Lately everyone has been wondering if the bear market is coming or going, up or down, but regardless, we continue to make good content for you. Our journey through meta universes has led us to Decentraland (MANA).
What is Decentraland
So, Decentraland is a decentralized virtual reality platform on the Ethereum blockchain. Here users can buy and sell digital real estate, create art projects and just play games.
The platform is constantly evolving, introducing interactive applications, in-game payments and new ways for users to communicate.
Decentraland opened its virtual doors to users in February 2020. At first glance, you may think you’re looking at a blocky game world, and after about 30 seconds you’ll want to say “Holy crap, that’s Minecraft.” And you’d be right, but only half right.
Yes, the world is very similar to Minecraft, but in terms of game concept, it’s a completely different product.
The game area is a relatively large map with a 300×300 grid. On it there are approximately 100 thousand units of land plots, which are called Parcells. The size of each Parcel is currently 16×16, and the Parcel itself is an ERC-721 Land token.
The peculiarities of the real real estate market are also relevant for Decentraland. Inside the universe there are elite areas where the cost of land will be much more expensive than outside of it. If the player acquires several plots located nearby, he has the opportunity to build large buildings. However, there is a small problem, which is that land is scarce and there is always a shortage of it, so you will have to pay well to acquire real estate.
Decentraland project
The project itself was launched in 2017 by a foundation called Decentraland Foundation by Argentinian entrepreneurs Ariel Meilich and Esteban Ordano. To fund its future activities, the Decentraland team held an initial coin offering (ICO), raising around 26 million dollars in just 5 minutes.
The fund currently retains 20% of the initial token offering, owns the intellectual property rights, and maintains the Decentraland website.
MANA token
Decentraland’s backbone is the MANA cryptocurrency, which can be used to purchase land.
Owning a MANA token allows users to interact with the platform, customize their avatars and more. The token also gives users the ability to vote on policy updates, participate in LAND auctions, and decide suggestions for improving the platform.
When LAND is auctioned, the MANA tokens used to purchase it are burned or withdrawn from circulation, making the MANA offering deflationary.
LAND token
Each token within the Decentraland platform is a common ERC-721 token or popularly NFT, aka LAND. Like any NFT token, LAND can be purchased on relevant marketplaces such as OpenSea. Decentraland also has its own official marketplace where you can buy land and name it.
Decentralization
One of the main features of the game, is considered to be the ability to completely control it. No rules or corporate assignments restrict gamers. Each user can influence almost everything.
“Decentraland is a world that is truly decentralized. This means that its entire infrastructure is community-driven, and no company will have the ability to change this world or hinder access to it in any way,” said founder Ari Meilich.
To give every player a voice, the project team brought Decentraland users together and formed a DAO to take on the management tasks. With its help, issues on LAND, Estates, Wearables and Marketplace smart contracts are being closed.
Well, lest the DAO community loses its mind one day, it is supported by a special security advisory board (SAB), which acts as a quality assurer.
Thematic neighborhoods
Earlier we mentioned that land prices can range from high to very high and it will depend on the prestige of the neighborhood.
So, in the world of Decentraland there are, themed neighborhoods, for example Fashion Street has stores of famous brands, and on the territory of Decentraland University you can visit various lectures. But if fashion, art and education do not inspire you, you can walk to Red Light Street. By the way, the closer the land is to the neighborhood, the higher its value.
Each neighborhood has its own leader, who determines its vector of development. And in some cases, the leader is the DAO. If you want to open a grocery store or build a building on the territory of some district, you should discuss the conditions of development with them.
