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Interesting that a whole economy is based on fake supply constraint. Or is making butterfly knife really hard? It seems like NFT before NFT.

colechristensen 1y ago
A lot of real economies are based on fake constraints. Or the constraint is a closely held secret that's pretty arbitrary and not based on any grand amount of skill or effort.
Incipient 1y ago
Artificial scarcity has existed for ages. Watches, playing cards, cars, etc. Selling 10 of something for $1000 instead of 1000 of something for $10 is not new. Also builds brand value.
- eru 1y ago
  See the discussion around the supposedly lost Van Gogh painting, eg at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/van-gogh-lmi-group-2602847 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/van-gogh-lmi-group-2602847 Nothing about the painting itself would have changed, but its market value depends very much on whether Van Gogh painted it.
- hshdhdhehd 1y ago
  I feel watches and cars are different. You cant magically "print" 10000000 Bentley's so supply will be constrained and they are expensive to make. I feel the luxury is more tangible than just being rare.
raihansaputra 1y ago
yeah CS skins is one of the biggest markets of digital-only-aesthetic-items before NFT came around (and now probably still bigger than NFTs). The main thing with NFTs was that there's no "central database", CS skins solely lives in Valve's database. making a butterfly knife for Valve isn't hard (in the past Steam Customer Service duplicated items lost in scams). It's hard for the players because they have to "gamble" for it through paying keys to open cases.
- TZubiri 1y ago
  It's hard as in "it's hard to trick or manipulate the centralized database". Similarly making USD in a bank account isn't technically hard, but it's fucking hard to get a bank to tweak some numbers in your favour.
pols45 1y ago
All this froth on the ocean surface is only possible in an economy where household net worth has been inflated to 150 Trillion.
- omnimus 1y ago
  Yeah the measly peasants should have never gotten their hands on such luxuries as game knives skins.
est 1y ago
it's not a fake supply CSGO knifes actually currency run by shadow banks providing RMB <-> USD convertion. Google for "挂刀"
- stickfigure 1y ago
  This should be a top level comment, it is the "ah hah" that suddenly makes everything clear.
- EZ-E 1y ago
  Can you explain the shadow banking / conversion angle? All I found was that selling knives was used to get a discount on steam balance thanks to price arbitrage. > "Selling Knives" (挂刀) refers to the technique of buying in-game items from 3rd-party (Chinese) trading sites like NetEase BUFF, C5, IGXE, and UUYP, and then selling them on the Steam Market to obtain a discounted Steam Wallet balance by capitalizing on price differences. I'm surprised the price difference did not disappear if people make that trade. Source https://github.com/EricZhu-42/SteamTradingSiteTracker/wiki https://github.com/EricZhu-42/SteamTradingSiteTracker/wiki
  - est 1y ago
    Both US and CN have a massive player base, they all need to buy games in their own currency You can buy games with Steam Wallet You can also buy/sell in-game items with Steam Wallet Now only if someone invents a commodity with a stable price. Hmm what could that be?
  - omcnoe 1y ago
    China notoriously has intense capital controls. It's difficult for ordinary Chinese citizens to take capital out of the country. CS2 items can be bought and sold in both USD and RMB, and can be transferred between Chinese and international accounts. It's not about Steam wallet balances.
    - EZ-E 1y ago
      Interesting. I'm curious though, assuming I am Chinese and I trade knives for USD - where would I be able to receive USD to evade capital control? Surely not my bank account or Steam wallet. Or is it for people with bank account in both countries? But in that case crypto could be more convenient? I'm puzzled
TiredOfLife 1y ago
It is NFT. But because it's Valve its actually good. Because of reasons.

colechristensen 1y ago

A lot of real economies are based on fake constraints. Or the constraint is a closely held secret that's pretty arbitrary and not based on any grand amount of skill or effort.

Incipient 1y ago

Artificial scarcity has existed for ages. Watches, playing cards, cars, etc. Selling 10 of something for $1000 instead of 1000 of something for $10 is not new. Also builds brand value.

eru 1y ago
See the discussion around the supposedly lost Van Gogh painting, eg at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/van-gogh-lmi-group-2602847 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/van-gogh-lmi-group-2602847 Nothing about the painting itself would have changed, but its market value depends very much on whether Van Gogh painted it.
hshdhdhehd 1y ago
I feel watches and cars are different. You cant magically "print" 10000000 Bentley's so supply will be constrained and they are expensive to make. I feel the luxury is more tangible than just being rare.

raihansaputra 1y ago

yeah CS skins is one of the biggest markets of digital-only-aesthetic-items before NFT came around (and now probably still bigger than NFTs). The main thing with NFTs was that there's no "central database", CS skins solely lives in Valve's database. making a butterfly knife for Valve isn't hard (in the past Steam Customer Service duplicated items lost in scams). It's hard for the players because they have to "gamble" for it through paying keys to open cases.

TZubiri 1y ago
It's hard as in "it's hard to trick or manipulate the centralized database". Similarly making USD in a bank account isn't technically hard, but it's fucking hard to get a bank to tweak some numbers in your favour.

pols45 1y ago

All this froth on the ocean surface is only possible in an economy where household net worth has been inflated to 150 Trillion.

omnimus 1y ago
Yeah the measly peasants should have never gotten their hands on such luxuries as game knives skins.

est 1y ago

it's not a fake supply CSGO knifes actually currency run by shadow banks providing RMB <-> USD convertion. Google for "挂刀"

stickfigure 1y ago
This should be a top level comment, it is the "ah hah" that suddenly makes everything clear.
EZ-E 1y ago
Can you explain the shadow banking / conversion angle? All I found was that selling knives was used to get a discount on steam balance thanks to price arbitrage. > "Selling Knives" (挂刀) refers to the technique of buying in-game items from 3rd-party (Chinese) trading sites like NetEase BUFF, C5, IGXE, and UUYP, and then selling them on the Steam Market to obtain a discounted Steam Wallet balance by capitalizing on price differences. I'm surprised the price difference did not disappear if people make that trade. Source https://github.com/EricZhu-42/SteamTradingSiteTracker/wiki https://github.com/EricZhu-42/SteamTradingSiteTracker/wiki
- est 1y ago
  Both US and CN have a massive player base, they all need to buy games in their own currency You can buy games with Steam Wallet You can also buy/sell in-game items with Steam Wallet Now only if someone invents a commodity with a stable price. Hmm what could that be?
- omcnoe 1y ago
  China notoriously has intense capital controls. It's difficult for ordinary Chinese citizens to take capital out of the country. CS2 items can be bought and sold in both USD and RMB, and can be transferred between Chinese and international accounts. It's not about Steam wallet balances.
  - EZ-E 1y ago
    Interesting. I'm curious though, assuming I am Chinese and I trade knives for USD - where would I be able to receive USD to evade capital control? Surely not my bank account or Steam wallet. Or is it for people with bank account in both countries? But in that case crypto could be more convenient? I'm puzzled

TiredOfLife 1y ago

It is NFT. But because it's Valve its actually good. Because of reasons.