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I don't see why NFT game devs should care about this to be honest. We shouldn't be putting decentralized games on one of the most centralized platforms in histo

I don't see why NFT game devs should care about this to be honest. We shouldn't be putting decentralized games on one of the most centralized platforms in history. Love Steam, but you can do your own distribution pretty easily these days. If they want to miss out on the next platform evolution, that's a mistake they'll have to reckon with. I don't see it affecting the NFT gaming market one bit.

Ekaros 5y ago
The love their blockchains. So why not make a blockchain for distributing games? Patching would be lot more secure as it would be cryptographically secure and any player could just build the newest version from shared blockchain.
astlouis44 5y ago
Agreed. The browser route using WebAssembly and WebGPU is the path to decentralized distribution of games to players. This is what our team is working on! No 30% cuts from walled gardens, and developers have the freedom to whatever they want, and if that's to implement their game on the blockchain then they should be able to.
- elevenoh 5y ago
  Beautiful. Keep going! I'll only be playing outside of walled gardens myself.
  - astlouis44 5y ago
    Join our Discord here for more info: https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8 https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8
birdyrooster 5y ago
What about NFTs make a compelling argument that they are "the next platform evolution"? Why should I want NFTs in a game?
- capableweb 5y ago
  I'm not a fan of "collectibles" or "cosmetic items" or whatever they are called these days in games, but even I can see the use case where you can gain those in-game and then manage them outside of the game, trade them with other players, and maybe bring them with you to the next version of the game or even to another game. NFTs enable this without having to build any of the infrastructure to support it.
  - itsoktocry 5y ago
    >even I can see the use case where you can gain those in-game and then manage them outside of the game, trade them with other players, and maybe bring them with you to the next version of the game or even to another game. All of this sounds completely dependent on the game designers, which is the opposite of decentralized, no? What requires NFTs? You can't just "bring" something into another game.
    - meowface 5y ago
      >What requires NFTs? You can't just "bring" something into another game. Isn't that kind of the point of NFTs? With an NFT, you hypothetically could bring something into another game. You'd need different developers to agree to recognize certain NFTs, though. I think the better question to ask is the reverse: what requires bringing things into different games? Historically, nothing. This doesn't seem to be a thing most developers want. And if they don't want that, there wouldn't be a point to implementing NFTs, since they're already keeping things centralized. So it's really just a philosophical discussion about the idea of things being tradable between and outside of particular games, and the potential merits of that, rather than a technical discussion about NFTs.
      - hakfoo 5y ago
        For this to be useful, you'd need an infrastructure-- standard APIs and formats for interchange. I'm picturing the initial sell as like those old Pokemon events or trading via the link cable, but you could buy a Trabant P601 from Gran Turismo, Zhongli from Genshin Impact, and Messi from FIFA21 to drop into the game too. How do you make use of that sort of open-ended diversity without ruining gameplay? You'd either be limited to trivial uses (avatars/skins or randomizations) or you'd have a huge vector for feeding in game-breaking items and characters. The alternative is a closed network-- only allowing a small selection of pre-vetted NFTs that won't break the game, which adds very little value over something like the Skylanders/Infinity/Amiibo concept that already exists, except you don't get a cool figure too.
munk-a 5y ago
I absolutely agree - you NFT devs don't need to pollute the steam ecosystem one bit, your users will find you organically!
dwild 5y ago
> We shouldn't be putting decentralized games on one of the most centralized platforms in history. That's something that I believe is currently a big issue in our society, so many things are pushed between black and white. You can definitely see the advantage of both system and use both in their own when one is better than the other. The fact that you see potential in a decentralized value transfer system and want it to evolve doesn't means that you believe every single thing need to be decentralized. I'm sure you downloaded something using P2P, yet you are still enjoying centralized file distribution everyday too. Not only that, but Steam doesn't require any exclusivity or dependence to their platforms. That means that as a publisher, you can share it on multiple platform, which make it essentially decentralized...
imaginationra 5y ago
%100- I had a game in submission status "retired" this week because "NFT's"- the game is 45gb so its more difficult to find a place to host it/etc when its that big and have it make financial sense right now. Sort of the same with 4k video hosting. I know the problem will be solved eventually. But because of this as a dev I'm not publishing to Steam anymore.
- hythyt 5y ago
  not sure why you get downvoted... what is your game about? Epic says "that it’s “open” to the idea of games that use NFTs or cryptocurrencies"
dropnerd 5y ago
between this news and sweeney's dismissal [1], the decentralized future is bright > Sweeney: We aren’t touching NFTs as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams. [1] https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1442519522875949061?s=20 https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/144251952287594906...

