Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-04-24

Elf, Dotta, Bearsnake, Entropy, and Magus Wazir kick the show off with introductions, and Dotta notes how well Entropy has rolled into the team.

Entropy says it feels like a natural progression.

Elf asks Wazir about the winning song from his AI music generation contest.

Waz says that he picked the winner for his AI music competition because he thought it was super catchy, he loved the rhythm of it.

He notes the difficulty of structuring AI songs with a beginning, middle, and end.

Dotta says that AI music always sounds like they have really low encoding, but they're still incredible, noting how early AI generated music platforms are, and drawing comparisons to Stable Diffusion.

Then, Dotta asks the audience to engage with the official channel's post about the Space, saying that they're in they're "influencer phase."

Elf says the "dirty open secret" in crypto NFT world is just to "tweet a lot."

So, he says he's going to be tweeting more.

Following a joke from Bear about "moving to PUPSchain," Dotta mentions that Niski has always wanted to make a "Cultchain."

He says maybe they should finally let him do it.

Elf moves into a conversation about 3D models and rights of the token holders.

Elf brings about the discussion of 3D after noting a recent teaser for the upcoming 3D Forgotten Runes Warriors models.

He also mentions that the Bored Apes now have a full 3D collection as well as Vipe Heroes, though Vipe is a bit different as they started in 3D.

Bearsnake says that he was impressed with Yuga's models, but he does think that the Wizard models are the best.

Dotta agrees that it's fun to see the Apes' models and he's glad people like them.

"It's only good for everyone for Yuga to make a comeback."

Bearsnake says Yuga isn't building models in a vacuum. They're also building a huge platform for holders to use the models in something.

He says doing so is like arguing over IP rights of projects when no one cares about the IP.

Jitcy says that he thinks it's obvious that when Garga is tweeting things with his finger on the pulse of the crypto space, confidence rises.

He thinks the Ape bottom might be in.

Dotta says he had previously thought about buying one, but says he has PTSD from Moonbirds.

Dotta recalls buying a Moonbird at 15 ETH, really excited to join, and being met with, "Get out of here. We're poor; we're mad."

He returns to Yuga, saying he wants them to be successful, but what he doesn't like about their model launch is that they're token-gated.

Elf says that token-gating 3D models is a contentious topic in Magic Machine as well as in Web3 at large.

He says he thinks token owners should have the option to token-gate, because blockchain is all about digital ownership.

Dotta says that tokens as avatars in a web3 context should be token-gated, but he says it's the responsibility of the platform to token gate the persona.

He says that the debate is whether or not people should be able to see and download others' models.

He thinks they should.

Dotta says the benefits of people being able to download and use models from an open API are far more beneficial than trying to keep them hidden.

He says that as a nascent brand, it's more important to spread the ideas rather than try to lock them down.

Elf's counter argument is that out of 10,000 assets, surely people will be able to find models to use whose owners allow it.

Bearsnake says he thinks there could be dependencies on the rollout as far as reception is concerned.

Dotta asks if the panel believes that NFT owners should have a toggle that prevents other people from seeing the token on OpenSea, etc.

Elf says that seems extreme, but he doesn't see why not.

Bear agrees.

Dotta is incredulous.

Bill Gains joins the stage and asks if owners could determine their licensing of their Wizard.

Dotta says this is already defined: Any Wizard is open to use for non-commercial use. If you want to use a Wizard for commercial use, you have to have permission from the owner.

Madotsuki and Bridge also join and agree that an opt-in situation might be best for token holders.

Dotta says that to him, it’s ideologically tied to the idea of Forgotten Runes, and he doesn’t think it’s any difference than “right-click, save.”

Dotta says that the idea that the value of the NFT is in the ownership and rights is the reason that NFTs work.

He says that the idea that someone can “take their ball and go home” is detrimental to the group.

MeepleDad joins the discussion and notes that he didn’t buy a 3D model or a 2D JPEG.

“If somebody else went out and created a 3D model of my JPEG, I can’t stop them. And I have no interest in stopping them. You just made my Wizard more legendary. Good for you.”

Elf says he agrees with MeepleDad, but says that’s his position about his property.

