carol demonstrates in just 32 pages is genius and beautifully haunting. To summarize, “Beneath the Dead Oak Tree” uses gorgeous visuals, aristocratic animals and lulling dialogue to present a cautionary tale about the toll vengeance takes on those who seek it.

For starters, the text of this comic is unlike any other. It is succinct, revealing and rhythmic in a manner reminiscent of lyrics or poetic meter. Presented in particularly small text boxes, the text itself also complements the illustrations on the pages without interrupting the visual. This modulization then allows for the text to be in a variety of places and imparts unto the readers the fast-paced thoughts and feelings of anxiety, guilt and insecurity given off by an unsettled narrator.

“Beneath the Dead Oak Tree” feels reminiscent of other cautionary tales about those who use sweet, charming words to hide sour, cunning intentions. But what makes Carroll's tale stand out is the way she writes about the main character – whose perspective we follow – slowly devolving into the type of person we are warned to be cautious about as she attempts to impose justice due to the guilt and trauma that has built up over time.

The comic’s illustrations are also quite visually clever. By using animals instead of humans, the author is able to invoke analogies of characters that automatically look deceptively cute whilst being cold-heartedly brutal. The serene look of the foxes lulls the reader into a false sense of security, and upon seeing the first scene of carnage we are just as taken aback as the narrator. After this scene is over and it goes back to being ‘cute,’ one can never feel relaxed again.

Additionally, the author uses a bright and pastel color palette, amplifying the tension between being told visually that what you’re seeing is ‘safe’ but knowing logically that something is