Cover-Credits:
The Valorant Germany Twitter account has been posting content from the perspective of Killjoy, a character that is based in the country. Killjoy enjoys League of Legends, loves tech and art and Riot Games has been trying to get its playerbase to connect with the character. But non-fungible token (NFT) art does not seem to be something Killjoy likes. Riot Games accidentally shared an image of an artwork that turned out to be an NFT artwork. Realizing the mistake Riot immediately apologized and made it clear that it was not meant to include NFTs as part of Killjoy's work.
What went wrong with Valorant Germany’s Twitter account?
Valorant Germany accidentally posted an artwork which is owned by Martin Houra, an artist who sells his work on the Ethereum blockchain online. The artwork in question was shown off as something Killjoy enjoys and fans were not happy about it at all.
Riot Games issued an apology stating, “Since Killjoy loves programming, we wanted to introduce you to computer generated art from around the world. However, we were not aware that the selected work was an NFT. In no way did we intend to include NFTs as part of Killjoy’s work and hobbies.”
What are NFTs and why do people hate them in video games?
If you have not been keeping up with the NFT craze going around lately, you might be wondering what they are. Some swear by NFTs while others absolute hate the idea of having them in video games. NFTs can be any form of media that you can essentially buy online. It can be artwork, music or videos among other things.
NFTs can be purchased using cryptocurrency in most cases and all transactions are verified to ensure the owner of an NFT always has proof of ownership. At least that is the case in theory. No one is stopping anyone from simply copying an image you own and posting it online, but you would remain the owner of said image if you had the ownership rights.
While verifiable ownership of digital goods is sound as an idea, it is a controversial technology. And when developers like Ubisoft try to weave NFTs in to their games, many players have responded with negative feedback. Ubisoft and GSC are just two of many developers that received pushback from the community after wanting to implement NFTs in their games.
Game publishers are doing a poor job of implementing NFTs
The idea of NFT traders buying and selling overpriced items in-game is potentially the root cause of why gamers hate the idea of NFTs and we can’t blame them for it. Konami recently sold a copy of a Castlevania NFT for over $25,000.
After selling the NFT the publisher stated, “Konami will only be responsible for granting the use of the NFT and purchaser benefits for the NFT and will not provide any guarantee for the NFT itself. (e.g. continuity, compatibility with other services.)”. Does not sound fun does it?
Whether or not NFTs become commonplace in games is yet to be seen, but it looks like a lot of publishers are trying their best to cash in on the craze.
