The famous motherboard producer ASRock is taking steps towards the world of NFTs. The company has previously released its Phantom Gaming logo as a non-fungible token to test the waters around the metaverse.
Seeing as using non-fungible tokens is a lucrative venture and the popularity of the technology is not going anywhere, ASRock has taken steps to implement the technology into the production of their motherboards.
The model in question is the ASRock Z690 Riptide “NFT edition,” which is a decentralized motherboard according to the label. The decentralized aspect of the motherboard has to do with the artistic freedom that people are given in shaping and designing their motherboards.
The technology for how the design will work is still being tested, and some have backlashed against the confusion it creates. There are 4,309 pixels, and making a design involves most users voting on each pixel.
If this wasn’t confusing enough, the ASRock website claims that “Once a new design is done, five designs from you and others will be drawn randomly, and if at least three designs are identical in the same pixel, the pixel turns to that color.”
Once the designs are chosen, each will be exported for 20 days, and in total, 20 designs will be turned into a unique NFT collection. The outcomes from days 1, 10, and 20 will be transformed into the famed Z690 PG Riptide “NFT edition” motherboard.
“Let’s bear witness to the evolution of this great art,” says ASRock, but unfortunately, many fans are skeptical of this weird transition towards NFTs.
Critics claim this is an unnecessary campaign meant only to appeal to crypto and NFT enthusiasts without necessarily using the technology for anything useful. Even the most charitable claim that NFTs have real-life practical usages, in much the same way they were used in real estate and car companies that can similarly be used instead of color picking.
Finally, many point out that the current system of professional designers making and perfecting the model is not flawed. Through customers’ reception in the long-term, the company receives enough feedback and pressure to remove ineffective motherboard designs and keep the good ones.
Even if this new approach has its merits, fans expect changes because the current “decentralized” planning of motherboards creates problems where the lack of communication and collective action taking means that the end product is not necessarily what any fan has envisioned.