During my research for another metaverse piece I’m writing, I stumbled across a website called Decentraland. I felt compelled to explore this game (if you will) and I wanted to share my immediate thoughts.
First Decentraland Impressions
Logging in was simple. Most of us in this space have MetaMask or something similar. I just connected mine via the browser extension, created my username and put in my email, and off I went.
The game starts with very basic options for your avatar, but you will quickly find that you can purchase additional skins with MANA (the Decentraland currency). I understand at the time of this piece, that 1 Mana is worth about $4.80USD. Once you create your avatar, you get dropped into the main lobby, where a little robot runs you through the controls. It’s all very simple to look at and navigate.
There are NFT’s displayed around the Decentraland world, and you can purchase some of them while in-game too, which is pretty cool. However, as an avid game player myself, the graphics of the world itself leave much to be desired. There are a few visual glitches across the worlds as well. The upside is how there are also some minigames where you can earn in-game rewards etc.
The site offers both voice and text chat in each world which appears quite helpful. I found in my time on the game, though, that a lot of people were asking, “what do we actually do here?”. Other common topics of conversation include general NFT and Crypto chatter and advice.
Current Conclusion
The general consensus is that there are 2 types of users on this platform: those that have no idea what’s going on and the experts who know what’s what. However, everyone seems really friendly and I didn’t see, hear or experience any nastiness like on other online interactive games. That is a positive sign for the future of Decentraland.
Overall, I like the concept. There is a huge amount of potential here. Moreover, Decentraland has a solid number of users playing and provides enough interaction to hold your attention, provided you can deal with the graphics. It does feel somewhat akin to a larger version of a mobile game with in-app micro-purchases. However, if you have that mindset going into Decentraland, I don’t think you’re on the right platform. I’ll definitely be logging in again to document my journey further.