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Crypto makes it possible to own something digitally. Web3 incorporates this ownership. While Web 2.0 was about writing something to the internet and the World

by MaxKK 5y ago

Crypto makes it possible to own something digitally. Web3 incorporates this ownership. While Web 2.0 was about writing something to the internet and the World Wide Web was about reading something on the internet. It's a further iteration which just makes sense.

lpcvoid 5y ago
Why the hell do I need to "own" something online? Whatever I publish, people can do whatever the hell they want with it. I don't want DRM incorporated into the internet. Blockchain is a scam and anybody parroting its supposed advantages is either invested or naive.
- Karrot_Kream 5y ago
  I mean, if you don't want to "own" something online, then don't? Nobody is telling you what to or not to do. Don't get angry at another person's preferences. I think a much more cogent criticism is that it's very difficult for Web3/on-chain ownership to correspond to any form of meaningful ownership for the user. "Yeah I own digital <thing>, so what?" I only really see a use when mapping to an actually digitally scare good, say an IPv4 block or a domain name. But that's it really. Maybe some gacha/collectible games, but that's iffy.
  - Jcowell 5y ago
    One thing I don’t understand is how does this migrate away from things such as copyright licenses ? Even if you “buy” a digital good What stops a license from being applied to it?
goosedragons 5y ago
You could own something digitally before crypto. I've got some pretty sweet digital 7th Edition Magic cards I've had for about 2 decades. I traded away some of them and sold others.
- PretzelPirate 5y ago
  If those are on Magic the Gathering Online, do you really own them? What happens when that shuts down in favor of Magic Arena?
  - jiggawatts 5y ago
    The same thing that happens if you have an NFT that's just a URL. If the URL target goes down, the NFT is broken.
    - piva00 5y ago
      Or if the game that accepted those NFT as in-game items shuts down, then these items cease to exist as well in any meaningful way, at least for the reasons it might be valuable in the beginning when I purchased it (stats in game, rarity, etc.). If the game ceases to exist then the NFT is just, what, a trading card that shows some scarcity/rarity? I really don't get this argument at all. I bought an in-game mount for World of Warcraft as a NFT, WoW shuts down, where the hell am I going to use the in-game mount again? A shitty game that tells me "your WoW mount works here as well!"? It really feels it's all a preparation for the "metaverse" bullshit.
      - ryanbrunner 5y ago
        No game is going to do the "your X game items work here", since it cuts off any revenue stream they have, and the NFT itself is almost definitely not going to include a functioning asset, just a token that you own mount with an ID of XYZ. It would be on the game developers to create art and code for every single NFT they want to support.
        piva00 5y ago
        Exactly what I assume, hence why I don't see the value on the argument of "owning an in-game item", there is nothing to own, everything is on the hands of the platform that enables whatever I own to exist.
hijodelsol 5y ago
It does NOT make it possible to own something in any meaningful way. (Intellectual) property rights already take care of ownership. Ofc, there are illegal ways of just taking what you want, but that is a crime like under all other circumstances. The only thing crypto enables is to have a ecologically destructive, slow, redundant database that says “X belongs to Y”. The thing is though, you could just create a different database. And having your entry in that database does not legally equal ownership. So it doesn’t solve anything but now there’s money involved so people try to scam you.
jug 5y ago
I'd like to be more precise in this case and say that an NFT is an ability to prove original ownership. We have of course been able to buy and own more or less exlusive licenses to digital goods for a long time now. The video game market is now larger than the music and film industries combined and quickly becoming entirely digital. And if it's own work and the more literal form of ownership rather than just a license to it, these rights are well protected in law and don't really use to become a problem? Unless you live in a state with state-sponsored copyright infringement, but these would absolutely not respect NFT's and proofs of ownership either. But if you for some reason need to support the specific case of proving original ownership, NFT is a technology that can help although I think this is becoming a too niche use for a widespread internet-wide revolution. It's still digital which can be made into perfect copies and I think this alone reduces the appeal even if it would come with a sticker that validates the product. At least it does so for me. Sure it's "useful" kind of like how an MD5 sum is, and now we get even further along the way than that but... it's still digital goods with everything that implies...
- anhner 5y ago
  > I'd like to be more precise in this case and say that an NFT is an ability to prove original ownership. It doesn't even do that. See: all artists whose work was stolen and sold as NFTs
slightwinder 5y ago
Everything you own with crypto, is some data inside this crypto's world. Without any connection to other worlds, those data have no value in itself. And the moment you connect it, laws come into play and your crypto is just a tool to manage this ownership. But for this, crypto has no real benefit so far. And it's questionable whether it ever will have. We get the same practical benefits without all the expensive crypto-bells&whistles.

