How can poker use NFTs?
NFTs are taking over the world and look set to revolutionise gaming, can they do the same for poker?
It's getting hard to ignore the rise of NFTs so far this year. Most poker people keep an eye on the crypto space anyway and are probably familiar with them. It looks like NFTs are the next area of mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.
I'm no expert on this, in fact I am still very much a skeptic who is scratching his head wondering just why somebody would pay thousands for a piece of digital art anybody could screen print. But it is interesting to see where this is going and especially how poker might get involved.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital item that cannot be replicated. While you could copy an MP3 or a JPEG as many times as you want, if a song or picture was an NFT you could not. NFTs are currently making headlines because for the first time pieces of unique digital art are selling for huge sums because they have rarity which has been unheard of previously in the digital space. Beyond expensive pieces of art NFTs represent an opportunity for creators to mass sell products like albums without them being pirated.
Tony G was an early adopter and was selling NFTs of his best catchphrases this year. The World Poker Tour started selling 'WPT Moments' which are not unlike digital trading cards similar to NBA Top Shots, which are causing a stir in the NFT world.
It appears that scarcity sells, even digital scarcity. This is actually one of the main selling points of Bitcoin, the fact that there is a finite amount of coins that will be mined. You cannot print Bitcoin like you can fiat currency, which is why many (myself included) consider it to be a hedge against inflation.
But will NFTs appeal to poker players? And what use can we make of NFTs beyond the 'trading card' style collectible item?
How NFTs will change gaming
I have my doubts that poker can sell trading card style NFTs. The game is simply not a spectator sport in the way that something like the NBA is. The market of people who would buy something like a digital video of Jamie Gold saying 'Top Top' is very small.
NFTs look set to revolutionise gaming. Imagine a game like Fortnite where you have an exclusive skin that nobody else can have. Or indeed a shoot-em-up game where you are the only player in the world with a particular type of RPG. We have already seen that not only will people pay to customise their in-game experience but there is a whole economy within video games that has real world value.
The world of gaming is so rich, both financially and in terms of depth, that NFTs will thrive there. This is especially true with Twitch streamers who are already embracing alternative forms of currency and who benefit from this sort of conspicuous consumption (I suspect poker streamers will be the Vanguard for NFTs in poker). For gamers, NFTs will be bigger status symbols than anything they could parade on Instagram in real life. It's not a stretch to say that at some point there will be a driving game where there will be an NFT car worth more than the real life version of the car itself.
When the items in a video game become a financial asset like gold or a stock, it will create loyalty to a game and keep people engaged with it for much longer.
I doubt that aspect of NFTs will catch on in poker. We have always been able to customise our avatars as we please and we want to use our money to play poker. Having said that, there are people who spend money on Play Money chips, so once again, I could be way off.
NFT bracelets?
Before I sound like an NFT curmudgeon, there is one area where I see NFTs and poker mixing well - digital trophies.
I recently made the argument that online players crave real life trophies for major MTT wins just as much as live players do. There is just something special about having a trophy for a cabinet that I felt there was a gap in the market for online players.
If not a real life trophy, then how about an NFT trophy? A piece of unique digital artwork that marks a major victory in an online tournament. Something that cannot be replicated and was more than just an entry in the history books about who won a particular event. I argued that we crave trophies in online poker and I believe the first online operator to boast NFT trophies or bracelets could be onto something.
We are still in the early days of NFTs and no doubt in two years I will look back on this article and cringe at how primitive my predictions on how poker could use NFTs are. But it looks like they are here to stay, so we may as well start speculating how to use them in this game we love.
How can poker use NFTs? Let us know in the comments:
