Overnight trending fashion app Bondee has plans for NFT integration, according to its own privacy policy.
While the Singapore-based app has seen popularity for its ability to customize avatars and show them off to friends, the usual red flags of an NFT game are all there- particularly on its acting like it’s the first app to let you virtually communicate with your friends.
One skeptical user, Burhan, dug through the app’s Privacy Policy and found what anyone following NFT games had suspected all along- the app’s plans to retrofit NFTs at an unspecified date.
The document makes repeated mention of trading your NFTs with your friends, like this one with regards to Data Collection:
You can create a blockchain-based wallet on the public blockchain within the Platform, purchase B-Beans by using fiat currency; and then use such B-Beans to purchase NFT products publicly available on the Platform for yourself or your friend. Your NFT products will be stored in your blockchain-based wallet by using the blockchain technology. We will collect data generated during the aforementioned purchases, including wallet balance, B-Beans order information, and NFT order information. Please note that your wallet mnemonics phrase, private key, wallet password and other private data will only be stored on your local device, and we are not able to access such data.
Considering any customization-based app is just a giant list of settings, it’s easy to see where the NFTs will fit in- certain “unique” items will likely only be available as NFTs, and the fiat-driven B-Beans will likely be used to buy cryptocurrency, just like in Ni No Kuni.
Similarly, the game’s feature of letting you send your avatar sailing will probably include some mechanism for generating the cryptocurrency stand-in, just like games like MIR4.
We’ve reached out to Bondee for comment on the NFT implementation, and will update accordingly if they respond.
It should be noted that Bondee isn’t the first app to try this strategy- Netmarble infamously retrofitted NFTs into Ni No Kuni Cross Worlds, with mixed success.
NFTs have been a contentious subject in the gaming industry, as multiple companies keep trying to insert them into games- often being met with indifference at best and pushback at worst.
The fact that so many of them go to lengths to hide their usual buzzwords is where the ethical line gets drawn- you wouldn’t hide a feature in your product unless you knew people didn’t want it.
Avid enjoyer of games that sit about as far away from mainstream as possible. Also a proud UWE graduate with a degree in Media and Journalism, along with a TOA Diploma in Digital Animation. In that spirit, I enjoy- Soulsbornes, tabletop gaming (Warhammer 40K), Fighting games, and Character Action games. I also believe in the old adage: “I dig giant robots, you dig giant robots, we dig giant robots, chicks dig giant robots. Nice”. Twitter: @wamiruladlan
© 2016 – 2022 Digital Braves Media Group Sdn Bhd
© 2016 – 2022 Digital Braves Media Group Sdn Bhd
