this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
94 points (98.0% liked)

Gaming

2160 readers
2 users here now

founded 2 years ago
 

Shuji Utsumi, Sega’s co-CEO, comments in a new statement that there is no point in implementing blockchain technology if it doesn’t make games ‘fun’. Sega...

top 24 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All the NFT stuff has gone above and beyond to be as dumb as possible. There was one possible use case, the proof of uniqueness, showing that you genuinely own the one and only, and all others are copies.

So people used this technology to mass produce copies of the least unique things, because of course the actual use case is a pyramid scheme to scam people for money, and all the value of a blockchain item is the promise that it will make the buyer more money.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh man, you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what's going on, and most gamers aren't dumb enough to fall for it at this point.

Maybe mobile gamers are... That's a weird market. I'll never understand how people can shovel so much money into stuff like that.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Sometimes I'm reclining and I figure "hey I could play a game on my phone!"

Then, 20 seconds in at the best, I get hit with an ad and remember why I don't play mobile games.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

To be fair, there are good mobile games. But like PC games you have to actually be willing to pay for them (with some rare exceptions). It's also likely that those games are multi-platform and you've probably already seen them on PC.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

And like with PC/console/handheld games, 99% of the mobile game market is complete and utter crap

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Emulators or just straight up portable platforms like a Nintendo Switch, are the one grace for gaming on the go. I've given up on phone games too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Exactly this. There's been an obsession with tech laypeople execs to put blockchain tech into anything because it's what they perceive to be the cool hip thing to do, but it's a just tool with certain benefits and should only be added if and when it makes sense.

What could you do with a blockchain in a video game? Well, you could make in game assets into tokens that can be traded outside of the game, creating a secondary market for things that is entirely outside of the game publishers control. Why would you want to do that, though? It might be attractive for MMO gold farmer types, but the MMO game makers themselves are going to want to run in the opposite direction from such a thing. Maybe an Steam achievement trading card scheme? Again, why would anyone do that, though, when the system Steam uses works just fine and there's no risk of things getting out of control as Valve has full control over the marketplace.

Honestly, I struggle to think of a single other real use. That doesn't mean that there's no use for it, but it's definitely not something that should just be crammed into any product, let alone video games.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What do you mean doing monotonous tasks for a week so you can get 2 bucks isn't engaging?!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

One of my favorite physical game creators, Exploding Kittens (and Matthew Inman), decided to put NFC's into their games...

I used to buy hundreds of dollars worth of games for myself and others from them. Ever since I got the email about it, I wrote back to them telling them I'll never buy another one unless they reverse course of that decision. To this day, I've kept my word.

Crypto is bullshit, and I don't want it sewn into the games I play.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Come on SEGA. Stop the sass and show all these lame ass video game and console makers how it's done.

Return to the console industry with a goddammit Dreamcast 2!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d buy a Dreamcast 2 in a second. I still have two original Dreamcasts and a pile of games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I didn't really think about it until just now, but I would totally get a new Sega console. They at least have the internal developers to make meaningful first party exclusives to justify getting one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

ugh, self promotion by sharing your own website. barf

[–] hitmyspot 4 points 1 year ago

If prefer that website owners are appropriately named and share and the community votes on relevance, than the alternative, which is astroturfing links.

What we want is content here. If websites have relevant content to share, let them. If they abuse it and spamz block them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A huge number of users posting on social media are just stealth marketing accounts. They literally make fake accounts with personality profiles (e.g. some guy that's into sports) and they will make regular comments and content. But occasionally they will drop links to promotional content which matches the personality.

I'd much rather they were up front about it. So I really don't get the hate for self-promotion because you're complaining about the one guy being honest in a sea of liars.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have no problem with a blockchain used in non-monetary context. Consider, for example, a competitive RTS/TBS which recorded RNG events or keystrokes to the blockchain, which helps show if there was lag, and helps to verify that the RNG is fair, and that both players aren't cheating. Or a game with a "Speedrun" mode, recording input as blocks, and making sure it's all publicly verifiable. Think of a Doom demo file, but encompassing all attempts from all connected players; new routes can be discovered quicker and cheaters can be outed near-instantly.

Blockchain as a concept is of great value to anything where public auditing is wanted. We've associated it to scams and money, and that bugs me. Including more aggressive monetization, speculation, and a profit motive makes a game less fun. Including a publicly auditable log of past events in a game built for multiplayer feels like it would be a value-add.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That doesn't need to be a distributed ledger, that can just be a database. The only use cases for DLT/Blockchains is where it is undesirable to have a central authority.

Games will always have a central authority - the devs - so there's just no point. Nothing is gained by decentralizing trust, and quite a lot - especially speed and simplicity - must be sacrificed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have a point. But it would be interesting to have that kind of a database open to users.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It technically already exists. The Steam Marketplace and your inventory is open to both developers and users. But there's just no incentive to implement another game's items in your own game. The most you'll see are one-offs like TF2 Poker Night.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Do you really want billions of computers solving arbitrary random math problems just to write in a random keystroke, of which there are kapillions per hour?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sega does what Crypdon't?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Those blockchain games are all the same, the only incentive to pkay is money, making the games playability unsustainable

load more comments
view more: next ›