AL #014: Jack Butcher's Infinite Game

How the latest Infinity Set illustrates the ingredients of a successful NFT release.

Jack Butcher (the Founder of Visualize Value) has emerged as one of the most successful NFT artists.

But the term “artist” fails to encapsulate the full scope of his work.

He is a digital gardener, producing sequences of products that tie into each other and external events in unique ways and lead to new narratives.

The latest set “Infinite” highlights many of the different techniques in his arsenal.

Can you notice what's different about it?

Opepen Set 008 “Infinite”

It goes back to the Azuki Elementals launch which created the perfect storm for “Infinite”.

Azuki, a blue chip NFT collection recently launched their new “Elementals” drop.

The problem? It was too similar to the original high value PFP collection and ended up tanking its price.

Jack noticed the ironic tension between similarity of the aesthetic and underlying metadata differences onchain.

In response, he released the “Infinite” set, the first Opepen set where all tiers of rarity share the same exact image.

In an hour long Twitter space Jack also clarified that the concept of infinity fits natively with the idea of repetition and oneness.

Mathematicians already know that ∞ + 1 = ∞, and the different tiers only reflect this idea.

The Infinite Game

I found this collection special because it illustrates the NFT making process so well.

An infinite game between the artist releasing iterations of work and the community assessing or modifying the perceived value of that work.

The goal of the artist is to make the game sufficiently fun and novel for the community.

The goal of the community is to enhance the game to make it sustainable for the artist to keep playing it.

Seen with this lens, a playbook emerges, which we can deconstruct.

Step 1. Everything is a pattern

The novelty of this set starts with the number 008.

Both 00 and 8 turned sideways spell infinity (∞).

Jack also mentioned that sets 108 and 188 could also call for evolutions on the theme.

This allows each set to have a unique story and potentially each unique NFT in the set to be affected by that numerology.

Step 2. Make something only 3% different

Virgil Abloh advocated for making small iterations on an existing product.

My greatest design tool personally is to look at what that genre is doing and make it 3–5% different.

He is also a known inspiration for Jack who is often seen with a Virgil Abloh book in his office during his podcast appearances.

All Opepen sets follow the same imposed structure but diverge in some unique way.

This is 007 below.

Community members can rely on the structural similarity to form baseline intuitions for value while being able to debate differences due to the unique traits of each set.

Step 3. Connect to other collections

The “Infinite” set is a nod to the “Checks Infinity” set that is launching soon.

Many visual themes are shared between the two collections.

Connections between sets create a questions about the value of these pieces.

If the Checks Infinity collection will be valuable, would that affect 008 and vice versa?

Step 4. Play with trends

The most elegant aspect of 008 is still the timing of its release.

Using the NFT as a form of social commentary on the Azuki set is what reinforces the unpredictable and real-time nature of creation.

This, in a nutshell, is how you play the Infinite Game.