Ringers
Simplicity, Complexity, Meaning
My favorite recently launched NFT project is Ringers, by Dmitri Cherniak.
The basic idea of Ringers is centered around the fact that there are almost infinite ways of wrapping a string around a peg. It’s yet another example of generative art, like Autoglyphs
The artist explains the creation process better in this video
I was mesmerized by the looks and by this use of algorithms to create these shapes and spent a full day going through all the ringers, before deciding I wanted to get at least one.
The buying process
I had 2 algorithms when I started to bid for Ringers
The Price Algo
1) Offers would be 1-4 ETH
2) If a recent sale was too close to 4ETH, I would also pass
3) Most bids were 1-2 ETH, depending on previous bids. To outbid 3 or 4, it had to be very unique in the “Taste” algo
The Taste Algo. At least one of the 3 had to be met
1) Is it really simple? e.g. A square, a triangle, elementary forms
2) Is it really complex? e.g. multiple ring patterns in very convoluted forms
3) Does it evoke some meaning: for some reason I started seeing animals on some of these: Octopus, Moose, Cat, Dog, Insects. That was something that would add to 1 or 2 (and sometimes I would bid even if it was between)
This algorithm was not rationalized first and then applied. I simply looked at what I liked at OpenSea and started opening multiple tabs. Then, going through the stuff I liked, I started seeing these patterns emerge.
Notice I don’t really care about rarity for these — since I believe this is art, and not collectibles.
But I also did some hail mary bids for the more “rare” ringers based on value. For these, the taste algo was not really on
1) 1 ETH for “basic ringers”
2) 1-2 for the ones I liked
3) 3-4 for rare ones (unique background color or body for example)
The Result
After some hours and a lot of bids, most were still ignored.
I realized many of the accounts that had ringers I was offering bids were not really looking to sell. And then, FOMO started to build up.
Needless to say, I started scooping the ringers that met my criteria and market buying them, paying close to 1 ETH.
A few more hours after that I bought #911, “The Ambulance”. I had to go a bit higher for that.
The lesson I learned here is that, when you really feel this strongly attracted by something, maybe you should skip the bids if that’s within your budget, and only bid on pieces that are for sale, but at a price higher than you believe it should be.
Lesson learned I’m happy with my small ringer collection.
Happy, but not so sure I’m done.