Attempts to integrate NFTs into video games have largely been unsuccessful for a number of reasons, but essentially it boils down to two main points:
And that’s without taking into account the environmental damage caused by NFTs. But as seen in a new The rest of the world (opens in a new tab) report, that doesn’t stop NFT evangelists from coming up with even worse ideas for the future.
The main part of the story of the non-profit journalism organization revolves around a Minecraft-based NFT game called Critterz (opens in a new tab), which enjoyed enough success in its early days that some players began hiring others to help build their owners in-game in exchange for a cut of the profits. One such big-player, who goes by the name Big Chief, had his “team”—mostly children in the Philippines—collect building materials for a casino, which he then paid “professional Minecraft builders” $10,000 to actually build.
“I have a lot of kids that play for me and they play because they want to make extra money in a country that basically just locks them up,” Big Chief explained. People in the Philippines were willing to play the game this way, he added, because “they were able to earn just enough where it was worth the time.”
However, it was not all play. Big Chief said the members of his play-to-earn guild were required to put in eight hours a day, the equivalent of a full-time job, to cover the cost of NFT purchases – the digital “lots” – and maximize earnings as quickly as possible . Still, he said he was “annoyed” by the suggestion that his exploitation of disadvantaged people in poor countries was, you know, exploitation.
“I couldn’t tell you what the hourly rate comes to, but I could tell you that people make very little money and the cost of living is very low in the Philippines,” Big Chief said.
But as Critterz grew in popularity, its value began to decline: Big Chief said players were selling their $BLOCK (opens in a new tab) tokens used in the game instead of holding them “because they need money to live,” which combined with the increased number of players created a token glut that drove prices down. Following the trajectory of most cryptocurrencies in 2022, $BLOCK dropped from a high of 85 cents in January to just 3 cents in May. The wheels didn’t really come off until July, when Mojang declared that NFT integration in Minecraft is “not something we will support or allow (opens in a new tab).” That halved the value of $BLOCK, which is already dramatically reduced. Revenue dropped, player count dropped, and at this point the future of Critterz is uncertain at best.
Big Chief understandably mourned his loss – that is, the loss of his ability to do so much good for others.
“I treated a lot of these kids like they were my kids, so it’s kind of sad now that I can’t really offer them much,” Big Chief said. “Before, I really helped a lot of these kids, and gave them an opportunity to make a little extra money for their families, and it’s kind of sad that I can’t really do that right now.”
Fortunately, at least for him, people are coming up with new ideas for how Third World citizens can be put to productive use by wealthy Westerners. Mikhai Kossar from blockchain game consultant Wolves DAO (opens in a new tab)for example, suggested that they could be added to the background of video games to entertain other, presumably richer players.
“With cheap labor in a developing country, you can use people in the Philippines as NPCs, real NPCs in your game,” Kossar said, seemingly serious. They would “just populate the world, maybe do a random job or just walk back and forth, fishing, telling stories, a shopkeeper, anything is really possible.”
It’s an abhorrent idea, perfect in character for the NFT field, and literally the dictionary definition of exploitation: “Selfish exploitation…especially for profit.” As much as I hate to admit it, it’s not at all out of the realm of possibility either. Paying people to do the heavy lifting in your video game is nothing new – most of us are at least familiar with the practice of gold farming (opens in a new tab) in MMOs – but the introduction of real money into these systems only encourages bad behavior. It’s dystopian, but also fundamental: As long as real money is involved, there will always be people willing to pursue it, and there will always be others eager to take advantage of it.