He says that he wants to give the option who want optionality for their property.

Mado says what makes it difficult is platforms that allow model uploads.

Dotta says uploading a 3D model of someone else’s Wizard to circumvent token-gating is like right-click saving a PFP and using it on Twitter.

He says the context of ownership is dealt with at the social level.

Elf says this should be shown technically as well.

Dotta says that the ability to pull a Character completely from the Runiverse goes against the fundamental idea of Forgotten Runes, in that for all non-commercial purposes, all Forgotten Runes Characters are available for use.

Elf asks, “Why even buy a token to begin with?”

Dotta says the idea is that the people who own the token benefit from commercial rights.

Dotta says he sees access to the models of the Wizards like some open source softwares that gain mindshare simply be being the free option, giving the hypothetical of a 3D Wizard asset pack.

Elf says that he wants to reinforce the idea of ownership through the option of true, full token-gated access for Wizards, even though he thinks the vast majority of the Cult wouldn't choose that option.

Bearsnake brings up a point from the Secret Tower that there are different issues between "access" and "rights."

Dotta adds that "ownership" as another facet of token-gating, stating that he believes he and Elf are aligned on "ownership" and "rights (in meatspace)."

Dotta asks if token holders should be able to hide their lore as the owner, stating that he believes written lore has more applicable uses than the 3D models.

Elf says he thinks token holders should have that right, but he doesn't think anyone would choose to do that.

Bridge asks how the team felt about the "Forgotten•Runes" Rune on Bitcoin with the image of a Wizard.

Elf says he didn't mind, but Dotta says he found it annoying because they didn't even use Forgotten Runes IP for the image, but instead used AI pixel art.

Dotta notes that he was also bothered by the fact that the creator of Forgotten•Runes has not shown themselves.

"Who are you? DM me! Let's get these Runes to Wizards. We can hook up a website where people can claim them if they don't want to pay the gas. We can fund the fees."

Community member Chicken then approaches the stage to speak more on Forgotten Runes IP, asking about right to take action against people doing unsavory things with established Wizards.

Dotta explains that years ago, Magic Machine worked with their lawyers on a chain of rights.

Dotta says the chain of IP rights negotiated with their lawyers were in accordance with the group's principles that were also tenable with existing IP rights, particularly in the United States.

He notes that Magic Machine has an overarching right to the artwork of the NFTs.

Dotta notes that Magic Machine grants the IP rights of the Forgotten Runes NFTs to the token holders, but is able to take legal action against hateful (or otherwise distasteful) content.

Elf also notes the "perfect solution fallacy" for those who might say that there are alternative ways of accessing 3D models that are token-gated.

He notes it's not to entirely prevent but to curb the problem, giving speed limit signage as an example.

The discussion then veers into the classic argument about the color of Kobolds.

Are they green?

Are they yellow?

Dotta then gives an update Bitcoin Runes, saying that it's been fun to see, but that it's had a lukewarm response.

He says he doesn't think it's a flop as a product, though, and thinks that it still precedes DeFi on Bitcoin.

Dotta also notes that Ordinals have cooled off, saying that sub 10k floor price is "not that high."

He opens the floor to others trading Runes and Madotsuki says he hasn't done much trading, but echoes much of Dotta's feelings.

Bearsnake says that it feels so freeing not to be chasing the latest meta.

Dotta agrees, saying that he has felt a bit of pressure from Shadows for Runes drops, but he says, "No. We're doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing."

He says he didn't want a half-baked memecoin.

Dotta says, "If we do a token, it's going to be something that we throw our full force behind. It has a lot of planning. A lot of deliberate structure."

Elf says, "That sounds like it would take a long time," chuckling.

Dotta says, "Not as long as you might think."

Dotta then speaks about the difference in long blocktime for people who are collecting Ordinals versus those who want to frequently trade memecoins.

Bearsnake also recalls a theory that everyone always believes the "new" thing will kill the "old thing."

Giveahoot then joins the conversation to speak about the new Runes TCG tournament.

Then, the team reviews the Cult Content Chronicle—art from the last week within the Forgotten Runes community, aggregated every week by Tania del Rio.