Blockchains and their cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have garnered great attention as speculative assets.  Yet the most exciting developments are happening in decentralized, blockchain-based video gaming.  Recently, the web browser-based Decentraland hosted the blockchain’s first-ever music festival: “To the Moon.”

The event was a collaboration between KnownOrigin, BEAR NFT, and Illumino; with KnownOrigin hosting the event at its virtual headquarters.

Notice of Non-Affiliation and Disclaimer: As of the publication date, we are not affiliated with, associated with, authorized with, endorsed by, compensated by, or in any way officially connected the Decentraland project, or their owners, subsidiaries or affiliates.  Links to external web pages have been provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. Unboxing Tomorrow and Voxidyne Media bear no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. Unboxing Tomorrow does not provide investment, financial, or tax advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor. Conduct your own due diligence or consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions. As of the publication date, I hold Ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain Review

To recap, blockchains are digital records that combine fault-tolerance techniques with strong cryptography.  Ethereum (the blockchain that runs Decentraland) lets its users exchange digital assets with minimal fear of double-spending, forgery, chargebacks and similar counterparty risks.  The transaction records exist as digital ledgers scattered across the globe (i.e. they are decentralized).

The details are outside the scope of this article, but you can see my previous summary, Bitcoin: What it did Differently for additional insights on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Decentraland: How to Start

Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual world.  Joining in as a guest requires a web browser and a desktop with internet access to decentraland.org.

What is an NFT?

Among other things, Decentraland is well-known for its non-fungible tokens (NFTs).  Movie tickets are a type of NFT, since they confer a unique film title, showtime, and seat number to the ticket-holder.  Ultimately, a digital NFT is a record of unique ownership.

The Ethereum blockchain supports NFTs for collectable art, music, in-game loot, apparel, and other collectables through its ERC-721 token standard.  Decentraland’s most noticeable NFTs are the LAND parcels themselves, which can be traded and developed into customized scenes.

Before the event, I was able to proximity chat with a few artists and developers about the platform.  Decentraland’s virtual games and casinos can also utilize Ethereum’s fungible token standard (ERC20) using tokens like MANA and UNI.  If you plan to transact in-game, you will probably need to set up a compatible crypto wallet.  The Metamask wallet appears to be the most popular.  The metamask option is also compatible with the emerging Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP), which is a relatively new class of NFT.

Additional Tips

This browser-based approach makes Decentraland extremely easy to get started with.  While teleporting can trigger some substantial lag in certain areas, this seems to stabilize rather quickly if you are using appropriate graphics settings (click the gear icon in-game to adjust this).

There are plenty of easter eggs and hidden details in many scenes, and the world is extremely dynamic.  For example, the Atari arcade cabinets in Genesis Plaza are actually playable if you approach them.

Info for Developers

According to the official site (decentraland.org), the coding is done mostly through Javascript and Node.js; with many Decentraland-related Github projects also featuring TypeScript.  There is also a graphical interface (the “Builder”) that offers a simple drag-and-drop interface without the need to code.

References

[1]	B. James, “Decentraland To Host Ethereum’s First Music Festival,” CoinQuora.com, July 2021. [Online]. Available: https://coinquora.com/decentraland-to-host-ethereums-first-music-festival/. [Accessed 11 July 2021].
[2]	B. R. Mayes, “Bitcoin: What it did Differently,” Voxidyne Media, 19 Apt. 2021. [Online]. Available: https://unboxing-tomorrow.com/bitcoin-what-it-did-differently/. [Accessed 11 July 2021].
[3]	Decentraland, “What are NFTs?,” Decentraland, 8 Aug 2018. [Online]. Available: https://decentraland.org/blog/technology/what-are-nfts/. [Accessed 11 July 2021].
[4]	Ethereum.org, “ERC-721 NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN STANDARD,” Ethereum.org, 6 June 2021. [Online]. Available: ERC-721 NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN STANDARD. [Accessed 11 July 2021].
[5]	W. Entriken and et. al., “EIP-721: ERC-721 Non-Fungible Token Standard,” Ethereum.org, 24 Jan 2018. [Online]. Available: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721. [Accessed 11 July 2021].
[6]	F. Vogelsteller and V. Buterin, “EIP-20: ERC-20 Token Standard,” 19 Nov. 2015. [Online]. Available: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-20. [Accessed 11 July 2021].

Important Notice: This article and its contents (the “Information”) belong to Unboxing-tomorrow.com and Voxidyne Media LLC. No license is granted for the use of it other than for information purposes. No license of any intellectual property rights is granted.  The Information is subject to change without notice. The Information supplied is believed to be accurate, but Voxidyne Media LLC assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness, any error in or omission from it or for any use made of it.  Liability for loss or damage resulting from any reliance on the Information or use of it (including liability resulting from negligence or where Voxidyne Media LLC was aware of the possibility of such loss or damage arising) is excluded.