Introduction to Decentraland (MANA)
Introducing Decentraland (MANA) - a major player in the metaverse space:
According to the Decentraland official documentation: "Decentraland is a decentralized virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Within the Decentraland platform, users can create, experience, and monetize their content and applications". [Decentraland. Introduction. (Accessed December 16, 2021)].
This concept of decentralization is of great importance when considering Decentraland.
A majority of users currently meet, interact, converse, conduct business, share content, and play games on the huge for profit platforms such as Facebook (META), Twitter, and the like. The Decentraland founders believed that a platform modeled in decentralized format would yield significant user benefits over the widely utilized centralized service providers.
The two key benefits emphasized by Decentraland include: users are able to benefit from platform transactions by keeping the total value of their platform contributions instead of allowing the revenue to flow to the benefit of a single party; and, a decentralized protocol lessens the risk of censorship and susceptibility to failures in platform infrastructure, hacks and other security breaches.
Decentraland found its conceptual genesis in 2015
Argentinians Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano initially launched Decentraland as a 2D grid which by using a proof of work algorithm allocated pixels to its users.
The Beta version launched in 2017 with land developers selling the virtual parcels for as low as $20. Over time, Decentraland has evolved into the 3D metaverse we are presently becoming accustomed to.
Nonetheless, with the advent of NFTs and their ever growing popularity through 2020 and 2021, desirable virtual land parcels are now selling for between $6,000 and $100,000.
Earlier in 2021, Sotheby's (a London based high end Auction House) created a digital replica of its London HQ in Decentraland as a virtual gallery displaying digital art.
And in June 2021, Republic Realm (a New York based investment firm offering digital real estate opportunities) paid $913,228 for 259 parcels of Decentraland for the creation of a virtual shopping district.
Decentraland Use Cases
Decentraland is so much more than a typical video game. At this time there are five identified use cases for Decentraland contained in it's whitepaper:
- Applications: Using Decentraland's free scripting tools, users can easily create applications and three-dimensional scenes permitting rich interactions for visitors.
- Content Curation: Neighborhoods have sprung up in Decentraland which attract like-minded users and organic growth of communities.
- Advertising: Increased user traffic in various communities has encouraged advertisers to purchase Land and set up billboards to promote their product/service.
- Digital Collectibles: As users are given full ownership of their creations, the NFTs representing these digital collectibles are collected and traded within the Marketplace.
- Social: Decentraland provides a vehicle for users to enjoy a more interactive style of socializing with friends, business associates, and any other community members.
However, the Decentraland whitepaper places no limitation on use, setting forth: "There are no technical specifications to what could be built in Decentraland. Therefore, other use cases could emerge, such as training and professional development, education, therapy, 3D design, and virtual tourism, among others". [Decentraland. Whitepaper, 1.5. (Accessed December 16, 2021)].
For further information:
You can enter and explore the Decentraland metaverse by clicking here.
You can access the Decentraland Whitepaper by clicking here.
You can view the original list of District Proposals on GitHub by clicking here.
Some final thoughts on Decentraland:
Just at this time when the world is moving toward digitization, Decentraland has exhibited success in the monetization of its virtual world for the benefit of its users. The complete ownership and custody of a users content and creations replete with the opportunity to fully reap the benefits therefrom is a testament to the effects of decentralization evident in the Decentraland metaverse. And that makes Decentraland unique from the other projects in this space.