Dr Disrespect excited about ‘$100k’ blockchain articles in play

Popular streamer Guy ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm has doubled down on blockchain gaming and criticized those who have spoken out against the controversial technology.

Beahm, best known for his irreverent personality when streaming games like Call of Duty: Warzone and PUBG, recently founded developer Midnight Society, which is working on a PvP shooter called Deaddrop.

The game will make use of NFTs and players can purchase a ‘Founders Pass’ NFT which gives them a unique skin. On Sunday, Beahm shared his excitement about how he thinks extraction-style shooters can use NFTs, calling critics “brain dead.”

“Imagine trying to ‘unpack’ with an item you discovered worth $100,000 on the chain. Think entertainment value as viewer let alone player. A new pvp experience is upon us,” he wrote.

“The concept of digital collectibles in an online game is so exciting to me. Especially an extraction type game. People saying scams and ‘ugh’ are just brain dead headline followers. Same people who spend tons on skins for an annual release game. Same skins everyone has too.” »

NFT, or ‘non-fungible tokens’ are a unique non-fungible unit of data stored in a digital ledger. This means things like photos, music, and even in-game items can be sold to a specific owner who can be verified via the blockchain.

Blockchain companies claim NFTs will revolutionize digital ownership. Numerous gaming companies have attempted their own NFT initiatives, including Konami, Ubisoft and Atari. However, this attracted widespread criticism due to the format’s high carbon footprint and what many perceive as cynical implementation.

Ubisoft, for example, briefly sold NFT merchandise for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which were essentially generic skins with unique serial numbers printed on them. This was met with overwhelming backlash from players.

The indie marketplace Itch.io has called NFTs a scamwhile Microsoft’s head of games Phil Spencer said in 2021 that he felt the current implementation was “more exploitative than about entertainment”.

Publicity about the technology increased in 2021 as many major companies and celebrities launched their own initiatives, including Nike and McDonald’s.

But according to the Game Developers Conference’s annual State of the Game Industry Report, which polled over 2,700 developers about their work, 70% of respondents said they had no interest in adding NFTs to their games. Sales of NFTs are also said to have fallen sharply during 2022.

A common sentiment from respondents was reportedly the cynical implementation of NFTs seen so far, which some anonymous developers claimed was predatory.

“Blockchain is a foundational technology that will transform organizations and accountability, but NFTs and cryptocurrencies in general are a scam,” one developer wrote.