How are NFTs and Esports Connected?
With the advancement of technology and the arrival of cryptocurrency, a lot of things have started to become digitised. There are plenty of new things that are coming to you recently that enable the economy of the world to become digitised, and all of this is happening at a great speed. As usual, when something new comes up, there are people who are totally against the concept and some who are in favour of it. Changes scare people sometimes, and every new thing at first seems to be quite inconstant. In this blog, we will be talking about NFTs and how they have managed to affect the world of Esports.
What are NFTs?
This is the first question that should be answered before we get into the rest of the blog. Even if you have a faint idea about what NFT is, then you must know that it falls under the category of cryptocurrency. Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are something where a digital asset is given a real-world value. This means that you can own this asset, buy it, sell it, or even trade it.
Digital assets previously could not hold any real-life value because of the chance of getting replicated. However, in the case of NFTs, there is a unique ID or token associated with the NFT that cannot be easily replicated. The design is unique on its own, and hence has a value that can be tradable or can be owned by a person. An NFT can be anything, starting from an image, an audio file, a signature of some celebrity, or even a ticket to some match or concert. Once the unique ID has been attached to your digital file, you can trade it or sell it for real value.
How does NFT come into the Esports world?
Many people may be wondering why NFT is becoming so popular in the Esports world, and how they are even connected. Well, basically, if you look at a video game, most of what the game consists of can be considered a digital asset. What makes the game unique are its characters, certain scenarios, or even the whole game itself. Owning the game previously was not considered to be a digital asset, but now you can consider it as one.
Of course, before you invest in a game for your hobby or your career, you would not be able to trade off the investment or increase its value. However, with NFTs, various parts of the games can be used as an investment. This will make you turn them into tokens, which you can trade off even in the real world. This is a vastly different concept than just getting something from the official franchise of the game as a collectable.
The thing with collectables is that when you own them, you can only trade them off among the community, and there is not much real-life value attached to them. However, with the help of NFTs, you are getting it as a digital asset whose value gets stored in a specific wallet, and with that value, you can invest in other things, trade it off, or even buy and sell it. This makes it more like a currency and would help you with even getting into the world of cryptocurrency.
Advantages of NFTs in the Esports World
This is another topic that is still being researched, but we do have some points regarding it. Well, the first point has to be that NFTs will bring the Esports community into prominence. Any community or aspect which can be included in trade has a huge significance in society. Previously, Esports were only limited to the gaming communities. With the introduction of NFTs, the Esports world is getting more attention. People are genuinely becoming interested in how to turn video games into assets and utilise them for their own good. Esports teams can now offer their NFTs up for trading and selling, and this in turn is giving them huge support.
Previously, investing in franchise merchandise or donating money to teams was seen as something you did if you had the means. Mostly, it was a kind of charity and nothing else. However, now that people can invest in and even profit from NFTs, the world of esports has taken on new dynamics.
Disadvantages of NFTs in the Esports World
Now coming to the disadvantages, or why some of the gaming companies do not like the introduction of NFTs in their world. First off, NFTs are still in development, and they are quite insecure. Though there is supposed to be a unique ID or token which would make it special only for the user, there have been quite some instances where NFTs have been replicated or stolen. This has resulted in significant losses, not only for the owner but also for the parties who designed the NFTs. Hence, this unstableness of security is one of the most prominent threats to using it in the games.
Another reason why NFTs are discouraged is that they turn video games into trading sites. There is a high chance that people would be more concerned about gathering digital assets than actually enjoying the game anymore. In fact, recently Stem has decided to ban NFTs’ use on its platforms, and if any game does support the trade of NFTs inside it, it will be banned too.
Conclusion
Every concept has two sides: pros and cons, and so do NFTs. The fact that they are a bit insatiable right now does not mean that they will always be so. There are multiple companies that design extremely powerful and well-encrypted NFTs that cannot be easily stolen by others. There are also various ways in which you can go through the authentication of NFTs. Blockchain cryptocurrency is just getting started, and it has a long way to go. With gradual time and usage, it is believed that NFT will rise to the standard of other types of blockchain cryptocurrencies.
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Until next time,
#liveitforgaming