by MaxKK 5y ago

lpcvoid 5y ago

Why the hell do I need to "own" something online? Whatever I publish, people can do whatever the hell they want with it. I don't want DRM incorporated into the internet. Blockchain is a scam and anybody parroting its supposed advantages is either invested or naive.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago
I mean, if you don't want to "own" something online, then don't? Nobody is telling you what to or not to do. Don't get angry at another person's preferences. I think a much more cogent criticism is that it's very difficult for Web3/on-chain ownership to correspond to any form of meaningful ownership for the user. "Yeah I own digital <thing>, so what?" I only really see a use when mapping to an actually digitally scare good, say an IPv4 block or a domain name. But that's it really. Maybe some gacha/collectible games, but that's iffy.
- Jcowell 5y ago
  One thing I don’t understand is how does this migrate away from things such as copyright licenses ? Even if you “buy” a digital good What stops a license from being applied to it?

goosedragons 5y ago

You could own something digitally before crypto. I've got some pretty sweet digital 7th Edition Magic cards I've had for about 2 decades. I traded away some of them and sold others.

PretzelPirate 5y ago
If those are on Magic the Gathering Online, do you really own them? What happens when that shuts down in favor of Magic Arena?
- jiggawatts 5y ago
  The same thing that happens if you have an NFT that's just a URL. If the URL target goes down, the NFT is broken.
  - piva00 5y ago
    Or if the game that accepted those NFT as in-game items shuts down, then these items cease to exist as well in any meaningful way, at least for the reasons it might be valuable in the beginning when I purchased it (stats in game, rarity, etc.). If the game ceases to exist then the NFT is just, what, a trading card that shows some scarcity/rarity? I really don't get this argument at all. I bought an in-game mount for World of Warcraft as a NFT, WoW shuts down, where the hell am I going to use the in-game mount again? A shitty game that tells me "your WoW mount works here as well!"? It really feels it's all a preparation for the "metaverse" bullshit.
    - ryanbrunner 5y ago
      No game is going to do the "your X game items work here", since it cuts off any revenue stream they have, and the NFT itself is almost definitely not going to include a functioning asset, just a token that you own mount with an ID of XYZ. It would be on the game developers to create art and code for every single NFT they want to support.
      - piva00 5y ago
        Exactly what I assume, hence why I don't see the value on the argument of "owning an in-game item", there is nothing to own, everything is on the hands of the platform that enables whatever I own to exist.

hijodelsol 5y ago

It does NOT make it possible to own something in any meaningful way. (Intellectual) property rights already take care of ownership. Ofc, there are illegal ways of just taking what you want, but that is a crime like under all other circumstances. The only thing crypto enables is to have a ecologically destructive, slow, redundant database that says “X belongs to Y”. The thing is though, you could just create a different database. And having your entry in that database does not legally equal ownership. So it doesn’t solve anything but now there’s money involved so people try to scam you.

jug 5y ago

I'd like to be more precise in this case and say that an NFT is an ability to prove original ownership. We have of course been able to buy and own more or less exlusive licenses to digital goods for a long time now. The video game market is now larger than the music and film industries combined and quickly becoming entirely digital. And if it's own work and the more literal form of ownership rather than just a license to it, these rights are well protected in law and don't really use to become a problem? Unless you live in a state with state-sponsored copyright infringement, but these would absolutely not respect NFT's and proofs of ownership either. But if you for some reason need to support the specific case of proving original ownership, NFT is a technology that can help although I think this is becoming a too niche use for a widespread internet-wide revolution. It's still digital which can be made into perfect copies and I think this alone reduces the appeal even if it would come with a sticker that validates the product. At least it does so for me. Sure it's "useful" kind of like how an MD5 sum is, and now we get even further along the way than that but... it's still digital goods with everything that implies...

anhner 5y ago
> I'd like to be more precise in this case and say that an NFT is an ability to prove original ownership. It doesn't even do that. See: all artists whose work was stolen and sold as NFTs

slightwinder 5y ago

Everything you own with crypto, is some data inside this crypto's world. Without any connection to other worlds, those data have no value in itself. And the moment you connect it, laws come into play and your crypto is just a tool to manage this ownership. But for this, crypto has no real benefit so far. And it's questionable whether it ever will have. We get the same practical benefits without all the expensive crypto-bells&whistles.