Decentraland first experience: a virtual world based on Ethereum
Editor's Note: This article comes fromBlue Fox Notes (ID: lanhubiji), reprinted by Odaily with authorization.
Blue Fox Notes (ID: lanhubiji)
Summary
, reprinted by Odaily with authorization.
Foreword: Decentraland released its virtual world last week, and Lanhu Note also had a preliminary experience of the product. There are already some virtual buildings, some of which are very dazzling in design, but overall, it is still in the very early stage of product polishing . According to opensea's NFT sales volume, Decentraland ranks first, with sales of 1273.8 ETH in the past seven days, which is about 340,000 US dollars. From the point of view of its token economic mechanism, Decentraland’s MANA token can be used to purchase land in the virtual world. The supply of land in the virtual world is 90,000 pieces. In addition, MANA can be used to purchase items in the virtual world. Even naming requires MANA . Then there are platform fees, donations, and governance votes on core decisions. Judging from the use of MANA tokens, it is deeply embedded in the scene of its virtual world. In other words, the value of MANA depends on the development of Decentraland itself. Now that the product has been released, will it develop? Everything is still in a very early stage, and everyone can experience and observe for themselves. The author of this article is Michael McSweeney (the block), translated by "Auker" of the "Blue Fox Notes" community.
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Summary
Decentraland, a virtual world based on Ethereum, was released last week.
I spent hours exploring the world, participating in events, visiting locations, and exploring as much as I could.
Long story short: Decentraland is an ambitious virtual world, but it's rough right now.
When Decentraland was released last week, I started poking around on it and didn't find much to boot. The player's instinct (maybe so to speak) is to find some object, or the next step that will take them to the next event.
But I was at work and on a laptop, so I decided to plan to sit down and explore properly later that evening. In the end, I played for 2.5 hours and took notes and screenshots to organize my experience in this new virtual world.
To be clear: this review is not an examination of Decentraland's economic underpinnings, token model, and how to utilize the Ethereum blockchain. The article by Steven Zheng is quoted below to help new readers understand the core concepts of Decentraland:
“Real estate on Decentraland is represented by the non-fungible token (NFT) LAND. Users can purchase LAND with Decentraland’s native token MANA. Similar to the real world, land ownership will be recorded. On Decentraland, LAND ownership will be Recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike "Second Life", the owner of LAND has full control over its virtual land. As stated in Decentraland's terms of service: In the virtual world, buyers own the land they buy They can control their own plots." (Blue Fox Note: Second Life, also known as Second Life, is a very famous virtual world project in the Internet age. Some users used to operate virtual real estate on it, and made hundreds of dollars because of it. million dollars. The Second Life project was launched in 2003 and is still in operation today)
Instead, my review aims to document my personal experience as a player, as I wander the streets and experience it in Decentraland. I do not own LAND, MANA or ETH tokens. Not having tokens does affect my personal experience. Besides, I want to experience how the world makes me feel. If Decentraland tells me what to do, I will do it. The only exception is that I get some tips from other users via Twitter.
Result: I did find something to do. However, I spent a lot of time wandering around this virtual world, encountering buildings, art structures, and occasional players. I also ran into some bugs and performance issues, which is to be expected for a fully experimental virtual world release.
Did I enjoy the experience? I think so. I'm a sucker for social games and tend to play multiplayer games. But, will I come back to play Decentraland again? This is a harder question to answer. I think what determines the fate of this project is that as a platform, people on it should be able to come together and play together.
Let's dig a little deeper, though.
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start our story
Signing up for Decentraland is easy. Although compared to the initial experience, this time I had to connect the MetaMask wallet to verify my account. No problem, I already have a MetaMask wallet, so I connected it and entered. My avatar is a mohawk, suit and sunglasses, obviously inspired by Geordi LaForge's look.
cool, isn't it? I agree. I made good choices.
Once I've completed the tutorial in front of me—take the key to unlock it, move the joystick, press the button—I'm in the portal. One loading screen later, I reappeared...as a brown-haired woman. This was the first bug I encountered, but, without hesitation, I decided to continue with my new avatar. Plus, her teal color is very trendy.
Right in front of the first appearance point, there is a temple with some statues inside. Once I'm past the doors - literally walking through them - by typing in the command, I'm prompted to "discover amazing destinations." Well, if Decentraland says so, I'll have to!
I was taken down the street with some buildings that put me directly in front of the "Crypto Valley Convention Center". (Blue Fox Notes: Crypto Valley Conference Center, "Crypto Valley Conference Center" was established in Decentraland after being purchased by an entity)
Naturally, I started walking in. When I walked into the entrance, I was prompted: join the treasure hunt, I can get some collectibles. However, if I find it, I still have to pay some ethereum gas fees. (Blue Fox Note: This is very natural, and the collection needs to be operated through the Ethereum transaction to be attributed to the individual name) Therefore, naturally, I accepted it again. And, once again being flung through the loading screen.
Then I just show up in front of a group of buildings, including the Sugar Club, which I assume is a dance club based on the Decentraland franchise. Once you're in, it prompts you to make a donation to the music, and in the next room, there's a changing image board, one of which is an image of Goku (Blue Fox Note: Goku is Goku, the Japanese manga "Dragon Ball" protagonist of the series). It looks so cool.
Nearby, I found the promised treasure, in which I found 10 MANA tokens and a commemorative t-shirt of my avatar. However, since I don't have any ETH, I can't pay transaction fees. So, the only reward for my search comes from the thrill of discovery. (Blue Fox Note: Since the author does not have ETH, he cannot take these NFTs as his own through transactions, and therefore cannot experience the thrill of collecting these NFT collections)
There is also a building nearby that predicts price data for cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, EOS), as well as voice-recorded explanations for each network. Out of curiosity, I pressed the three buttons in quick succession and they immediately started playing, and I could hear the sound continuing even when I was far away from the building.
