Decentraland $MANA Wiki: Coin History, Techstack, and Crypto News

26 Sept 2022

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Decentraland is a 3D open-world virtual game. Users can buy virtual land plots as NFTs on the platform through the MANA cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain.

Decentraland facilitates the creation of content and apps by users. It also facilitates the monetization and experience of them by the users. The platform is intuitive and simple to use as it is based on the web. Decentraland was built to enable content providers to directly deal with each other without the need for a third party.

Decentraland offers the opportunity to build virtual companies around the property they buy. Payments for the services offered by these digital companies can be paid through MANA which is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency. Monetization of digital companies, especially those that offer digital services whether to Decentraland users themselves or services outside Decentraland can earn and advertise their skills through the platform.

History

Decentraland was created by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano. It has been in development since 2015 but launched in 2017. Parcels of land sold for $20 at the time while MANA tokens went for $0.02. The first map on the game consisted of 90,601 land parcels. The initial coin offering in 2017 raised $26 million.

During the surge in popularity of NFTs in 2021, a parcel of land sold for between $6000 and $100,000. Major brands bought properties on decentraland in late 2021 and early 2022 such as Samsung, Atari, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Adidas and Miller Lite. The platform hosted Metaverse Fashion Week with brands like Dolce&Gabbana, Elie Saab, Tommy Hilfiger and more. It has also hosted music concerts for artists such as Grimes.

Biggest Claim to Fame

The platform provides space for creative freedom. Through their software developing kits, anyone can import bespoke 3D models and build on the land they own. It is refreshing that the platform has few restrictions on the extent to which work can be done on the platform. Creativity is paramount and the platform lives up to its founding principle of creative control. Anyone who does good, creative work can get rewarded by those impressed with their work by getting paid using the MANA currency.

Businesses can be fully based on Decentraland without consequence. Buying land for a physical shop is much harder than buying land for a virtual shop. It is also more costly. Through decentraland, people can create shops or offer their services or get a platform for their business and operate them solely through decentraland. The platform has a currency for trade that can be turned into physical money and has people who can view the work done and decide to give jobs and contracts for work without consequence.

Biggest Criticism

The game has been described as rickety due to its very long loading times and multiple bugs. For example, if someone wants to go to a different place within decentraland, they do something known as a jump. These jumps can take as long as a minute on the highest internet speeds and doubly long with slower internet. The bugs also make the system pause at times and that is not the quality of game people expected to play at the cost the plots of land go for.

The game allows for the use of slurs and the creation of offensive avatars even after multiple requests from most of the users to remove the ability to use the images and slurs. This makes a section of the desired market not want to buy into decentraland. They do not want to pay for a game where they can be disrespected and abused for any reason and in a situation that is easy to solve. This failure to censor offensive words and actions reflects badly on the company and its values.

The game is mostly empty due to the inability of most people to afford it. Those who can afford it often leave because of the poor quality of the game itself and the interface. The plots of land are divided up and already exist in the game so the space seems empty even though people may be playing. The number of people playing at any point is simply not enough for the game to be well populated.

Team

Ariel Meilichis a cofounder of Decentraland. He worked as project lead at Decentraland in 2017 and transitioned into a part-time role as advisor in 2020. He is currently the CEO of Big Time Studios and an advisor at Decentraland.

Esteban Ordano is another co-founder of Decentraland. He was the tech lead at Decentraland and transitioned into part-time advisor in April 2020.

In Conclusion

Decentraland still has issues within its game. Those issues getting fixed will create a better market for people to invest in. They have to fix these issues early because similar technology is coming up frequently with a better interface and better loading times that are more attractive than Decentraland to the average consumer.