The hype around the cryptocurrency Bitcoin is taking strange forms. In the MMORPG Tree of Life, players can now mine coins – with a pickaxe.
Tech-savvy people have long known about the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. But everyone else should have figured out what it’s all about at least in the past few weeks.
Bitcoins are an alternative, non-state currency created by computers solving complex mathematical equations. The currency fluctuates in price based on supply and demand. The price recently climbed to a high, then fell back again – in short: This is a complicated matter and attracts gamblers. Parts of humanity that smell quick money have fallen into a kind of hype.
The boom in cryptocurrency mining is partly responsible for the current high prices of graphics cards. Some professional miners buy them by the dozen, driving the price up. Environmentalists are complaining about the amount of power consumed to operate the monster computers.
Booboo-Coin as a publicity stunt?
This hype around Bitcoin seems to be something that the rather obscure MMORPG Tree of Life wants to take advantage of. In the latest patch, they announced: Yes, we now have something like Bitcoin and you can farm it.
In the sandbox survival MMORPG Tree of Life, players can now search for “Booboo Coins” from rocks and ore veins of Vegonia.
The MMORPG advertises that you can sell BooBoo-Coins in the game – the price depends on how many coins have already been mined or sold.
As a special gimmick, it is hinted that whoever finds the most Booboo-Coins will receive a real Booboo-Coin made of solid gold.
This alternative currency likely won’t bring much momentum to Tree of Life. Players are only complaining in the Steam forum that the market price has likely already crashed. They blame bots for it.
As strange as it sounds here, these ideas could actually take hold in MMOs in the medium term:
Paying with gold at the baker? MMOs experiment with cryptocurrency
