Metaverse Review: Decentraland

What is the platform about?

Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual world with a continued commitment to being a fully decentralized protocol that enables social interaction and collaboration.

Decentraland is commonly known for being a virtual real-estate platform. Users can buy and sell LAND and create experiences on their land.

The Decentraland Foundation, the organization overseeing the development of the Decentraland, was founded by Esteban Ordano and Ariel Meilich in 2015. In 2017, the Decentraland white paper was released as a precursor to an initial coin offering (ICO) which raised $26M to fund its future operations. In February 2020, Decentraland opened to the public.

Popularity

• Mana Total Users: 684,944
• 300,000 monthly active users
• 5099 unique owners of LAND
• Discord Members: 1321

Transaction Volume

• Median number of units of LAND sold per month in the last year (as of July 2022): 936
• Median sales value per month in the least year (as of July 2022): $2,239,352 USD

Device Compatibility

• Web-based, desktop only

What makes it unique?

Its strong commitment to decentralization. This is showcased in a few ways.

• The platform is governed by the Decentraland DAO, which hands over control to its users. It empowers users to vote on policies on how the world behaves, LAND, and content, among others.
• Though most content servers are owned by Decentraland, anybody can run a server.
• Its code is open source which allows anyone to contribute to it.
• Ownership and governance data are stored on the Ethereum blockchain.

Why should brands consider it? What makes it relevant for brands to consider? What are the opportunities?

Decentraland has been leading the charge in the metaverse movement since the term’s resurgence in popularity in 2020/2021.

A few brands have jumped in to participate in this world. In March 2022, the Metaverse Fashion Week showcased some of the most cutting-edge brands like DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, Paco Rabanne, and Estee Lauder. Atari had set up a virtual casino. Samsung launched their 837X space adapted from the flagship location in New York City’s Meatpacking District to give access to art, music, fashion and sustainability. Deadmau5 had previously hosted a rave. Artist Jason Darulo recreated his new music video “Sliding” in the metaverse. And the CBS show Ghosts extended its presence to promote the launch of its second season.

What’s attractive for brands is that anyone can build on Decentraland without asking permission. It’s one of the most open and developed metaverse platforms. And, the barrier to play here is low.

What kind of experiences are common here now? Activations. A few brands have tried perpetual-type engagements, but the organic traffic isn’t quite here yet. However, brand activations and promotions have been successful. Whatever experience you may create, what’s also interesting is that there is a sense of egalitarianism here by nature of the platform’s decentralization. And for brands, this benefit is hard to reject.

Decentraland is growing. Unique active users grew 1300% from 2020 to 2021. For 2022, the Foundation also expressed developing an incubation program for curators. That’s something to watch out for.

Rating

Engagement

• 3 — currently limited to parties and concerts. Some casinos require users to have a token to play. These tokens need to be in one’s wallet. In some cases, you need to acquire the token outside of Decentraland, like from OpenSea or Discord.

Immersiveness

• 2 — Accessible through the browser. Users can walk around without restriction between land parcels. A desktop client is in the works, which should offer a richer experience. There is no VR experience, but it’s been listed in their roadmap to be considered later.

Social Interactivity

• 3 — The virtual world is large and is primarily public. There’s not yet the ability to interact privately with a select few friends. There are basic written chat and audio functions.

Centralization

• 5 — Decentraland is governed by DecentralandDAO. Users can also own, buy, and sell LAND and wearables. They can create experiences. And the codebase is open source.

User Generated Content Creation

• 3 — There is a web-based scene creator. However, the builder doesn’t offer much for creating games or rich interactivity.

Economics

• 2 — No ability to sell services yet. However, you can buy and sell NFTs, namely LAND and wearables.

Partnerability

• 2 — brands need to proactively approach Decentraland for partnership opportunities

Want to learn more about other metaverses, find our other reviews in our State of the Metaverse post.

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