There's a lot to be said about the NFT community, it's full of weird and wonderful people, grifters, shillers, chancers, creatives, visionaries, and mercenaries.
My experience so far have been overwhelmingly positive, sure there have been a few scams a long the way but that is to expected in an emerging industry. We are entering a time where you can be directly responsible for your finances and as always, your profile. It has long been said that you are your own brand but with web3 it has never been more true, your interactions, your purchases, your work, is all available for everyone to see and analyse.
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." - Warren Buffet
A reputation in a powerful thing, quite easily the difference between success and failure. Of course some people do not care about that, they enter anonymously and leave the same way. I've wrote about a few times I've been scammed (Illuminati NFTs, Raccoons, My First Rugpull, Hype Hippos) and each time it was completely my fault. Either lack of research or FOMO was the reason I lost out however there is always at least one bad actor behind each of these projects that likely moves on anonymously to the next scam.
Not too long ago notable NFT influencer Artchick was targeted due to making a decent amount of money from a project that wasn't transparent enough for some people. The outrage damaged the reputation she had worked to build up, when you spend significant time gaining people's trust and respect these moves can be viewed as a silly mistake at best and outright deception at worst, but that is for the individual to decide.
We have also seen quite a few people called out for shilling projects that they have an undisclosed interest in, it happens far more often than it should and it probably needs to be addressed at some point.
It's hard to maintain transparency in a space that is built largely on anonymity but there has to be a trade off. I enjoy the anonymous aspect of Crypto/NFTs, it is a great equaliser but still not perfect. Web3 doesn't care about your race, gender, nationality, religion, attractiveness...nothing! There are only two things I can think of that could limit you in this space, knowledge and income. If you don't understand what you're doing then you're going to lose time and money, if you have a lower income and have less to "play" with then you're going to be limited until you can build up your portfolio. I don't believe income disparity can be neutralised without introducing spending caps but I think that would be a terrible idea, so for now we have to live with the "rich" having access to the best things immediately while the rest of us continue to work to reach that Lambo level.
On a lighter note let me share some of the great experiences I have had so far.
I have "met" some really nice people so far. Working on your own is sometimes hard to find inspiration or motivation so I spend quite a bit of time on Twitter looking at others and how they work, someone that I find to have an inspiring work ethic is a guy called Tray Payne, he works a full time job, recently got married, lurks on Twitter throughout the day then comes home and works on his JADOW collection which is coming along nicely. He's always a positive voice and someone I value even though I've never met him.
There is an artist called Chris Piascik who has a halloween collection called The Spooky Residents of Halloweenie Hut Jr. In the run up to halloween he was dropping one piece a day, I tried multiple times to get it, sitting on OpenSea clicking refresh until the buy button appeared. Each time I was beaten by someone called CaptainCrabby, I was convinced it was a bot so after a very quick bit of digging I found they were sending their purchases to a wallet called TazNFT who owned a large amount of this collection. I was still convinced it was a bot. Then one day out of nowhere I had a message on Twitter from Taz saying that they saw I wanted one and would sell to me for cost price. Yes you could argue they wanted to free up some liquidity but it's a gesture they didn't need to make, they could have listed it and made a profit, it was a really nice move and something I still appreciate.
One of my best experiences so far has come through a collection called The Collector Chronicles. I first wrote about them here and my opinion hasn't changed, in fact if anything I'm more impressed. The creator is a guy called Maku and he's been a positive influence on my time in NFTs, not only is he helpful and friendly, he's also given me the opportunity to write a weekly roundup of everything that happens in the project which you can read in the Discord. Not only this but I've also been able to uncover a few profitable gems by checking his wallet activity occasionally. If it makes it slightly less weird I have a list of wallets I check not just his! Through The Collector Chronicles I've found some great artists such as Catherine Bélisle that I briefly wrote about here. There is also a scavenger hunt that has just started which has meant teaming up with two others in the server, I've had a couple of calls with them to discuss puzzles and both of them seem like good, smart people that I have enjoyed talking to.
Although I have never physically met anyone through NFTs I feel like it is still possible to build strong connections with people virtually. I guess this is the main premise behind the metaverse, as we move towards an ever digital society are we destined to decrease human interaction altogether and live our lives mainly through a digital lens. I believe this sort of life could lead to many problems in the future mainly health, both mentally and physically. It's certainly going to be an interesting journey and if the community maintains control of this space and continues to decide on the path we take then it is something we could overcome if the problem arises.
In an anonymous space it really makes you appreciate how trivial some things are. Without knowing what someone looks like you are forced to judge them by their actions, this strips away pre-conceived notions you may have been taught or forced to believe by your environment or media. We have far more in common with each other than some people realise and it's only when appearance is removed that this should become absolutely apparent to everyone. We are constantly forced to spend time focusing on irrelevant differences such as skin colour or religion that we lose touch of the things that unite us, of which there are many. We are all here trying to succeed, to make the lives of our friends, families, and communities better and it's beautiful to see people come together from all around the world to work towards a common goal.
I chose this time to write about the community as it's becoming clear that we are about to be swamped with large corporations and celebrities, I'm not saying this is negative, it can only be a good thing for mainstream adoption of the technology. A possible side effect is a lack of individual personality within the space, will it become a diluted, regulated space where limits are placed and the boundaries are set? Or will it be allowed to continue unrestrained to allow the innovators to push the boundaries of what is possible and where this technology can take us.
✌️
Comments
Post a Comment