at first glance, centralized looks like a regular nft collection: a series of videos and 3d models made with arc4g.

as the title says, it is a critique of centralization in the blockchain space, played out as a game built from blockchain and smart contract features.

i have always been fascinated by how the rules of a game change everything. game theory puts it simply: every situation has an optimal strategy to maximize gains.

that idea runs through the blockchain space, where trading is daily life. blockchains allow what we call trustless behavior: you don't have to trust the other party, or even the chain, because you can verify everything by reading the code.

with arc4g, i wanted to explore this from the opposite side. instead of controlling everyone's behavior within the drop and enforcing rules through code, as i usually do, the collection forces you to trust one person. one centralized person.

the rules

• * anyone can purchase a floppy disk (250+ editions)
• * only one collector can purchase the drive
• * the owner of the drive can burn a floppy disk they own to obtain a new nft

what can go wrong

• * what if the drive owner doesn't burn any floppy disk?
• * what if they only burn their own?
• * what if they burn their own and their friends'?
• * what if they offer burning services, have the disks sent to them, and never return the exchanged videos? (stealing)

usually i enforce rules through code to tell a specific story. here the code does the opposite: rather than controlling behavior, it unlocks possibilities.

innovation does not rely on code. innovation relies on people.