How NFT Support Will Lose A Long-Time Discord Supporter

I have a long and storied history with Discord, as a user and a supporter, and I would really hate to see it end like this.

I used to be the event coordinator for a university student org called the People's Organization of Network Gaming, or PONG for short, from 2014-2017. The org runs large-scale LAN parties, about 2-300 people in size, roughly 4 times a year (global pandemics notwithstanding). I joined the org because it felt amazing to be a part of such a close-knit group of IRL friends that enjoyed video games together, as a community, and proving that we're capable of being better than the "toxic" and "antisocial" stereotypes we're often represented as.

Discord helped PONG strengthen its community. When I first caught wind of it in 2015, it immediately stood out to me as something we could use to bring our members together in one place, and solve the problem of our presence online being fractured across Teamspeak3, our Facebook group, and our PHPbb forums. It wasn't an easy sell to those with good reason to be skeptical, and adoption took some time, but by fall of 2016, our server was thriving with members and activity, with inside memes and fun bots and voice channels packed with teams coordinating for Overwatch and CS:GO tournaments during our LAN parties. It has continued to be the place to be for our members even after I left, and helped keep everyone in touch during the difficult COVID quarantines.

That's why I was devastated to see the CEO, Jason Citron, post a "teaser" screenshot on Twitter, of an integration with Ethereum, a popular cryptocurrency. I am firmly opposed to Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain-based technology because of the massive amounts of energy consumption needed to operate it, for very little benefit to our economy and our society in exchange. We are at a critical point with the climate disaster, where the planet's ecosystems that we rely on will have a scarce chance of surviving the next 50-100 years unless we take drastic action right now to change our course. While this may seem small in the grand scheme of things, I cannot financially support any organization that is currently, or is planning to, propagate a technology that actively negates the positive effects of environmentally-conscious clean energy efforts around the world.

I've already cancelled my Nitro subscription over this, but it is not too late to lose me as a user; I will continue to use Discord, for free, in the hopes that the company will not move forward with any plans to support blockchain technology and allow me to resume my Nitro subscription and support this otherwise fantastic app guilt-free. It does not matter to me how many positive experiences i've had with Discord friends and servers, hanging out at the Discord booth at conventions, learning to code by writing my own discord bot, and receiving sponsorship swag for our events. It is not worth it to continue down this path any longer at the cost of our only planet.