In the ever-evolving online gaming landscape, one seemingly simple online game has captivated players. The free-to-play clicker Banana has amassed more than 850,000 concurrent players on the gaming platform Steam. The game involves clicking on bananas to be rewarded every so often with “skins”.
These are essentially virtual items that can be sold on the Steam marketplace for real money. While most bananas skins are close to worthless, some rare ones may sell for much more (much like rare NFTs did at one point ). The highest-recorded sales have raked in upwards of US$1,300 (about A$1,950).
Since its release on April 23, Banana has eclipsed major titles such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Apex Legends, seemingly demonstrating mass appeal and the creation of a bustling virtual economy. At the same time, however, most of the more than 850,000 “players” aren’t real people, according to the developers . They are bots, deployed in the masses to maximise earnings for their creators.
Some might consider Banana a new and counterintuitive phenomenon. But it actually ties into a probability puzzle that’s more than 300 years old. This game highlights ongoing debates in behavioural economics about how people value future prospects and manage uncertainty – especially as these prospects come from increasingly complex and automated economic systems.
The renowned St. Petersburg paradox is likely the earliest known behavioural dilemma and is thought to have catalysed the development of .
