The invention of crypto games is one of the best use cases of blockchain-based technology.
The concept of owning traceable, verifiable tangible and non-tangible in-game items makes crypto games exciting and innovative.
This concept is now mainstream, and several web 3.0-based games built on various blockchain networks have been developed. One such game is Decentraland, and it’s among the first sets of decentralized metaverse games.
Decentraland is a 3-Dimensional virtual reality game built on the Ethereum blockchain where users can own virtual land plots as NFT.
In our Decentraland review, we’ll talk about how the game allows users to create, explore and trade in the virtual world made entirely by its users.
The people behind this game are two guys from Argentina – Esteban Ordino and Ari Milich. The game’s development started as early as 2015 with the creation of the rudimentary demo called “Stone Age.”
A non-profit organization called the “Decentraland Foundation” owns the intellectual property rights of the game and manages its website.
To fund its future operations, the Decentraland team held its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2017 and raised over 86,000 Ether – which was around $26 million at the time.
The game’s first map, called “Genesis City,” contains 90,601 parcels of land and was sold for about $20 each.
The MANA tokens, which are the game’s in-game cryptocurrency, were also sold for $0.02, while about 20% of the initial token supply is still held by the Foundation.
Decentraland went public on February 20th, 2020. On that day, the development team also launched an establishment called the “Decentraland Decentralized Autonomous Organisation” (DAO). This provided the framework for fully decentralizing the game’s world infrastructure and allowing public access to all it has to offer.
Through the Decentralised DAO, the game’s community has the power to vote and decide the developments and features they want in the game.
This time, I will give you a holistic overview of the game and rate the game on a scale of 0-10 under 6 criteria.
Decentraland Review: Graphics & Design
The graphics and design of Decentraland have been heavily criticized in several quarters.
Various media outlets like PC Gamers, Wired, and Gizmodo have all given bad reviews of the in-game design and graphics, citing issues like bugs, long loading time, and hard lock associated with the game’s authentication process.
In a 2020 article written by Luke Winkie for the PC Gamer, he described the game as “Rickety.” Eric Ravenscraft of Wired also explained that the game was buggy with poor moderation. He described it as reminiscent of an early access game.
The game’s graphics have also been mocked by social media users. When some clips from the game went viral on Twitter, many commentators expressed their disappointment at the game’s design.
So, if you’re very used to AAA games with excellent graphics and top-notch designs (like Axie Infinity, for example), Decentraland will not appeal to you.
Decentraland only features a simple user-based experience that would not attract most people in terms of graphic design.
Although this is one of the earliest blockchain-based games where users could legitimately own land and create stuff in the virtual world, I believe the developers should have ensured that the game meets today’s standards in terms of excellent graphics and design.
On the graphics and design criteria, I will rate this game a 4 out of 10.
Decentraland Gameplay
Decentraland is a virtual reality world where the community (users) own lands in 3-Dimension. Users have total control of their land.
The owners of every land determine whatever they want to put on their respective lands or the kind of content each land is used for – such as parks, cinemas, art galleries, interactive sections like casinos, paintings, etc.
Decentraland already has many exciting in-game places where users can explore.
Playing the game requires players to have a computer with a minimum of 4 gigabytes of storage, a quad-core processor, a good video card, and an up-to-date browser like Chrome or Firefox.
Players also need an excellent internet connection and a Metamask wallet. Users without a Metamask wallet can only play as guests.
The Guest mode is a beat-down version of the game, allowing users to explore the virtual world already built on Decentraland but without access to various other creative in-game tools.
To the game, players need to buy Decentraland’s in-game cryptocurrency called “MANA.” MANA is used to purchase in-game items such as land plots, wearables, and other collectibles.
Although not compulsory, if you want to build your personalized virtual world in the game (Which other users can explore), you can purchase lands. Like in many other crypto games, the land is an NFT and can be sold for fiat or cryptocurrency.
After you connect your wallet, you need to create your avatar. The avatar is your representation in the virtual world, so make it look the way you desire.
In modeling your avatar, you can choose from various traits and attributes: head, body, costume, and other collectibles. You can also head to the marketplace to purchase other items you like.
Once your avatar is ready, you’re set to play the game. Give your avatar a name and agree to the game’s terms and conditions. Then, you’re ready to play!
Your first interface is the Genesis Plaza, where you and other players just starting their journey get to play.
Control your avatar using the standard “W, A, S, D” keys used in most PC games.
There is also a tutorial box at the bottom of the screen to guide you in the gameplay. Also, through the tutorial box, you can learn the game’s basics until you’re fully familiar with it.
Another exciting thing about this game is its function and genre. It is categorized as a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO), meaning that players can interact with each other in the virtual world.
Unlike other MMO games that impose various missions and objectives on players (Such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, or Final Fantasy 14), Decentraland offers an open-world environment with no set quests and objectives for players.
On Decentraland, players can interact with each other via various in-game events such as concerts. In fact, musicians Grimes and Deadmau5 have both held a concert on Decentraland.
Obviously, the possibilities in this game are enormous and endless as there are various places to explore in the virtual world, and the numbers are growing every day.
In the nearest future, with the recent developments in augmented reality and the metaverse, Decentraland will be a massive virtual world with unimaginable possibilities.
Based on this game’s above attributes and potential, I believe it deserves 8 out of 10 for its gameplay.
Story
The story behind the game is simple and fascinating: The founders want to create a virtual world where there’s interaction and communication between users.
Furthermore, it grants users ownership of its virtual land, allowing users to generate personalized in-game content for themselves and the game’s community.
As the name implies, Decentraland is decentralized, and the game’s features are not determined only by the developer. Instead, the game’s community largely determines what types of in-game features they want.
