Anyone in the NFT game?

[jono_thompson]

With the exciting new possibilities of NFT's creating a huge boost in the monetization of digital art, webcomics are in a good position to make the most of this crypto craze. With the ability to create collectable comics that can be minted on the blockchain, sold and traded, I believe we will see more and more webcomics moving into this space. I'm experimenting and trying to get into the space myself and wondering if others are doing the same.

What are your thoughts on NFT's and how it will effect webcomics?

Have you created your own comic NFT? Has it been successful or not?

[BlairFujin]

It's a scam, piramid scheme, that doesn't offer anything to the artists and with how awful to the environment the whole crypto-bullshit is, it should be banned

[frgmnt]

I believe we will see more and more webcomics moving into this space.

God I hope that does not happen.

Anyway, my thoughts on the topic are pretty much the same as this tweet

https://twitter.com/mcapriglioneart/status/1450901363920080909

To elaborate slightly: there are already countless ways to actually support artists financially for those who want to do that, and it seems like no coincidence most of the (non-stolen...) NFTs look like they were made by someone who was never exposed to any kind of art, ever, beyond mainstream adult cartoons or whatever. I won't even get into the environmental impact and other shit here...

[Flauschwurm]

An artist participating in "the NFT game" is enough reason for me to not ever look at their webcomic and in fact block them on every social media.

I am against NFTs as they are a scam and terrible for the environment, and everyone who willingly participates in them DESPITE the well-known knowlegde of how terrible they are, is not a person i want to interact with or support.

[VibrantFox]

with regards to my response:

and in in regards to the replies i've seen thus far i'm so relived

like it been said there's mounting evidence of the environmental impact which in the middle of a global climate crisis is literally not needed. then there's the impact on artist which i've seen a lot more theft and scamming than actual success so ya i want nothing to do with it or it's participants

plus it just gives of a generally cult-ish vibe when you look at the behaviors of some participants and followers so it's a double no thanks. i'd rather not be invoked into whatever's goin on on the other side of the fence no matter how much greener the grass seems

[joannekwan]

I won't go so far as to block any artist that is participating in it.
But I personally wouldn't ever get into it because I think the whole thing is bogus (cryptocurrencies too BOOO at them).

[Flauschwurm]

An image I like to share when it comes to NFTs bc i know a lot of people cant even begin to imagine the possible damage for only a single NFT:

[SpavVy]

I would never get into the NFT trend. It's a major scam and I don't see the point in it. There have even been cases where artists' works have been stolen and sold as an NFT which scares me because I've had my IP art stolen by other sites in the past and now I have to worry about this crap? The environment thing is also another part of why I'll never get behind it.

[Kann]

My thoughts on NFTs are that it's a scam I don't wanna have anything to do with. The impact on the environment is too big, the art theft cases related to it are far to many and many other factors are a hard nope.

[jono_thompson]

Wow, okay... I didn't think there would be such a negative response to the idea of comic NFT's.
Firstly, I have had no success or known anyone to have success with comic NFT's, so it's more of an experiment for me. I wouldn't go so far as saying it's a scam, artist's can make a good amount from the buying and trading of their work even years down the track with commission from every sale.

As for support for artists, it's only through a dedicated following that you are going to be financially supported through say merchandise and patreon etc. The possibility of your work to be sold and collected as an NFT gives any small creator the possibility to start to make an earning.

The environmental impact could be a concern, but that is only because this technology is yet to be refined to reduce the amount of energy it requires, like many new technologies it has a long way to becoming energy efficient.

[SpavVy]

Oh God, that's gross. I knew they were bad for the environment but I didn't think it was this level.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I wouldn't go so far as saying it's a scam, artist's can make a good amount from the buying and trading of their work even years down the track with commission from every sale.

