What is Decentraland, and Is it Free to Play?

A blockchain-based virtual reality game, Decentraland allows you to create your world, where you can buy, sell or rent land. This innovative game has taken the metaverse gaming sector by storm, and today we shall learn what Decentraland is. And if Decentraland is free to play.

What is Decentraland?

Imagine a world where you could travel, socialize and create an alternate reality with thousands of other real-time users within the same digital universe. Such a world is a reality, owing to the innovative creation of the metaverse, which refers to an amalgamation of augmented reality, virtual reality, and the internet.

Decentraland is a booming product of such metaverse trends- it is a software that runs on the Ethereum platform where the users can sell, trade, and buy digital real estate (non-fungible unique digital assets) while playing and interacting with the other users in the virtual world. 

Anyone can purchase, sell or lease land peer-to-peer on the official Decentraland Global Market or through Open sea. Founded in 2015 by Esteban Ordno and Ari Meilich and launched in 2017. Decentraland runs on the Ethereum ERC-20 token known as MANA that lets the user buy plots of LAND, monetize them, and create avatars, in-world goods, and art that are NFT-based items unique to each user.

Land in Decentraland

The crypto asset LAND is the game’s real estate lots among the Non-fungible tokens(NFT), which defines the ownership of land parcels. The users can buy land lots in the game by using MANA and creatively construct whatever they can afford.

The game’s economy develops in the same way as the real world, with land valuation directly proportional to the purchase rate. A user can have their games, stores, and art built on their in-game land, just like the real-world ownership of real estate.

MANA in Decentraland

MANA is the cryptocurrency that helps purchase LAND and virtual goods and services within the Decentraland. For example, one can buy wearables, collectibles, and land lots with the help of MANA. Uniswap Exchange aids in converting MANA from other currencies. 

Architecture 

Decentraland has various component layers built using Ethereum smart contracts.

1. Consensus layer: It tracks LAND ownership and content through a smart contract.
2. The Content layer: This layer makes use of a decentralized distribution system to render content in the virtual world.
3. The Real-time layer: It provides peer-to-peer interaction and connection with each other.

A distinct set of cartesian coordinates marks each piece of land where the particular land has a user claimed ownership through a blockchain-based ledger of encoded parcels. The content can range anywhere from a three-dimensional scene or an interactive game.

Marketplace and Builder

Decentraland outside the gaming environment has a marketplace and a drag-and-drop editor that can be used to build items and scenes in the game.

The marketplace aids the users to exchange and manage LAND tokens costing MANA. In addition, users can use the marketplace to transfer parcels and in-game items such as art: wearables, and unique names.

The Decentraland builder tool helps create and curate a unique experience within the LAND parcels. The developers can access customization libraries and payment implementations to design interactive scenes with the editing tool.

Is Decentraland Free to Play?

Decentraland is partly free to play, where a player can explore the virtual world by visiting the website on the browser. It is free to play in the sense that one can easily explore the world and use some of its features for free. But in order to fully experience the wonders of Decentraland, one has to connect their account with a digital wallet. One cannot receive daily rewards, participate in events, play certain games or buy LANDS on Decentraland.

Once you invest monetarily in Decentraland due to its play-to-earn model, you can buy LANDs, build casinos, art galleries, pubs, etc., on the land and monetize it.

What exactly is Free on Decentraland?

1. You can explore the world of Decentraland and navigate through famous LANDs and ESTATEs and experience virtual reality first hand.
2. You can customize your avatar, give it a name that is not already claimed and explore freely if you’re above 13.
3. You can interact with other users in the virtual world.

What does Decentraland offer?

On Decentraland, one can buy, rent and sell digital real estate, all while embarking on a journey to explore and interact while playing the game in the augmented world. Over time, the app has incorporated in-world payments, peer-to-peer communication, and interactive apps to make the interface seamless. 

It offers

Land

Each parcel of land stands by the ratio of 16m by 16m in size on Decentraland; these land parcels in the metaverse are stored in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). An NFT is unique and irreproducible. Hence, like in the real world, land ownership is excellent and finite, making it more valuable.

How to earn from LAND?

Building Casinos

Decentraland through the Decentral Games uses crypto-, the safest and fastest way of the transaction in the casinos built on the LAND. It allows the players to use the BTC or Ethererum they exchange for MANA to make their casinos that offer a vast range of games and exciting experiences.

To start a casino, one needs Decentral Games Tokens supplied to the casinos on Decentraland. To earn Decentral Games tokens, one needs to :

1. Mine – Players have to mine DG when playing games using MANA. One can play at a group table and use the NFT wearables to earn extra points.
2. Referrals – Decentraland allows one to get DG tokens if they are an affiliate by which they can refer new gamers and get into their affiliate program. 
3. Governance offer – the company, gives regular DG bonuses if one locks their MANA tokens in the Decentral Games governance contract.

In Decentraland casinos, one can play popular casino games using MANA in place of fiat currency. Games such as Poker, roulette, blackjack, slots, etc., can be played.

Art Galleries

Cryptopunks and Crptokitties are such non-fungible artworks that the owners can exhibit in the art galleries.

One of the oldest auction houses is Sotheby’s, which opened a replica of its London art gallery. One can earn MANA by displaying their NFT art or by purchasing and selling art to other users. These also allow players to showcase their Non-fungible Token artwork, including Cryptokitties and Cryptopunks, which can be bought and sold using MANA.

Clubs 

There are a plethora of events in clubs that the users can attend; such events and clubs can be constructed on your LAND, and one can earn through the entry fee and other itineraries within the club in the form of MANA.

Estate

The community-driven ecosystem of Decentraland is very similar to the real world. A land’s value in the world is determined by its location and the development done on it by the owner. Estates can be built by merging land parcels or by buying them adjacent to each other. It is all about constructing art galleries, interactive games, casinos, and concerts.

To Sell an Estate or a Parcel:

1. Find Access My Assets and navigate to the asset’s details page.
2. Press Sell on the details page.
3. You need to set a price and expiry date for your listing and then put it up for sale.
4. Verify the payment in your Ethereum client and wait for the system verification.

NFT Art Shows

We are witnessing a groundbreaking trend in the domain of the Digital art market, where the goal is to create a virtual world in which the user can have complete control over the content they share and design, giving them the scope to monetize their artworks independently.

The NFT Art shows are represented as a three-dimensional world that the user can navigate and browse. It is divided into 90,000 lands representing virtual spaces where users can sell, rent and buy their NFT content.

The New York platform Snark. Art is the first NFT art show to approach Decentraland. They have inaugurated travel diary, a digital exhibition of crypto-art, curated by Sonia Belfiore, exclusively used in the augmented world of Decentraland.

Recently, Sotheby’s ‌launched in the NFT metaverse, Decentraland. The auction house has created a replica of the London Art Gallery. The virtual gallery has 5 floors to exhibit ‌digital art. 

Michael Bouhanna, head of sales at Sotheby’s. Says, We see spaces like Decentraland as the next frontier for digital art. This is where artists, collectors, and viewers can engage with one another from any part of the world to showcase fundamentally scarce and unique art. it is also accessible to anyone to view.

Conclusion 

Decentraland is one of the most reputed blockchain metaverse games out there that allow players to create, monetize and experience the pinnacle of augmented reality. This experience, whether it is paid or free, is something that we find out in this article. We find out if Decentraland can be played for free, what the game offers, and plenty of other resources that would make the user experience seamless.