GSC Gameworld, developers of the highly awaited STALKER 2, have revised their stance on integrating NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) within the game after considerable fan backlash. While a number of companies have already aspired to integrate NFTs into their games (notably Ubisoft with its Quartz platform), it seems that mainstream perception of NFTs is still sorely lacking. Considering the fan backlash, NFTs are currently considered speculative in nature, and seem to be interpreted as nothing more than cash grabs from games development companies, trying to ride the hype of the million-dollar sales that have happened in the NFT space since its inception.

GSC Gameworld shared their thoughts on the matter and rationale behind canceling the NFT integration: "Based on the feedback we received, we've made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2," the company said via Twitter. "The interests of our fans and players are the top priority for the team. We're making this game for you to enjoy - whatever the cost is. If you care, we care too."

GSC Gameworld is hard at work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. As a highly awaited sequel to some of the most acclaimed games, the company is naturally looking to cash in on as much awareness for the game as possible. And since one of the hot buzzwords in the market are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the company has now announced that these will be present, in some forms, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. One such NFT will be particularly special: its holder will have the digitally-recognized, intamperable right (and that's what NFTs are mostly about, in theory) to become a "Metahuman" - an in-game character modeled after the actual NFT holder.

"The idea of the related NFT is to give the right to recreate its owner's identity within the game through one of the NPCs," clarified GSC. "The person will need to come to our studio for a detailed scanning procedure and after that, we will have everything to make this person appear in the game world as one of the characters." The feat is being pulled with the help of NFT platform DMarket. DMarket will be holding an NFT auction dubbed the "STALKER Metaverse" in January 2022 through its partnership with GSC; there, users will be able to bid for an NFT offering that prize. Like any NFT, it can then be traded - up until a deadline specified by GSC, which will lock the prize to whoever has blockchain-verifiable possession of the NFT at the time.

If you're reading this news post right now, you have been making use of the World Wide Web. Easily one of the most relevant inventions in humanity's history, the World Wide Web has become an inextricable part of our lives, either personal, technological, commercial, political, or otherwise. It has become a fabric of reality, and has been the enabler of technological innovations such as the blockchain (in all possible protocols and permutations that currently exist), as well as an enabler for NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). An NFT is a guaranteed, authenticated original digital file, essentially - and it doesn't matter how many copies of a given digital file are eventually made, the nature of the blockchain makes it so that ownership of the original work is crystal clear throughout the public blockchain sphere.

As such, it's in one way poetic that the Internet's source-code, as developed by Tim Berners-Lee, has now been married to an NFT - a piece of art that exists only in the online world. Auctioned with a $1,000 starting bid, the NFT for the world wide web includes the original time-stamped programming files, containing 9,555 lines of code written by Berners-Lee. This includes the implementations of the languages and protocols ( HTML, HTTP, and URIs) also written by Tim, and which are still the cornerstone of today's internet. The NFT also includes a 30-minute animated visualization of developers writing the code, a letter written by Berners-Lee where he explains the creation process, and a digital "poster" of the code featuring a graphic of his signature. All four items are digitally signed, and are thus authenticated as non-fungible originals - which led to the NFT's final sale price of $5.4 million.