Virtual worlds are no longer just for entertainment and they have become valuable real estate in their own right as a result of people’s willingness to invest time and money in them. It is irrelevant whether these goods and spaces are digital or not, whether they are virtual or real- they are valuable because they are created by people who care about them. Minecraft is one of the first games with no goals or rules, and the game is open for players to build and explore at their leisure. This is referred to as a “sandbox game”, and these games are designed in the sandbox style, allowing children to build whatever they want. What is the Sandbox? The Sandbox is a virtual world in which players can create, own, and monetize their own gaming experience. The platform is based on the Ethereum Blockchain Network and includes an in-house governance and utility token known as SAND. In-game items will be tokenized as non-fungible tokens, making them freely tradable on marketplaces. The Sandbox’s virtual world is divided into 166,464 lands. These lands are the metaverse spaces where players can create and monetize games. Land and estates can be combined to form districts, and districts can be combined to form estates. The project was launched in 2018 and is still in the early stages of adoption and development. The Sandbox’s three main components are Vox Edit, the Marketplace, and the game itself. Let’s take a closer look at the Sandbox’s components. 1. Vox Edit: VoxEdit is a 3D voxel modeling software that enables artists to create and animate 3D objects such as people, animals, tools, and so on. These in-game assets can be used in the game by the artists or sold on the market. 2. Marketplace: Users of the Sandbox project will be able to sell their creations in VoxEdit in the form of non-fungible tokens (available in ERC-721 standards). This will provide creators with an open market to monetize their creations. 3. The Sandbox Game Land: The virtual world of Sandbox is divided into several lands. After purchasing land, a user can use it to create a game and place their in-game assets. Users can use assets to decorate their land and incorporate gameplay features by assigning predefined behaviors to the assets. This can transform a piece of land into a full-fledged game. 4. The SandBox Avatar: An Avatar is an in-game virtual reality representation of a player that can be customized to suit the needs of Sandbox players. Users can try different outfits, hairstyles, and colors to get a unique look. They can also boost the attributes of their avatar with various items available in the marketplace. 5. SAND Token: Sand is the in-house utility and governance token of the Sandbox ecosystem and can be staked on a specific piece of land. As a staker, you will receive a few gems and catalysts as a staking reward, which can be used on the platform or sold on the marketplace. By 2023, the platform’s ecosystem will be converted into a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). 6. Land and Lands Map: Lands are physical spaces in the metaverse owned by players to create and monetize games and can be rented to game creators. Anyone who purchases a piece of land will be granted a LANDS token, which is an ERC 721 (Non-Fungible Token standard) token. There are a total of 166,464 land areas that can be purchased and 58% of the land has already been sold on the platform. Revenue Model of The Sandbox platform The Sandbox team has identified the following five revenue streams that would help in managing and growing the platform: 1. Advertising Revenue  Businesses will be able to advertise their products or services on the Sandbox platform, and the platform will charge a fee for these services. 2. Company NFT Sales  In addition to the NFTs created by the individual artists, the company also has its own in-house NFT to be sold in the marketplace. 3. LAND sales  Sandbox has been selling the LAND pieces in auctions, which has generated revenue for the platform. 4. Player Subscription and Services  The company would make money from players by charging them subscription fees and other service fees in order to give them access to exclusive in-game features and premium assets. 5. Transaction Fee  The Sandbox would charge a 5% transaction fee on every transaction on the platform. As a result, as the platform grows in popularity, transaction fees will become the primary source of revenue. Partnerships The Sandbox has several renowned partners, such as: Atari Axie Infinity Binance CryptoKitties Dapp Harmony Network Kyber Network Polygon Network Conclusion The Sandbox is a new virtual world that aims to replicate the success of Minecraft in the gaming industry and monetize the whole gaming … Continued

The post What is Sandbox: A Beginner’s Guide to the Sandbox Metaverse appeared first on Cryptoknowmics-Crypto News and Media Platform.

