Why do people like to buy skins on Fortnite or Call of Duty? People like to own things to show status, taste or just express themselves.
If the question rather is, "Is owning an NFT the same as owning a physical item?". It's not exactly the same, but it's close enough to feel the same emotionally (you and only you can decide whether you want to transfer, sell or even destroy it). And it's strictly better than owning any other digital license because it's on a neutral platform with deterministic rules.
With respect to generative art in particular, it's a great fit because it allows a someone to own a unique instantiation of the algorithm. e.g. take a look at this collection: https://www.fxhash.xyz/generative/slug/take-wing you can create infinite variations on the same theme, but the artist has determined that they only want 250 pieces in total to exist. So when someone "buys" the art work for the first time, a completely unique piece of work is generated based on the random transaction hash. The algorithm still exists as a whole and anyone is free to view and enjoy it, but people still buy and trade the unique pieces because they enjoy it.
In fact, there's an upcoming project that really leans into the idea: https://twitter.com/tylerxhobbs/status/1571908670929133568?s... Anyone is free to create any number of outputs they like and share them. But only 999 NFTs will exist, some people people want to pay for the right to have their selection immortalized as one of the 999.
I don't understand the visceral hate (not from you, just in general). People who want to just look at it are free to do so, people who want to pay and own it do so, and the artists are paid directly (and get perpetual royalties). Who's losing out?
Anyway, my original comment was not even about NFTs, just wanted to bring attention to the fact that this is generative art, and other artists have similar posts about their work and how they use JS to replicate similar real world phenomena.
edit: I didn't realize you were the post author. Your work is amazing. I'm sure it will be appreciated by generative art collectors should you choose to publish it. Feel free to reach out to my username at gmail.com if you have any questions. I'm a serious gen art collector, and there's nothing I would love more than to introduce new folks to the space.
Yes, you are missing something. Take a look at the `projectScriptInfo` and `projectScriptByIndex` methods. The JS source injected into the generator page (https://generator.artblocks.io/233000985) can be retrieved through those methods.
The artblocks.io site is just a convenience. You could build your own site that derives exactly the same data as what it provides entirely from contracts.
Let's say you create a website that autogenerates neat art. How would you as the artist who created that website go about monetizing it? How would you sell your work? How would I as a buyer know what I'm buying whether it's unique or one of many? Please think about how you would build such a system before continuing.
Here's what Artblocks is accomplishing:
1. The JS source for a particular artwork is uploaded to the contract on publish. It is immutable and available available as long as ethereum exists. Even if artblocks itself disappeared tomorrow, all the art is still preserved.
2. The algorithm for the art requires a source of randomness that the artist uses to control what the output would be. The actual pieces are created on "mint", the transaction hash is used as the seed for the algorithm and the piece is transferred to the user who paid the mint fee. The hashes are random and immutable, once created they cannot be changed.
3. The smart contract ensures there cannot be more pieces created than what the artist intended.
4. The smart contract also defines the royalties the artist wishes to collect on secondary sales.
5. Now you have a brought into existence a limited supply generative art collection created (and stored) natively on the blockchain that can be traded 24/7, globally, in a single currency (ETH in this case), available on multiple platforms (OpenSea, Rarible, LooksRare), with perfect provenance, and the artist receive royalties on every re-sale automatically.
I do not think you can build this without the help of blockchains.
If the question rather is, "Is owning an NFT the same as owning a physical item?". It's not exactly the same, but it's close enough to feel the same emotionally (you and only you can decide whether you want to transfer, sell or even destroy it). And it's strictly better than owning any other digital license because it's on a neutral platform with deterministic rules.
With respect to generative art in particular, it's a great fit because it allows a someone to own a unique instantiation of the algorithm. e.g. take a look at this collection: https://www.fxhash.xyz/generative/slug/take-wing you can create infinite variations on the same theme, but the artist has determined that they only want 250 pieces in total to exist. So when someone "buys" the art work for the first time, a completely unique piece of work is generated based on the random transaction hash. The algorithm still exists as a whole and anyone is free to view and enjoy it, but people still buy and trade the unique pieces because they enjoy it.
In fact, there's an upcoming project that really leans into the idea: https://twitter.com/tylerxhobbs/status/1571908670929133568?s... Anyone is free to create any number of outputs they like and share them. But only 999 NFTs will exist, some people people want to pay for the right to have their selection immortalized as one of the 999.
I don't understand the visceral hate (not from you, just in general). People who want to just look at it are free to do so, people who want to pay and own it do so, and the artists are paid directly (and get perpetual royalties). Who's losing out?
Anyway, my original comment was not even about NFTs, just wanted to bring attention to the fact that this is generative art, and other artists have similar posts about their work and how they use JS to replicate similar real world phenomena.
edit: I didn't realize you were the post author. Your work is amazing. I'm sure it will be appreciated by generative art collectors should you choose to publish it. Feel free to reach out to my username at gmail.com if you have any questions. I'm a serious gen art collector, and there's nothing I would love more than to introduce new folks to the space.