Metaverse has been one of the most popular innovations in the crypto space. It has been further in the limelight since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in November 2021. Many projects are working to make it a truly virtualized world. Sandbox and Decentraland are the most well-known metaverse projects.
What does Metaverse mean?
The metaverse is a virtual world in which users engage. Metaverse allows us to create our distinct 3D avatars. These avatars can enter virtual spaces to interact with users from all over the world. Metaverse enables users to create and work with others even if they are not in the physical location.
It is important to know that there could be many metaverses working together but having different goals. Some metaverse spaces are for shopping, others are for gaming, creating, and collaborating. The goal is to make all the different metaverse spaces compatible with each other, this will enable users to use the same avatars and other items in any metaverse universe.
Decentraland metaverse
Decentraland was one of the first metaverse projects and launched in 2017. Decentraland offers users the ability to purchase virtual real estate properties known as LAND. Users can use their LAND to create anything, from basic static images to fully-engaging virtual ecosystems and experiences.
Parcels of digital real estate are combined to form districts. Districts are collections of land with similar experiences and themes. Users can explore spaces created by others in Decentraland. Members of Decentraland can experience and interact with avatars in dangerous mazes, space exploration, and entire cities and towns created.
Two different crypto tokens are used in the Decentraland metaverse. The main token of the Decentraland platform is MANA. In DOA or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, MANA is used as a governance token. The second crypto token used in Decentraland is LAND tokens. LAND tokens are used to buy digital real estate on the platform.
Sandbox metaverse
Players can monetize and build games in the Sandbox metaverse platform. The Sandbox platform offers digital land to purchase, similar to Decentraland. This digital land is used to create immersive gaming ecosystems. Users can also enter and enjoy this unique gaming ecosystem. The Sandbox platform ensures its community is engaged by pushing and promoting user-generated content. Promoting user content makes it easier for users to engage with the Sandbox platform and other users.
Digital real estate, or land in the Sandbox, is divided into estates owned by single users. Districts are owned by more than one user. There is a limit to the amount of land available in the game; 166,464 to be precise. These virtual properties can be used for various purposes, such as staking for passive rewards, hosting events, voting in the governance, or even playing games that users have created.
Sandbox is owned by a single entity but is advertised as a decentralized space. There are big plans to start a sandbox DAO. The DOA will not allow any individual to influence its decision-making and will ensure full transparency.
Three primary tokens are used in the Sandbox metaverse. SAND tokens are utility tokens on the platform. Sand is used to transact and purchasing items in the Sandbox marketplace. Next, tokens used to buy virtual property are known as LAND tokens. Lastly, you can buy in-game items known as ASSETS tokens and own them as NFTs.
Sandbox vs. Decentraland
Trello hosts the future Decentraland roadmap. The public can observe every feature that is being turned on. There are a lot more details on the items being implemented. It may not be neatly presented as the Sandbox roadmap, but it is more detailed. The roadmap is divided into three sections namely, live features, soon, next, and later.
The Sandbox roadmap is directly shown on their website. The roadmap shows its plans for expansion and collaboration with other platforms and devices. But they show fewer details of each feature to be implemented.
The verdict
The Sandbox and Decentraland have taken steps to fulfill their goal of an immersive and functional metaverse. The Decentraland metaverse has had more time to build its platform and mature. However, Sandbox has more user content and projects available on its platform. The Sandbox metaverse has better gameplay and graphics compared to Decentraland. However, its main drawback is that it is a centralized system. Hence, users decide if they want to choose a decentralized platform or a platform with better graphics and gameplay.
