Media@Sydney: Trevor Zaucha. Non-fungible tokens and the commodification of fandom.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) exist today as a component of a broader, ever-evolving financial environment in which questions of value, ownership, and intention are characterized by their ambiguity. This seminar considers Dapper Labs “NBA Top Shot,” a blockchain-backed website inviting NBA fans to join in “a new era in fandom” wherein they may acquire NFTs of NBA highlights by opening “packs,” which are functionally similar to trading cards. NFTs reflect the pressures of market forces, as well as increased cultural and economic emphasis on marketization, financialization, commodification, and the ubiquity of gambling-like designs and interactions. Furthermore, this seminar explores tensions present in differing intentions for the NBA Top Shot platform and Discord server, the diffuse nature of user conversations (a nature that disregards topical boundaries), and audience attention toward marketization and investment interests. The commodification of the NBA fan experience illustrates a shared social pressure to more readily think of one’s life, interactions, and consumptive behaviors through the lens of the investor, fostering financial attitudes that normalize instability and encourage risk-taking beyond the scope of a platform where purchase-dependent interactions serve as a source of joy and social experience in a venue representing a perceived electronic gold rush.

Trevor Zaucha is a third-year doctoral student at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. His research concerns the political economy of emerging media, money, gambling, game studies, and labor. Zaucha received his Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Illinois (2016) and Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota (2022). He has published twice in New Media & Society and once in Information, Communication & Society. Additionally, he has contributed a book chapter to “Non-Fungible Tokens: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.” He has presented his work at the ICA Game Studies Preconference and the ICA main conference. During his time at the University of Minnesota, Zaucha has served as a graduate instructor for JOUR 1501: Digital Games and Society. Prior to his enrollment in the Hubbard School, he worked for a number of years at a marketing technology company in Austin, Texas.