Crypto Games: Report from hell

[@blipboigilgamesh7865]

I really like that part when the axie infinity dude straight up admits, a smile beaming on his face, thats the game is a literal ponzi scheme.

[@calebharris292]

Not just admitting that it's a ponzi scheme; proudly saying he's apart of the scheme and exploiting less fortunate people for his gain

[@LordOfTheFatties]

When I saw that clip I REALLY thought he was a critic of the game, and then he goes on to say he uses it as an investment. What a psycho.

[@lflintx]

Anyone with slightest notion in business could tell how those games work. It basically the same concept of "social/relationship marketing" applied to cheap made games. The only people who really profits are those who already have a lot of money and prestige to begin with. Praying on top of the enthusiastic poor people.who joins later.

[@Sockren]

this is why people believe in the reptilian conspiracy. thats not a human being bro

[@arostwocents]

If you pause the video and look at his spreadsheet, he's already lost money on three axies at that time. Then went on to lose the rest of his 17k too 😂 couldn't happen to a nicer guy 😂😂

[@sagecolvard9644]

Seeing crypto art makes me realize the beauty of things that are at least intentionally ugly. So much work went into making the world of Cruelty Squad look soulless that its art contains some of the artist's soul. The movie Mad God is all of the worst things Phil Tippett could imagine put back-to-back for 83 minutes, but the amount of detail and care put into it still make it, if nothing else, engaging. Crypto pseudo-art is just so smoothed-over it doesn't feel like anything.

[@JimmyMcG33]

Seriously, it's amazing that crypto people can delude themselves into thinking that they're challenging anything considering how awful their "art" is. Everything that calls itself counter-culture is just garbage for teenagers these days, it's a shame.

[@sunbleachedangel]

Because the worst thing a piece of art can be is boring

[@luclin92]

Yeah it's cheap and mass produced, two of the things that often makes stuff forgettable. I remember at one point that nfts was a great way for artists to profit off their work, and then for it to almost immediately go over to screwing over artists

[@onyxtay7246]

@@luclin92 I don't think there was ever really a time for _artists_ to profit off what they create through NFTs. The most the average artist would do is mint a token, then get the profits from selling it - no different from selling another work. Especially early on, most artists would not have enough knowledge of the blockchain to include a royalty payout when minting an NFT. It's not a skill the average artist has, and the information given {artists get money from secondary sales} left out crucial information.

[@mr.pavone9719]

​@@JimmyMcG33"Come and get your punk at Woolworth's/ bondage trousers 12 pounds, mohair jumpers sold next to cardigans...

[@ImpendingRiot83]

God that whole portion on the “What if Mario was an NFT” thing had me rolling, how ridiculous.

[@peterdinkler4950]

I could smell the Soylent caked neckbeard just from hearing it be read.

[@lukecwolf]

Throwing in a timestamp: This section starts at around 15:00. It's a wild propoganda piece thrown in bloomberg. Hope the crptobros are okay after drinking the Kool aid.

[@OlgaZuccati]

This guy is totally the kind of person who goes to play a fighting game with his friends and pick the secret boss after getting his ass kicked using the regular characters.

[@SamGBSR]

It’s literally the “shrek is love” copypasta lmao

[@allyouracid]

Right?? Absolute piece of art

[@JimmyMcG33]

There are going to be bots hawking crypto in the comments, please ignore them or dislike and flag them. All the insightful (and positive!) comments mean a lot. Thanks everybody.

[@herbertpocket8855]

Thanks for the head’s up

[@spellcraft7988]

I loved the music and a lot of it was new to me. Thank you for putting it in the credits.

[@arostwocents]

The ending speech was one of the best things I've ever heard. Thank you.

[@DaLivelyGhost]

5 years was extremely generous to give to nfts as it turns out. More like 1 year.

[@arostwocents]

Trying to convince people there was scarcity of JPEGs should have never reached 1 week, let alone 1 year. Even if the NFT did stop people from saving and using that particular JPEG, there are hundreds of billions of other JPEGs 😂 People actually forgot that there would have to be buyers to make a profit. It was a more embarrassing pyramid scheme than any MLM 😂

[@jaredmeit6127]

This was fantastic! Nobody that buys NFTs seems to be able to describe their value to me beyond "it's an investment".

[@Kyfow]

Whenever you ask them why NFT is a good technology their only response is "well did you see how much bored ape NFTs are worth now?" As if that's got anything to do with the question

[@Garbageman28]

I've got "its the future" a few times, which is sort of a variation on "its an investment". A few of the more open crypto guys have straight up said its a get-rich-quick scheme so, eh.

