What Is Metaverse?
Metaverse, simply put, is a virtual space that can represent either a real, physical space or a digital world. A good example would be the movie “Ready Player One,” but the concept was first popularized by Neal Stephenson in his book “Snow Crash” in 1992. Your digital avatar represents you and everything you do and own in the metaverse. It is a virtual environment that you can access with – or even without – AR/VR headsets. In the metaverse you can own lands, shop, play to earn, watch concerts, and even work. The possibilities seem to be endless with creators, dreamers, and corporate behemoths trying to build an entire world from scratch. And that’s the appeal. It unlocks, literally, an entire world full of potential with a focus on new ways to play, earn, work, and do so much more. Let’s take a look at some examples of metaverse games that are changing the way we go about our daily lives.
1. Decentraland
The virtual world in Decentraland is owned completely by its owners who can buy and sell digital real estate, build, rent, and advertise on it, and do much more. Just like in the real world. This short video explains it in more detail. It has an events page where you can find and participate in ongoing events that include art exhibitions, DJ parties, and so on. You can explore as a guest or use one of the crypto wallets like Meta Mask to sign in. Fun fact: the world’s oldest auction house, Sotheby, has opened a digital version of its London gallery in Decentraland.
2. Axie Infinity
While Decentraland wants to create a virtual city that mimics aspects of the real world, Axie Infinity takes the play-to-earn approach. Inspired by Pokemon, players collect, raise, and breed creatures called Axies and take part in PvP (player vs. player) battles with them. Like any game, there is a point system to level up. Run by its own governance token called Axie Infinity Shards or AXS, Axie Infinity is changing the way gamers interact with the game. Players own the creatures they collect and breed and can sell them for native tokens on the marketplace to make real profit.
3. The Sandbox
Another metaverse game with a play-to-earn format, Sandbox allows users to buy land, build on top of it, then sell it on NFT marketplaces like Open Sea. You can be a creator who is building the metaverse or a player who is participating in the games created by other players or builders. As is the norm in the blockchain gaming world, creators own digital rights to their creations, which are tradable. Their native cryptocurrency is SAND, which powers the economy, facilitating transactions like buy/sell land parcels, characters, etc.
4. Yield Guild Games
Yield Guild Games or YGG makes it possible for a group of players to participate in blockchain games remotely. The benefit is not being required to be at the same place like in the old days. They can compete for prizes, cash/tokens, and in-game assets. You can think of YGG as the Steam (from Valve) of blockchain gaming where you can play different games like The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and more. YGG’s objective is to bring players together from different parts of the world so that they can win together. Because YGG is a DAO, players get to vote on important decisions, like where money is invested, which NFTs to purchase, and which games they want to play to earn rewards.
5. Mines of Dalarnia
Mines of Dalarnia is an action-adventure game that will take you deep into the mines. You will find yourself fighting for resources, items, and gears, all while fighting other players that will help you up your skills and gain a tactical advantage. While the graphics are nothing to write home about, and the game is in 2D, it does look promising. Maybe adding a couple of new maps and 3D worlds would spice things up.
6. Chromia
Chromia is not a game but an entire gaming studio that has created several games, including Mines of Dalarnia discussed above. Other metaverse games include My Neighbor Alice, Krystopia, and Chain of Alliance. They are also involved in some other side projects and probably won’t stop there. Expect more game launches in the future as the tech improves.
7. Gala
Gala is a blockchain gaming studio just like Chromia. The dev team has already developed and released a bunch of games like Townstar, a simulation game, and SpiderTanks, a PvP game, with few others in development. There is a store where you can buy and sell in-games items with the native token, Gala. Gala Games was co-founded by Eric Schiermeyer, who also founded Zynga. They are currently working on creating more games and launching a mainnet of their own blockchain, GalaChain. Currently, they are deployed on Ethereum. Look for more from some of the big name gaming studios like Roblox, Epic Games, and Tencent.
