I earned $47 for jogging for 10 mins.. Introducing STEPN and the magic of Play to Earn games

This post is different from most of my Mondays in Metaverse posts so far. I have mostly focused on educational topics around the basics of Blockchain.

This one is a bit different as I am for the first time talking about a particular project, a particular game. The reason for that is that this is probably the first Play to Earn Game that I have been excited about.

This may seem like shilling to some folks, as I am trying to promote a project that I have invested in. Keep that disclosure in mind, and treat this article as a fun educational read around what's possible in Web3 and not as an investment advice. I don't recommend investing in any project that you don't understand or see potential in.

With that out of the way, let's get into the weeds

What is STEPN?

STEPN (as in Stepping) is a play to earn game that is based on running. You basically get paid to run.

Yes, you read that right. You are getting paid to stay fit and keep your body healthy!

I have never been much of a runner. I have tried to build a habit of jogging in the past but have never been able to sustain it. My hope is that the money incentive and the gamification angle of the running experience will help me build this habit once and for all.

How does it work?

It is very similar to other running apps such as RunKeeper, Strava that use GPS to track your run but with a Web3 angle.

You start by buying an NFT sneaker from the STEPN. The cheapest sneakers that I could see in the marketplace were starting 11.5 SOL (Solana) which at today's price is roughly $1100. So there is somewhat of a barrier to entry to the game. From what I have read, they are working on building a Leasing feature which should lower this entry barrier in the future.?

After buying the sneaker, you go for a run/jog/walk and get paid GST (Green Satoshi Token) tokens for each run. How many tokens you earn depend on different game elements e.g Shoe type, Shoe quality etc. More on this later.

Buying a Sneaker

For doing any transaction in Web3, you first need to install a wallet. STEPN makes this quite easy for new users as the app already has a built in wallet and you don't need to do take any extra steps to do so.

If you are dealing with a Crypto Wallet for the first time, one piece of caution.. You want to store the 12 word private key safely and securely on a piece of paper.

These keys are your wallet identity/password of sorts.. If anyone gets access to these keys they get access to your wallet and everything within it.. including your sneakers, and any other tokens - SOL, USDC, GST etc.

Once the wallet is set up, you need to transfer some SOL to your wallet so you can use that for buying the sneaker.

In order to do this you can buy SOL in any exchange that you use such as Coinbase or Crypto.com. Then use the "Send" button to send the SOL to your STEPN wallet.?

Once you have the SOL in your wallet, you can buy a sneaker that you like from the marketplace.

Earning GST for walking / jogging / running

How much GST you earn depends on various game elements. Let's dig into each of those one by one.

1. Sneaker Type

There are 4 types of sneakers - Walker, Jogger, Runner and Trainer.

Based on what kind of activity you enjoy you can choose the sneaker that fits your style. The faster your sneaker type, the more GST you will earn.

So, Runner earning > Jogger earning > Walker earning.

Trainer type is a random function, so you could earn 6 GST/energy for walking or jogging as well. On the other hand, you could also earn 4 GST for running. But this sneaker type gives you most flexibility on whatever you want to do.

2. Energy

1 energy = 5 mins of activity.

You start with 2 energy for your first sneaker, that means you get rewarded for 10 mins of activity. If you want to run/walk/jog longer you can buy more sneakers to get more energy.

But be mindful that the energy for additional sneakers follows a diminishing utility curve. So, if you buy another sneaker you get 1 extra energy for your 2nd and 3rd and 0.8333 extra energy for your 4th, 5th, 6th upto 9th sneaker.. 0.5 extra energy for 9th to 15th sneaker and so on..

So if you want get rewarded for 30 mins of activity, you will need to 5 or 6 sneakers.

3. Sneaker Attributes

There are four attributes for each sneaker and they determine your earning potential in different ways. When you mint a sneaker or level up your sneaker you get some attributes, which you can then use to improve your sneaker quality.

3.1 Efficiency - How many GST tokens you will earn

Efficiency determines how many tokens you will earn.. The efficiency drops after each run and you need to spend GST earned to maintain your sneaker's efficiency.

3.2 Luck - Your likelihood of getting a Mystery Box

Mystery boxes are like loot boxes that you can earn. It contains gems that you can use to upgrade your sneakers. As the name suggests these boxes are "Mysterious". That means there is a level of randomness attached to it. The likelihood of getting a mystery box depends on the luck level of your sneaker and how much energy you spend in each session. So to increase this likelihood, you will need to get higher energy, which means buy or mint extra sneakers.

3.3 Comfort - How much STEPN governance token you will earn

STEPN has a governance token as well which is called GMT - Green Metaverse Token. The comfort level of the sneaker determines how much GMT you will earn.

STEPN takes some commission from various activities in the game. These earnings are then

3.4 Resilience - Durability of your sneaker

Resilience affects the decay rate of Durability. Higher Resilience will result in a slower Durability decay. Slower your efficiency will drop and less GST you will need to spend on repairs.?

4. Sneaker Quality

There are 5 different types of sneakers - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary.

The better quality the sneaker, the higher the attributes you start with in general. Although, there is still an element of randomness here as well.

You can then distribute these attributes as you wish in your sneaker.

Also, each time you level up your sneaker you get additional attributes. The better the quality of the sneaker, the more attributes you get for each level up.

Although, the better quality sneakers are also more expensive to buy.. The cheapest "Common" is available for 12 SOL, while the cheapest "Uncommon" is going for 45 SOL.

Minting Sneakers

Another way to make money in the app is to mint new sneakers.

To get a new sneaker, you don't always have to buy a new sneaker using SOL. You can also mint a new sneaker by breeding two of your existing sneakers and by spending 200 GST. You could then keep this sneaker or you could sell it in the marketplace.

There is also an element of chance when you are breeding sneakers. For example, when you breed a common, with uncommon you can end up with a common (50% chance), uncommon (49% chance) or rare (1% chance).?

What are the risks?

The risk is of course the price of the GST token.. The assumption I have is that I will be able to earn the money I spent on the sneaker in SOL based on the GST token I earn.

If the GST price drops then I won't be earning as much and I might lose the initial investment of ~$1000 or so in buying the sneaker.

The price of GST basically depends on the demand for GST, on factors for which users will be using GST.. I think the developers have done a good job in creating an engaging game with a lot of elements where you can use the GST.. i.e. in repairing, upgrading, minting, unlocking gems etc.

As long as the users are engaged, the demand for GST should continue to be stable or increasing.

Here's the performance of the GST token over the last 3 months.

Final Thoughts

I am really enjoying STEPN and I believe this project has a great future.

The reason for that is that STEPN doesn't feel like a typical Web3 app, it feels like just an App - a well developed, polished app. It has a great UX which most of the current Web3 projects lack.

It is not a Web3 project for the sake of Web3 or decentralization or self-sovereignty, which I understand not everyone cares about. It is just an interesting game that keeps you engaged and you want to play. All the Web3 stuff is an enabler and a bonus.

Also, it goes above just regular running apps by adding a layer of strategy which keeps you thinking whether you should cash out your GST, or you should spend it on your sneaker to level up, which adds a layer of fun on top of the regular running apps.

I believe games like these are required to expand the Crypto adoption and make more people comfortable with Web3.?

If you are curious to learn more about the project, you can check out - https://stepn.com/