[@jacobb5484]

@@Kyfow I could see it as a useful piece of technology that’s part of a much larger ecosystem rather than the current overhyped scheme it currently is. Some easy solutions I could see are: 1. Use the block chain for a more basic and worthwhile task. That way the computing power is not a waste of natural resources as those computers would be running anyway and the task would still need to be done. 2. Incorporate the assets into an established engine like Unity. Imagine your TF2 hats being useable in any game on steam with an easy implementation for any dev. 3. Remove or at least reduce the scarcity. The “uniqueness” and inflated prices are a symptom of the fad and current mindset, not the underlying technology. Even if the items are identical having a decentralized proof of ownership can still be valuable for a game ecosystem.

[@RaeIsGaee]

@@jacobb5484 1. Blockchain is worthless outside of artificially kneecapping whatever process its used for, and if a lot of processes have to run through it at the same time (such as monetary transactions), the program glitching and creating several forks of itself becomes an incredibly common issue. 2. Commodification of customization and implementing DRM features, inherently tied to said commodification, is a terrible idea for games, actually. 3. You can already have "ownership" of digital items in games. MMOs have been doing so for well over two decades now.

[@limitbreak2966]

yea fuck NFTS. Im so fucking tired of them. Im so fucking tired of this money addiction everyone has. God fucking dammit it’s ruining everything. Can we just bring supply drops back? At least it was still a fucking video game for fucks sake

[@Kyfow]

Powerful video, Crypto really is like a cancerous brain tumor in capitalism that's grown so large it's basically become its own life form. Just a hyper libertarian nightmare where nobody has any control and the only thing that matters is the bottom line, no exceptions. Everyone wants everyone else to become a sucker for the sake of making a quick buck, an utterly dehumanized form of communication. I really appreciate your videos, and I think you're literally at the very top of content creators on this site. I hope you keep up this work because you're fantastic.

[@JimmyMcG33]

Thanks! I love making these videos, so I'll keep it up as long as I can.

[@RaeIsGaee]

@ascended chairman of the lemurian worker's party Yes, hence why Capitalism is a cancer.

[@sunbleachedangel]

It's like a tumor on a tumor

[@relo999]

As one of those "hyper libertarians" I'd argue it's pretty far from the libertarian dream as libertarians do still want "some" government. It's an ancaps wet dream (granted loads of ancaps call themselves libertarians as that far more socially acceptable). A decentralized currency would, in theory, be something I like in theory. However except for it's ideals and maybe the first year or 2 crypto isn't a currency. It's an speculative investment object in it's best light and more realistically it's a fractional ponzy scheme mainly controlled by social media influencers trying to make a quick buck. And I don't see any decentralized currency working that doesn't require an abject failure of government akin to Venezuela, pre-WW2 Germany or Zimbabwe and the currency being a basic step up from bartering (and even then loads of basic economic functions wouldn't easily function). If crypto has shown me anything is that lots of people are completely and utterly economically illiterate people regardless of political alignment are and will believe anything that just promised "more money" for them. Believing Crypto works is the libertarian equivalent of "socialism has never been tried", they are both fundamentally flawed and doomed to fail if not outright corrupt from the very start.

[@pablovirus]

​@@sunbleachedangelironically, metacancers/metatumors are actually a good thing at the biological level

[@Ronin11111111]

A year later and all this NFT shit seems to have vaporised. Now it's all AI. I think I'm just gonna not worry about the next horrendous tech/investment craze because the next one will always take it over, relagating the previous to be an obscure footnote of history.

[@sweetypuss]

AI has an actual use.

[@LowProfile0247]

@@sweetypussJust like how actual art might hold real value. The issue with AI is its highly regarded by techbros (the type to praise NFTS) to be the next big market. edit: watch around 26:30 for the type of talk that’s going around.

[@paulsd9255]

It’s massively overhyped compared to its actual utility so far. The image generation is still gonna need a lot more time and dev to be more than just a hobby toy for nonartists (like me kek, but I don’t misrepresent it as handmade art). LLMs still hallucinate too much to be reliable enough to destroy jobs. Wake me up when General Intelligence finally becomes a thing.

[@tanningbed]

@@sweetypuss AI in general has an actual use. the uses of AI that techbros are currently creaming themselves over, are not real uses. AI """""""art""""""" is horrendous and disgusting. it took the soullessness of NFTs and cranked it up an extra notch. AI writing screenplays? get the fuck out. AI should be doing boring shit that no humans want to do, in order to free us up to do creative work. why aren't techbros focusing their energy on a toilet cleaning robot powered by AI, but instead spending all their time ripping off millions of pieces of art to spit out some soulless, uncreative, inherently derivative work of """art"""?

[@Keisuki]

@@tanningbed Even these use cases have their tangible benefits that I've felt right away. AI Art is incredibly useful for coming up with character tokens for my dungeons and dragons game. I was *never* going to commission an artist to make a portrait for this one-off character. AI creative writing is a great tool that allows me to explore ideas. Everything it makes is derivative, but it can serve as a great starting point or inspiration on a theme that's readily accessible. A lot of writing *is* boring stuff that no humans want to do. There's a whole host of reports and technical breakdowns and stuff that is basically just flowery language that says barely anything but is required anyway because a huge percentage of what we do is just unnecessary. I wish it wasn't like that, but it is, and AI is useful there.

