Title: “Banana Goes Viral on Steam, the Trend of ‘Click to Earn Money’ is Making Waves”
Source: Deep Tide TechFlow
“People come to the cryptocurrency world to make money, who plays games?” This is the consensus in the minds of many. Reading between the lines, traditional gamers probably wouldn’t consider making money while playing.
However, the reality is that everyone loves a good freebie.
In the gaming world, Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have popularized the “click to earn money” feature in casual games; and surprisingly, this trend has now made its way to the popular platform Steam in the traditional gaming community.
In recent weeks, a game called Banana on Steam has suddenly become extremely popular, to an extent that seems unbelievable. According to official Steam data, the number of concurrent players for Banana has exceeded 750,000, topping the list of simultaneous players on the Steam platform.
While games like CS2, DOTA, PUBG, and Destiny 2 trail behind Banana on the list, these are classic titles known for their gameplay and competitiveness, even if one is not actively playing them.
What’s more intriguing is that the Banana game is only 60MB in size, making it truly a casual game.
Choosing to play a simple Banana game over popular titles raises the question – what’s the allure?
On Steam, Notcoin is the game where you can earn money with just a few clicks.
Games may vary, but human nature is universal.
Banana is essentially a typical free game with a “click to earn” mechanic that requires no understanding or learning curve. Similar to Notcoin, all you have to do is click away and start anticipating your earnings.
In terms of gameplay and interface, this Banana game is even simpler than Notcoin: you are presented with an image of a banana that you can click with your mouse. With each click, the number on the banana increases, and that’s all there is to it.
By clicking, a regular banana will drop after 3 hours, and a special quality banana will drop after 18 hours. The main gameplay loop involves joining the game, clicking the banana, waiting, and collecting bananas.
For readers unfamiliar with Steam, the platform has a “inventory” feature where playing a game can earn you related items that enhance the gaming experience. This could be a badge, a prop, or other memorabilia related to the game, increasing player engagement and loyalty.
However, the bananas dropped in the game emit a sense of money more than just memorabilia.
Since Steam has a built-in secondary market, players can list the dropped bananas on the market for sale. The question arises – how much are these bananas worth?
Does this remind you of the NFT market? The value of a virtual item is entirely market-driven based on supply and demand.
Currently, the most expensive banana on the market is called Crypticnana, priced at 8300 RMB. Considering the game is purely casual, this price seems very attractive.
It’s speculated that sharp market players have already sensed the opportunity to make money and have engaged in various trading activities to increase prices.
Clicking, item drops, selling items, and even creating a market around items – who says the gaming world doesn’t engage in speculation?
However, trading bananas on Steam incurs a high transaction tax by the platform. For virtual items valued over $10, the platform takes a cut of over 5%, similar to Opensea’s fee structure.
The tax implies that high-priced bananas have low trading volume and liquidity, while lower-priced bananas have higher liquidity and quicker turnover. Additionally, some special bananas hold cultural value, like the dog banana shown in the image, representing a clear connotation.
Speculation is innate.
Images similar to those in the cryptocurrency world might add a layer of technical narrative to enhance belief – after all, the image is an NFT, indivisible and indestructible.
Yet, these bananas on Steam aren’t NFTs; they are just regular images that drop in the game. If the game shuts down or Steam servers crash, these items will disappear as well.
However, this doesn’t stop the surge of speculative enthusiasm.
As the sage Karl Marx stated in “Capital”: “If there is 10% profit, it will be guaranteed to be used everywhere; with 20% profit, it becomes active; with 50% profit, it will take risks; for 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; with 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even risking the gallows.”
Who cares whether it’s an NFT or not; speculation is ingrained in our species.
This Banana game, seemingly harmless, has actually created a platform for speculation and trading, where virtual items generate substantial speculative value.
Hence, the stigma surrounding speculation in the cryptocurrency and Web3 realms is inevitable, as they provide great convenience for speculation.
Nevertheless, the Banana game on Steam proves that speculation isn’t always tied to the cryptocurrency world; any platform that offers space for speculation will inevitably be associated with it.
No one can resist the allure of clicking to earn money, and on the widely known platform Steam, the Banana game continues to thrive.
In the worlds of Web2 and Web3, there is no real opposition; both are filled with speculative players.
