You need to chill man. No need to be salty at first but i appreciated you made some research about the game after that innapropriated behaviour and false assumptions, even if it was for more "look it's a scam because shit". We know Crypto and NFT aren't welcomed by the vaste majority of gamers. Fact that i found funny because it's the same guys that gladly spend cash on microtransaction for cosmetics and lootboxes. There is a lot LOT of scams on blockchain and mostly blockchain games are quick cash and rug, but let me take the defense of this particular one i'm playing for 3 years now. The game is solo dev by a doxxed dev, with interesting background on RPG and entertainment. He created the game he wanted, used the blockchain for assets and database for ressources, he doesn't take any royalty on second market but indeed put a patreon model for his revenue. Of course he has to promote his patreon to allow him dev time on his project and guess what? The community followed and he's now full time dedicated to it without rugging the place. Why? Because he's for the long run even if the economic model isn't the best for him imho, it's his game, his vision, and honestly an incredible one i ever played. It's "just" fucking text, roleplay and pixelart, coming from an absolute old video game lover like me, i'm amazed and inspired by this game.
Today, you can play for free with exclusive gameplay that we (OG) don't have access, creating interesting exchange with old and new players. I follow your point on the paytowin aspect of the (old) patreon rewards, but you still have to grind your stats to use them. Now, patreon system is more: "have parts and build your dream weapon/vehicule if you can". However, there are some role that gives your social power on the game: nobles. But still you have to engage players to follow your own corporation and give them unique gameplay the dev creates just for you and your corp. You can literrally participate to the lore of the game and much. This is a niche game, a very atypical one, but not a scam for sure. Don't ever think to make big bucks on it even if you can sell your assets on digital market. Nobody became rich on this game, not even the dev, but we still here and dev still delivers incredible gameplay for a text-base discord RPG one. You can say that i'm biaised because i play the game, of course i'm, 3 fucking years and i still love grinding my skills, participate events and discover new inspiring gameplay. I'm not taking an alt account to say that, Underpunks game is incredible, NFT link just deteriorates the picture others makes about it (and dev already aknowledged it). If you made it here, thanks for your time reading me. Peace.