Bitcoin the Runescape Partyhat Effect

My first encounter with bitcoin was back in 2012-2013 I seen bitcoin go from 15$ to 70$ and thought to myself "sh*t I missed it".

I believe like many others I wish I could have invested, at the time it didn't have a good reputation and was known as the preferred currency to purchase illegal substances and pay for illegal services.

But with the recent boom blockchain and crypto are gaining more and more attention. The recent marketcap rally to 250 billion seems insane but almost familiar. Almost like Déjà vu. See back in 2012 I started playing a game called Runescape, It was a very popular game at the time, a massive multiplayer world where you could be and do just about anything.

The game, like most involved gaining level and trying to aquire rare items by killing monsters or purchasing them from other players. But there was a darker side to the game too, people would gamble with in game money, trade it for real work cash, there was a lot of scamming and hacking involved. Pump and dump clans were also around manipulating prices of in game items on the in game exchange.

But the scams and price manipulation is not why it reminds me of crypto, it is the Partyhat. The Partyhat was dropped in game during a Christmas special event back in 2001. The Partyhat had no purpose or value, it was a cosmetic item. Only catch was that the Partyhat would be a discontinued item. Years went by and the Partyhat gained value. Some players lost theirs others got banned or left the game and soon the Partyhat was one of the most valuable in game items as it become more and more rare. We also see a lot of dead account on the bitcoin network some containing thousands of bitcoin.

Recently I decided to check what the price is, and it is valued at above the maximum possible cash value that any player can own, so I googled what they went for in real life.

A discounted price of 5366$ will get you one, I freaked out! I thought holy shit that's more than a bitcoin, at the time bitcoin price was 3000$. I then decided to compare the price chart of Partyhat and Bitcoin

Seems familiar? Looking at the price on a similar scale we can see that the price went exponential within the first 6 years. The price kept rising at that rate up until 2014 when it reached maximum possible value.

Bitcoin price chart

I am not trying to predict the price or claim that there is any correlation, but one thing is true, if a 16 year old video game can contain items worth over 5000$ that has no in game or real life purpose, In my opinion there is no reason why bitcoin can't follow the same trend, It has already gone exponential and it could stay like that for next few years.

If you ever played Runescape I would love to hear your thoughts on this?
Maybe you still play ?