NFT games are here. Some of them succeed, some of them fail, and many of them either turn out to be scams or get hacked and cost their users millions of dollars in cryptocurrency, but there’s no denying the fact that NFTs and blockchain technology aren’t going away. There’s been so much money invested into the promise of what NFTs can provide that at this point it seems impossible to dissuade companies from inundating us with NFT games just to see what works.

Knowing this, Climate Replay has created its NFT Guide that lays out everything wrong with NFTs and what developers, publishers, and players can do to fix them. As reported by Bloomberg, Climate Replay is an independent organization made up of developers to explain why NFTs are bad for the climate and how to implement NFTs in a game that might actually be fun.

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"Games give us hope in a world that is increasingly uncertain. They help us unlock our creative potential and free us of real-world constraints – physical, financial, or otherwise," wrote Climate Replay.

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"Most NFTs, and by consequence most forms of digital ownership, in their current state serve the exact opposite purpose – their value defined completely by artificial scarcity and speculation and powered by an unnecessary expenditure of physical resources. It is imperative for the health of the worldwide gaming community, planet, and society as a whole to ensure any adoption of blockchain-based technologies such as NFTs occurs only when they bring demonstrable value to games and their communities, and then in such a way that it considers all of the potential social and environmental impacts."

In its "NFT / Digital Ownership Pledge," Climate Replay provides a framework for developers and publishers to follow for implementing NFTs in future games to be better for both players and the environment. The seven points (and two sub-points) are to create a game that:

  • Brings meaningful value to players
  • Does not make use of technology that is intentionally inefficient, resulting in a concrete, significant environmental impact
  • Does not embrace artificial scarcity to generate speculative value
  • Does not rely on unregulated, volatile cryptocurrency
  • Does not disproportionately benefit early adopters or wealthier users/players
  • Does not perpetuate either of the following negative aspects of the Play-to-Earn model:
    • Informal Jobs
    • Shifts the primary purpose of a game from enjoyment to earning money
  • Is implemented with transparency and takes seriously concerns from studio members

At the moment, that list seems like a difficult mountain to climb. Virtually all NFT games today are built on blockchains designed to produce scarcity, use unregulated cryptocurrency, and are the 11th leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. But that doesn’t mean every blockchain is bad or that future implementations of this technology can’t be better. By following these rules, Climate Replay wisely tells us how a better blockchain-based game can be built.

[Update: 8:57 BST 28/04/21: An earlier version of this article incorrectly claimed that Climate Replay was part of Mojang. We apologise for this error]

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