Topping the Steam charts, the Notcoin-like game Banana has become a sensation.

Author: Shen Chao TechFlow

“Entering the crypto world is all about making money, who’s playing games?”

This consensus in the minds of the leeks, if interpreted in reverse, is probably that players in the traditional gaming circle probably wouldn’t think about making money.

But the facts show that no one doesn’t love free 0 masturbation.

In the circle, Notcoin and Hamster Kombat have popularized the ‘click to earn money’ 0-clip small game mode; coincidentally, this trend of ‘clipping coupons’ has also reached Steam, the most popular platform in the traditional gaming circle.

In recent weeks, a game called Banana 0 on Steam has suddenly become extremely popular, to the point of being ridiculously popular.

According to official statistics from Steam, as of the time of publication, the simultaneous online players of Banana has exceeded 750,000, ranking first on the Steam platform’s list of simultaneous online players.

Banana was beaten up, while CS2, DOTA, PUBG, and Destiny 2 behind the list are classic works that are heard of even if one doesn’t play games. Each one is full of gameplay and competitiveness.

What’s more interesting is that this Banana game is only 60M in size, truly a small game.

Why play banana games instead of popular ones? What’s the point?

Steam version Notcoin, make money with just a few clicks

Different games, but human nature is the same.

Banana is actually a typical 0-rub free game, with no understanding and learning costs. All you have to do is click like Notcoin, and then start the expectation of making money.

In terms of gameplay and interface, this banana game is even simpler than Notcoin: you are given a picture of a banana that you can click with the mouse; as you click, the number on the banana’s head keeps rising, that’s all.

By clicking on it, a normal banana will drop after 3 hours, and a special quality banana will drop after 18 hours. So the main process of the game becomes: enter the game, click on the banana, wait for a while, and get the banana.

For readers who are not familiar with Steam, let me give a brief introduction. Steam platform itself has a “inventory” design, which means that after playing a certain game, items related to the game will drop into your inventory; these items may be a badge or some props, in short, they are peripheral souvenirs related to the main game, to enhance players’ sense of participation and stickiness.

And this dropped banana is far more fragrant with money than souvenirs.

Due to the built-in secondary market in Steam, you can directly list this dropped banana on the market. So the question is, how much is each type of banana worth?

Doesn’t it feel a bit like the NFT market? The valuation of a particular virtual item is completely determined by the market, depending on supply and demand.

The most expensive banana in the current market is called Crypticnana, which has a strong Crypto feeling in its name and is priced at 8300 RMB. Considering that the game is pure 0 rub, such a price is very attractive.

I speculate that some savvy market merchants have long smelled the scent of money, and various behaviors of receiving goods, spitting goods, and raising prices may have already occurred.

Clicking, dropping items, selling items, and even creating traders and market-making behaviors around items. Who says the gaming community doesn’t speculate?

However, buying and selling bananas will be subject to higher trading taxes on the Steam platform. For virtual items priced at more than $10, the final commission is at least 5%, somewhat similar to Opensea’s 5% royalty.

And taxation also inevitably means low trading volume and poor liquidity for high-priced bananas; while low-priced bananas obviously have greater liquidity and faster turnover. In addition, certain special edition bananas obviously have more cultural value, such as the DOGE bananas shown in the figure below, the connotation of which is self-evident.

Speculation is human nature

Pictures like the crypto world, to some extent, can provide you with a layer of technical narrative to enhance faith — at least this picture is an NFT, indivisible and indestructible.

And these bananas on Steam are not even NFTs, they are just regular image drops. If the game itself closes or the Steam servers crash, these things will disappear along with them.

But even so, it still cannot resist the instant speculative enthusiasm.

Marx’s “Capital” does not deceive me:

“If there is a 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; with a 20% profit, it becomes active; with a 50% profit, it takes risks; for a 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; with a 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged.”

Who cares if it’s an NFT or not, speculation is the nature of our species.

This banana, seemingly harmless little game, has actually created a good interactive interface and trading market for speculation, and virtual things can also generate high speculative value.

So in the speculation, the stigmatization of the crypto world and Web3 is actually inevitable, because it really makes speculation too convenient.

However, the banana game on Steam actually proves that the crypto world and speculation are not always linked, but as long as there is space conducive to speculation, any platform will be associated with speculation.

No one will have trouble making money by clicking, and on the more widely known Steam platform, Banana Games is still running wild.

Web2 and Web3 have never been in opposition, in a world of different information structures, filled with speculators.