FEATURED ARTWORKS OF THE WEEK
“In this series I use images of my body, bones and pieces I no longer have, or what has been put in its place.
As a young child, one form of treatment for my JRA was to inject gold into my body weekly…Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with a gold mixture. I like to think that is what they were trying to do for me.” – Rakkaus Art
This week, our community manager is back with Part 2 of her series, Collaboration and Competition in Web3 Communities where she addresses competition within communities. Check out Part 1 of this series here.
Collaboration and Competition in Web3 Communities: Exploring Community Competition
While the consensus agrees that the collaborative aspect of developed communities is what fosters the sense of niche inclusivity that is a defining factor of Web3 over its predecessors; that same tight-knit atmosphere contributes forward momentum by pushing competing projects to prove themselves worthy of community support by creating and embracing utility. Thus far the NFT space has largely progressed with a high focus on profits, but the potential in collectively competitive, utility-oriented communities could possibly turn the tide on what motivates projects to grow in Web3. The new buzzword “utility,” an apt replacement for 2021’s demand for a “use case” in decentralized finance, has a commanding hold on communities as they search for additional intrinsic value in their investments.
NFT’s serve utility beyond existing as digital assets in multiple sectors of what community members now consider their daily lives. There are tokens for gaming, the Metaverse, social spaces, and real estate. As these projects evolve within their respective market share, communities and project managers become the voice of what traits and perks will ultimately be rolled out to holders. Decisions about the type of community that a project should target, the size and scalability, along with the ability to provide impactful content to rally around on highly visible social media channels become driving factors of project progression. In essence, the art is your ticket, and utility is the show.
Continuing to look at the Bored Apes ecosystem as a powerhouse, OtherDeed for Otherside is an example of these principles in action. The Yuga Labs based project sold out in mere hours and quickly became one of most sought after drops in the NFT space.
Otherside, a gamified metaverse in which users can turn their NFTs into playable characters, launched with 55,000 “Otherdeeds” as virtual, tokenized land deeds required to claim space in Otherside. The team behind BAYC has expressed that this project will utilize APECOIN, the Bored Ape Yacht Club-affiliated cryptocurrency, for its circular economy and has promised to continue building the total user experience over time.
As each piece of land comes with rare and specific attributes that are highly desired by those within the community, the price is driven up with each resale and further propels the project into “blue chip” status. As the community grows and searches for return on their investment, Yuga Labs and BAYC must also grow to meet demand and maintain relevance in an over saturated market. There is an expectation that these pieces of land will generate passive income for holders by combining scarcity with utility, effectively creating an environment where third parties are willing to compete with each other financially for a coveted spot in the community.
Still in their early stages, NFT’s with utility provide more to investors than just ROI driven by a scarcity factor. Thriving communities that focus on realizing their concepts and implementing their benefits into innovative eventual daily use inadvertently create a sense of urgency for alternative projects to remain lucrative. In a space where many projects can seem incredibly similar depending on the corner of the market they’re attempting to capitalize; this earnest pace is imperative to sustainable growth.
Miss last week’s call for artists for NFT.NYC? Check out all the details on 79Au.
