Yat Siu, the co-founder of Animoca Brands, a large crypto/NFT venture fund, called the recent Minecraft NFT ban “hypocritical” and emphasized that NFTs can be inclusive, even if some fans believe they can’t be.
Mojang Studios, the creators of Minecraft, banned all NFT integrations on July 20. The company affirmed that NFTs went against its values because they encourage price speculation, scarcity, exclusion, and possible “rug pulls.”
Animoca’s Yat Siu is Upset with the ban
In a recent interview, Siu talked about how upset he was with Mojang Studios because NFTs were being added to Minecraft before the ban.
Projects like NFT Worlds used Minecraft’s open source servers to host a metaverse platform built around crypto and NFT ecosystems. The project seemed to be fairly popular since it has generated more than $80 million in NFT trading volume and claims to have around 100,000 players.
According to the co-founder of Animoca Brands, it was hypocritical that Minecraft would leave out a small number of users when the company has said it values “inclusion” and that NFT integrations in games lead to exclusion.
“Most people think this is hypocritical since NFTs haven’t hurt anyone in Minecraft. This is a small group. This wasn’t a decision based on real proof of harm; it was just a matter of personal preference.”
“They didn’t give any proof, didn’t even explain what NFTs are right, and didn’t talk to NFT Worlds,” he said.
Siu knows that many people in the traditional gaming community don’t want any business with NFTs. This is usually because they are afraid that games will become too profitable and “even less fair.” In this case, users could choose whether or not to play on NFT-affiliated servers, and regular Minecraft users were forced to use NFT.
Siu says that ignoring the views of some people hurts the whole community and stops it from growing.
Siu also said that NFT tech or the digital property itself doesn’t promote inclusion or exclusion. Instead, he says, it’s all about how the tech is used to create value for the community.
NFTs help users own tokenized stakes in their favorite gaming platform
He said that NFTs in games or the Metaverse can help users rebalance the economy and power of the platform when used in the right way. NFTs allow users to own a tokenized stake in their favorite platforms, which they can then use however they want. This is different from the Web2 model, where users don’t own their content and data.
“What NFTs do is change the economics of the players who add value to the game. This has the same effect as decentralizing and redistributing power within games. Because of this, the community has more freedoms and power than just a community.”
“Property rights and freedoms go hand in hand. The next logical step is digital property rights, which will either improve or create true digital freedom,” he said.
Tobechukwu Agoziem
Blockchain writer
Bio; I write as a freelancer for private and corporate organizations for a variety of blockchain sectors, including Metaverse, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, trends, news, and latest updates.
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