A warning to artists and publishers about NFTs

This is my own personal warning to any publishers or artists who decide to put out NFTs of their works. The warning is this: you get three strikes and then I'm out. I'm done supporting and promoting your work.

(Don't know what NFTs are or what the issue are with them? Here is an excellent article entitled "HERE IS THE ARTICLE YOU CAN SEND TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY SAY "BUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WITH CRYPTOART WILL BE SOLVED SOON, RIGHT?"" that explains the issues with NFTs and why they're an ecological, economical, and sociological disaster.

In short it's a mortgage against our future with our climate and resources, and frankly we can't afford that.

So why the "three strikes and I'm done" rule? Because I've seen publishers and artists flirting with this. I get it. They're looking for new avenues of income while trying to suss out if this is something worthwhile. I consider releasing one batch of NFTs to be that experiment to see if it's something you like. We've all experimented and I don't begrudge anyone the experiment. Two batches of NFTs though and I'm starting to see a trend. You liked the first one, but you want to see if you can get that same level of engagement or excitement again. Three and it's a pattern (dare we say, it's a habit). You not only liked it enough to try it a third time but now it's part of your routine. At this point it's hard for me to envision your future without NFTs or some other skeevy schemes. Worse, you've done your research and found that this is something that's acceptable to you.

At this point I'm done with your company and your art. You've determined that short-term gain is more important than our long-term survivability. You've become part of the problem, and I can't abide supporting artists or publishers that feel this is a long-term strategy.

I already know of one publisher that I like that has done their first batch of NFTs (Chaosium, if you must know) that already has their first strike from me. I'm just waiting for the second and third batches before I distance myself from them. To my reckoning it's a matter of time before I'm putting my stuff on the second-hand market. Putting our climate future in jeopardy like that for a few extra tokens isn't worth my support or my promotion.

I doubt this will do much to stop NFTs from taking hold, but I hope that realizing that NFTs jeopardize other more established revenue streams will give artists pause. Again, I know folks will dabble in this. If I were an artist I'd be exploring all the possibilities out there. But NFTs are gambling on our future for short-term gain. If the threat of disconnection from their audience gives artists and publishers pause to rethink their strategies then it will be enough.

Remember, one is a mistake, two is a line, and three is a pattern. Please don't make NFTs a pattern.


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