Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-02-28
After introductions from Elf, Dotta, Jitcy, and Tadmajor, Dotta notes Bearsnake's absence, stating that he is in the process of opening a door.
OPEASEA & BTC
They laugh about Bear's typo in his whiteboard tweet about "OPEASEA." Dotta laments OpenSea's decision to remove creator royalties, calling it their "critical death move." Elf pulls no punches and says, "I hope they shit out a token first before they go...go out in just a glorious crash." Dotta says it's a good point.
Bitcoin
On the topic of tokens, Elf asks, "How about that Bitcoin?" Jitcy notes his difficulty focusing during the day due to excitement. Dotta says he was the same, and that he was almost relieved when it crashed around 64k. Elf asks if we're seeing the early days of the Bitcoin Supercycle.
Dotta says there might be something similar to the ETF of gold, but he isn't sure that we have decoupled from the global market's liquidity. He isn't sure BTC will fulfill its role as a hedge against inflation. Elf says Bitcoin is superior to gold in that it is deflationary.
Dotta notes the idea that Ordinals "fix the Bitcoin Security Budget" is interesting. Dotta notes lower mining fees post-halving and says that those generated from Ordinals have been significant for miners, which is bullish Bitcoin. He says the people building DeFi on Bitcoin would hate to hear him say this, but he says in a sense, Ordinals are leading the way.
Dotta says that Ordinals have only recently received accessibility through browser extensions, which gives users a familiar UX experience. He mentions that the experience with Ordinals on Magic Eden isn't much different than OpenSea apart from slower block times.
BTC Wallets & Compatibility
Tadmajor says he wants to be prepared for DeFi on Ordinals and asks Dotta about Leather wallet. Dotta says he doesn't know any material difference between the wallets. He says he doesn't use Leather, but plenty of people do. Madotsuki notes Xverse is usually most compatible.
Tad asks if these Bitcoin wallets work like Ethereum where he can transfer them with a seed phrase. Dotta says no, because Ordinals are somewhat of a hack on top of Bitcoin. He says if you try to use a seed across multiple wallets, you run the risk of spending rare sats on fees. Dotta suggests that Ordinals collectors should keep two different wallets—one for Bitcoins and one for Ordinals specifically.
Ordinal Lights
While Madotsuki is onstage, Dotta notes he mentioned the Ordinal Lights project when speaking about Xverse, and asks if he wants to share any more about it. Mado notes the Alphabot in the Lights Discord channel is open until March 1 for Shadow holders to claim a free Light.
Elf says he mentions Lights' creator's response to his speculation that Shadows and Lights in the same wallet will destroy each other. When asked if something more is happening with Lights, Dotta says he can't commit work from another team, but he's heard rumors.
Cult Questions
The Shadows' Role
Elf jumps into Cult Questions, starting with one about the Shadows' role in the Forgotten Runes. He says the Lights are just one new thing, and the community is building every day. He says no promises, but notes discussions on potential Forgotten Runiverse integration.
As far as Magic Machine goes, Elf says the Shadows play "a major role in the TV show scripts." He says they're obviously meaningful Characters with a "huge role connected to the Quantum Shadow." He thinks they have the capacity to be breakout characters like Star Wars' Ewoks.
Dotta adds that the Shadows are also Forgotten Runes tokens, and they're not done with tokenomics or things like "airdrops for all of the collections." He says there's a lot in the works this week, and he promised Elf he wouldn't tease anything.
"We'll tell you soon."
Living In a Simulation
Elf responds to an image in the Secret Tower posing the question of whether or not we live in a simulation. Elf says he isn't going to respond to it, but the way the question was asked is notable—roleplaying a Wizard to use an AI generated Wizard image to ask it.
When Announcement?
Elf directs a question to Dotta: "When announcement?" Dotta says, "Mmm. Nope."
Arbitrum Arcade
Madotsuki responds to a question about Arbitrum Arcade and the next Runiverse MMO event. He says the event will be soon, and they are on the cusp of releasing a date. He notes Arbitrum Arcade is an 8-week event showcasing different games with prizes for content creation.
Madotsuki notes that the Arbitrum Arcade event will be the playable game from the Eve of Memory event mostly geared toward content creation. He notes again the new playable event where players will be able to mint land is coming soon.
Dotta says he loves the art that the account has been tweeting and notes that he has been talking to the Bisonic team every day through the weekend before trailing off and saying he isn't going to tease anything.
Elf says, "Dotta, stop!"
Dotta Speaks On MMOs
Dotta then mentions a chart showing the player base of popular MMORPGs — he says one of the things that struck him was just how massive they actually are. He mentions the chart's counts of around 130MM players for World of Warcraft and 41MM players of Old School Runescape. Dotta says that if you create a game that has a good structure and good economy, there is potential to draw a player base that is completely unheard of in Web3.
