Play to Earn (P2E) is Alive and Kicking with Animoca's Benji Bananas
Hey there! It's good to know that despite the recent dip in the crypto market, Play-to-earn games (P2E games) are gaining popularity- gamers can earn money while racking up bananas.
I was looking for a project for my children where they could play a video game and make money. I believed I could find the right project that would enable my boys to earn some cash by playing a game on their iPhones. (They play games for free every day, so why not incentivize them to play for money?)
So (drumroll)…
What are play-to-earn (P2E) games?
Play-to-earn games use blockchain technology that enables you to receive payment in cryptocurrency from gameplay. Gamers under the P2E model can earn money from playing games or performing services in the gaming universe using cryptocurrency. This unique community-driven business model gives the gamer the opportunity to collaborate more openly among gamers and developers to make contributions to the game.
What makes crypto gaming different from traditional video games is that gamers can own their in-game assets and turn them into fiat money, swap for other cryptocurrencies or join a liquidity pool -- cryptocurrency that's contained in a smart contract to be used later to create liquidity for transactions -- in addition to NFTs. So, for example, any item in a game that is deemed as having value -- be it a sword, an amulet, or whatever digital MacGuffin helps you ratchet up points -- can be tokenized as an NFT and traded initially. It may cost money upfront initially, but you can always see what the rate of return is. (For a deeper dive into the workings of P2E gaming and GameFi, check out this primer from Citi.)
In my research for an inexpensive P2E game, I came across Benji Bananas which is a mobile video game you can download from the App Store or Google Play Store for your iPhone or Android, respectively. Benji Bananas is a freemium, or free-to-play, mobile game from Animoca Brands. The game is simple: Make Benji leap from one vine to another across the jungle while collecting bananas. With a game this easy to play, you can imagine how super addictive it can be. And it's super popular: It has more than 50 million downloads so far.
Buying into Benji
Playing Benji Bananas during the event monthly (currently in the 8th event) will earn you $Primate coin, which can be swapped for $Ape or be used to enter $Primate -- $Ape liquidity pools.
To participate in the P2E aspect of the game (not released yet) and the rewards campaign, you must first purchase a Membership Pass on OpenSea (the eBay of NFTs). To create an OpenSea account, you need a crypto wallet such as a MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet. Browse to Opensea.io and select "Create." Choose an applicable wallet and follow the process before buying, trading, and/or selling NFTs. (For detailed instruction on how to create an OpenSea account, visit OpenSea's Help Center.) You can choose to edit and populate your profile or remain anonymous.
To purchase a pass on Opensea, you need to set up and configure a MetaMask account -- a hot wallet service available through a web browser extension or smartphone app. To set up a MetaMask wallet, simply download the software from its official website onto your device of choice. Once downloaded, select "Get Started" to create a wallet, then create (and confirm) your 12-word seed phrase. After you safely secured your backup seed phrase, you'll have access to your new MetaMask wallet, but before you can buy, send, or swap crypto, you'll be required to identify your public address (your "home address") that you can share with people and platforms, as well a familiarize yourself with MetaMask's core functions of buying, sending, and swapping. Finally, fund your wallet with your chosen amount of ether (Ethereum's native cryptocurrency) that is used for transaction fees -- aka "gas" fees. And that's it!
MetaMask is interoperable with practically all Ethereum-based platforms and can connect to more than 3,700 dApps and Web3 services. And because it's a "hot" wallet -- which means it's always connected to the internet -- you can move crypto assets any time.
Once you have created a MetaMask account and purchased your Benji Bananas Membership pass, you can browse to Benji Bananas, connect your account, and run through the know-your-customer (KYC) validation process.
Happy P2E-ing!