Nfts
Steam Banana Opens Debate
A clicker game on Steam has recently been making headlines after toppling some of the platform’s most popular games. “Banana” made a splash thanks to its NFT-like rewards, which can be sold for over $1,000 on Steam’s marketplace. However, the clicker phenomenon has sparked debate among members of the crypto community about the state of crypto and web3 gaming.
Peeling Steam’s Clicker Game
Banana is an indie game on Steam that involves clicking on the image of a banana to get rewards. Although it is not the first of its kind, its players are rewarded with digital bananas every few hours. Rewards can range from common bananas worth pennies to rare bananas, which can be sold for up to $1,300.
The free-to-play game made headlines after surpassing some of the platform’s most popular titles. Banana overtook Elder Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 in the most-played games list. The clicker game only came in second, behind Counter-Strike 2.
As of this writing, the game remains the fourth most played game on Steam, with over 344,000 current players and a peak of 578,000 in the last 24 hours. Additionally, it reached an all-time high of 917,000 players earlier this month.
However, the game’s simplicity has caused some concerns among players. Many believed the clicker game contained malware that turns devices into cryptocurrency miners. While others wondered if the game was a scam all sorts.
One of Banana’s developers, Hery, has denied the allegations. Hery told Polygon that it was “a pretty stupid game” with bananas, not a scam.
Many users also speculated that the game was related to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, as it had a similar feel to NFTs but without the blockchain technology. A member of Banana’s team clarified that “Banana doesn’t want anything to do with crypto.”
They explain The game had no plans to integrate cryptocurrency because it doesn’t “mix well” with Steam. Additionally, they pointed out that it started as “a silly game to collect bananas on your Steam profile.”
Are Crypto and Web3 Gaming Going Crazy?
While Banana has no plans to integrate with the crypto industry, the game has sparked several conversations within the community, with several members taking the opportunity to discuss its implications for web3 gaming.
One user pointed out the game’s popularity despite its simple mechanics, suggesting that the industry doesn’t need “AAA games” to break through. Several community members agreed and suggested There is a misconception about the type of games needed in web3.
Although complex, super-action games are seen as the only option, “guys just want to have fun and score points,” said one X user. Apparently, many feel that the industry “makes things more complicated than they are.
Some users believe that Banana and similar games could help with Web3 games. THE quality of memes of the game has been highlighted as a potential catalyst for wider adoption.
Likewise, this week, Avalanche Gaming discussed the implications of Banana on its gamified show. According to Paul Bettner, game developer and co-founder of Playful Studios, Banana could be an escape into the broader world of crypto games.
For Bettner, “the behavior that we all love and participate in as degenerates and native users of Web3 and crypto is, in fact, universal. » While observing the evolution of Steam’s click sensation phenomenon, game developer REMARK that the users were “a group of degens who don’t yet know they’re degens.”
Ultimately, he believes that “people learn to degenerate.” If most of these users knew “what a wallet or a blockchain is, they would realize that they can do it on a scale 1,000 times that of a blockchain.”
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com