[@DivineOtter]

A lot of these crypto games really feel like the whole notion of "your brain on capitalism." In that it's not enough to sit back and just enjoy something, no you have to be actively profiting or making money. It's like if someone turned those terrible instagram CEO mindset posts into a game.

[@FloatingWeeds2]

I'm a successful equity futures trader. Now that I have time to step back and look at the USA's superstructure, I'm impressed by its hollowness.

[@wigglerlesbian]

we live in that system

[@TwistedScarlett60]

This Crypto shit reminds me of Cruelty Squad's world

[@kanzkat420]

The game even has the GameStop shortsqueeze thing from a few months back

[@electrolyteblend]

Same for me. It also reminds me of the book Feed

[@drakep.5857]

Cruelty squad is just modern reality with better graphics

[@AKImeru]

On purpose.

[@HotDogLaws]

Biological currencies

[@kereymckenna4611]

Oh this video aged so well a year later...unlike those crypto coins.

[@pt8306]

I actually had the misfortune of working on one of these Crypto "games" as a Unity developer. I can't tell you many details, other than that the game sucked (it was basically an endless runner shoddily thrown together to make an MVP in the shortest/cheapest possible way), the gameplay didn't matter at all, and the entire project was only done as a way to "deliver" on the promise of a game for a specific coin. I haven't heard anything about the game since and my theory is that it languished for a week or so while people timidly checked it out, then it faded into obscurity where it belongs. The pay was good, though. They tried to offer me USDC originally (lol!) but I basically flat told them I work for fiat or I don't work, so they agreed to pay me properly. Shows how much they believe in their project, they didn't even try offering me the relevant coin (not that I would have accepted it anyway). Also, MoonWar is literally a Unity free tutorial package they offer (look up space shooter tutorial) with a few assets swapped.

[@almost_friday9745]

I've been looking at unity dev jobs and and the non-AAA are mostly gambling apps and crypto shit. It's sad, but that's where the easy money in indie games is.

[@PerceyIchorre]

bro usdc is on par with the usd, and can gain up to 2% cashback through the coinbase card, plus a 0.5% interest rate for holding, so they basically offered to give you a free debit card with cashback, coupled with a savings account with a 200% higher return than most savings accounts in the usa

[@PerceyIchorre]

@@almost_friday9745 where do i find these jobs? i can use unity and blender and i dont mind making shitty games for cash XD

[@pt8306]

@@PerceyIchorreBro you're an idiot if you think there's any reason to believe USDC is genuinely worth 1 USD each. You only have their word for it, and if the major fraud and scandals that rock the web3 world every day are anything to go by, I have no doubt it will be as worthless as the rest instantly and without warning. Stop drinking the kool-aid.

[@ChrMuslimThor]

You'd be better of making smut in Unity. Atleas, it's something someone will enjoy.

[@nickmorten1755]

you said in your cruelty squad video that your goal for your videos is portray the emotions that games can convey. you really succeeded here, and i appreciate hearing someone get as angry as i do about the awfulness of the free market. also, this is about as clear and concise an explanation of crypto and NFTs as ive heard im so grateful for your channel. please keep making videos

[@SeriousLich]

Wait, is this the prequel to "Cruelty squad"?

[@JimmyMcG33]

we were the cruelty squad all along

[@SmolBloof]

So that's it? What? We some kinda Cruelty Squad?

[@RaeIsGaee]

This truly is the Gorbino's Quest of life.

[@theodorixjohnson4336]

It really fucking feels like it

[@ker0356]

maybe the real cruelty squad were the nfts we screenshotted along the way

[@PoorMuttski]

I had to check the upload date. This thing was posted one year ago, and EVERYTHING it talks about and prophesied has changed. And by “changed”, I mean “deleted.” Except for the part where he said that “crypto will destroy lives.” That actually happened.

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

Cannot believe it took a bajillion years for youtube to show this channel to me since it's very much hitting all my buttons, but nevertheless glad it finally did,

[@ImpendingRiot83]

Honestly, now that I’ve watched Folding Ideas’ video on this subject, I feel like this video did a lot to prepare my psyche for the horror his video truly explores in-depth; the well-earned mockery in this vid does a lot to dull the edge of getting a glimpse into the sickening, encroaching cultural effects of NFTs and what they represent; it gives the mind something to bite down on, so to speak. I’d consider it a necessary preparation for his to anyone else I’d talk about this stuff to so since I don’t typically associate with people brain-poisoned enough to possess this forbidden knowledge either as a gift or a curse. This entire field of technology is nightmarish, and learning more and more about what it’s doing and plans to do to society induces in me an unspeakable dread. Gallows-laughing at how the rich’s hagiographers in Bloomberg conceptualize an NFT Mario before learning how many doors crypto opens to insane new avenues of abuse and corruption is better than diving straight into how the lack of privacy a cryptofied world would create would make life in the current Patriot Act paradigm seem positively anonymous.