"This week is just a reminder of how early we are in this cycle of adoption in crypto—especially in gaming."
The Creator Alliance & Magic Machine
Dotta responds to a question about Forgotten Runes' role in Magic Eden's creator alliance. He says they were originally negotiating to be a part of the genesis collection that moved over and part of the bigger narrative, but he is a bit more cautious. Dotta says he can see Wizards eventually moving to a new contract for more flexibility, giving the example of multi-chain portability through Layer 0 or something similar. He recaps some of his concerns with royalty-enforced contracts that block certain transaction freedoms.
Dotta says he doesn't mind speaking about this, because it's all on-chain, but the collections who plan to take part in the Creator Alliance were asked to symbolically change operator filters to exclude Blur and OpenSea. Dotta says he didn't do it.
"I'm not ready to do it yet."
Dotta states the "everyone should be ready" and if the community reaches a moment of strength where it won't be detrimental, he will be more open to doing an upgrade. He says even then it may not include changing the operator filter.
Elf says there are some assets out there whose value prop comes from their resilience to change. He says he doesn't think this is Forgotten Runes strength and notes the flexibility in functionality that an upgraded contract could provide.
Dotta mentions his thoughts on mercenary liquidity events after the genesis of the Creator Alliance. He ponders about the scenario in which Forgotten Runes is the mercenary collection, noting that Cult members who hold and write lore wouldn't be providing royalties anyway.
The Role of The Watchers In the Forgotten Runiverse Game
Madotsuki then answers a question about the role of the Watchers in the Forgotten Runiverse game. He says they are responsible for summoning the Wizards and keeping a mysterious force called "The Absence" at bay.
Bear Joins & Nifty Island Updates
Bearsnake then joins the show, saying that he just "got off of a very cool call, but can't talk about it." Jitcy notes that the Forgotten Runes island in Nifty Island is complete, but they will save it until next week because there is "something else that pairs with it."
Tadmajor mentions that Entropy and Jmander received Silver Palm airdrops just from participating in Nifty Island. He notes they are around 3 ETH.
Elf's Canon Corner
Elf notes a new continuous project for himself: he has decided to create a place for community members to reference canon lore. He notes this undertaking was inspired in part by requests from the community and Critters Cult's Library. He says the first draft is almost done.
Elf says that as he's been working on his new project, he's come to the realization that he doesn't believe that canon exists. He says this is not only true for Forgotten Runes but also for every other franchise. Elf says that in every expression of Forgotten Runes—be it the comic, Lore from the community, the TV show, etc. — will tell different origin stories, and he says that's awesome. Embrace it.
He says the true origin will happen when the Singularity occurs in the Real World. Elf speaks about the conundrum of the imitations between art and life — relating it to Forgotten Runes as commentary on the current Time.
Elf notes for those who want more tangible lore, there are
- The new lore website (WIP)
- The comic (4 Issues Available)
- Reilly Brown storyboards for Character-driven tales on Twitter (WIP)
- 6 AI films with Dr. Solopop for which both Elf and Pop will write Lore (WIP)
Dotta says that the newest Solopop film has been circulating internally, and though he has not seen it, he has heard good things. Elf confirms that he's seen it and says, "It's so good." He says he isn't sure if the tools or Pop are getting better, but probably both.
Notes From the DAO
Following this, Acideater joins the conversation for notes from the DAO:
First, she notes the DAO is still working with legal to reimbursement Magic Machine, stating she believes they have the agreement worked out. They await service agreement approval for future assistance. The current round of voting for DAO proposals is underway. Acid also says that she has put together a value statement based on responses from the DAO survey, but it is currently "not magic enough" to share. She also made a calendar for upcoming Spaces.
Community Update With Tadmajor
Tadmajor also joins to speak about projects from within the community. He starts with the Forgotten Smouls claim — Wizard Smol's tiny Soul collection and Smol joins to briefly speak about the project. Tad also announces the Cumberdome beta has been closed. It will be closed for a few weeks for updates. Tad says the Quantum Lights will be minting soon, and reminds Shadow holders to sign up for the Alphabot claim before the window closes.
Nard then joins the conversation and speaks about Soda404 Coin on Blast.
Cult Content
With that, the team reviews Week 58 of the Cult Content Chronicle — art from the last week within the community of Forgotten Runes aggregated every week by Tania del Rio.
-
Chadmajor Kobold Meme
-
Forgotten Smouls by Wizardsmol
-
Enchanter Carly of the River by Tania del Rio