At first I wondered if HTC had reached a formal partnership with Decentraland. As it turns out, it does.
The assets I came across can be found in the "Builder" module, which allows LAND owners to place structures and items on the lot according to the layout of their choice. I can come across the HTC brand all over the virtual world, and to be honest, after a while, it turns me off a little.
At one point, I spotted a building full of lizards who seemed to be watching some kind of show together. This intrigued me and I went in to see what the hell were they looking at? HTC Exodus phone!
From a business perspective, I think this kind of embedding makes sense. But as a player, it feels like billboards are everywhere. Maybe there's a better way to handle this, maybe there isn't. In any case, for me, as an explorer, I feel a little uncomfortable.
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do virtual business
Essentially, most of what I found was creative experimentation within the Decentraland framework. Honestly, I think it's pretty cool. I found some very elaborate structures, including a T-Rex skeleton, a volcano with an amphitheater on top (complete with working lights), a spooky forest with eerie sounds and music.
I'm a big fan of Minecraft - it has a lot of freedom of expression in the creation process - and Decentraland struck me a lot because it's an open canvas where LAND owners are free to create content.
Or, conversely, they can play Harambe, or gorilla-themed slot machines, at a virtual Casino called Chateau Satoshi. (Harambe, Chinese name is Harambe, it is a gorilla living in the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States, but unfortunately, in the middle of 2016, because a little boy fell into the gorilla exhibition area, he was shot to save the child. Killed. This incident aroused the anger of netizens and attracted the continuous attention of the media)
No, seriously, it does exist (as they say):
Jokes aside, Casino is one of the areas I've encountered on Decentraland that some might say is a "use case". One of the things about Second Life is that it allows for the creation of completely virtual businesses, and Chateau Satoshi by Decentral Games seems to fall into this category. Currently, Casino allows users to spend on the Ropsten test network using a fake "PLAY" token.
My big question - what else emerges as I wander around this virtual world - is how much of a business model for a casino it will be. Do they pump every game?
Decentral Games detailed their plans in their Feb. 19 blog, including real-money contests, Lamborghini-style NFTs, and more. Asked for comment, project consultant Peter Dhaliwal told me: "Currently, we program the dealer into the smart contract of the game. We will release the smart contract code after the second audit, and all players can see our game It is fair and verifiable.” The casino’s future plans include poker and blackjack.
I have encountered other emerging business models in Decentraland, most notably commercial/event spaces. There's a venue called "Decentraland Convention Center" that allows event planners to customize the amount of event space they want to rent, though I can't figure out how it actually does this. The building itself is pretty bare (although event organizers can customize their spaces during actual events). Maybe someone could do a virtual expo?
I came across a similar design with its own Sugar Club location inside, and if there are others like it, it suggests that one would think that Decentraland might be a place for virtual residents to gather for online meetings. I'm not sure how much communication is possible on such a front end. Perhaps a third-party app like Discord could come in handy, but with the recent talk of virtual meetings during a virus pandemic, who's to say people won't try it?
As expected, advertisers have also set up shop on Decentraland.
In this case, I'm seeing ads for OpenSea and CoinGecko, beyond what I understand to be a network of kiosks all over Decentraland. Again, I'm not sure who would benefit from such a layout, but my immediate reaction was that I came across monetized art spaces.
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born for art
Art feels central to the composition of Decentraland, at least for now. In addition to the creative works and arrangements visible throughout the virtual world, I also came across several places dedicated to displaying digitized artwork.
As explained in its published mission statement, the Museum Quarter exists to “become the crypto art hotspot on Decentraland and the most visited art venue in the world.” Wandering through the museum, I thought it was a noble Target.
As I mentioned in one of my launch day tweets, the museum district is perhaps the most compelling use case for Decentraland that I've encountered so far. Here, the idea of user-centric ownership is most evident.
Yep, it's launch day. Yes, by design, users are divided into different domains to expand more users. But, aside from the few users I met, at best we simply said hello and moved on, me wandering off by myself.
performance problem
In a digital museum, I think it's great to share the experience with other people, to talk about which work resonates the most, or to just stand there and see the creative work in the presence of other people. Yes, like a real museum.
Maybe one day it will be possible. For the sake of the artists exhibiting their work here, I sure hope so.
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performance problem
While using Decentraland, I did encounter some technical issues and bugs. In addition to the aforementioned avatar bug, my browser had multiple issues displaying Decentraland. This seems to happen most often in busy or animated areas I visit, and after refreshing the page it eventually resolves.
I did experience a random bug on the Decentraland-specific splash screen while wandering through a cool-looking forest area. The screen advised me to reload, which I did, and it was back to normal. I've seen similar feedback on twitter, so it seems that what I'm experiencing seems to be happening to other people as well.
epilogue
Performance-wise, the lowest graphics settings are optimal for me, even when using a gaming-dedicated laptop with a GTX 1060 graphics card. When I switched to the highest possible setting, the frame rate dropped, and in the end, I left it on "medium" and there was very little judder.
Overall, the experiences felt like the product wasn't finished. No company is completely free from bugs or bugs, but all the interesting things I've come across, I still think of some alpha-level games I've tested in the past.
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epilogue
I could add 1000 more words about UX in Decentraland. Suffice it to say, obviously, when it comes to the actual user experience, there will be some thought, but it still feels unfinished. The bugs I stumbled across reinforced that impression, and over-the-top advertising like HTC is a little off-putting. More often than not, it's just an empty lot, with unused land separated from developed areas, and at the end of the journey, it caused me some stress.
However, from a purely empirical perspective, I do think Decentraland has a future ahead.