[@johnjohnson3681]

Well said. It's getting increasingly harder to cope with the world when commodifying art or monetizing that which was free is seen as innovation. Innovation at a global scale, nevertheless. Truly the only way this devolution can become bearable is through a lens of twisted irony.

[@almo2001]

Yeah, I think this and Line Goes Up are both great videos on the horror of NFTs.

[@Samarai-hf9si]

God, that Decentraland part reminded me of the times I've aimlessly explored the "mainlands" of Second Life, but those felt depressing due to the feeling that the now abandoned land and structures you can find in SL meant something to someone at some point in the past, it's like worldbuilding in a post-apocalyptic game, but DL's world is depressing for the opposite reason- it's never meant anything to anyone, save for being a speculative investment. Also, guided tour of Second Life when, Jimmy? :^)

[@Kyfow]

I wanted to commend you for using the soundtrack for Cave Story in this video. I think it's extremely important to remember Cave Story and hold it in mind while we observe the crypto game craze materialize. This is a wonderful, pioneering game that is a founding father of the indie scene. A one man project of a humble, passionate developer and artist who just wanted to share his love with the world. It was fun, it was touching and it was FREE. Compare and contrast with these NFT turds.

[@ChrisLeeW00]

It was driving me crazy recognizing the music, but I forgot which game. I have bought the console release a couple times and even played it on one of those linux handheld emulator consoles. How could I forget it, lol

[@muizzsiddique]

And whose work has since been stolen and actively being exploited by a corporation.

[@justinewing7260]

I read somewhere once that the purpose of life was to waste the energy of the sun... Whoever said that must be a crypto billionaire by now. Love the video

[@Frommerman]

Life is the natural process which produces superheavy elements.

[@hisuianzoroark5726]

​@@FrommermanIncluding peoples' egos.

[@pablovirus]

​@@Frommermansupernovae?

[@hyperdude144]

Bloomberg: "You get to own MaRio!!! nfT!11" Me, an intellectual: Buys a secondhand copy of the Sega Collection for 50p and owns Sonic on disk for Lyfe :)))))

[@leonthotsky6221]

what if jimmy was an nft? even when you log off youtube, you still own him! even when you're at work, he's waiting to earn you gamesgames stock and rare fish! also, this is an insanely good video and I really hope you blow up. found you from the cruelty squad review, needed to process some thoughts after finishing it, and it's a crime you only have 4k subs.

[@masterplusmargarita]

Fun fact, the Moon War theme is I a slightly remixed version of the free Apple Garage Band loop "Cartridge Synth Layers". I recognized it because it's also used as the main menu theme of the game Your Turn To Die. YTTD is a free visual novel made by one dude. Moon War, presumably, is meant to have a buy-in price of hundreds of bucks worth of crypto at some point down the line.

[@redstonewarrior0152]

Seeing this video after the crypto bubble fucking exploded feels weird. The genuine fear you had in regards to crypto based games being the future was valid 2 years ago, but now, I can't imagine a crypto based game even coming to fruition.

[@Ucceah]

i loved the closing line, because it implied a shimmer of hope for my lost kin. as a second life veteran, it fills me with grim glee to watch the entire vision of a blockchain based web 3 crumble, and the zuckerverse fail to generate any sort of hype.

[@14pat78]

people should stop buying nfts and start buying beer.

[@DiegoMartinezCoria]

At least beer will give you an actual buzz.

[@CursedCatTruffa]

As someone who dislikes alcohol, I do find more value in have a beer than a NFT

[@kaminapearl7390]

"People are more loving and generous than we give credit for" Yep. That's why I don't think 'trustless' should be necessarially a worthy characteristic.

[@herladyweaver862]

This video was amazing, instant subscription. Decentraland is one of the saddest things I've ever seen. A space with a surface level similarity to other games like Roblox and Second Life, games that even with all their flaws and exploitive pieces, I consider amazing examples of human creativity. I love to go on them and just explore, see the tiny things people have made that no one else has seen before. It's one of the things that makes me feel connected to humanity, better understand why I love it so much. Decentraland is just.....dead. There's nothing. Even the bits of "creativity" are just bragging about other crypto. There's no people, just capitalism.

[@mantrajojo4163]

I love how you emphasize the people that buy into these scams are desperate, not stupid. It pisses me off to no end when people act like the victims of scams deserved it because they fell for it. It admonishes the scammer of any responsibility when you do this, it allows the scammer to go unpunished, and if you think this way about people that fall for scams, you're fooling yourself into thinking you couldn't fall for the same thing, which makes you a mark for scammers.

