Greetings Steem people - so finally after lots of lurking the impetus for me to create an account has arrived. The Internet has finally combined two of my obsessions, crypto currency and unique digital collectibles. Having recently heard about a new card game ico, Novablitz, I decided to post some thoughts on this development from someone who is a long term fan of collectible games and a new crypto currency enthusiast. Hope you enjoy!
Urza's rosy glasses of retrospect:
Back in the 90’s I was one of those kids who wandered into a local cardboard and miniatures gaming store and began what would turn out to be a life-long love affair with collectables, more specifically: collectable card games.
My first darling was the same as a lot of people’s: Magic the gathering. I remember the feeling of wide eyed excitement when I finally managed to convince someone to trade me my heart’s desire: a rare fungusaur. Hey, I was thirteen.
I quickly became aware of course that not all pigs are created equal. That there were in fact some cards that were worth a great deal more and my excitement amped up into owning a Shivan dragon and a bunch of other rare bits of cardboard. I played Magic till my eyes bled. And Vampire the eternal struggle and a bunch of other ccg’s that no one even remembers the name of anymore. Eventually I ‘grew up’ but the urge instilled into me to collect those fabulous scraps of fantasy worlds lingered somewhere under the surface.
It became a passion that resurged at various points in my life with the advent of things like Fantasy Flight's living card games which remade some of the classics like the absolutely brilliant Netrunner. Later Blizzard's: Hearthstone and a plethora of other digital card games came along. Digital was becoming the new cardboard. And always, the thrill of that one rare card, that one collectible that was ultimately unattainable (yes Black lotus, I'm looking at you).
The dawn of the digital collectables age:
Enter the block chain and smart contracts and suddenly everyone is going nuts over digital pictures of…. cats. When crypto kitties launched, I got it, immediately. My brother, a crypto fundi who sparked my interest in what is rapidly becoming another great passion: the future as mapped in crypto currency, did not. “I don't get it,” he told me. “Just buy some,” I retorted, “they're going to be worth a lot more tomorrow.”
Because I understood it. Suddenly we can do something we’ve never been able to do before. We can actually own an immutable digital asset. A unique, coded item we are free to transfer or trade or sell or hodl to as we please. To my collectible addled mind, the implications were staggering. So while I launched whole heartedly into making money out of collecting pictures of cats, the thought niggled at me persistently that they don't really, well, do anything. But it's only a matter of time before someone puts this into a card game right? Yup. People on the inter webs were inevitably way ahead of me.
Enter Novablitz:
As it turned out, one company was already on it. Novablitz is a block chain based tcg style game that allows you to purchase tokens which you can then use as proof of stake in order to earn cards in their game. And not just theirs, but potentially a whole range of games released on their platform, which is based on the ethereum block chain. Suddenly, your tokens are not only intrinsically valuable for their own sake, but act as a way to ‘earn’ cards which will have their own value and secondary market for re-sale. Fittingly, the more you stake, the higher the number of copies of cards you'll receive. The higher your theoretical fun and (profit?) It's a pretty ingenious system. The collector and crypto nerd in me are both already drooling.
So, the question becomes: where to find the precious? Well, at time of writing, the ico is just a few days away, check out their site here: https://novablitz.com/ if you are interested. I'll certainly be throwing a few dollars their way (lord knows it was never going to end any other way). And if, like me, all things collectible trigger your inner 13 year old and you missed out on not only owning a Black lotus but also the Genesis crypto kitty, hey maybe this is a chance to get in while the getting’s good.
(Disclaimer: I'm not in the habit of providing investment advice. Please do your own due diligence :). I'm not affiliated with Novablitz in any way, shape or form. I'm not even in their bounty program -they are of course free to send me some delicious tokens should they feel so inclined)
Well, that wraps up my first Steem post. I hope this appeals to some other collectibles/crypto junkies as much as it does to me. Till next time,
The wise fox