There is another way to compute the symmetric BNE **in increasing strategy**. Let $U(v)$ denote the expected utility of a player in equilibrium when his type is $v$: Given that the bidding strategy is increasing, a player with type $0$ will get the good with probability zero. Thus he/she must bid zero and $U(0) = 0$ For any other $v > 0$, the probability that the player gets the good is $Q (v) = v^{n-1}$ (this is the probability that all the other players have a type lower than $v$) From the classes on mechanism design, we know that: > $U(v) = U(0) + \int_{0}^{v} Q(x) \,dx = \int_{0}^{v} x^{n-1} \,dx = \frac{v^{n}}{n}$ On the other hand, we can write $U(v)$ as > $U(v)= (v-\alpha b(v)))v^{n-1}$ Therefore > $(v-\alpha b(v))v^{n-1} = \frac{v^{n}}{n}$ and **$b(v) = \frac{n-1}{n \alpha} v$**