[@ManiakPL22]

this is extremly informative, I am suprised this only has 36K views after a year, deserves more with the amount of info, and how well put together this is in terms of quality. Hope to see you more often in my recommendations.

[@giwake]

this is a fantastic video that explains so much. please keep making more! one of the strangest things about nfts and crypto, to me, is the hostility towards those who express negative opinions. ive seen many twitter posts get spammed by people with those ugly avatars and usernames filled with currencies yelling "not gonna make it! not gonna make it!" as if they're proud they're falling for a scam. ive seen slurs, harassment, death threats and more all because people don't trust nfts. its terrible i don't even know how they expect to make a community when they're so hostile.

[@Kyfow]

This hostility is easily explained when you consider the fact that these idiots who've just spent a ton of money on some ugly monkey picture absolutely REQUIRE that someone else believes that this monkey picture is worth that money for them to make a profit. Any person who makes fun of Crypto, and especially NFTs, devalues their purchase and puts them at risk of being a sucker - which is what they are.

[@ImpendingRiot83]

Four words: Sunk cost fallacy psychosis

[@OldyAlbert]

Crypto "play to earn" games sound like games from people who pretend that they care about gameplay/art side of videogames for people who pretend hat they care about gameplay/art side of videogames. In the same way like NFT holders will say that "I just like the art", those people will say "i just like the game". And they will say that not because it's true, but because they hope to bring more people in - but the only people who's in is the same kind of people - pretending they're for something more then just making money, it's same pyramid sht as allways

[@JimmyMcG33]

I did a little bit of spying in crypto Discord channels, and it seems like everyone is getting scammed and everyone thinks they're the scammer, and the blatant lying and hyper-positivity stems from that imo. Very strange and very sad. If you're interested in crypto I imagine you've seen this video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4LCqYqsjZahb8k) but he really hits the nail on the head with the psychology behind this stuff.

[@Winasaurus]

@@JimmyMcG33 As someone who had a shit job shilling a crypto that was fairly blatantly a scam (only job I could get with no experience through a government job scheme, so clearly they did fuck all research), that definitely seems to be the case. Lots of people feeling like they're the ones scamming all the late buyers, while just being scammed by the token maker in the first place. That is, if those people aren't just sockpuppet accounts for the token maker, as was the case in ours. Outright buying crypto twitter accounts just to shill shitty crypto for money and look like there's a real following. Ended up with some positives out of it thankfully. Enough computer experience to get me a job at an accounting firm, dodging the bullet that was "Hey, how about we pay half your wages in our token?", and getting a good laugh out of the fact one of the twitter accounts we bought used to post nothing but gay porn. Meaning all the related accounts whenever anyone looked at the profile was similarly gay porn, even though the name of the account had changed. I never told the managers, I just found it too funny to allow them to fix. "Why aren't people engaging with our tweets? Why are we getting weird recommended accounts??"

[@cinderheart2720]

Seeing some of this "art" makes me legit love Cruelty Squad's colour palette.

[@NotSpoondere]

I clicked subscribe immediately after watching your Cruelty Squad video and can't really say I knew what to expect going forward, but you totally knocked it out of the park with this. Your conclusion was especially moving.

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

Art has value because people like the artwork, the rarity then makes it sought after, raising the price and "collectors" then often use these high value assets as investments making them disappear in some vault. However art does not have value because it is rare that is infact the fallacy of NFTs. A random stone I find on the beach is unique and rare there is only one like that in the known universe yet I don't think I will convince anyone to buy it for a million dollars. Rarity is a modifier but not the reason something has value.

[@suzuplaza]

the ending really aged like fine wine now that almost all nfts are completely worthless now lmao

[@SableOrpheon]

I came here from a TheNeedleDrop video; never seen your channel before but your writing is amazing and production immaculate! Subbed my dude, looking forward to more of whatever

[@TV-8-301]

"Nobody can be powerful alone" I wasn't expecting such a heavy closing statement

[@SpoopySquid]

It's even funnier watching this in September 2023.

[@benswenson289]

It really ages like fine wine.

[@GLaDOS209]

I found your videos recently through the A/I Revolution being recommended on my feed, and I wanted to say, I really appreciate how much you're willing to point out how much stuff sucks and how hopeless it all *seems* while still promoting an optimistic outlook in the end. These horrible engines thrive on the feeling and perception of their inevitability, and I've seen a lot of good people fall into that trap. So, yeah, thanks for being positive despite it all.

[@queuedjar4578]

I agree really good outro overall. 99% of the time your interactions with people are going to be either completely okay or possibly even pleasant. As much as human nature harbors a natural evil, society tends to want to be good to everyone most of the time.

