Have you heard of NFTs? Yeah, I think they're cool too, though I don’t know about you, I do have a problem with most of them. Not just the fact that we're selling JPEGs of apes - something that would've been a ridiculous idea if this were 2013 - but the mere idea that almost any person or group, think they can create a collection, set up a discord server and start hitting your twitter timeline with hashtags, weird images, and encouraging you to join a community of randoms in order to own an NFT that may or may not hold any real value after two business years.
Here's a caveat: NFTs are a beacon into the future, they aren't the whole of it and sorry to burst your bubble, so is Web3. I’ll talk about this some other time.
Now that's where I think the confusion resides. In a previous piece I wrote about how NFTs can be applied in a number of cases, I mentioned that these mutated-for-auction JPEGs are much more than just profile pictures. They can be tickets, permits, ownership rights and much more.
That very application is what I believe is missing for most of these NFT projects I have been seeing flying around on twitter. Almost all of them think what you need is to join a discord server, perform tasks in hopes to get whitelisted (WL), then mint and sell your NFT.
Superb idea, but what gives you the advantage over everyone else? I mean it’s understandable that artists/creators want to sell their work, that’s been happening since before NFTs became a thing, but what does your Banana-bro NFT have to offer me other than the fact that it may be worth 5 Ethereum in the coming future? A future which it’s important to note, is very much bleak from this outside view. Yes, you can say I am being pessimistic and cynical with regards to NFTs and you will be right—the basic principle of selling is to sell function or emotion. Many of these NFT projects are selling ideas; which I think are cool don’t get me wrong but with an industry so young and practically unexplored, ideas alone will be the death of you and your project.
To paraphrase a quote from the Bible, “man shall not live by ideas alone, but by execution” and I am no stranger to that. Maybe because of my job, maybe because many of my ideas have failed, maybe because people who have skin in the game have proven time and time again, that execution is the “koko” of any project.
So what makes a great NFT project? In my small time working a few failed NFT projects and monitoring successful ones, I believe these three (out of many) are the best ways for NFTs to thrive and possibly scale:
A purpose-driven company/community: when a project is being backed by a DAO for instance, which aims to serve the owners of its NFTs, the project now has its focus shifted from “what do we have?” to “how do we use it?”. This is because longevity is a vital part of what makes an NFT project succeed or fail, it’s not about having 10,000 members in your discord channel, it’s about the value the project gives, the perception of your project and the ways the NFTs can be used.
A product/service: play-to-earn games and productized projects have hacked a way around how NFTs are minted, used and experienced. This allows users to ascribe value to them, try them out in a number of use cases, acquire other assets on the blockchain with them, and even try on e-commerce! What this does is take the NFT and turn it into what it should be--a means to an end and not the end in itself.
Gamified experiences: while this may look like a similar approach to the point mentioned above, it actually isn’t. Gamifying an NFT project takes two things: firstly you need a set of really popular first movers; people who will carry your project to the ends of the earth, selling your “idea”. Secondly, you need to reward the community but do this through exercises like hackathons, easter eggs, charity sponsorships too. Picture a couple of inexperienced front-end developers winning a hackathon for an NFT that gets to pay for their tuition to go learn ethereum engineering with Consensys labs (which is founded by Joe Lubin, the Ethereum Co-founder by the way). Things like this open possibilities to:
what the people backing the project stand for
what the project can do/be used for, and
how much market value will be placed on the NFTs
Finally, let’s please go back to the drawing boards with our projects. The whole world is watching us and many think we’re unserious with this. That’s not just bad for the crypto world, but for people who are actually building meaningful products and projects in this space.
Cheers.
now i'm interested in this NFT of a thing.