How to buy land in the Metaverse?

Buying property in the virtual world has taken the investment sector by storm. To buy property in such augmented reality, one needs to first sign up on a Metaverse platform like The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, or Decentraland, among many others at the same time, hold a digital wallet to help with the in-game transactions and holding your cryptocurrency.

With the aid of the Metaverse ecosystem, one can rent, buy, sell properties in the digital world and attain ownership through non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

We shall learn in detail how to buy land in the Metaverse, the Top 5 platforms to buy real estate from, and finally, how to make money using the Decentraland Metaverse in this article.

What is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is a digital universe amalgamating multiple technology elements like virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D modeling, and many more to construct a digital world. The upholders of the Metaverse believe in working, staying, playing, and keeping connected with friends through virtual trips, games, concerts, and conferences worldwide.

The term “Metaverse” finds its origin in a 1992 science fiction novel called the Snow Crash. It can be defined in the words of Matthew Ballas:

The Metaverse is an expansive network of persistent, real-time rendered 3D worlds and simulations that support the continuity of identity, objects, history, payments, and entitlements. It can be experienced synchronously by an effectively unlimited number of users, each with an individual sense of presence.”

Steps to Buying Land in the Metaverse

The following steps shall guide the readers in buying property in the Metaverse:

Step 1

Log in on metaverse platforms like The Sandbox, Decentraland, or Axie Infinity and visit the marketplace to search for the requisite property.

Step 2

You can browse the various offerings of land and compare the price points in the marketplace.

Step 3

You may select the digital piece of land that you have decided to buy and click on it to read more about the acquiring process. You can only buy a particular land with the approved cryptocurrency for that platform, for example, you shall need (AXS) Axie Infinity Shards to buy in Axie Infinity.

Step 4

You have to link your digital wallet to your digital estate platform. You may use famous digital wallets like MetaMask available in the market, which is compatible with almost every platform in the Metaverse.

Step 5

You need to fill your digital wallet with the requisite amount of cryptocurrency compatible with the gaming platform that you are using. You can safely store your cryptocurrency in the digital wallet and once you have linked your wallet to the gaming platform, you need to simply click on the BUY option to get your chosen real estate.

Step 6

Once you are done with the transaction, the piece of property that you buy will be stored in the form of an NFT linked to your digital wallet. You can find your property under the NFT tab in your digital wallet.

How to buy Virtual Land in Decentraland?

Create a crypto Wallet – Metamask

A crypto wallet is essentially needed for buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrencies.

One of the most trusted and flexible crypto wallets happens to be MetaMask.

Steps:

Go to Metamask and get their official Chrome plugin
Click on “Add to Chrome” after that “Add Extension“
Metamask is now installed in your Chrome browser.
To create an account, click on the top right corner of your browser on the MetaMask Logo Icon.
Click on the option “Try it now.”
Hit “Continue”
Create a password and click on “Create.”
Click on next and then accept the terms and conditions.
Then, create a password for your MetaMask account and press on “Create.”
You will be sent a secret backup phrase of 12 words. Store the term safely and securely. Click on “Reveal Secret Words” it will be used for recovery if you ever forget your primary account password.
Once you have verified your secret phrase, click on “confirm.”
Now you have created your account successfully, and it can be used to connect with your Decentraland

Get a Decentraland Account and Passport

Decentraland passports, like real-life passports, are used to identify one’s character and are used to verify one’s identity when logging into Decentraland.

To create a Decentraland account :

Go to Decentraland’s official website and press on “Start Exploring.”
Click on the Play Button and choose MetaMask, which will connect Metamask with Decentraland.
Press the sign button in the MetaMask Wallet extension.
You will reach the character avatar customization page.
Click on done after you have created and named your avatar.
Click on Next and then Accept the Terms and Conditions.
You will initially get in-game tutorials before you can start exploring the game.
You will need to put some money into your MetaMask account. This can be done by directly buying CryptoCurrency from your MetaMask account or using a CryptoCurrency Wallet such as Coinbase.
Now the next step is to buy land in Decentraland.