[@NoraNoita]

The only thing I invested into Crypto was the popcorn I pumped and dumped into myself, whilst laughing about the gift that keeps on giving which is the crypto "industry"

[@leol2254]

that's it, you win the comment section today

[@DogsRNice]

Now they've all moved onto "ai"

[@shinydewott]

1 year later, and watching the entire NFT thing burn itself to the ground and die out, it is unfortunately made very clear how the people who have all the leashes and control everything about our lives knows just as little as we do. As a matter of fact, they know less than we do looking down from their ivory towers and we all have to pay for all of their mistakes and miscalculations

[@rompevuevitos222]

People assume rich people somehow earned their wealth. No, they all inherited it or stole it in some fashion. With VERY few exceptions. There is no correlation between being rich and being smart.

[@jkennethking]

speculation and capitalism is what literally destroyed whatever proto-culture was developing in second life when its users started calling it the metaverse. not surprised that decentraland didn't even get off the ground. great video.

[@DukeSalami]

You’re a trooper for making this video, I would probably drop dead halfway through production if I was the one making it

[@UsefulCard13]

Man, remember when we used to OWN stuff? Crazy...

[@AlexSterk]

Something from 2017, a lot of celebrities were charged with promoting illegal securities with the ICO scene. Seems like they are getting a pass this time around since its an NFT and easier to promote an investment when you only having to rep a jpeg as your profile pic

[@yannickgrignon2473]

Man, I've seen a bunch of stuff about NFTs and crypto games, but I don't think I've ever seen one this utterly caustic. I kinda love it.

[@MTLion3]

…And now I’m existentially sad. 4,100 times more power in 1 Eth transaction… Who looks at this and sees nothing wrong with it? What does that number look like after they made it “more eco friendly”? I can’t imagine it’s much better.

[@valentinli332]

2nd layer has made it a fraction of the computing and energy cost now.

[@MikeCrain]

"Axie, for me is an investment, it's not a game" then keep it out of gaming because it's not a game. Might as well give everyone jars of syphillis and call them games while he's at it.

[@AsaBranca666]

Yeah, I'll treat all this as the logical conclusion to the Cruelty Squad video.

[@BlazeMakesGames]

Ya know, something I just realized about Crypto Games: it really is just a market of people who have never seriously played a video game before, re-inventing the concept of "pay 2 win" and thinking that its the most genius thing in the world that nobody has ever thought of before, and then trying to sell it. Like they seem to be under the impression that all people care about is winning and as long as you can do that by paying for an advantage then they've found a goldmine! And they completely ignore that everyone else would just leave and the game would die overnight. Like even real Pay 2 Win games at least have some finesse behind it, that's why they love their "Surprise Mechanics" since that obfuscates how money influences your power.

[@stargazer378]

Thankfully nfts are pretty much dead now. Basically every non nft company that had interests have backed off due to the backlash and the market has massively crashed. Hopefully nfts become just another historical footnote like beanie babies and the south sea company.

[@ethanstyant9704]

I love the story of the south sea company. The most valuable company in history that never existed

[@peterdinkler4950]

The Nintoddler thought piece on "Mario as an NFT" had my sides in fuckin' orbit. There's too much flouride in the water or some shit, I swear.

[@Mr._Sherwood]

NFT games are downright laughable. Beyond the fact that cryptobros seem to be incapable of understanding that some people do things for reasons other than grifting, the idea of taking a creature collector like Pokemon, where half of the charm comes from the widely diverse and creative character design, and making all the creatures into the same blob with slightly different accessories is absolutely ridiculous and anyone pitching, or frankly even considering the idea should not be in game design. Also they're completely worthless now that nobody's entering the pyramid scheme anymore. The only "word" that could describe my feelings about the scam's very welcome death is "roflmao".

[@GusMortis]

Comment from the future. NFT market has completely collapsed in hilarious fashion.

[@jimmz6]

and everyone couldn't be happier also it was just like people talked so much about it and then they just stopped

[@Ukiby3000]

"What if Pokemon designs were less inspired" =shows Klefki= Now you listen here, I won't stand for this Klefki slander! He's my son and I love him! Alolan Persian on the other hand... But really, this nft thing is insane. I'm glad it's dying slowly. Also the whiplash I got from you going from the NFT pacman game to the demake almost broke my neck, like one feels so soulless and the other is so bright and full of life.

[@ethanstyant9704]

I get that Pokemon designs miss sometimes but there's almost always an intention behind it or just a concept which didn't execute that well.

[@hunterzink4128]

“The settings menu is coming soon” LMAO 😂

[@IceyTheCat]

im honestly surprised that cryptobros don't absolutely despise games as a medium, what with their whole instagram sigma male grindset

[@ImpendingRiot83]

They probably only interact with them as a means to cynically use them as a way to get people hooked on their abstract gambling machines. It’s basically just the ground-level version of already-existing game giants’ CEO’s mindsets. Get people gambling. Get them hooked. Keep them spending. Emotionally manipulate them into never escaping the cycle. Generate revenue.

