The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional group of thousands of game makers from around the world, is progressively concerned that the “ethical issues” surrounding the use of non-fungible tokens in gaming represents a “socio-political explosion waiting to happen. ” That’s according to Dr. Jakin Vela, the founder of social justice-focused gaming nonprofit Games for Me . Vela was recently named interim director of the IGDA .
In an interview with Ars, Vela expanded on the particular IGDA’s “call to action” statement on NFTs in gaming through last July . That declaration was critical of the technology and focused on the “energy inefficient methods” inherent to the proof-of-work blockchains that currently dominate the cryptocurrency and NFT space. “NFTs should never be used [by game developers] when a simple and far less costly database table can be managed to provide the same information and benefits, ” the group said.
The IGDA’s Climate Special Interest Group has also compiled a growing list of arguments against the use associated with NFTs in gaming . That document notes that gaming communities and game developers themselves are largely uninterested in the technologies, with 70 percent of sport makers saying in a recent survey that they have no interest in using NFTs within their upcoming projects.