Mostafa Salem
Head of Gaming Research
A few games in web3 gaming at the moment can truly hold the “metaverse” label, and Decentraland has deservedly earned it. The game is considered a virtual reality platform where users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications.
The boundaries of creation are almost non-existent, with in-game land permanently owned by the community, giving them full control over their creations. The latter can range from static 3D scenes to fully interactive experiences or even mini-games.
Gameplay
Land plays a key role in everything you do in Decentraland. Every experience, and every asset you want to design needs a land to exist on for you to be able to create it. The adjacency of land makes Decentraland parcels crucial in expanding your digital kingdom and the creation of districts devoted to a special topic or theme.
What makes Decentraland unique is that you can build fully digital experiences, and have other players come to pay you for using them. Essentially, there are three main gameplay features that are tradeable; currency, goods, and services. The latter is present more prominently, and the biggest example is Decentral Games.
Decentral Games is a collection of casinos where players can enter and play countless games that get updated and expanded upon every now and then in exchange for winning items and competition prizes.
It serves as the perfect example of what Decentraland does, and what other creators can deliver once all the tools are in place for them to do so. The blank canvas the game gives its land owners can eventually spawn a number of similar standalone successful experiences like the one everyone enjoys with Decentral Games.
However, the main point of criticism towards Decentraland, both from within web3 gaming and the traditional industry, is how often the characters seem completely emotionless. It is not the prettiest looking game but at the same time, the lack of tools to make the social aspect a bit more "social-y" leaves a lot to be desired.
On top of that, Decentraland often feels like a ghost town with an incredibly low number of players and nothing to do most of the time. This may sound surprising to many but the most you will get out of the game is the occasional virtual concert or branded experience. Whenever those happen, it is usually when you see the potential Decentraland has in the web3 gaming space.
Summary
Decentraland has become unanimous with the word "metaverse" and potentially one of the first titles that pop into both the web3 and traditional gamer. The expansive and creator-driven world the game has to offer managed to deliver the likes of Decentral Games, with more and more experiences being created as time goes by.
However, at the moment, Decentraland suffers from a severe lack of playerbase. This is mainly due to the lack of engaging content and things to do in-game on a daily basis. Outside of the occasional virtual concert, branded experience, or a major company entering the web3 world through a Decentraland headquarters announcement, the game has little to offer repetitive visitors.
Decentraland Review
6.5/10
Decentraland can be labelled as one of the true metaverse experiences, giving players the opportunity to create and personalize their characters and create meaningful experiences for everyone to enjoy. Nonetheless, the severe lack of playerbase and content leaves you logging in every now and then just to attend the occasional event and close it off till the next one happens.
6.5
Pros
A true virtual experience
Creators are at the forefront of everything
Incredible virtual headquarters for international brands
Cons
Emotionless at times
High barrier of entry
