Abstract

"Decentraland" is a virtual world and community based on blockchain technology. Users develop and own land plots, artworks and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Members also joined the platform’s Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

As a DAO, Decentraland gives the community the power to participate in project governance. Decentraland's native digital currency, MANA, and all in-game assets are built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Introduction

If you are a player of "Second Life" and have traded digital currencies, it is likely that Interested in "Decentraland". Since 2016, the platform has grown from 2D basic experiments to large-scale 3D worlds.

Decentraland developers Estaban Ordano and Ari Meilich built a virtual space that encompasses digital real estate parcels, items, and other customizable assets. All of this can be purchased via MANA, Decentraland’s ERC-20 token.

Players of "Decentraland" can use digital currency or legal currency to purchase MANA on multiple trading platforms. ERC-721 non-fungible tokens represent unique assets in Decentraland, including LAND properties and other collectible items.

How does Decentraland work?

Decentraland is an online space that perfectly integrates virtual reality and blockchain technology. Unlike most online games, players in this game have direct control over the rules of the online world. DAO supports token holders to directly vote on game content and organizational policies. Every aspect of the game is affected by this mechanic, from the types of items that can be launched to the investment in the DAO treasury.

Non-fungible tokens represent in-game collectibles, including apparel, items, and in-game virtual real estate— —LAND. Users store these tokens in their digital currency wallets and sell them to other users through the Decentraland marketplace. For example, if you want to buy yourself a new mask, you need to spend Decentraland's native digital currency MANA.

In addition to trading items and property, players can also place games, activities, and artwork in their personal space to interact with others interactive. Additionally, there is an option to monetize LAND. It all depends on what the player decides to do with the land they own.

The player's destiny, success, and ultimate journey depend on themselves and their hard work and imagination.

Decentraland has many use cases, including advertising and content curation. However, for new players who want to get involved with NFTs, the threshold is high. High Ethereum gas fees have nearly doubled the price of purchasing some cosmetics. Land prices also run into the thousands of dollars, making it difficult for some players to acquire such expensive ownership.

What are LAND and MANA?

As mentioned earlier, MANA is Decentraland’s native digital currency. In addition to functioning as a digital currency, it also gives each MANA holder voting rights in the Decentraland DAO.

In order to participate in the governance of the DAO, users should convert their MANA into a wrapped MANA (wMANA) and lock it in the DAO. Each wMANA represents one vote in governance proposals. You can obtain MANA on the trading platform, or you can exchange for this token by selling collectibles on the Decentraland market. DAO also has its own MANA treasury to provide financial support for its decision-making and operations.

LAND is a non-fungible token that represents land owned by players in the community. Similar to MANA, it also provides voting rights as part of the Decentraland governance protocol.

However, LAND does not need to be locked in the DAO, and each LAND token is equal to two thousand votes. Players who own numerous parcels can combine them together to form a single real estate token with voting rights equal to the contained parcels.

What is Decentraland DAO?

One of the biggest features of "Decentraland" is its focus on decentralization. As we just discussed, the in-game player community controls the land, digital assets, and development of Decentraland.

As a decentralized autonomous organization, the project uses open source code to implement standardized management of rules. Anyone who stakes MANA or owns LAND can create proposals or vote on proposals.

Decentraland DAO runs within the DAO software solution Aragon, using an agent that can interact with Ethereum smart contracts.

Use cases of "Decentraland"

The developers were already thinking about it when they started designing the platform. What potential new use cases can the blockchain community be used for? They list five main use cases in their white paper:

Applications: Users can use Decentraland's scripting language to create applications and 3D scenes to provide richer interactive content.

Content planning:Decentraland has developed neighborhood areas, and many like-minded fans have come here to form a growing organic community.

Advertising: Player traffic in the neighborhood creates space for advertising brands to buy and set up billboards.

Digital collectibles: NFT items can be collected, created and traded in the Decentraland market, giving users ownership.

Social: Join communities on social media platforms, or even offline groups, to experience a more interactive way of socializing with friends.

As with most games with a built-in blockchain economy, players have the opportunity to earn benefits. Speculation is very common, and some popular LANDs cost a fortune to buy.

How to store MANA and LAND

You need to use the browser Only the integrated digital currency wallet can fully interact with "Decentraland". Currently, the development team recommends using MetaMask to store MANA (ERC-20) and LAND (ERC-721) tokens.

Summary

As a blockchain virtual reality platform, Decentraland is unique. Players are free to explore the entire game world and make decisions as they wish. With more than five years of careful incubation by the development team, “Decentraland” has grown from a small project to what it is today. It is quite mature compared to other digital currency projects.