The story and idea of this game almost sound like fantasy or fairytale. However, in this day and age, everybody will agree that the virtual world, coupled with blockchain and augmented reality, is the world’s future, and the game will only improve.
Therefore, for the game story criteria, I give it 8/10.
Music
It’s interesting to know that due to the immersive nature and concepts of Decentraland, players can enjoy all sorts of live music in the game.
Since the game launched, music artists like Grimes and Deadmau5 have performed in it.
Decentraland hosted its first live multi-artist music festival on July 11th, 2021, as part of the activities lined up for its Art week.
The festival was sponsored by BEAR NFT, in collaboration with the NFT marketplace KnownOrigin and the digital artist collective Illumino. Artists including Ookay, SNBRN, Dr. Fresch, Autograf, and Win and Woo performed at the festival.
So, if you’re a music lover, Decentraland will give you an incredible in-game music experience. On game music, it’s a solid 8/10.
Tokenomics
To fully understand Decentraland, it’s important to know the key details in its tokenomics. The 2 primary tokens in this game are LAND and MANA.
LAND
This is an ERC721 token, meaning it is a Non-Fungible-Token (NFT). It also contains information on the locations of land in Decentraland. It’s collectible and scarce.
Each LAND token is unique, and its data cannot be replicated or exchanged with another token.
LAND differs from other NFTs, like the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, as players can use LAND to build 3D spaces of their choice in the game. The total amount of LAND also corresponds to the total fixed amount of MANA tokens.
There are 2 ways to buy LAND.
The first is through auctions announced by the development team to sell unclaimed LAND.
The second method is by going to Decentraland’s Marketplace to find some land units to buy. Check the land details and its bid if the land is pre-owned. To purchase such land, you have to place a bid that the current owners will accept.
MANA
This is the second token in the game. It’s an ERC-20 fungible token used in exchange for LAND parcels to purchase various collectibles and items on the game’s marketplace. It has a maximum supply of 2,200,000,000, and only 1,800,000,000 is available.
At the time of writing this review, the market cap is over $1,800,000,000, and the trading volume is in the north of $67,000,000.
Unlike LAND, MANA can buy and trade on many crypto exchange platforms like Binance, FTX, OKX, and others.
The tokenomics of Decentraland is just like most blockchain-based games, and the crypto market determines the fungible token’s value.
Due to the current bearish season in the crypto market, MANA is trading at $0.68, which is a significant 83% down from its all-time high (ATH) of $5.85 almost a year ago.
For its tokenomics, this game has done well above average and deserves a rating of 7 out of 10.
Community
Through the Decentraland Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), Decentraland has given its community an almost-total influence on the continued development of its virtual game world.
The DAO owns important in-game assets and has the power to schedule votes to decide on several issues, such as:
- When and what LAND to Auction.
- Cost of primary sales.
- LAND upgrade.
- Add/remove in-game content from the server.
According to an article published by Decentraland on August 10th 2018, it was noted that:
Decentraland is fundamentally a community-driven project. We’re building an open, virtual world on top of open source tools, so sharing and collaboration are at the very core of Decentraland’s values.
Decentraland
With the above in mind, I can say that Decentraland has built a thriving community of players and developers.
Through the game, players can create their virtual worlds and are encouraged to use the tools provided to build anything they can imagine.
Decentraland also has an active community on social media platforms such as Twitter and Reddit. This helps drive engagement between users who want to interact with each other outside the game itself, where there may be fewer opportunities for interactions.
On community, it’s very easy to give it a perfect 10/10.
Earning Ability
Decentraland is not an ordinary game: It’s a whole virtual universe with many earnings opportunities on the platform.
Just like in real life, you can work for a company on Decentraland and get paid or work as a freelancer for other players. Players can also create wearables and sell them to other players, etc.
Here are some ways to make money on Decentraland:
- Buying and selling LAND: This is one of the most common ways of making money in Decentraland and crypto. Players buy LAND at a low price and sell it when the value increases considerably.
- Buy and hold MANA: Like in the case of LAND, players can buy MANA on various exchange platforms and hold until its price increases. For example, when Facebook announced its rebranding to Meta, the price of MANA increased significantly. Players can also use MANA to buy other in-game items, which can be sold later at higher prices.
- Create and Sell wearables: If you’re a designer versed in 3D design, you can create and design clothes and other items on Decentraland. You will then sell these items on the virtual market and generate income.
- Play-To-Earn Games: This is the most common way of making money in crypto games. You can play games on Decentraland and win MANA, LAND, and collectibles.
There are various ways you can earn on Decentraland, and the game provides several opportunities to make money.
I believe the potential is high for players’ income generation on Decentraland. I will rate this section 8 out of 10.
Frequently Asked Questions
What equipment or software do I need to play in Decentraland?
To play Decentraland, you need a PC or Mac running on Chrome, Firefox, or Brave browsers.
Do I need a wallet to play in Decentraland?
Yes, you need a wallet to fully access all Decentraland features. However, you can play the beat-down version if you don’t have a wallet.
What is MANA?
MANA is an ERC20 fungible token of Decentraland.
What is LAND?
LAND is the ERC-721 Non-Fungible token in Decentraland.
Can I earn money on Decentraland?
Yes, there are lots of opportunities to earn money on Decentraland.
Conclusion
Decentraland is a virtual world that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. The project launched in early 2020 and has since seen steady growth.
In this game, users can buy virtual land, build on it, and monetize their creations. The development team is constantly adding new features and improving the platform.
Overall, Decentraland is a great way to get started in blockchain gaming. The platform is easy to use and has a lot of potential. I look forward to seeing what the team comes up with next.
Vova Feldman
Entrepreneur, inventor, investor, crypto believer. Always trust the process, persist, and don't let the a-holes get you down.
