The Sandbox: The New Player on the Virtual Block.
If someone had told my younger self that the hottest games in 2020 would be more pixelated than back then, I’d have to put down my Nintendo 64 controller and tell them they’re crazy. Yet that is the case. Block by block, user-generated content (UGC) games have provided the tools for players to build their own pixelated empires and experiences. If you remember a time when discs were floppy and the internet had an opening soundtrack, there’s a hot chance you haven’t played a UGC game. These games differ from traditional games in one important way — they are more akin to the Google Playstore, a platform of sorts, where developers and gamers alike can create their own “apps” within the game, for the masses to enjoy.
Now the genre is looking to level up. By utilising blockchain technology, The Sandbox puts the reins squarely in the hands of the players, entrusting them with an unprecedented level of asset ownership and economic opportunities. In this article we will discuss reasons for the creeper-like explosion in popularity and what the next generation of UGC games will achieve.
Gone are the days of kids flicking marbles or trading baseball cards. With the sound of the lunch bell, tablets and smartphones are whipped out and the kids transported into a social world of creativity, economics, and entertainment. The numbers don’t lie. Roblox and Minecraft have been around for longer than most think, but the number of users has gone parabolic in the last few years. There are a few good reasons why.
UGC games add an extra entrepreneurial opportunity to the traditional gaming experience. Any aspiring developer or entrepreneur can learn the ins and outs of coding and use the platform to build their own games within Roblox or Minecraft, then monetise the experience through the in-game currency (in Roblox’s case). The developer base can create experiences and be paid, sometimes life changing amounts of money for their work. And in a time of great uncertainty with more and more people obliged to work from home, finding alternative sources of income from the comfort of your own chair is an alluring concept.
The entertainment provided by these games is limited to nothing short of our collective imaginations. UGC games provide such a varied experience that each login to the world can be as unique as a cryptographic seed phrase, or as routine as mowing the lawn. Entering the Metaverse, a player can: Make pizzas in Roblox and deliver them in Minecraft, sort mail in Decentraland, or hang up art in Cryptovoxels. Tedious, mundane work has never been this fun. The advantage of UGC games is the increased replayability, keeping old players enticed and new players excited.
The platforms themselves are almost social networks, with many games used as simply virtual hang outs. The use of blockchain has increased the emulation to the real world. In CryptoVoxels and Decentraland, users can now buy and sell plots of land just like physical real estate and hang out in the comfort of their own virtual home with friends. Or meet at a café for a virtual coffee or explore art galleries with other connoisseurs.
The Sandbox has taken these aspects of UGC games and improved them. Firstly, The Sandbox has turned the single revenue stream of other UGC games into multiple rivers. At the macro level, one can become a land baron through buying and selling plots. Forget rude neighbours, pest inspections and asbestos, flipping properties can now be done from the safety of your desk! Already it seems that the virtual world has imitated parts of the traditional real estate markets. Plots close to the large Whaleshark, Atari and Binance estates are already fetching heftier prices than others, like how houses near the beach are more sought-after than houses near the airport. As the old adage goes — Location, location, location! On a more technical note, only 166,464 pieces of land will ever be available, and each plot is a Non-Fungible-Token (NFT) using the ERC-721 standard. This allows for seamless transfers between buyers and sellers and verifiable proof of ownership. With greater demand and usage of the platform (once it goes public) and natural scarcity of the lands, there are many catalysts towards future land value appreciation.
At the micro level, each plot of land represents an opportunity to create your very own epic adventure or fast-paced arcade game. Whether you want to traverse perilous mountains and fight dragons like in Skyrim or simply sort mail, you have the creative freedom to choose. Currently in Alpha phase, the game maker is the starting point for the development of your game. It aims to be usable without the need to write any of the code yourself, so any would-be developer (myself included) can start with minimal programming experience. Once the game opens to the public in earnest, you will be able to make that game you always daydreamed about, invite the world into your humble plot and monetise the entire experience. It’s like playing Rollercoaster Tycoon, but the entrance fee into your amusement park is real and goes directly into your wallet. $SAND, The Sandbox’s native ERC-20 token, will be the life-force of the ecosystem, through which developers can monetise their own work. With this level of incentive and minimal barriers to entry for aspiring developers, my inner child’s eyes water at the thought of the endless unique adventures that await.
Not only can you build unique games and cash-in on $SAND, but designers can create their own Voxels, digital assets within The Sandbox ecosystem, and sell them on the market. Already there are Voxels ranging from the Eiffel Tower, to undead dragons, because everything is cooler with dragons, right? Over time, these Voxels may even become part of your online social status, as designers gain notoriety for their pieces. Famous crypto artists such as Alotta Money and Hackatao have already begun creating their Voxels. One thing is for sure, my plot of land is going to look a lot cooler than my apartment.
Giving everyday players the ability to influence the game through creating experiences, Voxels or owning land while simultaneously being rewarded for their time and effort, not only improves the game, but also increases loyalty and passion. I can recount too many times where players have been disgruntled over changes to a game, or lack thereof, which inevitably leads to loss of the player base. You just need to look at Minecraft and Roblox now to see the effect of UGC games. They are reaching cult levels of loyalty. The blockchain allows an even more democratic process. $SAND tokens will be used to provide the stakeholders, those truly invested in the game, the ability to make decisions concerning the governance of the entire ecosystem. Players will feel more connected to the game, which is a recipe for success and longevity.
If you’re an investor, aspiring game developer, digital designer, lover of democracy or simply a gamer, there’s a plot of land in The Sandbox with your name on it. If you’re all of the above like myself, then a brave, new, cubed world awaits.
