At the end of 2017 holders of cryptocurrencies were actively buying virtual kittens in the internet. CryptoKitties project was launched in December 2017 and from its onset excited a vast support, whereas at some point 11% of all Ethereum blockchain transactions were purchases of virtual pets. By now the interest towards digital creatures is nearing its end but that in no way influences the prices of the digital assets Cat numbered 18 is priced at over $255K. On December 3, 2017 the then most expensive cat – N1 Genesis – was priced at about $118K.
Now, the market sees emergence of new pets. This time, it is fish. Chatrobotic studio is known for its Telegram-based games. It is now promoting a new game based on smart contracts called Fishbank, and offering players get a digital aquarium of their own.
Just like cryptokitties, a fish is a digital token based on an Ethereum smart contract.
“Each fish is, in fact, a digital ERC-721 token stored on the Ethereum blockchain”, the website of the project explains.
In its essence, that is a digital asset 100% owned by its holder. It acts like any other cryptocurrency and can be transferred, gifted, or sold to other players or even destroyed, the developers explain.
This is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game where the core parameter of the fish token is the weight which defines its size and influence. Amberjack, for example, moves much slower than Piranha and is less powerful than Dascyllus, etc.
Developers have envisaged unique set of characteristics for each fish. In the course of the game cryptofish are to attack each other and to take bites off thus gaining bits of power, speed, etc. A successful attacker will gain weight. In the game, there will be four types of fish: common, rare, epic and legendary.
“Any fish that is not asleep and not on sale may be attacked by any other fish in network”, the website indicates. According to the game developers, they have found a way to protect low level fish from attacks from high levels by a descending percent of weight redistribution. “On the top level fish gain less weight in percent, and are therefore not interested in attacking low level fish since every attack costs gas”.
“We believe that Fishbank concept is much more than a funny little game. We recognize our mission as to discover the vast possibilities of how smart contracts and distributed ledger technology may change the way people play games and work”, game developers note.
They explain that decided to launch their cryptoproject due to a confusing situation in contemporary massively multiplayer online games market. Players of the games obtain various assets which do have certain values within a specific project, but can not be used outside it and may be easily amended by the game creators.
“Even tiny alterations may diminish previous achievements, rendering time spent by a player to build up game assets worthless. In the worst cases, such changes are not accepted by a majority of players, and games are abandoned”.
In case of a cryptogame that can not happen, the creators of the cryptofish claim, since the project is based on blockchain smart contracts.
Still, the core aim of the game developers is making profit. Just as cryptokitties, cryptofish can be sold and bought, while Fishbank will charge a 4.5% commission from the amount of every deal made in the market (in case of digital cats, the commission was 3.75% of each transaction).
Fish can be purchased at prices starting at 0.01 ETH, with the choice depending on a player’s daintiness. A piranha is, for instance, worth 0.68 ETH now (at a 15% discount). A fish can be also caught in the Aquarium which requires 0.03 Ether while a player gets one crypto fish (common or better) with random characteristics (the price may be later adjusted). Chances in this case are determined by random numbers. Chances to get uncommon type of fish are as follows: rare — 1:5, epic — 1:50, legendary — 1:1000. Besides, in the course of the game, there is an option to temporarily (1 to 48 hours) increase initial values of the cryptofish, buying at separate costs so called boosters. Players can also buy temporary shelters.
But most importantly, until the game launch, a fish could be obtained free of charge within a bounty program. For that, one had to register for the game and invite friends to join, sending out by email or via social media a special referral link. A common alpha fish was a reward for three accepted invitation. The more invitations are accepted, the greater was a fish reward: a rare alpha fish for 15 accepted invitations, epic fish for 100 accepted invitations, and legendary fish for 1000 accepted invitations.
In fact, the project initiators have given away digital currency (as the cheapest, common fish, is worth ETH 0.001) in exchange for the promotion of their platform in the internet, whereas the players could monetize their audience in social networks, etc. and make some virtual money by only getting email address confirmations from the audience.
Then, by growing a fish through attacks, one can increase its value. Besides, an uncommon fish can be sold in the same manner as cryptokitties whose prices have exceeded $250K.
Fishbank launch is divided into four major stages some of which overlap. Stage 1, Alpha Bounty, has come to its end and free fish is no longer given out after January 20. Stage 2, Early Preorder, commenced on January 12; a chosen fish may now be purchased for cryptomoney.
On January 28 Stage 3, Alpha Launch, will start. At that stage players can catch random fish in Aquarium or buy them on the market from other players. The date of Stage 4, Stable Launch, is yet unknown. According to the game developers, that will happen when multiple tests of the Alpha version are over.
By now, 208510 users have registered on the game platform.
By Olga Blinova