Microsoft to blockheads: NFTs and blockchains aren't welcome in Minecraft Mojang Studios, the Microsoft-owned-and-operated developer of Minecraft, has decided not to allow integration of non-fungible tokens or other blockchain-related tech in the game. "NFTs and other blockchain technologies create digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of …
NFTs are basicly a digital version of the "Certificate OF Authenticity" you get when you spend decent money on an artwork, and, pass on if you sell it.
These certificates have no real value and are easy to fake but you always get one from the dealer and any buyer expects to see one. Its the the equivalent of kicking the tyres when you buy a used car. It's pointless, but everybody does it and is part of the ritual.
So now we have a digital equivalent of the shiny parchment sheet which is just as worthless and just as useless, and much much easier to fake. Just how would you verify that an NFT is genuine? How would you verify that its not the tenth copy of the NFT that is being sold to you. How is your copy of the digital artifact better than the millions of other copies without an NFT?
The main use case for blockchain is to part the gullible from there money.
Rarely have I read a post (from Mojang) explaining so clearly what NFTs are in reality. Kudos to them for this ! I wish other gaming companies would do the same.
Hopefully, they will be an example soon followed.
"That stance isn't necessarily permanent. Mojang states it will keep an eye on "how blockchain technology evolves over time to ensure that the above principles are withheld and determine whether it will allow for more secure experiences or other practical and inclusive applications in gaming.""
Ah, don't hold your breath, here, Mojang, really don't !
The only sane use I have see is Nike associating a specific pair of trainers to an NFT so they can be traded without physically moving the boxes. Supposedly saving co2.
But since you have to trust Nike to come good on the deal. It makes no sense to use CO2 consuming block chain. A PHP website at Nike.com would suffice because you have to trust Nike anyway.
And a PHP website at Nike would have the names of both parties when trying to launder money.
It's so crazily easy launder money on NFTs that the system should be banned for that reason alone.
Sale of ntfs outside the jurisdiction it was minted in should be subject to vat and import export duties like everything else, Europe doing that would crush the system in a day. Most ntfs are currently worth less than the cost of minting them. The system is ready to die.
I hope it does before more people get conned.
Trading of physical commodities without physical taking delivery has been a thing for many many decades. We've never needed NFTs to trade oil or pork bellies. Nike might be doing something sensible, but it doesn't need NFTs to do it.
(This fad of daftly expensive trainers is similarly stupid, but off topic).
Have you considered simply not purchasing one and stopping seeking to censor others who wish to do so?
Nobody is suggesting that people shouldn't be allowed to create NFTs (though it would be nice if they could avoid using proof-of-work algorithms to do so, for the sake of the environment), or tell other people about them.
What's being suggested is that the sale of these worthless sequences of binary should be stopped, to protect the gullible.
Methinks it's a far, far, cry from censorship.
Potentially, Minecraft servers could have used NFTs to grant 'ownership' (IE read-write permission) to areas of virtual terrain on a server, allowing people to trade 'unreal estate' outside of the bounds of the server on which it resides. That would have required the server to be aware of the walletID of each player, though, and have a plugin to allow ownership to be validated and update the access permissions. No different from now except that sale and transfer could happen independently of the server.
On the whole, though, it seems they are only being used to make tradeable things that have no impact on the game at all ...
I am not nearly as pleased as some commentards about this story. The reason being, Mojang has conspicuously left the door open to change its policy later, which I interpret as "when they've figured out how to make money from it."
I enjoy playing Minecraft with my kids. Would hate to see it being monetised.
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