I think you can definitely call it a scam based solely on the fact that the market is totally speculative. People are only buying NFTs because they think they'll be able to sell them later. People are only selling NFTs because they think people are willing to buy them...because they think they'll be able to sell them later. The logic goes round and round; there's no inherent value in owning a string of numbers that proves you own a string of numbers. It's ALL about the money...which is why theft and fraud are so rampant. Why bother enforcing rules or quality standards when no one in the "game" actually cares?

AND, speaking of "owning" a string of numbers...even that single redeeming (?) quality isn't really real. Last week I read an article that explains the logic behind cryptocurrency (and by extension, NFTs).

Why NFTs are bad: the long version

It's not called the 'long' version for nothing, but if you're willing to spend some time giving it a read, it'll teach you a lot.

TL;DR: if you don't care about sacrificing the environment for a quick buck, and if you don't care about all the artists who are having their entire galleries stolen for the sake of this fad, and if you don't care that NFT's aren't actually secure (and thus, are a complete fabrication right out the gate) and if you don't care about keeping company with scammers and thieves and cultists...then sure. It's an 'exciting new possibility'. T_T

[IndigoShirtProd]

Wow, okay... I didn't think there would be such a negative response to the idea of comic NFT's.

I'm surprised that you're surprised. The biggest issue with NFTs, and why I'm sure many people see it as a scam, is because there's no inherent utility in them. From my understanding, it's trading the chance of something becoming worth more than its supposed value, which is its scarcity. But with that scarcity comes nothing, if I'm not wrong. Which isn't the same for other collectibles of today.

Let's take Pokémon cards for example. At least there's value in the nostalgia and in the fact you can play a game with them, even though the most rare of cards stay in glass cases or their original packaging. And you can trade them for ACTUAL currency, that's tangible and less volatile. What can you honestly use NFTs for other than waiting around for someone to come and purchase it? If you have an example, I genuinely want to know; you can never stop learning.

And there's all the legal issues with copyright if it is an IP NFT, like that sounds like a headache if your work is at the center of it. Like fanart NFTs. Does that sound like fun to you?

And then on top of all of that, Cryptocurrencies are horrible for the environment. We are already behind the curve, why put ourselves any further for tokens with arbitrary and fallible value.

But do what you want. If you think it's worth it, none of us are going to stop you.

[DiegoPalacios]

I think one of the most fundamental issues of NFT on it's current state is that it doesn't protect an artist's intellectual property as well as it promises. It lacks the measures to properly verify ownership of the NFT BEFORE uploading it to the cryptomarket, which is the key method on how people steal art.

[DesiredUsernameTaken]

I wouldn't be caught dead in the NFT game.

The environmental impact is real. That alone is enough to keep me out of it (beyond the fact that NFTs make no sense at all). I know the argument tends to be that the tech for it simply needs to evolve first, and then they won't have such a huge cost but...here's the thing.

It's not up to just a few of us to decide that the path to lower costs is worth it when it comes to the environment--which billions of people and other creatures live in. We can't make that decision for them, especially when it's just digital art. It's literally just digital art. It's not some big grand thing that could save millions of lives. It's stuff our screens reflect back to us in a pattern our eyes see as a picture.

It's not like the environmental cost of space exploration which can and has lead to insane advancements in other tech and related fields-. There's a renewed interest in reducing the amount of energy it takes to do anything, every year. NFTs aren't the cause of that.

My art isn't worth the environmental cost, and I'm certainly not deserving of any kind of fortune at the great expense of the world around me. That's my stance on it, and I refuse to partake in NFTs directly and indirectly through support.

The most immediate thought that comes to mind regarding NFTs and comics is how it could divide the fanbase, on moral grounds, which is applicable to art in general, not just NFT comics. There's been a lot of outcry about NFTs in general. But I don't know if it could do long-term damage to an artist with NFTs. As people, we can be extremely forgetful and move on rather fast, and also tend to try to justify the actions of those we have parasocial relationships with because severing that relationship would mean letting go of something we found joy (entertainment) in.

[NickRowler]

As for support for artists, it's only through a dedicated following that you are going to be financially supported through say merchandise and patreon etc. The possibility of your work to be sold and collected as an NFT gives any small creator the possibility to start to make an earning.

