NFT Projects: So what makes a good story-driven NFT project? Follow the next generation of storytellers in Web3, and you’ll discover the future of entertainment, writes creator and Web3 degen Bryce Anderson,
The evolution of NFT storytelling is here. Can you hear the meta-shifting?
NFT Projects: Looking for the Next Big Thing
From the moment I bought my bored apes in April 2021, I’ve been looking forward to the NFT storytelling revolution. As a film executive, I’ve spent the past 11 years reading hundreds of scripts, books, and articles in search of The Next Thing. The next big, multiplatform franchise like Pokémon, Star Wars, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Trust me when I tell you: launching a behemoth IP from inside web3 takes only a few minutes.
NFTs are special. Beneath the bad press and scandals and stupid pictures of animals is a fundamental organizing technique that changes the way people interact. Right now NFTs are used for art, collectibles and community projects. Digital tokens will eventually become the invisible back-end of countless boring bureaucratic processes. But Web3’s greatest innovation, the disruptive promise, is that it allows us to more easily formalize relationships that have been only incidental to the history of the world.
NFT Projects: The Evolution of Fantasy
Fandoms and fan communities have existed for years. They get accumulated around something after it is formed. A writer writes a book, a director shoots a movie, and people who love it get together to talk about it. Fandoms are great. they are fun. They build community.
But ultimately fans are just avid consumers. Even when they are the primary marketing vehicle for a product, when they contribute directly to the success of a product, the relationship between an entity and its fans goes only one way. They do not share credit. They do not share revenue. And, they have no set path to make a meaningful contribution.
NFTs flip this script and work backwards. Thousands of people can organize around an idea, promote an experience, and then participate in the success of that product. They don’t have to start a company. They don’t have to know everyone involved. And, they just have to buy a token and dive in. A franchise will be built from content created by its own fanbase because that fanbase now has a way to monetize it. on one’s own,
This is the promise of NFTs. This is a storytelling revolution.
NFT Projects: Building Story Universe
The next evolution of Web3 will add complexity to what we’ve seen so far. The NFT projects that will dominate the 2021 cycle shed light on the story. This is not to discount their power as branding pieces. But as a filmmaker, pure branding alone is not enough. It’s hard to make a simple image a viable piece of global, long-format IP.
A new generation of projects, emerging now and over the next few months, are in pursuit of a lofty goal: The Story Universe.
Community-building and world-building are intertwined. This is a fluke that we have as humans. Inside jokes and slang become shared stories and history, and eventually the basis of entire cultures. In Web3, creators need to provide their communities with enough exclusivity to attract fans, and have enough license that those fans can create lore beyond the original vision. It’s a lot like playing Dungeons & Dragons.
So, what makes a good story-driven NFT project? Here are some of the top traits to look for, and some questions to ask when evaluating a project:
1) It knows the difference between Vidya and Katha
Story is a broad term. Conceptually, all story breaks down into two parts: Katha and Vidya.
Knowledge is the structure of the world and culture. The narrative is a specific sequence of events following particular characters. Knowledge is the foundation and story is the house.
The lore in Web3 has clear long-term value. This is the essence of the branding, and with strong, fully realized lore, fans will be inspired to contribute their own sayings to a Web3 project.
But very few Web3 projects attempt the narrative. This is too bad, because fiction is the most effective way to introduce lore and set the rules of the story’s world. Narratives are even better for entertaining and recruiting audiences. This is a huge blindspot, and an opportunity for projects hoping to compete in media production. Story draws people in, and good lore and fiction support each other.
The most successful NFT projects will create compelling, complex, inspiring worlds that inspire their users to contribute narratives within the framework. They will provide sandboxes and invite users to create sandcastles.
2) The world has a singular organizing concept
The basis of any story universe is the organizing principle that makes it unique. It also usually provides an interesting conflict. Too often, creators mistake style for concept. A collection of beautifully illustrated elves and dwarves is a genre. One concept is a chain of mighty rings tying all the peoples of Middle Earth. We have seen many Web3 projects adopt specific styles, but very few with deep conceptual development. It’s changing.
3) There are many characters with different, compelling perspectives in the world
Often, NFT projects build an entire collection around a single character. But a character is just a perspective of the world they live in. However interesting they may be, one character is not enough to carry the entire story-universe.
Story-universes that struggle to define compelling characters are probably struggling with the concept. If your fundamental organizing theory is interesting – the characters within that paradigm will naturally be interesting. You can test whether your world is interesting or not by discarding all the characters you already thought of and inventing new characters to tell stories instead. If the world is still interesting, then you are on the right track.
4) If the project is successful, will this team know how to execute?
Creating content is easy. Creating good content is hard. Dozens of NFT projects claim to make movies, TVs or videogames. What sets this project apart? Who is the founder? What experience do they have? Would you trust them with the creative gap and million-dollar budget? Great artwork can come from anywhere, but it usually comes from people who know what they’re doing.
5) Is the team exclusively using NFT sales to finance their project?
Web3 presents creatives with exciting new ways to access capital to advance their creative projects. That’s great, but sometimes creators get blinded by the numbers and make less-than-good decisions. Traditional finance models still exist. Ask if a team is only pursuing Web3 to finance their project, or if Web3 offers other benefits that make it the best fit for their project.
6) Do they share IP?
The NFT storytelling revolution highlights a gap in US copyright law. Current systems do not take into account how users and creators want to use and trade their content in Web3. Several projects are experimenting with different methods to work creatively within the existing system, and none of these methods have been tested in court.
You should read the terms and conditions of any project you want to join. Some creators will use their fans to launch their own personal project, and others will share their IP to launch a community project. Make sure you understand the terms before jumping in. More importantly, producers are actively considering their stance on copyright and licensing, as these details will have a long-term impact on projects.
7) Do you like it? Does this surprise you?
The best judge of content is your gut. Don’t devote your time and energy to something that doesn’t make you happy or keep you interested. The best stories pull and pull you behind the navel. They pick you up and don’t let go.
NFT Projects: The Future of Entertainment is Collaborative
We aim to build the future of entertainment with every project we support. Working closely with fans to take stories beyond their traditional boundaries. And looking at ways to reward fan loyalty in ways previously impossible.
Web3 is already loaded with creative projects that tell compelling stories. I hope this is only going to grow as creatives from other industries understand and embrace the potential of this nascent space. The future of entertainment isn’t about telling new stories To People — It’s About Telling New Stories with People.
About the Author
Bryce Anderson is Production Executive at Clubhouse Pictures and Project Lead of Omega Runner, a Web3 worldbuilding project launching soon.
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