I'm actually building a TCG so this is from my perspective in that context and referring to TCG "like" apps only.
An abstract representation of a digital item not tied to the app/platform has some benefits:
- It can allow a market for them without me having to implement the market itself;
- That in turn makes the items themselves more valuable
But it also has many downsides and some significant:
- I don't have to implement the market but I have to conform all my app to work with that particular way of representing the item and I have to make interfaces to it all. If then I want to implement an internal market it has to be fully integrated with the outside.
- For ownership verifications it's much more heavy to assert ownership. As a practical example, in order to allow users an incentive to play when you signup you get a set of item "packs", with random contents generated when they're opened, the items in that pack can be used in tournaments/matches that require ownership of the items but in order to remove any benefit from creating multiple accounts to hoard items and resell them, the items in those packs are "owner_only". They can be used but not traded or sold. To do verifications for selling for instance, it's a simple db query, to do verifications of ownership before a match is started it's a simple db query. I would imagine it would become easily much heavier to do any of these simple things, or you might need to wait until your "purchases" are settled so that they show up, and etc.
- Then the blockchain itself. Is it connected to the outside world and managed by multiple parties? Can those multiple parties get together in a 51% party and rewrite the story of the blockain in which the assets used in my game are stored? Is it an internal blockchain? If it's internal why use it at all instead of a db with backups and consolidation?
I'm sure there's other considerations. The idea of a market for items that is larger than your app items is certainly interesting but not sure the logistics play out. Would love to see some ideas explored in that field though.
I could see something amiibo (https://www.nintendo.com/amiibo/) like where the NFT basically unlocks things in different games but really struggle from a business perspective why you’d choose the crypto route over owning the market yourself. Particularly if there is supposed to be some permanence to the asset the NFT points to. For example the game no longer makes money but for some unforeseen reason someone owns an NFT of a game item worth $100,000 what happens when you pull all the game infrastructure and therefore the linked item down?
Yeap, that's I think one of the disconnects - while it would allow you to have a market beyond the game the items, in the case of a fully digital TCG, are only valuable due to the game and their scarcity in the game, plus the game needs to have some game play options where having the items is relevant.
Amiibo looks more like the skinning/customisation market - probably they don't have an impact on the game.
In TCGs with games/tournaments where you need to own cards to play them there's an actual "desire/need" for a market to trade/buy - although it seems most digital TCGs nowadays all do the hearthstone thing of being able to "create" items by destroying others which diminishes the need for it, I personally don't like that mode, but I also don't see where a blockchain helps instead of a DB and backup of all "actions" recorded.
I might be wrong but what you pointed out is exactly why NFTs might succeed. Sure Nintendo has enough credibility to own and operate its own market, but for people who are trying to compete with Nintendo, the fact that artefacts are tradable outside the company's ecosystem and control becomes a point of differentiation.
I think it might actually work for other digital items outside games - sincerely in games unless they're interoperable between platforms I don't understand what would be the advantage - but maybe things like coupons, say you got a coupon from a signup somewhere, and it was represented as something with an expiry date, associated with an email or phone or wtv, but you were never going to use it, maybe selling that and the person associated with it changed to the new owner that then could redeem/use it?
Again, not sure it's useful.
An abstract representation of a digital item not tied to the app/platform has some benefits:
- It can allow a market for them without me having to implement the market itself;
- That in turn makes the items themselves more valuable
But it also has many downsides and some significant:
- I don't have to implement the market but I have to conform all my app to work with that particular way of representing the item and I have to make interfaces to it all. If then I want to implement an internal market it has to be fully integrated with the outside.
- For ownership verifications it's much more heavy to assert ownership. As a practical example, in order to allow users an incentive to play when you signup you get a set of item "packs", with random contents generated when they're opened, the items in that pack can be used in tournaments/matches that require ownership of the items but in order to remove any benefit from creating multiple accounts to hoard items and resell them, the items in those packs are "owner_only". They can be used but not traded or sold. To do verifications for selling for instance, it's a simple db query, to do verifications of ownership before a match is started it's a simple db query. I would imagine it would become easily much heavier to do any of these simple things, or you might need to wait until your "purchases" are settled so that they show up, and etc.
- Then the blockchain itself. Is it connected to the outside world and managed by multiple parties? Can those multiple parties get together in a 51% party and rewrite the story of the blockain in which the assets used in my game are stored? Is it an internal blockchain? If it's internal why use it at all instead of a db with backups and consolidation?
I'm sure there's other considerations. The idea of a market for items that is larger than your app items is certainly interesting but not sure the logistics play out. Would love to see some ideas explored in that field though.
*edit formatting