The object of digital ownership

Abstract

This reflects on the object of digital ownership and its inevitable ambiguities. The discussion sets off with Denegri-Knott and Molesworth’s notion of the digital-virtual, which is refined and further qualified by leveraging Lehdonvirta’s contributions, in particular, his distinction between “digital information goods” and “virtual goods”. In contrast to the former, virtual goods like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are designed to be rivalrous, excludable and scarce by design. This chapter argues that as virtual goods expand beyond the realm of in-game tools and wearables into the broader universe of digital collectibles, such as digital art, profile pictures or digital sports collectibles, the already-mentioned challenges of extending and stabilizing ownership are joined by additional challenges of stabilizing the ontologically ambiguous virtual objects. Focusing on the example of NFTs as virtual art objects, three sets of ambiguities are outlined: (1) the concept-content ambiguity (analogous to the challenges of owning conceptual art), (2) the ambiguity of token-as-creative-object and (3) the ambiguities caused by excessive assetization. Reflecting on these various ambiguities helps to bring (some) additional clarity to the muddled waters of NFT ownership and provides potential explanations for the precariousness of NFT objecthood and ownership.