Do NFTs and cryptocurrencies create a generation of gaming addicts? – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

Making an NFT means being part of the blockchain. It is a process that allows a digital asset to be separated from its copies.

When an NFT collection is launched, the acquisition usually takes place in two phases. There’s a pre-sale, usually reserved for long-time community members and winners of promotional gifts, followed by a public sale, which is essentially free.

Public sales can be a bloodbath, especially when a project has a large following. Last weekend, for example, I woke up at midnight waiting for the ‘Soul Dogs’ work. He is the creator of a collection of 10,000 cartoon dogs, inspired by the pop culture of the 90’s.

I was following the project for the last two weeks, during which time its Discord community grew from about 5,000 members to 25,000. In the hours leading up to the public sale, that number skyrocketed to nearly 40,000 shots.

At the time of the pre-sale of more than half of the collection, only about 4,000 dogs were left for the fast-growing public. This time I decided to unplug the Ethernet cable. I really wanted a Soul Dog for my collection which meant there was no margin for latency.

As the launch time approached, Discord moderators constantly warned the community not to click on unofficial links. NFT scams are very common, especially when it comes to large projects like this.

Scammers often send community members links to fake websites — designed to resemble the original — that empty users’ wallets as soon as they click ‘Mint’.

Once it was time to launch, the chat was silenced for everyone. For the next five minutes, thousands of people around the world hit the ‘Mint’ button, hoping to get ahead. And so the collection ran out.

Now, what does this have to do with gambling addiction? Let’s take it from above.

Why did people get into buying NFT cartoon dogs?

Perhaps they read the white paper of the project and drew the concepts of Soul Dog City – a metabersical space where Soul Dogs can run and work for free in exchange for the original $ BONES currency. Or maybe they just wanted to pay 180 S $ for this artwork.

If you look at the Discord chat, it would say that none of them were the real reason, at least not for most people.

The majority of the community was there to speculate on the post-mint value of these NFTs and sell them for a quick profit. So every fifth post in the group, someone new would ask, “What do you think it will be after it’s been marketed?”

The base price of a collection is the minimum price that any NFT sells. Of course, a dozen more speculative investors would respond: “At least 5 SOL” or “10 SOL guaranteed”, with all the confidence of a fortune teller with a crystal ball.

To put it in perspective, each NFT could be exchanged for 0.95 Solana (SOL) tokens – about $ 180 S $ at the time. He was accused by anyone in the group of predicting that the base price would be less than five times the price FUDding (spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt).

As Mint approached, the Discord chat became more and more of a beehive. Those who criticized the project or raised concerns, while valid, were quickly shut down by other community members. The latter were concerned that these concerns would scare away new members and affect the demand for the collection.

As you can see, the ad was successful.

Why did he count the membership almost double in the hours leading up to the launch?

Think of the NFT community as a spectrum, with those who do their responsibilities at one end (a lonely place) and those who want to win the lottery at the other.

Crypto agents and blogs announced the introduction of Soul Dogs, so they went in search of the lottery in the chat group. FOMO was reaching its peak and there was nowhere to focus.

Most people in Soul Dogs Discord no longer read the white paper. However, those who joined in the few hours before release were even more apathetic. They were looking for signs of life in the group before hitting ‘Mint’ and hoped for the best.

Immediately after the Mint ended, several people wondered what the usefulness of Soul Dogs NFT was. A concerned community member asked the question, “Did you buy one without knowing what it was used for?”

“You need to be new to NFT” someone replied. “People here pay first and ask questions later.”

And what about scams?

Among the speculations of lower prices and absurdly basic questions, there would occasionally be a user complaining that the entire wallet had run out.

To do this, they would try to do so through a fake website or share their wallet recovery code with someone else.

The moderators of Soul Dogs Discord were particularly careful about this, warning users every two minutes not to accept direct messages or to click on unofficial links. But they could do many things.

A user started spamming the group with a scam of almost $ 300 for the man’s Instagram handle. He begged the moderators to help him recover the funds, as if he were a blockchain policeman.

Another complained that moderators had to remove fake websites before visiting one and cheated.

Is buying NFTs the same as the game?

When people invest in NFTs without doing proper research or clicking on links submitted by anonymous users, then yes, they might be playing the game. In fact, this is very common, where there is also a term for this in cryptographic circles. It’s called immersing yourself in a project.

Of course, it’s not my intention to paint this as a problem. Within reason, people should be free to spend their money as they please. If they are betting on a race horse, they should be betting on a cartoon dog.

What if they don’t support betting on a race horse?

That’s what worries me. Surveys that have measured interest in NFTs across demographics have often found that 18- to 34-year-olds invest the most in the concept. These surveys do not provide information on those under the age of 18 because they are not included in the sample group.

If I were to dare to guess, I would say that teenagers make up a large part of the NFT community. They may not be the biggest investors, but anyone who spent $ 50 on a Fortnite Skin or CS: GO lootbox saves a portion of that for some NFTs as well.

My proof is anecdotal, of course. In my time I am basing my hypotheses on Discord groups.

On the one hand, I’ve seen too many users talk about them winter break it seems to have lasted all of December and the first half of January.

I’ve come across some that require help with homework. I’ve also seen arguments that frustrate a party and say so. “It simply came to our notice then. You look like a child now. ” and other parties responding, “Yeah, I’m 14 years old.”

Should children be allowed to buy NFTs?

It is difficult because NFTs are not in themselves a tool built for speculative investments. That’s how people started using it.

I don’t think kids should be allowed to play, especially if it’s with someone else’s money.

When you consider online games, there are almost weekly cases where children spend thousands using their parents’ credit cards. This money can often be recovered if parents contact their respective gaming companies. However, in the blockchain, it would go away forever.

What if a child wants to spend their money on an NFT, even if it gives them access to a video game or comic book? I don’t see a problem with it.

It would be unreasonable to impose a general ban on children buying NFTs and, in fact, it would be impossible to enforce them. Decentralized markets do not require customer data and having them in another way would lose their purpose.

With all this in mind, education may be the best solution. In the near future, children will need to be aware of the dangers and consequences of NFT – in the same way that they are told not to accept sweets from strangers.

It’s not that strangers are inherently evil, but the potential harm is greater than the benefit of sweets.

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Featured Image Credit: Forkast