Editor’s Note: The following story was written by Neomi, an author from China with experience covering art, music, culture, tech, and travel. Bitcoin.com News sent her into the field of blockchain-based metaverse experiences to capture the feeling of a pioneer entering this new reality.
Decentraland, day one: I need a hat
When entering Decentraland for the first time, I wanted to keep a low profile, so I created my avatar: a bald guy with a black suit and a pair of black sunglasses. Barely ten minutes into my exploration, however, I ran into ten other players who looked exactly like me. We probably also had one more thing in common: neither of us could afford to buy a real hat. I had heard that people were investing millions in NFTs in the Metaverse, but were just too afraid to check the prices. Suffice to say that I discovered that things are expensive – even hats.
In order to look slightly different from the other bald guys in the metaverse, I needed to grind for some assets. I ended up in a game area where everyone was mining meteors for gems. In the beginning, I didn’t understand why people stood motionless as if their internet was dead, but then I realized they were doing the exact same mining activity as I was. Some even floated in the air as they climbed on top of their meteors, which the other players cannot see. The experience was built to be welcoming and inclusive so that every player had their own meteor to work on, like an episode of Black Mirror. Otherwise, the mining field would probably have become a battle royale arena with players beating each other over the head with pickaxes as they competed for resources.
A key difference between the blockchain-based metaverse and an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is ownership. The metaverse belongs to a decentralized network of players. Of course, the developers created the platform, but they don’t have the ultimate rights to everything on it, nor the ultimate creative authority over the realm, like in more standardized games. Whatever you own in the Metaverse is yours – like the hat I still couldn’t afford to make with those gems that took me all night in mine.
I really do not remember the last time I worked so hard in a game, grinding to level up or just to collect low-level equipment. But this time, the (un)excitement was a little different. Knowing that whatever you own in this game actually belongs to you — via blockchain immutability — is a game-changer. This further brings me to realize that the metaverse is not a utopia. Everything here is hard-earned (except for some free, airdropped NFTs). Either you are already “crypto rich” and can buy items off the shelf, or you are talented enough to create your own products and sell them to other people. Mediocre muggles will need to find their own positions in this new world so as not to feel too incapable.
Decentraland, second day: the experience
As a cultured person who loves quiet spaces, the moment I spotted the Spanish museum on the map, I immediately decided to take a look. I imagined an Andalusian-style building with exhibits of NFT paintings from the new Dada movement. In the metaverse reality, I spent a lot of time trying to get to the top of the building to chase a free and promised NFT, jumping and falling countless times on moving blue platforms.
Before starting my Super Mario-style jumping adventure, though, I had to choose whether I was anti-Facebook or pro-Facebook. This was brilliant: an original resistance force from within the Decentraland metaverse, designed to pass on the key message and true voice of the real metaverse: we do not want a centralized metaverse controlled by a large corporation like the dystopian future in Ready Player One. I really didn’t expect that this resistance would be rising up so soon within Decentraland. On second thought, though, it’s about time.
What elevated the experience even higher was that when I finally got to the top of the building, I had a choice between a box of hearts or a box of tomatoes – to throw in Mark Zuckerberg’s face. The face of the CEO of Meta was imprinted on the six facets of a rotating cube floating in the air. Indeed, in some of the user-generated experiences the graphics can look a bit rough, possibly due to the old laptop I was using. But that’s not the point. The point is, I really had fun playing the game and managed to toss my tomato into the Zucker-mug, and now I’m waiting for the free NFT to arrive.
Getting back to the graphics, the infrastructure for amazing creation is there already. In some experiences, the visual effects and graphics were actually quite impressive. If you have a bigger screen with a higher resolution, it’s even better. The moving clouds and the azure sky were reflected so delicately on the glass floor, like a beautiful oil painting. Futuristic skyscrapers and cyberpunk flying vehicles make you feel that you are standing in the center of Neo Tokyo. Again, having fancy CGI and Mass Effect-tier graphics isn’t the main goal of a metaverse. The ownership, experience, and freedom is.
It should be mentioned that many interesting experiences like the resistance offered by the Spanish Museum are limited in time. El METAEVENTO, the fun tomato toss event, was live from November 6-26. When I returned to take a few selfies for memory, the whole installation was gone, leaving only an empty museum with the same anti / pro posters on the glass wall.
By the way, after two nights of mining, I still didn’t get myself a hat. But I did guide six ghosts back to their graves in Halloween Town. And I learned you don’t need an expensive hat to have fun in the metaverse.
Decentraland, day three: Sotheby’s and Spicy Pandas
Scrolling through the places of interest in Decentraland was a fun thing. There were so many places that looked very attractive (and even mysterious). Sotheby’s Natively Digital gallery was on my to-do list even before I first entered Decentraland. To show the respect due to the fine art and the name of the brand, I decided to create a new avatar. Still no hat, but the new avatar at least had hair.
And there I was. Who could have guessed that one day I’d show up at the prestigious Sotheby’s in my high school sailor uniform and dango buns without being judged? Only in the metaverse. At this stage, unless there is a special event, there aren’t many areas to explore inside the Sotheby’s building. The installation art with a toilet paper shortage theme was funny. It even looked like the Sotheby’s building had been looted, what with the big mess next to the reception area.
Another landmark in Decentraland on my list was Chinatown – Dragon City. I assumed that, like Chinatowns all over the real world, it would be Chinese built and look authentic – not like an orientalized Chinese fantasy.
But then I saw what looked like a cooked panda inside a yin-yang-shaped hotpot from above. Another panda, in the non-spicy half of the hotpot, seemed to be enjoying himself while the unlucky one was already cooked to medium-well. I wished I had a virtual phone at the moment, to take a selfie with the cooked panda and post it somewhere on Decentraland social media.
Finally, a little note on Metaverse immortality. Jumping into (shallow) water near Dragon City will not get you killed. I’ve actually tried a few risky things that would definitely make a character kill in an RPG, and it looks like the characters in Decentraland don’t die. Period. So when I couldn’t bother taking the elevator or walking down the dazzling, winding stairs, I just jumped out of the ten-story building and landed elegantly on the floor like a medal-winning Olympic gymnast. gold. This little detail was actually very stimulating and liberating.
The metaverse world has no boundaries and no fears. Not being afraid is the first step to free exploration.
The high rise temples of Dragon City were absolutely stunning with so much detail. I didn’t hear any traditional Chinese music in the background and had to check if my internet connection was too slow. But you know, for me the essence of Chinatown is authentic food. Yet in the Metaverse, it is unlikely that the olfactory and taste experiences will be integrated anytime soon. So, now is the time to order a delivery of chow mein.
