Decentraland

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Decentraland wordmark

Decentraland is a 3D virtual world platform. Users may buy virtual plots of land in the platform as NFTs via the MANA cryptocurrency, which uses the Ethereum blockchain.[1] It was opened to the public in February 2020,[2] and is overseen by the nonprofit Decentraland Foundation.

History[]

Decentraland was created by Argentinians Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano,[3] and has been in development since 2015.[4] When it launched in 2017, parcels of digital land sold for about $20,[5] and mana tokens sold for $0.02.[3] The game's first map, Genesis City, was made up of 90,601 parcels of land.[4] It raised $26 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017.[3]

In April 2021, during a surge in popularity for NFTs, parcels sold for between $6000 and $100,000.[5] In June 2021 London-based auction house Sotheby's created a digital replica of its New Bond Street headquarters as a virtual gallery in Decentraland to show digital art.[6] New York-based digital real estate developer Republic Realm paid the equivalent of $913,228 for 259 parcels of Decentraland that it planned to turn into a virtual shopping district named Metajuku, styled after the Tokyo shopping district Harajuku.[7][8] Because of the relatively small pool of mana, the currency is volatile, spiking to as high as $5.79 after events like Facebook's rebrand to Meta and favorable press releases.[9]

In November 2021 the government of Barbados announced plans to open an official diplomatic embassy in Decentraland on a plot of land for a reported cost of $5,000 to $50,000 which is planned to be funded by a grant by Decentraland.[10]

Reception[]

In March 2020, Luke Winkie, writing for PC Gamer, described the game as "rickety", noting numerous bugs and the game's "brutally long loading times", as well as hard-locks related to the game's cryptocurrency-based authentication process. Winkie described the platform as having a strongly libertarian political bent, saying "Decentraland is a truly fascinating concept. It peels back like an onion, revealing a Randian fever-dream built with Roblox textures".[4]

Activity on the platform is unclear, with the world mostly empty and the number of concurrent users peaking at around 1,600 in 2021, including inactive users who remained logged on.[9] Eric Ravenscraft of Wired wrote that Decentraland was buggy with poor moderation.[9] Users have minted NFTs of avatars with slurs in their names and at one point the name "Jew" was for sale for $362,000.[9] Despite the community voting in favor of adding "Hitler" to the banned names list, there were not enough votes for the decentralized autonomous organization's (DAO) smart contract to execute.[9] Ravenscraft also said the game currently feels reminiscent of an early access game.[9]

In January 2022, a video clip of a rave in Decentraland was posted to Twitter by DJ Alex Moss. The clip went viral and was widely mocked on social media.[11][12][13][14] Zack Zwiezen, writing for Kotaku, unfavorably compared the clip to similar virtual concerts and parties in AdventureQuest 3D, Fortnite, Roblox, and VR Chat, and described the look of the game itself as similar to “a fictional game that was tossed together in a few hours for an episode of CSI: Whatever City, in which the investigators are trying to solve a murder that involves some 'new' and 'popular' online world."[14] Prompted by the clip, Jason Koebler of Vice investigated other raves held on the platform, and described the experience as mostly empty and plagued by technical bugs.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ NFTs: The Center of Attention at Sotheby’s Virtual Decentraland Gallery Helen Holmes, Observer Media, June 7, 2021
  2. ^ "The gates to Decentraland have opened!". Decentraland. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  3. ^ a b c Russo, Camila (2018-06-13). "Making a killing in virtual real estate". Bloomberg.
  4. ^ a b c Winkie, Luke (19 March 2020). "Inside Decentraland, the surreal Second Life for crypto true believers". PC Gamer. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b Marquez, Alexandra (2021-04-05). "Welcome to Decentraland, where NFTs meet a virtual world". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  6. ^ Goldstein, Caroline (2021-06-07). "In Its Ongoing Bid to Draw Crypto-Collectors, Sotheby's Unveils a Replica of Its London H.Q. in the Blockchain World Decentraland". Artnet News. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  7. ^ Howcroft, Elizabeth (2021-06-30). "Crypto billionaire Novogratz leads funding for virtual real estate firm". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  8. ^ Feitelberg, Rosemary (29 June 2021). "Metajuku Shopping Center to Play Up Digital Wearables". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Ravenscraft, Eric (2021-12-26). "The Metaverse Land Rush Is an Illusion". Wired. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  10. ^ Wyss, Jim (14 December 2021). "Barbados Is Opening a Diplomatic Embassy in the Metaverse". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  11. ^ Alston, Harry (20 January 2022). "I Spent A Day In Decentraland's NFT Metaverse So You Don't Have To". TheGamer. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  12. ^ Mercado, Mia (20 January 2022). "Here's What a Metaverse Rave Is Like, I Guess". The Cut (website). New York Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  13. ^ Ross, Gemma (21 January 2022). "Reviews are in for the metaverse 'rave' — they are not good". Mixmag. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  14. ^ a b Zweizen, Zack (20 January 2022). "NFT Bro's 'Metaverse' Rave Looks Boring, Dead". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  15. ^ Koebler, Jason (20 January 2022). "Was the Viral Metaverse Rave Fun? An Investigation". Motherboard. Vice. Retrieved 24 January 2022.

External links[]

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