A Game Unlike Any Other: Lootverse and Life as a Lootizen

In the 1997 movie “The Game,” Nicholas Van Orton (played by Michael Douglas), a wealthy investment banker, participates in a game that strangely integrates into his everyday life. As the movie progresses, the boundaries between real life and the game become increasingly blurred, leading Nicholas and the audience to believe that the game is real.

The movie creates a conflict between what Nicholas perceives as possible in his everyday life and his experiences. Magicians use the same principle in their tricks; we know that magic is inaccurate, but the more sophisticated the act, the more our brains struggle to differentiate between reality and fiction.

Lootverse seeks to put users in Nicholas’ shoes and is designed to give them an authentic, real-life feel as they play. They are the protagonists in this fantasy parallel world, accessible virtually or in person.

We did not follow the script of today’s metaverse projects. Instead, Lootverse offers all the features expected from metaverses without requiring players to control an avatar within a 3D world, construct imaginary digital houses, tend to a virtual garden, or don a cumbersome headset. Here, players interact with a fantasy world in the same way they would in the real world.

The design of our world is a balance between our goal of creating a decentralized ecosystem, the current state of technology, ease of use, and regulatory compliance. The compromises made in this balancing act are fluid and may be revised as technology and regulations evolve.

A Gated Ecosystem, Carefully Controlled

At a general level, Lootverse takes inspiration from and expands on the elements of past innovative businesses. For example,

[A] The 15-second timer reset in our time-based auctions was inspired by Quibids. Quibids’ business model faced criticism between 2010 and 2015 but is now accepted. We studied them, avoided making the same errors, and significantly extended their concept for a novel use case with the Proof of Play protocol.

[B] The Talos Dollar (T$) exchange from Second Life is the framework for users to sell TIX. On Second Life, users can sell T$ for USD; these transfers are made in-world. In Lootverse, users will soon be able to sell TIX for Credits and may sell them through third-party gateways for digital currencies. In such cases, TIX remains in-world.

[C] Like in a gaming arcade, users can use tickets (TIX) earned while playing Lootverse to redeem for rare in-world items and benefits. Additionally, they can save TIX for physical and digital objects to take off-world; these cannot be brought back in (NFTs, Collectible Cards, etc.).

[D] Consistent with the ethos of decentralization, users will soon be able to send TIX to their custody for security purposes (on various chains) and send it back into Lootverse whenever they want to use it.

[E] Lastly, taking from theme park designs/branding licensing, we can link licenses to legal instruments granting rights such as “gateways” in the real world for people to access and continue the Lootversian experience in person (think of decentralized mini theme parks or franchises).

This necessitated repurposing the Isle of Talos blockchain to create a gated ecosystem to control how TIX, NFTs, USDC, and other items are extracted from and reintroduced in-world.

Economic Activity

The Arena is Lootverse’s central bank responsible for regulating the issuance of its native token, the TIX. As with the case of significant banks, which hold the supply of units of account based on economic productivity, the TIX issuance is derived from creating value for talented creators. It is similar to the US Dollar, issued through support for a sporting team, enabling them to pay their players.

Each Ticket mined and in circulation has contributed to talent and good causes worldwide. But conversely, TIXs are burned when users redeem them for something of value. Therefore, the circulating supply of TIX is directly proportional to demand, engagement, and economic activity, thus rewarding free market activity autonomously.

Our design further opens us to possibilities with NFT-powered attractions, such as NFT plots, NFT stories, wearable NFTs, the creation of alter egos, fantasy businesses (e.g., in-world media companies, funds, banks, insurance companies, exchanges, etc.), and more. These can use TIX as a unit of account, taking advantage of Lootverse’s core systems.

In addition, users may be able to “invest” and receive “dividends” in Lootian companies within the gated world. Finally, we can also introduce hardship elements to users, such as the potential loss of TIX in catastrophic events or acts of God.

Our ecosystem allows users to have an alter-ego (as opposed to an avatar) and physically immerse themselves into the parallel world. As users play the game, this enables the world to serve as a testing ground for real-world applications.

