Aetera: The Ultimate Virtual City
A mud pilot’s guide to the future of metaverse cities
The Challenge in Plain View
As a mud pilot, I often traverse the vast skies of beautiful townships within far-away worlds. Unfortunately, many of these virtual locations are plagued with problems such as poor collaboration, large numbers of inactive players, and fragmented servers. They are often sprawling and chaotic, with little consideration given to the desires of the community. In Web3, many plots of land are left unused, and those that are developed are abandoned due to their owners’ inactivity or location. The way these places are designed create virtual ghost towns. Star Atlas, an open-world MMO that combines the elements of gaming, space exploration, and cryptocurrency, seeks to change all of that.
“A key concept in understanding the production system is land. The universe of Star Atlas consists of regions, solar systems, and planets, and a basic land parcel represents…ownership of a planet’s territory.” (Star Atlas Economics-Paper)
While Star Atlas has a clear plan of their own going forward, let’s take a serious look into what the ultimate metaverse city might look like. For discussions sake, let’s take a step back from Star Atlas for a moment in order to address some of the fundamental problems of cities, in and out of the metaverse, in order to design a living environment that’s well-organized and has an active community for all of its inhabitants. The goal is to envision a metropolis that’s not only pleasing to the eye, but also functional and sustainable. For utility's sake, let’s give this imaginary place a cool name: “Aeteria”.
Creating Procedurally-Shifting Cities
First, I’d like to introduce a new idea that would combine the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning in order to create a better virtual world. Let’s call this concept Procedurally-Shifting Cities, or PSC for short. Aeteria would be a virtual city, built on the blockchain, where users purchased and developed plots of land defined by NFT’s. Normal so far. The city would have a max number of lots, with the exact number determined by the NFT claim supply. Cool. But here’s where things get interesting: Aeteria would use PSC, allowing for the creation of a functional city which is capable of adjusting the location of its users’ land through procedurally generated systems.
A Dynamic City Model Only Possible in The Metaverse
Aeteria could be divided into different neighborhoods, with the center reserved for active users and the outskirts reserved for inactive users. Users who have not logged in or interacted with their plots for more than 30 days would have their plots automatically swapped to a lot on the outskirts of the active city during each patch, while active users would have their plots moved closer to the center. This would create a dynamic and constantly evolving city where active users were rewarded for their participation and where they are always near to each other. Not every city needs to act like it was designed by humans, after all.
The Procedural Argument for Guilds and Professions
Procedurally-Shifting Cities (PSC) could be useful in a multiplayer game setting, such as a game with factions and guilds, because it allows for a large and diverse world that can be different for each player or group of players. Procedurally generated cities could be used to simulate a functional city, where the location of land could be adjusted based on the guilds or professions of the players or groups of players, taking their preferences into account. This would add a massive level of interest to the game.
Taking a Step Back from the Virtual
The real-life cities that we live in on Earth are often disorganized and unplanned, with buildings and infrastructure haphazardly constructed without consideration for the needs of the future community. For example, because of a lack of design in most large cities, we see enormous traffic-jams. In other cities, there may be a lack of green spaces and parks, leading to poor air quality and limited opportunities for outdoor recreation. Additionally, many cities are designed with a car-centric approach, making it difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to navigate. Aeteria, on the other hand, is designed to be an organized virtual city no matter what, where users can actively shape the community to meet the needs of its inhabitants.
How Will Star Atlas Land Work?
Let’s bring it back home now. Out of all of the metaverses which are being developed right now, it seems like there’s one in particular which will rise above the others. Star Atlas has extensive plans to create not only land, but a universe full of economic complexity and competition. In order to grow and enjoy our time within the metaverse, we need healthy opposition. After all, what would Minecraft be without the Creeper? Because of the game’s competitive nature, being near other players and guild-members with professions, items, and skills that we don’t have will be vital.
Has Star Atlas already solved the ghost-town dilemma in a different way? According to the Star Atlas Economics-Paper, each planet will be split up into NFT parcels and inactive land-users will be pushed out.
“All buildings are built on land, with higher-end facilities requiring more developed land to function. All land is owned rather than rented, protecting users from eviction or discrimination by rent application. To disincentivize flipping — whereby a market agent would buy and simply hold land, planning to gain revenue from its value appreciation rather than its usage — the game utilizes Land Value Tax (LVT).
The DAO prices land tax in ATLAS depending on its level (the more developed land is taxed more), with the global limits adjustable by the top-level DAOs. This mechanism provides dynamic protection from flipping and balances land value with its potential productive capabilities.
If the land owner does not pay taxes, the land will eventually be foreclosed, disabling all buildings (but not stopping tax accrual). After an additional period, the land can be auctioned by local governance, recapturing back taxes and a fine, and returning the remaining funds to the original owner.”
A Look at Traditional Gaming
You may have heard of the game Star Citizen. The following city is procedurally generated. While many of these buildings in-game aren’t functional, imagine if a crypto-wallet was automatically assigned to a specific building depending on size and value of each players land-claim:
Why is Minecraft the best-selling and most popular video game of all time? How are there over 140 million active users playing a game of cubes? It comes down to the game’s open-ended nature and the ability for players to customize and create their own buildings, environments, and experiences. The ability of players to create their own bases and environments is one of the greatest features Minecraft has to offer. Allowing for customization and building in a space-themed game like Star Atlas would bring a similar appeal.
In Conclusion
Procedurally-Shifting Cities (PSC) could solve many important problems in the metaverse but may not be completely realistic in the short-term. Drawing inspiration from real-life can have great value, but we also shouldn’t stifle imagination within code. Star Atlas has found revolutionary solutions that may prove to be the industry standard going forward. Maybe there’s a more intelligent way to handle ghost towns, but that shouldn’t keep us from moving forward. Regardless, allowing for seamless cityscapes where interaction comes naturally, and often, should be the goal of our ultimate metaverse city, Aeteria.
I’m hoping the possibility opens up for me to cover my space station with grass and fill it with animals.
What kind of city would you like to see in Star Atlas? Also, if you enjoyed this article or would like to hear about something specific in the future, please leave a comment below.
About the Author
NotBitcoinCEO is a mud pilot & writer on The Hologram News Network, an independent blockchain gaming meta-news organization devoted to the coverage of Star Atlas.
Follow on Social Media:
About The Hologram
The Hologram is Star Atlas’ first and only independent news network. Our vision is to become the most trusted source of information about Star Atlas and a voice for the whole community. Readers can expect a high standard from our reporting and staff. Our promise to you: we will not publish anything that hasn’t been thoroughly researched and based on the best facts available.
The Hologram is not endorsed or paid by the Star Atlas team. Any information published by The Hologram nor its writers should be considered as informational in nature and does not constitute any financial advice.