[@lavenzavantas]

the real takeaway from this video is that we should play Pac-Man Championship Edition

[@Malrodin]

Excellent video especially because it's common for criticism to focus on the environmental impact because that's easier to digest than all the dystopian interpersonal shit and this got pretty on point with that outlook. I think the biggest case study we have had isn't actually the steam marketplace but the Diablo 3 real money auction house. Items with their randomized rolled attribute values are much much more close to what would pass as an NFT and the market structures that developed were frighteningly similar. I think that's the sort of system the "play to earn" reach promises. Of course you would have to remove the majority of the skill and lock earning high level equipment to equally high valued equipment. Heck, it's not like a majority of time in PoE isn't spend marketing your gear to other players for currency either.

[@RaeIsGaee]

I'd say that steam is closer because at least the items in the auction house serve some kind of purpose - you're getting better equipment to play a game less. Whereas with NFTs, the only thing that makes them ""valuable"" is the artificial scarcity built into the concept of them. An NFT isn't worth millions because it contributes to society - it's worth that much because cryptonerds gouge each other for profit.

[@deathnstuff]

If anyone’s curious, the text that VERY BRIEFLY flashes on the screen at 24:36 says: “I can't believe people waste their money on these dumb (imaginary) pieces of shit. They don't even play the game. I also cannot believe that people tune in live to watch someone obnoxiously pretend to be excited about getting these.”

[@billyvalentine4466]

Your writing in the closing statement is incredibly powerful.

[@frogmin7994]

I love your video style so much, it’s so thorough and detail

[@splattie_]

Nailed it, again. Love how honest and genuine your presentation is.

[@antonievandermeer34]

I had to work on something like this as a VR game Dev and this video is basically my therapy. Thank you.

[@arscynica]

“The settings menu is coming soon.” Jesus Christ, what a shitshow.

[@atrioom]

One of the few times I needed a quote and forgot the time code. After 10 minutes of searching I found your citations link. Whaaaaaaaaaat! Kudos. Thanks!

[@morgandusin2401]

This is my second favorite video on this topic. This is great stuff. (First place goes to 'The Line Goes Up' by Folding Ideas)

[@Kinja427]

There's this mobile game "Black deck". It was fun at first, I thought it was pretty challenging. Standard gacha mechanics, but for some reason, they added an NFT feature where you can make your cards NFTs. I can't figure out why. They boost your cards, making it PtW, and I quit immediately after seeing that.

[@Kinja427]

Call me stupid, but I decided to redownload the game. I think they removed the NFT feature. I'm not seeing it anywhere. Edit: yeah they removed it literally 2 days ago.

[@rompevuevitos222]

This is why i do not play mobile games that are not PC ports. The only reason to make a mobile game is to bank on gullible people, and the devs know this.

[@HarmonyHope7534]

NFTs are like worse versions of something like Xanje or something. In Xanje every pet is unique based on stats, genes, ancestors, patterns, and even colors. It doesn't need the block chain though, because that would make the game worse. It's images you can trade, buy, breed, etc. and it's been around for over 10 years, yet is more fun than any NFT game.

[@TheYaMeZ]

Fantastic video. It hits on many thoughts I had with what I know of NFTs, but expresses them very well. Many more people should see this and have it factor in to their decision on how they spend their money.

[@connor.d.l]

“Beeple, a hack whose art sucks” I love you

[@metal_bird]

I want to get you, Nerrel, and Casually Explained in a room for a couple hours with a list of gaming and societal topics to discuss

[@necromech_]

folding ideas would be great as well

[@theminer49erz]

Amen brotha!! Hopelessness is THE problem!!....with nearly everything. If its not the cause, its the enabler. Nice work man!! Keep it up!! ✊🏽

[@mustardofdoom]

Your sentiment that this is all a response to a disenfranchised populace is interesting. I buy it.

[@latentpotential4520]

"No one can be powerful alone." What a great line! I found your channel 2 days ago and I have been consuming your backlog. You are a fantastic essayist, love what you are doing!

[@lateAutumn314]

Damn, that finale felt authentic and true to me as hell. I think the best thing you can prep for the future (if you want to call it that) is friends and communities.

[@queuedjar4578]

An underrated psychological need that's being sorely missed in today's informational metropolitan hellscapes is the need for community and to feel like you belong within it. It's likely the cause of many mental health issues that no one even knows their neighbors anymore, meaning it's a lot more likely they lack empathy even for the people immediately living around them.

