Back in 1994, having been excited about public-key cryptosystems and into collecting Magic the Gathering cards, I conceived of a computer game where people would own something similar to collectible magic cards, and trade them, but they would actually be files on your computer. The file would include the game description, have a unique ID, and be digitally signed by the manufacturer. People would play by bringing their files to a LAN and play on a PC game which would contact the manufacturer's online service to validate if someone really still had an item. I stay "still" because you could trade (the manufacturer would track ownership) if you lost the duel, you would lose a random item to your opponent, maybe your pauldrons, or a WIS+2 ring (I was imagining D&D type items, not MtG cards, I didn't dain to steal their game). In order to make them feel more real, I imagined a Java-based animated image, instead of just an image, and you had to have the file so people would collect the files themselves and it would feel more like a real-world asset rather than something on some MMORPG server somewhere. You load them into the game client, it validates them and marks the bad ones (the ones you lost or traded away), lets you inspect and animate the ones you own. Then you pick your setup and dual.

That was all before blockchain. When blockchain became a thing, I thought about reviving my idea, but I didn't.

I always thought the thing had to have some feeling of value, like being valuable in a competitive game like MtG cards are. I never imagined that NFTs and inscriptions without any other sense of value would become a thing. If I thought it was going to be that easy I would have done it long ago.