Because of their popularity and increased exposure in recent years, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have never been more sought after, mainly because of the growing interest in these tokens and the collectible and art scene. The blockchain gaming industry has seen great success with NFTs.
The technology is not new, but NFT art and NFT gaming have been able to show that there are more than just buying and selling digital assets. They can be used for something tangible and real.
In fairness, the market for NFTs that has expanded to one of billions of dollars continues to be predominantly in the digital art sector – collectible GIFs and JPEGs that prove ownership of unique pieces of art celebrating the internet and crypto meme culture.
There is however a paradigm shift in NFT definitions, and Blockchain MMORPG Cradles has made this possible with an innovative innovation. It goes far beyond the simple display of original artwork.
This isn’t to say that static images (or really, coordinates that point to an immortalized stamp of the original image) haven’t had their role in how successful NFTs have been. NFTs could have easily remained in the realm of techspeak or internet geekery without the sheer joy of CryptoPunks breaking the ground for pop crypto.
The widely-adopted ERC-721 protocol, which established the standards for NFTs in digital and Web3 spaces, wasn’t intended to represent anything more than unique representations physical items.
NFTs are inherently limited in their current state, and their data protocols limit the amount of data they allow each token to contain.
Though NFT gaming has also taken decentralized applications and Web3 over some remarkable milestones – gaming Dapps are still the most popularly used applications in the decentralized space – the most successful aspect of an NFT (non-fungibility) is holding it back from reaching higher achievements.
For an NFT to be solely reliant on its perceived rarity aspect (again, a highly subjective matter) simply isn’t enough to sustain interest and further technology – and in gaming, where inventiveness and creativity are the only markers of progress, NFTs on their current limits are at the end of the innovation road. Evidence of this is the shrinking speculative market for NFTs.
This is where the EIP-3664 proposal – developed by DRepublic, the makers of blockchain MMORPG Cradles – enters the picture to provide a new standard for NFTs and how they are defined.
What’s the EIP-3664 Process?
EIP-36664, like all EIPs before it has advancements for tokens of Ethereum (and basically most other blockchains compatible in the Ethereum environment).
EIP-36664 is a way for players to interact with NFTs, rather than simply using static NFTs that are not able to be modified in games.
Players would be able to create “component” NFTs, crafting them from basic raw materials (themselves malleable NFTs), and changing the traits of an NFT within a game simply by adding and removing other components. The NFTs can be made dynamic so that they are able to adapt and evolve with the game’s gameplay. They also have the ability to sell or transfer their original abilities.
EIP-3664: Changing the game
DRepublic’s work on the EIP-3664 proposal is intended to be the technological core of its upcoming game, Cradles: Origin of Species. Gamers would be able finally to interact and create every element in their virtual world. They could even disassemble and assemble items and materials. Each element would come with tokens, which could be customized and combined in endless ways.
NFTs will allow for the representation of all these items, buildings, clothes, equipment and characters using fungible or non-fungible abilities. This allows them all to evolve and change.
These NFTs, instead of having a central server that determines the phases of time in each phase of the game’s history, will try to create a metaverse. Cradles’ unique “entropy-increasing” world will see players, their items, and their environment constantly evolving as (block) time passes.
Cradles founder T.Y. explains how EIP-3664 creates this possibility by allowing “NFTs to carry significantly more information, resulting in various new types of NFTs that can be assembled and combined freely, giving them variable properties that would enable almost any functions one might desire in an NFT.”
A New Era Of NFTs
One important thing about NFTs that are created using EIP-3664 tokens, is their ability to be collected. They expand the potential for these NFTs in gaming. These NFTs are basically taken from speculative use and placed in an environment that can offer real utility. They become easily configurable in-game items or building blocks to a continually evolving metaverse.
EIP-3664 NFTs allow players to forge items in the game by using tokens. You can remove and modify attributes of other materials or items into NFTs. Also, you can disassemble an NFT to distribute its attributes to NFTs or to sell the attributes. While it preserves NFTs’ collectible appeal, this adds another layer that will ensure they remain valued over time.
Enter Dragontar NFTs
Dragontar NFTs is the original implementation of EIP-3664 tokens and not the Ethereum Blockchain. It was launched via a portal called the Dragontar Club, which is now referred to as the world’s first combinable NFTs.
Dragontar NFTs reflect the Cradles community’s growing popularity and desire for their NFTs. NFTs are not limited to what they were created with. They can be modified by players as needed.
“Unlike other NFTs that can only be traded once bought, players can perform operations on EIP-3664 NFTs,” said Y.T. “Since they’ll need a workplace for this, we published our all-in-one platform: Metacore, a brand new marketplace, and workplace for 3664 NFTs. Anyone with a Dragontar can visit, click on the workplace, and perform operations on their NFTs.”
The fast approaching Ethereum Merge will highlight new innovations such as EIP-3664 for their distinctive offerings. One example of this is the modular NFTs used by DRepublic for the Cradles: Origin of Species video game. This already looks set to be the beginning of the next generation of Blockchain gaming.