Article from: NFT Now
How did a project that is literally about dick-butts achieve such popularity? And does the collection actually have any staying power?
Surprisingly, sussing this out is far from easy. There are many nuanced reasons for its accelerated growth and continued popularity. What’s more, NFTs are still largely a new phenomenon. So it’s exquisitely hard to predict what the future will bring. Here, we do our best to identify the factors that contributed to the rise of CryptoDickbutts, dive into the core elements of the NFT project that make it a powerful representative symbol of Web3, and attempt to predict where it’s headed.
Hold tight. This one is going to be a long, hard ride.
The Dick Butt character went viral almost instantly.
The raison d’etre for this mission extends from lore the community invented around the characters. In short, the story is thus: The various CryptoDickbutts were all exiled from Gooch Island after a period of great unrest. The former utopia is now in disrepair and nearly unlivable, save for the sole inhabitant known as Cryptoadz Leader Colonel Floorbin. The CryptoDickbutts are now working to get back home.
As the search for the island is still underway, any holder is invited to join and work to fundraise, identify potential locations, and develop a plan for the ongoing management of a soon-to-be reclaimed utopia.
That is essnetially the story of CryptoDickbutts. And now, on to covering how the heck it got so popular and achieved so much.
Luxury brands like Patek Philippe, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Ferrari, and Lamborghini are just some of the many examples that cater to feelings of significance and social signaling.
At the core, people really just want love and affection. But since you cannot demand genuine love and affection through transactions, people settle for proxies like power and material wealth.
Although a vast majority of unicorn NFT projects like CryptoPunks and BAYC started at prices that are relatively affordable (and in some cases even free), for better or worse, the projects are now associated with qualities akin to the aforementioned brands. In other words, they are status symbols. Owning one makes the holder feel important and like they have a meaningful connection to other holders. In an interview with nft now, prominent NFT collector GMoney noted that he purchased his CryptoPunk for exactly this reason i.e., because he wanted the status that came with it. “With an NFT, by posting it as my avatar on Twitter and discord, I can quickly ‘flex’ with a picture….It has the same effect as wearing that Rolex in real life, but digitally,” he said.
This ultimately creates an emotional pull towards NFTs that represent the antipode of traditionally valued classes through self-effacing and satirical humor.
We can see this exemplified through CryptoDickbutts. First, the project was created as a joke. It never had lofty goals or ambitions. Second, it is a dick meshed with a butt. It’s hard to imagine an image that could more effectively satirize premier NFT projects and communities.
So, in short, many flock to the CryptoDickbutts collection because it mocks the overly serious, self-indulgent NFT careerists, influencers, and investors that use PFP NFTs to farm engagement and curate public perception.
In essence, while not everyone can appreciate or relate to the subtleties of generational wealth, everyone does have the capacity to laugh at a silly meme. In this reguard, CryptoDickbutts status as a viral sensation was almost a guarentee.
please go away
The most interesting intellectual question on PFPs right now is whether commercial rights or CC0 is a better model.
Furthermore, CC0 frameworks helped create the success of Web2. Various platforms built on top of the internet were able to spread quickly because of the open, collaborative effort of coders the world over. In the same way, CC0 collections such as CryptoDickbutts function as an open-source library for the metaverse. They invite new users to experiment, build, and grow. This benefits the individual and also CrytopDickbutts’ brand, helping it expand and gain even more staying power.
Regardless, a theory among Ethereum aficionados is that as more layer 2’s emerge, a majority of Layer 1 resources will be spent powering these newer infrastructures. The result is that, while Layer 2 will allow for larger collection sizes due to the significantly cheaper transaction fees, NFTs built on L1 (including derivatives) will become an uncommon relic by default, as conducting activity on any layer 1 will be too expensive for most individuals.
While not on-chain, as CDBs are an Ethereum based collection, so long as the core developers continue to improve on the protocol’s functionality, so will the memetic impact of a dickbutt forever remain for posterity to admire.
It only makes sense that humans in modern society also feel a connection with the phallic symbol.
From religious and historical allegories to beloved fictional tales like Harry Potter, stories have the power to embed generational values, preserve cultural motifs, and shape our overarching social and evolutionary discourse. They can also unite and divide communities in shared appreciation or detest of characters and their respective journeys.
While a more subtle aspect, the story and journey that CryptoDickbutts is crafting uses relatable elements of light-hearted humor. But more than that, at its core, it reflects key cultural motifs. Specifically, there is the image of the wandering protagonist who is seeking self-actualization through the prophetic vision and end-goal that is Gooch Island.
And in that respect, given our drive to find purpose and meaning in life, it is something we can all relate to.
The post The Incredible Staying Power of CryptoDickbutts NFTs appeared first on nft now.
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Article from: NFT Now