All an NFT is, is a way to prove ownership of a digital good. Think of an NFT not being the item itself, but a receipt that you can use to prove you own said item. You’re probably only familiar with this concept being applied to images, but that’s just one application.
NFTs function very similarly to cryptocurrency with one notable exception, they are not fungible. If we both have a bitcoin and decide to trade them, we both end up with what we started because bitcoins (much like any currency) are fungible. NFTs represent unique items, so they can’t all be treated as equals. That’s all an NFT is at its core, a digital proof of ownership of an item that is unique.
This is my go to example for an alternative use case for NFTs:
You know how Ticketmaster sucks right? Imagine if instead of buying tickets through TicketMaster you bought them directly from artists/venues as an NFT. At the gate you can show that you have the NFT in your wallet which proves that you own the ticket. Instead of Ticketmaster taking a massive cut, you pay a (comparatively) much smaller fee to the decentralized network that processed your transaction, and the entirety of the price of the ticket goes to the venue/artist.
I find that people frequently hate on NFTs because they don’t understand how truly generalized of a concept it is. There are so many ways this technology could be applied, but it’s so new! It takes time for people to conceptualize, develop, and implement this stuff. And with decentralization at the heart, it usually has to happen without a major corporation backing development. So be patient, have an open mind, and know that even I think bored ape NFTs are dumb as fuck
Source: ex /r/CryptoCurrency mod 😛 Happy to chat more about it if you’re curious!