NFT.NYC 2020: First-time user experience

On February 20th, 2020 NFT.NYC was held in New York, a conference gathering the actors of the Non-Fungible Token industry. Having never attended an NFT-focused event before, I knew that I was going to meet all the experts and professionals in the field.

Holding NonFungible.com colours, as Chief Communication Officer, I have to admit that I had some pressure on my shoulders but, one golden rule has prevailed ever since I met all these actors over a beer: just be natural.

This article will be dedicated to giving feedback, hot off the press, on my impressions and feelings about what was my first “In Real Life” meetup with the NFT ecosystem!

My expectations from the NFT.NYC

I had several expectations about the experience I was going to have in this event:

• Primary expectation: to be able to know the different evolution of the projects that I know and usually play with thanks to the conferences.
• Secondary expectation: meeting the different actors of the NFT space in order to exchange with them.
• Secret expectation: to meet actors from the artistic world to exchange about their career path on the one hand, and to know how I could embark on this adventure on the other hand.

To contextualize globally this list, I expected a certain level of objectivity from the presentations I have participated in. I see myself as an “end-user” and knowing the strengths but also, the weaknesses of a project are essential information to me.

Being very curious about the ways in which NFTs are used, I still think they need to be justified and not just a marketing argument. And although the main use is focused on video games, I was also wondering if the adoption of Non-Fungible Token has started to spread to other sectors.

My feedback about the NFT.NYC 2020

Regarding my first expectation, I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed to have only been able to try only Splinterlands. I’m not a hardcore gamer but rather consider myself a “gameplay analyst”:

I’m going to try out all the features to know factually how the NFT will fit into the game experience.

Although I had played Steem Monsters in the past and enjoyed a small game, very few of the booths offered an interactive activity. That same day, Decentraland opened its doors and Gods Unchained went into “play to earn” mode, would a member of their team have had to be at the event to organize a small tournament?

For the conferences, the pace at which they followed each other was too fast.
The formats and the time allocated to each participant were such that I did not always have time to appreciate the posture or the contribution of each speaker to the ecosystem. 

Even if I couldn’t cover all the conferences, the ones I attended were very interesting! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that an ethical research for the use of NFTs existed and that a NFT golf game project would soon be released.

I was surprised during one of the talks to hear about “players” for a project like CryptoPunks. Would any NFT collector be a player by default? It seemed to shine a bad light on CryptoPunks who has been a pioneer and leader in the collectibles segment.

Regarding my second expectation, the evening before the NFT.NYC (I was not invited to the “VIP Dinner”) but was very happy to be able to hang out with some major players in the field, with few beers. Being able to put a face to a nickname makes everything way more human and breaks the virtual barrier.

Acknowledging the “friendly faces” greatly facilitated “off” conference exchanges and allowed me to create a link that you actually can’t build online.

The time has come to introduce myself as an active actor in the field and part of the NonFungible team, the project is mostly embodied by Zoup and Dan so far!

(I hope my English was understandable and my accent was not too horrible to hear! 😉 )

My last expectation, which is no longer a secret, has been perfectly fulfilled! I was able to meet Josie, discuss with her about her background and get advice about how to kick-off my activity as a “crypto-artist”.

I had a lot of questions about how to jump on this crypto-journey and the answers she gave me helped me define the place I really wanted to take in the crypto universe.

Great but expensive experience

The marketing aspect of the projects was omnipresent, which made me think of a big meetup rather than a series of conferences where the interaction with the speaker isn’t limited to two questions at the end.

But even if I was expecting a little more workshop or interactivity, I am globally extremely satisfied with this first NFT experience, and to have been able to attend the event.

I think it is important to point out that it is a significant cost to have access to these conferences for individuals but, being really interested in the NFT-world / blockchain gaming, it was a doorway that seemed to be essential to continue to evolve in this sector.

I intend to continue being an NFT trend analyzer and game reviewer but I come out of NFT.NYC with a strong desire to get personally involved in the blockchain-based art world. This life choice is going to be fraught with obstacles, but I know that the opportunity to be a pioneer in a new technology that I am passionate about doesn’t show up twice in a lifetime!

It was a chance for me to have been able to participate under NonFungible.com colours and in that, I warmly thank the team for supporting me in my personal art projects!

Looking forward to continuing to build this community together that is growing day by day!