Nowadays, people are spending more time in the virtual world in comparison to the real world. People are using mobiles, laptops for both work and leisure. An introduction to the 3D world will create a more immersive experience for people. Websites and applications where people spend most of their time are controlled by a centralized entity. People don’t have any control over these applications. Decentraland, unlike other social networks, games are not controlled by a centralized entity. The community owns and has full control over this shared virtual world.  What is Decentraland? Decentraland is a shared virtual world that is powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Its users can create content and monetize it. Users can pay for experiencing various applications in Decentraland. The community permanently owns the land in Decentraland and has full control over it. The ownership of land can be claimed by users through a blockchain-based ledger of parcels. Each portion of land can be identified by a set of cartesian coordinates (x,y). Landowners decide what type of content can be published to their land, content can be static 3D scenes, interactive games. All the land in Decentraland is an NFT, stored in an Ethereum smart contract. To acquire land in Decentraland, the MANA token is used. Digital goods and services can also be purchased by MANA. How does Decentraland work? Decentraland has built a framework for supporting shared virtual worlds. A decentralized ledger stores all the data of ownership of land, contents of each parcel of land and also provides a peer-to-peer network for user interactions. Users can participate in governance functions and can propose policies and vote on upcoming LAND auctions. Decentraland’s protocol consists of three layers : A consensus layer: This layer is used for tracking ownership of land and its content. A LAND content layer: This layer uses a decentralized distributed system to download assets and for rendering content in the virtual world.  A real-time layer: This layer is responsible for enabling users to connect with each other.   The above diagram shows the steps executed by the Decentraland client to provide the experience of a virtual world in a decentralized manner. Each piece of land is marked by a unique set of cartesian coordinates. Content created by users can vary from 2D scenes to 3D scenes giving an immersive experience.  The consensus layer is responsible for tracking ownership of land, land content is referenced here as a hash of the file’s content. The content can be downloaded from IPFS or BitTorrent by using reference. The downloaded file of content contains a description of objects, sounds, textures, and other elements needed to render the content scene.  Decentraland has two important systems which enable its economy to develop : Payment Channel Infrastructure: It enables fast payment with low fees. Identity System: It allows users to prove their ownership over their creations.  Tokenomics   Decentraland has an ERC-20 token called MANA. It is used to buy, sell digital assets and can also be used for gambling in virtual casinos. It is also a governance token. Holders of MANA tokens can participate in governance functions. They can propose their own policy and can also vote on the different proposals.  Decentraland is controlled by MANA holders through Decentraland DAO. The DAO owns the important smart contracts and assets such as the LAND contract, Estates contract, Wearables, Content servers, and Marketplace.  1 MANA token gets you 1 vote and owners of LAND and Estates get 2000 votes. The maximum supply of MANA tokens is 2.193 billion. As of writing this article, the circulating supply of MANA tokens is 1.32 billion, the market cap is 3.7 billion, and the price is 2.84 US dollars. Applications of Decentraland Content Curation  Decentraland users can create content of shared interest of their neighbors. If a creator is living near a high traffic hub, then more users will drive to the creator’s content. Advertising Brands can drive users to their products, services, and events by using billboards to advertise in high-traffic hubs. Brands can create shared experiences to engage their audience so that users will be interested in using these experiences in their own land. Digital Collectibles  Digital assets are published, distributed, and collected by users on the blockchain. These digital assets can be traded easily by users in the Decentralnd. Rare or old digital assets are traded at a very high price. These digital collectibles are used to identify users and their land.  Social All the groups which are present in online forums, chat groups, discords can port their communities into Decentraland. People can form different communities on various subjects and can propose their policies through governance. Conclusion Decentraland has opened a new world of possibilities for internet users. Users can create their own content on a decentralized platform and can receive all … Continued

The post Decentraland Project Review : Virtual World Owned by Community appeared first on Cryptoknowmics-Crypto News and Media Platform.