[@arostwocents]

The ending speech about the state of the world was one of the best things ive ever heard on youtube. Truly fantastic

[@arostwocents]

Ooh I remember this channel ❤❤❤

[@liamhobbs1401]

Strangely enough KZbin didn't have this listed in my subscriptions... Big NFT must be messing with the algorithm. I look forward to when your channel gets the recognition it deserves!

[@altifinn]

I took more psychic damage than I was expecting when you brought up Gaia Online. I feel like I just stumbled upon a skeleton in my closet.

[@immagonnawin]

"What if Mario was an NFT" has the same vibe of "If climate change is real and the coasts flood, don't you think the people that live there would just sell their houses and move?" Sell their NFTs to who, Ben, fucking Aquaman?

[@ethanstyant9704]

Really just goes to show you how people like Ben think the world works

[@WTFYI]

I don't understand how people don't fall for "double ISK" scam outside of Jita 4-4 but fall for these apparent 100x scams

[@ohno5559]

Hell yeah, let's bring the arcade back! And by bring the arcade back I mean bring back only the predatory monetization and not the social aspect of going to a physical location with friends. And by bring back the predatory monetization I mean make it one million times worse.

[@TheQ90011]

nfts are just rare pepes given value.

[@bingosthad]

Man, I subscribed. Incredible storytelling, wonderful style, great content (not "content" as in "vids on YT", but content as the actual content of your work).

[@amberhernandez]

The ending segment was surprisingly heavy for a video that, less than ten minutes ago, was ragging on the concept of Mario being an NFT. What a damn good video!

[@Pugilation]

Excellent video, the closing words are very powerful and very true. Thank you for making this, I get the feeling it was a tough one to finish!

[@annoyannoy]

29:13 Man, your tired voice is so perfect for messages like this!!

[@LiamPorterFilms]

Good writing is rare on KZbin. This was top notch, well-edited and very funny

[@EvanBear]

At the start of the NFT craze I had another artist try to convince me it was the future. The benefits of true ownership, how NFTs made people interested in art again, how there's millions to make and how I'm silly for not getting with the time. I looked them up on OpenSea. They did not sell a single piece of theirs. I pointed it out and never heard from them again. Glad I didn't got swept up in that but I do think of that artist from time to time with empathy rather than schadenfreude because they really were just a passionate artist.

[@mln2764]

I wish there was a way to double like a video. Seriously, great work putting into form all the fucked up shit about crypto.

[@Dacronhai]

You just made me remember the existence of my gaia online account

[@valivali8104]

Jauwn has made reviews of many crypto games: at best those are lesser copies of actually good and popular games and at worst there’s nothing fun, and neither crypto nor blockchain gives anything good but instead makes everything worse.

[@hex_ceptional-dancer]

Cryptocurrencies remind me of something i read in 1984 about the low, the middle, and the high, and how the middle do not care for systemic change, only to trade places with or become part of the high.

[@TheTrojanMaker]

what a Gem of a channel. Teared up a bit at the last words. How perfect. Wow

[@dr.archaeopteryx5512]

Even without all the crypto nonsense, Axie Infinity just sounds like if a Pokemon Team Rocket Romhack was cooked up by the PR department of Team Rocket specifically at the tail end of the GSC games. This is the peak of crypto gaming and it can't even measure up to the weird Peta Propaganda games that spam you with gore.

[@platonicvulpine]

real interesting to stumble upon this video a year later, with essentially every prediction having come true

[@timstubbs9259]

Thank you for your video. It has been quite educational on NFTs and just how dangerous they are if people keep supporting them. Please keep up your important work.

[@Panthera_Leo_]

Every time I see "pay to earn" I can't help but think that money exists as a form of compensation of work done. Someone has earned a few dollars after doing a task. I admit that's rather hazy with all the financial trickery that's possible but at the base of it all there's still Johnny in the salt mines pushing a cart load and adding something to the world. So when some game says that you can make some money just by playing, I can't help but think that since no real work is done only the $ number goes up. Massive inflation as there's more money to go around but only the same or less of things to do with it (if that makes sense) making the whole exercise worse than useless. And it is true that games can exist that through play do real work in the world. I'm thinking mainly of those scientific games in Eve Online and Borderlands 3 where the player sorts through data via a game interface. But so far I haven't seen a single NFT, play to earn, or whatever use this. Always a shitty asset flip and/or rip off of another game that's just going to shut down in a little while and ever single player looses all they've "invested" in it. Decentralized, huh?

[@JimmyMcG33]

I'm not well-read enough to break it all down but I would love to see somebody figure out if value is actually produced anywhere in these games, or in crypto generally. Looking at how many of these projects seem to suddenly disappear I would guess not. Good point about Eve too, that's really interesting.

[@IkeFoxbrush]

Looking back at this two years later is outright bizarre and sobering at the same time. Not that did have expectations for NFTs to go anywhere. Can't wait for a retrospective of the current AI hype in a couple of years.