TL;DR - Should I take a short term contract gig coordinating the development of a community around the launch of the NFT project Fingerholers, a bankroll management game developed with the artist Scott Teplin? (see Contract Details below for more specifics)
Background
Having just left my previous job I was excited when longtime shareholder and friend Drew Anderson offered me an opportunity to join the crew of an upcoming NFT project called Fingerholers.
At first glance Fingerholers appears to be a PFP NFT project, and it is that, but it’s also a bit more! Fingerholers are the demented athletes and stars of an alternate world generated from the drawings of Scott Teplin, and Scott and the crew have built a game into this project.
In the Fingerholing in-game universe the sport of Fingerholing has become the most popular pastime in the land. The game works like this: you stick your finger into a hole and make a bet based on the odds it will not get chopped off. If you keep your finger you win the money, but if you lose your finger you also lose your wager. With every player limited to just ten losing bets, the stakes rise each time you lose a finger.
When someone buys an NFT of a Fingerholer they get to actually play the game! Starting with ten fingers they get to bet for as long as they have fingers and see how much they can make! It's a bankroll management game (but there is no real money, it’s just a fun game mechanic) that echoes the world of speculation around crypto… can you play the odds just right and become rich and famous or will you lose all your fingers?
Why Do I Want To Work on Fingerholers?
Well, the name alone is pretty intriguing! :)
I have loved working with communities in web3 as part of my last job. That was all about social tokens, aka “fungible tokens.” But the real communities that have formed in crypto have largely been around NFTs. There is a really fun opportunity here to capture the energy of indie gaming (like when I got to launch Change Wizard) mixed with the fun of generative art (when you mint an NFT it’s like opening a pack of Pokemon cards, you have no idea what you’re going to get!).
If you’ve scrolled through OpenSea you’ll see a lot of a certain kind of crypto-art, much of it is … honestly, not that great. Fingerholers is not a project where the team has outsourced the visuals to someone on Fiverr. Scott Teplin is an artist with a distinct style and point of view and this project is about his work and applying that to a new medium. Through Scott’s work this project has created more than just some generative characters. This is world building! There are places and stories and characters that all interact.
This project feels like the web3 version of working on something with friends when I lived in Portland. A grand vision and huge hopes, but also an indie project being run with a handful of folks who are all putting their spare time into it for the love of making art.
Of course the team has their fingers crossed (get it?) that there will be a financial upside from selling the NFTs, because everyone has put a lot of work into this already. But Drew has told me a few times now that this is about making art with friends, having fun, and is a bit of an experiment! This is exactly the kind of project I want to be a part of (even outside of web3).
This is the kind of work I want to do in my life. I want to be a part of a small team working on creative projects.
Contract Details
It’s pretty speculative, which mirrors the nature of NFTs in general, and also the fictional world of Fingerholers.
I will be paid $2000 in cash and have a 5% stake in the initial mint (plus a couple of the NFTs).
The cash amount is relatively small but I’m one of the few on the team being paid anything up front. The percentage of the initial mint means there is a big opportunity, but no guarantee!
My role will be Community Manager, which means I’ll be engaging with people who want to buy and play Fingerholers. I’ll share the story of the work, create some events around the launch, and help to bring attention to the project.
The gig will run approximately two months leading up to the launch of the project. Based on the response we get (and at my discretion) I can remain and help run the community.
The Artist
The art is by Scott Teplin, an artist that has exhibited world-wide in museums and commercial galleries since 1998. You might have seen his Alphabet City project before? Check out his extensive body of work at teplin.com.
The Proposal
Take on a speculative contract to help launch the Fingerholers NFT project.