Ekaros 5y ago

The love their blockchains. So why not make a blockchain for distributing games? Patching would be lot more secure as it would be cryptographically secure and any player could just build the newest version from shared blockchain.

astlouis44 5y ago

Agreed. The browser route using WebAssembly and WebGPU is the path to decentralized distribution of games to players. This is what our team is working on! No 30% cuts from walled gardens, and developers have the freedom to whatever they want, and if that's to implement their game on the blockchain then they should be able to.

elevenoh 5y ago
Beautiful. Keep going! I'll only be playing outside of walled gardens myself.
- astlouis44 5y ago
  Join our Discord here for more info: https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8 https://discord.gg/zUSZ3T8

birdyrooster 5y ago

What about NFTs make a compelling argument that they are "the next platform evolution"? Why should I want NFTs in a game?

capableweb 5y ago
I'm not a fan of "collectibles" or "cosmetic items" or whatever they are called these days in games, but even I can see the use case where you can gain those in-game and then manage them outside of the game, trade them with other players, and maybe bring them with you to the next version of the game or even to another game. NFTs enable this without having to build any of the infrastructure to support it.
- itsoktocry 5y ago
  >even I can see the use case where you can gain those in-game and then manage them outside of the game, trade them with other players, and maybe bring them with you to the next version of the game or even to another game. All of this sounds completely dependent on the game designers, which is the opposite of decentralized, no? What requires NFTs? You can't just "bring" something into another game.
  - meowface 5y ago
    >What requires NFTs? You can't just "bring" something into another game. Isn't that kind of the point of NFTs? With an NFT, you hypothetically could bring something into another game. You'd need different developers to agree to recognize certain NFTs, though. I think the better question to ask is the reverse: what requires bringing things into different games? Historically, nothing. This doesn't seem to be a thing most developers want. And if they don't want that, there wouldn't be a point to implementing NFTs, since they're already keeping things centralized. So it's really just a philosophical discussion about the idea of things being tradable between and outside of particular games, and the potential merits of that, rather than a technical discussion about NFTs.
    - hakfoo 5y ago
      For this to be useful, you'd need an infrastructure-- standard APIs and formats for interchange. I'm picturing the initial sell as like those old Pokemon events or trading via the link cable, but you could buy a Trabant P601 from Gran Turismo, Zhongli from Genshin Impact, and Messi from FIFA21 to drop into the game too. How do you make use of that sort of open-ended diversity without ruining gameplay? You'd either be limited to trivial uses (avatars/skins or randomizations) or you'd have a huge vector for feeding in game-breaking items and characters. The alternative is a closed network-- only allowing a small selection of pre-vetted NFTs that won't break the game, which adds very little value over something like the Skylanders/Infinity/Amiibo concept that already exists, except you don't get a cool figure too.

munk-a 5y ago

I absolutely agree - you NFT devs don't need to pollute the steam ecosystem one bit, your users will find you organically!

dwild 5y ago

> We shouldn't be putting decentralized games on one of the most centralized platforms in history. That's something that I believe is currently a big issue in our society, so many things are pushed between black and white. You can definitely see the advantage of both system and use both in their own when one is better than the other. The fact that you see potential in a decentralized value transfer system and want it to evolve doesn't means that you believe every single thing need to be decentralized. I'm sure you downloaded something using P2P, yet you are still enjoying centralized file distribution everyday too. Not only that, but Steam doesn't require any exclusivity or dependence to their platforms. That means that as a publisher, you can share it on multiple platform, which make it essentially decentralized...

imaginationra 5y ago

%100- I had a game in submission status "retired" this week because "NFT's"- the game is 45gb so its more difficult to find a place to host it/etc when its that big and have it make financial sense right now. Sort of the same with 4k video hosting. I know the problem will be solved eventually. But because of this as a dev I'm not publishing to Steam anymore.

hythyt 5y ago
not sure why you get downvoted... what is your game about? Epic says "that it’s “open” to the idea of games that use NFTs or cryptocurrencies"

dropnerd 5y ago

between this news and sweeney's dismissal [1], the decentralized future is bright > Sweeney: We aren’t touching NFTs as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams. [1] https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1442519522875949061?s=20 https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/144251952287594906...