Buy Land in Decentraland

Once you have your MetaMask and Decentraland account set up and have finished your basic tutorial, you can proceed towards buying land in Decentraland.

From the bottom right corner of the screen, you can click on the option called “Builder.”
Choose the “LAND” option from the left, and the game will display all the owned lands. Since you don’t own any land at this point, the game will prompt you to buy land.
Click on the “Buy Land” option.
Next, you will be taken to the Official Marketplace of Decentraland; here, you may have to reconnect to Decentraland again to see your profile in the marketplace.
Once you are connected, you can browse through the lands in Decentraland. You can find listings of land that you can buy at a specific price.
After you have selected the land, you need to bid for it depending on what price the landowner wants to sell it for.
This is the procedure by which you can buy your land on Decentraland.

How to buy Virtual Land in Axie Infinity?

The gameplay of Axie Infinity is centered around the mythical land called Lunacia, where every land or plot is divided into tokenized pieces known as the Terra. ‌Terra has gained immense popularity among investors, and now we shall see how to buy land on Axie Infinity:

First, open your account.
Open your wallet that is linked to Axie Infinity.
Visit the Marketplace on Axie Infinity.
Open the menu and choose the option ‌LAND from the drop-down option.
Browse through the land offerings and choose your property.
Since your wallet is already linked, you can click on the BUY land option and confirm the transaction.
Congratulations, you own a virtual piece of Terra in Axie Infinity.

How to buy Virtual Land in Sandbox?

Sandbox sells land during public property sales, which are officially announced in ‌community forums.

Create a crypto wallet – Metamask

First, you create a Metamask account and download the Metamask Chrome extension for that. Go to Metamask and get their official Chrome plugin.
Click on the Sign-in button placed at the top-right corner in the Sandbox once the Metamask wallet has been installed.
You need to choose the Web 3 (Metamask) option from the drop-down menu.
Now you have to enter the email account and user ID and create an account.
You will need SAND tokens in your wallet as well as ETH for the transaction fees.

Buy Land

Click on the land you want to purchase
Regular land will be marked grey if available and Premium land will be marked yellow.
Click on the blue BUY button to buy a land
The land will be kept on the reservation until a sale is live. The land will turn purple if booked.
The amount of ETH charged will be shown in your bank account, prompting you to confirm the payment.
The moment you successfully buy the land, the land will turn red to show that you own it now.

Top 5 Platforms to Buy Real Estate in Metaverse

Decentraland (MANA)

The virtual world of Decentraland holds more market capitalization than any other metaverse project in the market, with a plethora of innovative characteristics which are unique in the gaming world. The booming industry of metaverse industry sees Decentraland at its apex with its virtual LAND and estates to buy, sell and rent, in the current virtual estate trend.

The token of Decentraland MANA was launched in 2017; hence the users had ample time to get acquainted with the virtual space, which resembles games like Roblox and Minecraft. In the game, ‌visitors and users can gamble in casinos, attend parties in clubs and concerts, go shopping in the shopping districts and visit NFT art galleries.

One of the fastest-growing multiverse cryptocurrencies went from 75 cents in October to a peak at $5.50 in November. Decentraland has a market capitalization of $4.5 billion added due to its significant fast-paced growth bringing it to a whopping $6 billion total market capitalization. The MANA token is ranked at #33 among all cryptocurrency tokens.

The Sandbox (SAND)

The biggest competitor of Decentraland is The Sandbox; since both, the projects share a very similar ecosystem and interface, both the projects are large scale with a multiplayer real estate-based aesthetic. However, both the games have their fair share of differences, with The Sandbox holding ‌massive institutional backing.

The Sandbox token was also released in 2017; however, the Metaverse is still in its infantile stage and remains in its developmental stage. The market value of SAND tokens went from 78 cents to a staggering $8.40 in a matter of some days. Softbank invested in the promising growth trajectory even though the Metaverse is relatively new. The company invested a sum of $93 million in helping get Sandbox faster in the market.

Although Sandbox is rather juvenile in terms of market immersion than Decentraland, it is found to be ramping up quickly by selling large quantities of land plots and expanding its Megacity. SAND is a promising token that is turning out to be one of the best cryptos in digital real estate.

