Telegram Mini App Game Analysis: Is it beneficial for players to participate in the ecosystem or is it Pay to Win?

In recent years, many light games have chosen to release the Mini App on Telegram, hoping to take advantage of Telegram's huge user base to bring a large number of players to the project side. Most of the Mini App is click-and-click, cultivated gameplay, and distributed tokens to players through airdrops. The number of airdrops should be proportional to the performance of the game, but some players have reported that the progress of the game is similar, why is the number of airdrops obtained by financial players several times? (Synopsis: Base chain game Infected jumped to Solana: Open Ethereum EVM, no culture, no users are not suitable for game construction) (Background supplement: Binance to send money" Launchpool on the game public chain GUNZ, 3A game studio can set off another chain game boom? Preface This article will take the above controversy as a starting point to analyze the distribution mechanism of airdropped projects and the possible airdrop results of recent airdrop projects, and compare the Ton and Kaia blockchains that also issue mini apps, to explore whether these games are conducive to player participation in the ecology, or more prefer Pay to Win gameplay to obtain airdrops. Telegram Mini App Game Mechanics Telegram Mini App games are lightweight apps that can be played directly within the Telegram app without additional downloads. These games are mainly related to blockchain, and although the gameplay is different, the following mechanisms usually appear: On-chain check-in: Daily check-in rewards will be obtained by interacting with a record through the Ton blockchain. Invite friends: Through the invitation mechanism, players can receive a one-time reward or share the income of friends. Stored Value Mechanism: Buy game stored value tokens through Ton or other cryptocurrencies. Why do different games have similar mechanics? You can think about the requirements behind the project in reverse. Project requirements The game team still has to face problems such as funding and financing in development, otherwise it may usher in bankruptcy before the arrival of the token generation event (TGE), so we can guess the advantages brought by users to the project side corresponding to the above three mechanisms: On-chain activity: Players can prove that the game brings activity to the ecosystem by consuming Ton to interact on the chain. Number of players: Through the invitation mechanism, players will do everything they can to attract more players to the game to receive referral rewards. Direct income: Stored value is the most direct way of income, and players can directly bring income to the game team. In this way, the game party not only creates an active blockchain ecology for the game, but also intuitively sees the growth in the number of players, and these materials will lay the foundation for future financing publicity. Airdrop standard According to the above inference, it can be known that the project team will probably issue airdrops based on the "contribution" made by the player, and the contribution standard may be the above three criteria combined with some game performance, in order to determine the final number of airdrops obtained by the player, whether the "stored value quantity" of one of the three criteria accounts for a large proportion? We can observe the criteria for airdropped projects. Airdrop mechanism of airdropped projects Observe the final airdrop results of Tap to Earn ancestor - Notcoin and the first popular development game - Catizen to know whether the bonus element is an important standard for airdrop. Notcoin Notcoin is a mini app where players need to accumulate points by constantly clicking on in-game gold coins, and can increase revenue by inviting friends or completing missions, the game design is very simple, but it sparked a heated discussion at the time, after all, it was difficult to think of such a simple game to earn airdrop revenue. Final Airdrop Standard and Fee Benefit Evaluation The airdrop standard is to exchange points for $NOT tokens, and the exchange ratio is 1000:1$NOT. Notcoin does not have a bonus element, it simply earns points by clicking + inviting friends, and users can get extra points if they have Telegram Premium. Judging by the score of the airdrop standard, Notcoin does not have any direct way to purchase points, so it can be judged that the airdrop result of the game has nothing to do with the fee, and there is no problem of Pay to Win. Image Credit: Notcoin X Catizen Catizen is a cat-type development game where players level up by merging cats of the same level and increase the income generated by cats. Although the gameplay is simple, there are on-chain check-ins, friend invitations, phishing, and shopping malls, making it impossible for players to know which part to focus on to get the highest airdrop revenue. Final Airdrop Criteria According to the instructions in the Catizen white paper, the criteria for final inclusion in the airdrop reference are: vKitty Gold Revenue: The higher the cat's level, the higher the vKitty revenue per second. Spend Fish Coins: The amount consumed in-game using Fish Coins. wCati: A token issued by Catizen's in-game Launchpool. xZen: A reward token for on-chain interaction that is not useful in the game but serves as an airdrop standard. Fee benefit evaluation The fish coins in the airdrop standard are in-game stored value tokens, and most of the consumption methods are to get more and higher cats, so the fee does help players increase the weight of the airdrop. According to airdrop statistics, the airdrop return obtained by the fee players is about 2.5~3 times the stored value, which seems to be a fairly good rate of return, but after considering the time cost and the cost of electricity consumed by the hang-up, the author believes that although the fee is conducive to obtaining more airdrops, the vKitty gap between small lessons (about tens of dollars) and non-class players can still rely on time to make up. Recent airdrop projects March will usher in the release of two long-awaited projects, namely Bombie, a zombie-shooting game in the Catizen ecosystem, and Wizzwoods, a magical wizard highly associated with BeraChain. In a doomsday world, Bombie players can open drop boxes to obtain equipment and level up their characters, and further strengthen their character's abilities through support systems such as skills and robots, fight against powerful bosses and obtain silver coins as the basis for airdrops. Bonus elements As works in the Catizen ecosystem, Bombie still has bonus elements: Gold coins: Gold coins are stored currency in Bombie and can be purchased with cryptocurrencies such as CATI, TON, USDT, etc. Gold coins can be purchased in the mall for airdrop boxes, skill books, and other items that are conducive to strengthening your character. VIP qualification card: divided into monthly pass and season pass system, players will get daily gold coins and airdrop box rewards after purchasing VIP, and can check the accelerated unboxing mode to help players save a lot of unboxing time. The above seemingly reasonable consumption channels have recently caused a lot of controversy due to the launch of new activities. Community controversy It is believed that most players who play Bombie expect to get an airdrop before putting a lot of effort into playing, so the source of controversy is nothing more than the topic of airdrops. TGE is delayed: When the game was officially launched, it was announced that it would be 2025 Q1 TGE, but no information has been released near April, and players did not wait for the airdrop message, but the tuition activity was prioritized. Buy Airdrop: Players currently only know that the airdrop standard is the number of "silver coins", but the recent events are not...