These features, coupled with the fact that we have sold 40 NFTs to date, with an internal economic activity of over $1/2M after a few months in pre-launch, in addition to TIX mined and used, our fantasy fund, and the world released (for all types of zoning except type W), and our upcoming Satoshi’s Lounge shopping district, make this a business rather than a project.

The God Matrix

To create a realistic feel for our fantasy world, uncertainty is a critical ingredient. Risks, opportunities, luck, progress, regress, and various emotional reactions characterize life. Few of us find living without ups, downs, fun, and excitement appealing.

Mother Theresa once said: “Life is a game; play it.”

Now, we can reveal the final design piece for Lootverse: the God Matrix.

This matrix of events can affect users in various ways, such as natural disasters, conflicts, theft, death of their alter ego, good surprises, and more. As our ecosystem develops, plot owners may run Lootversian businesses that can protect against such events, such as insurance businesses, banks, police, or armed outposts.

Each Lootizen can be a tourist, plot owner, or renter. Tourists are more vulnerable to catastrophic events. For example, a tornado hitting a plot may lead to tourists losing TIX at a higher rate (however, plot owners cannot lose plots). Plot owners can register an address on their plots.

Renters can pay TIX to plot owners for an address and safety from such events. Rent can vary depending on whether the plot owner has insured it against acts of God. Various Lootizen traits, such as nobility, can also be implemented in the future.

In other embodiments, armies, and mercenaries may be formed to attack and loot residents on plots. Additionally, plots on the beach may be more prone to tidal waves and highly valued since residents may have a higher chance of receiving exceptional benefits (such as randomly assigned lowest mining ratios). This can lead to higher rental values for such plots.

Some possible snippets of future news include:

“We heard that a tornado just hit plot L0234, and no deaths were reported, but the damage is estimated at 560 TIX. We pray that the users registered there were insured.” — LNN.

Or

“In this week’s Lootery, John Alfredo was invited to a pioneer status and a mining ratio of 13:1. We contacted Mr. Alfredo, and he recounted how delighted he was, especially after having lost 150 TIX in last week’s King Kong attack on plot L1223.”

An Unusual Structure

Apart from the standard applications (Arena, the Fund, Loot NFT World, Satoshi’s Lounge, X by SL, and LNFTXIOT), all other applications in Lootverse are built by users who own the relevant licenses to access APIs (or webhooks). Therefore, selling a license revokes access to these APIs.

The applications they build are authentic and accessible, available as webpages, apps, or in-person through a real-world gateway. They may create these to test real-world applications in Lootverse, similar to a business incubator, or specifically for Lootverse, such as a real-world business extended or repurposed for Lootverse, potentially leading to exciting partnerships in the future.

For example, our early adopter community has already demonstrated demand for funds, insurance, exchange, media, data analytics, and other Lootversian licenses. Each license is an NFT tagged to a plot (similar to a business that requires a registered address).

We can do this due to the technology we have created, which has now developed an economy with a stablecoin (Credits) and a native currency (TIX). As a result, different activities (or events) can be added over time, akin to a crowdsourced, real-life version of Sim City, Monopoly, or Decentraland without artificial immersion. Everything in Lootverse feels real because, fundamentally, they are (albeit designed for a fantasy world).

We anticipate that one day, users will be able to wake up, read stories on LNN or Fooxverse, conduct business in the world, vote in the parliament, develop their plots, manage their business, and deal with opportunities and setbacks as they do on Earth. Moreover, by opening up Lootversian portals on Earth connected to their plots, they can invite others to visit a parallel world in person.

Lootverse could become the first grand-scale parallel world game where everyone can experience crowdsourced human ingenuity and gain considerable value. New businesses may emerge in this innovation incubator, transplanted or bridged for earthly applications, the other way around, or both.

That concludes our discussion. Get your passport today at t.me/lootnft.

References:

[1] For those interested, “A Framework for Using Magic to Study the Mind.” https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01508/full

[2] We are halfway between Fantasy Baseball and Icelandverse. See the humorous Icelandverse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enMwwQy_noI