Game Developer Group States Using NFTs in Gaming Presents Ethical Issues

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a group integrated by a number of game developers and programmers from companies across the globe, has addressed the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the gaming industry. The director of the group has stated that the introduction of these elements in gaming projects presents “ethical issues,” and this also might represent a “socio-political explosion waiting to happen.”

One of the biggest groups comprised of game developers and programmers has given its take when it comes to including NFTs in games, as some companies have started to do recently. The International Game Developers Association, (IGDA), thinks these elements might introduce some problems into the gaming activity.

According to the interim director of the IGDA, Jakin Vela, the organization is planning to take action to raise awareness of the problems NFT gaming might bring. Vela told Ars Technica:

[IGDA is] in the process of revising our stance to be a little stronger because there are actually a lot of ethical issues that come with NFTs.

Another of the worries that the organization has is the “pyramid scheme” element that some of these games present to their participants, in the sense that some of them require a constantly growing userbase to keep their self-sustained economies afloat, like some play-to-earn (P2E) games.

According to Vela, gamers are also affected by the unregulated character of the NFT environment, where gamers can put their whole employment activity in uncertain ecosystems outside of any official protection. This, with other aspects, might create a “socio-political explosion.”

While some companies have addressed the introduction of NFTs and play-to-earn games as an important element for the future of gaming, there has been heavy backlash from groups inside gaming that have opposed this new trend for several reasons. The IGDA has been part of this opposition from inside the industry and issued a call to action statement in July 2021. At the time, the organization declared:

NFTs should never be used when a simple and far less costly database table can be managed to provide the same information and benefits.

In the same statement, the organization recommends proof-of-stake (PoS)-based networks instead of proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains due to their energy efficiency. However, other industry insiders are sure that gamers are rejecting these ideas due to their lack of knowledge of the benefits the technology might bring them. This is the opinion of Nicolas Pouard, who is in charge in charge of blockchain developments at Ubisoft.

What do you think about the inclusion of NFTs in gaming? Tell us in the comments section below.