While there are some people who do want to support artist through NFTs, there is also a huge chunk of people who buy and trade NFTs who don't do it to support artists. People buy NFTs for the same reason why scalpers buy popular toys, they don't care what the item is, they just want to resell it for a higher price.

It is common for NFTs being resold to newbies in the promise that they could get back on their investment. This is why people say it is a pyramid scheme. People make a lot of money getting new people into the market. I wonder if people figured this out after what happened with the GameStop stock. Cryptocurrency has always been an unstable currency and fluctuate like stock on the market. And similar to stocks, everytime a new person hops on the Ethereum bandwagon, the value of Ethereum goes up.

I also really hate the NFT community. They are very rude and I feel like they don't really understand copyright. Owning an NFT is like owning a Pokemon card.

You can own a card but you do not own the copyright for Pikachu. You are not allowed to use the card as the cover of your book. You can not have the rights to sell it to make a movie. All those are owned by the creator. What you own is the physical card. You can scan the card into the computer and post it on your social media or print it out and give it to your friend for free. Being able to right click and copy NFTs is perfectly legal, because the "value" of the NFT is who owns the token. Similar with Pokemon cards, NFTs hold value from scarcity. You can buy a "one of a kind" (or OOAK) for a lot of money. But the original creators also have the rights to make a copy or even 1000 and put them on the market. And all of a sudden, your card/NFT is no longer a OOAK.

Tokens only hold value because of a marketplace. An issue with NFTs is that if there is ever an issue with the host site, all the NFTs lose their value. No one learned their lesson in 2017.

[ar-ninetysix]

It honestly baffles me how people are essentially gambling with the ownership of digital images that aren't like other JPEGs, and in doing so are just casually wrecking the environment as if we have a second one to fall back on

[naoro_san]

As of today I don't really like NFT, basically because they don't have utility other than speculation. At the end what you "own" is in most cases just a link to an image which anyone has free access to. I understand why people are interested in them, they seem an easy way to monetize art, which does sounds appealing, but I believe the ones making money are just a few lucky ones. And most of people just buy them to sell them at a higher price, not because they appreciate the art (but that can apply to regular art and physical goods too).

I think they can have potential if they are given some actual utility. For example giving some bonus content to anyone holding a specific NFT, like early access, discounts, etc. But then I'm not sure if NFT could provide any improvement to current solutions or if the utility would justify the overall cost of using NFT.

Besides utility, then there are other concerns like the environmental impact and the scammers/thefts. For one side it's true there are scammers, but that it's not exclusive to NFT. Being NFT, twitter or a blog, anyone can steal any content you put on internet and claim it as theirs. So in this matter I don't really see a difference. Yes, it sucks if someone else tries to make money with your content but in most cases there's nothing you can actually do to prevent it (fortunately my content is bad enough that I haven't experienced this, as far as I know).

Then what it seems to be the main reason against NFT, the environmental cost... It's a fact that NFT, and crypto in general, have a significant impact. There are numbers about how bad crypto is, but how does it compare to the power consumption of tapas, webtoons, patreon, instagram? (maybe NFT is worse, but some reference is needed to put everything in perspective).
At the end it's difficult to compare as, while you can find some numbers here and there, I don't know what it is actually taken into account or how reliable those numbers are. For example a study said a single bitcoin transaction consumes as much as 1000 VISA transactions, does that takes into account the power consumption of banks, ATMs and everything the banking system, and therefore VISA, relies on? I'm not here to defend crypto, just saying that things might not be so black or white.

[PKLucky]

I guess one thing I never understood about NFTs was why support an artist through those when you can just buy a commission from them? Sure, not every artist does commissions, but I'd think it would be WAY better than literally doing a mass amount of damage to the environment

[SpavVy]

Either commissions, Patreon, Ko-fi, or physical prints. I would much rather support an artist through those and have a physical print from them to hang on my wall instead of a string of numbers.