Valhalla: A Real Collection or Another Rug?
The Valhalla collection is the latest NFT to come out and is capturing the attention of many around the Ethereum network because of hype around investment funding and a belief that NFTs are still valuable despite a rapidly declining market.
which revolve around GameFi and blockchain gaming. It begs the question, is the traditional gaming community correct about NFTs?
The collection
At first glance, the art style for Valhalla strongly resembles that of Azuki, one of the most well known collections on Ethereum. Although taking inspiration (or blatantly copying) another collection is not rare, it does show a lack of originality from the creators who are supposedly trying to push the limits of GameFi and NFT gaming communities which can become a bearish marker for the collections.
Artistry and creativity were originally pitched as some of the main benefits of NFTs which provide people with a new platform for sharing their works. When big projects that have a lot of hype behind them adopt other art styles it can put a blemish on the overall value of the project.
Lack of information
The biggest issue about the collection however is the lack of information regarding its utilities and purpose for holders. For a project that is hosting a public mint at .5 Eth and claims to have millions in investment funds, it is bizarre that there is no whitepaper or explanation of what the tokens are meant to do other than “building the next generation of web3 products,” according to their website. Their parent company's website, Stacked, also has no information.
In fact, after the long summer of non-stop degen NFT collections being released, it was assumed that the market had reached a point of maturity where collectors knew what to buy and what to ignore; yet with the obvious attention that this collection is attracting, it’s becoming clear that most NFT traders simply do not care.
Unfortunately, as this continues, NFTs are going to have an increasingly difficult time regaining their popularity as the only people who have remained active in the NFT community are those that are honest about their lack of interest in any real utilities or value associated with the current wave of NFTs.
A reason why gamers hate NFTs
A real concern here is how the traditional gaming community may have been right about NFTs from the start. While many people in web3 want to envision an ideal future of warriors and wizards from our favorite games all living on the blockchain, the truth of the matter is that the people creating some of the most popular NFTs aren’t showing genuine motivation by the technology or an interest in improving the quality of gaming.
Instead, we’re seeing more collections which continue to offer little to no utilities at exorbitant prices and are being outright rejected by some communities from some of the biggest games in the market. Riot, the company behind League of Legends and Vallorant, has already requested the Valhalla team to stop their Valorant tournament indefinitely.
For an NFT collection that claims to provide a strong gaming community, the lack of any utilities and outright rejection from one of the biggest gaming studios in web2 makes the project look like a total rug and will only hamper attempts to convince web2 communities about the benefits of blockchain gaming.