Axie Infinity (AXS)

Axie Infinity is one of the strongest in its domain which has been on the investor’s radar quite profusely. The selling of Terra lands and other Axie NFTs has become a lucrative offering in the path of digital real estate.

The AXS token had an astronomical rise in the summer of 2021 due to the effects of the pandemic on the economy. Its play-to-earn model turned out to be a new avenue of income for thousands of users. The token that traded under $4 rose to $160.

One can earn Smooth Love Potions (SLP) simply by playing the game; these are used to mint NFTs which can later be sold on the marketplace or other players. The rewards from Axie Infinity are so staggering that people can earn a livelihood simply by playing the game.

The new feature in Axie Infinity is buying land named Terra, which is a sound way of investing in the digital real estate of a game that is stable and profitable. The lands in the form of tokens can be bought, sold, rented, and even used to mine resources in the game.

Enjin (ENJ)

Enjin is a lot like Ethereum, which lets its users invest in the underlying infrastructure of the ever-growing metaverse real estate industry. Although the platform does not have a metaverse of its own, it provides a very convenient mode for users to mind tokenized assets. It is gradually becoming a virtual real estate niche.

The Enjin network powers a plethora of NFT games that tokenize their assets through the platform. Users can store their NFTs in the platform’s secure and versatile digital wallet. This platform lets users create NFTs that can be bridged and traded among different blockchain games. The assets are typically items from the game itself.

The platform has a partnership with Labs Group, which is an NFT real estate platform that allows real estate assets to be sold on the blockchain.

Bloktopia (BLOK)

Bloktopia is a massive neo-futuristic metaverse that makes navigation within the Metaverse simple. Instead of traveling to different locations like the other metaverses in Bloktopia, one traverses upward in one skyscraper.

It has 21 floors which serve as a tribute to Bitcoin’s 21 million total supply. It is filled with immersive games and educational resources to learn more about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Therefore, it becomes a sound experience for both seasoned players and newbies.

In Bloktopia one can own property spaces and rent them out to advertisers which get paid by the advertisers. Due to the neon aesthetics of the game, the flashy advertisements don’t look out of place.

Crypto exchange KuCoin announced that they will install their office spaces in the Bloktopia towers due to the present trend of digital real estate that is booming.

How are people making money in Decentraland Metaverse?

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, just like in the real world, ownership of the land is unique 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 to be used in the casinos built on the LAND. It allows the players to use the BTC or Ethererum they exchange for MANA to build their casinos that offer a huge range of games and exciting experiences.

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

Mine – Players have to mine DG when playing games using MANA. to earn extra points, one can play in a group table and use the NFT wearables.
Referrals – if one is an affiliate, Decentraland allows them to get DG tokens by referring new gamers.
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, Slots, Blackjack and Roulette, etc. can be played.

Art Galleries

Owners can trade and exhibit their Non-Fungible Token Artwork, such as Cryptopunks and Cryptokitties. One of the oldest auction houses, Sotheby’s 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 own Non-fungible Token artwork which can include Cryptokitties and Cryptopunks, which can be bought and sold using MANA.

Clubs

There are a plethora of events in clubs that can be attended by the users; such events and clubs can be constructed on your own LAND and one can earn through the entry fee and other itineraries within the club in the form of MANA. Players can pay MANA and enjoy access to DJs and concerts.

Gaming Applications

Decentraland has been providing SDKs for coders to render games and increase the game’s land value. One of the popular games in the virtual world is Whac-a-mole.

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’s all about building environments like art galleries, casinos and games where people can interact.

Conclusion

Metaverse is a path-breaking new trend in the world of technology right now. Although in the initial stages of its development the amalgamation of the virtual world and the real world real estate has trapped the eyes of big investors and the masses that keep a penchant for the new world of digital real estate. In this article, we learn how to buy land in different metaverses, the top 5 metaverses for digital real estate investment, and a comprehensive guide about how to earn money on Decentraland. We hope to have catered for all your doubts and apprehensions for you to risk-free invest in the augmented booming world of the Metaverse.