The Sandbox, we tested the Alpha of one of the most promising metaverses
The Sandbox
The Metaverse will be, like it or not, one of the hot topics of the coming months and maybe years. We are not saying that it will be the future of video games or even society, but it is certainly the field in which the next big investments are focusing. The most thunderous step was made by Facebook which, in anticipation of its virtual reality in VR, even changed its name to Meta. Less blatantly, but Epic Games with Fortnite, EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Roblox are also moving in that direction.Despite this, these big names are not the avant-garde. There are projects and experiences that have been in development for years and that are ready to open their doors to the general public. Their path, perhaps because it started from nothing, is the opposite: it started with the development and expansion of the economic model and on this they are building a game around it.
The Sandbox is one of the biggest projects , rich and advanced, capable of generating millions of dollars without even leaving the Alpha, which started just in these days.
Let's discover The Sandbox in our tried and tested.
What è The Sandbox
The Sandbox NFT museum From a playful point of view, The Sandbox is a big video game editor, created along the lines of Roblox. As the name suggests, it is a pitch with sand in which everyone can shape the experience they want. Or enter to play what others have created.The souls of The Sandbox, in fact, are three. There is a game built with Unity in which you move an avatar in a square world similar to that of Minecraft, interact with others in an MMO style and explore the world as a third person action. Then there is a worlds editor, thanks to which you can use the tools made available by the developers to create new games, new experiences and adventures. In The Sandbox Alpha we tried a sort of short action role-playing game in which we had to fight against monsters of various kinds, jumping from one platform to the next. But we also danced inside a real nightclub, as well as visited a museum where some of the paintings created by users are exhibited.
The NFT or non-fungible token are the third soul of The Sandbox . The game, in fact, is built on blockchain. This means that on the one hand every object inside it can be recognizable and traceable thanks to a unique code, on the other hand that it will be possible to convert the SANDs at any time, this is the cryptocurrency at the base of The Sandbox, into other commonly traded currencies. on the main exchanges on the market. Even for old, traditional, but reliable euros.
By combining these three things you get a play-to-earn formula, that is the possibility of earning real money through gaming activities.
A new frontier
Dancing is an important thing, even in The Sandbox The Sandbox, therefore, it is not interesting "only" because it could be one of the first virtual worlds of a new generation (we consider Second Life a closed chapter) where dozens of brands and artists are coming to have a presence in this world (The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Deadmou5, Atari) and where people can come to socialize or simply experience what the game has to offer , but also because it proposes an innovative business model, potentially advantageous both for the company and for the players.Create an internal NFT market through which everyone has the opportunity to create and sell their own creations, no n matter whether they are objects for the avatar or new games, it suits everyone: both for those who sell, since they can earn a living thanks to these new professions, and for developers, who keep a percentage of the transaction.
This is a bit like what Steam does with the mods of its games, plus the possibility of being able to certify the rarity of an object, as well as being able to save it on your cryptocurrency wallet and exchange it for money or something else inside. of the various Binance, Coinbase or Crypto.com.
It is an innovative, frontier scenario, on which governments will have to intervene sooner or later to regulate cash flows and protect intellectual property.
The Sandbox Alpha
The Sandbox Alpha is still in its infancy The Sandbox Alpha allows for the moment to imagine this future. As we said, unlike Fortnite or Roblox, here we started from the economic infrastructure and now the first experiences are starting to arrive.It is therefore not surprising that the museums in which to show the works of Bored Ape Yacht Club, one of the hottest digital artists at the moment, are already perfectly open to visitors and that the real estate market to buy from the LAND, that is the digital earth in which it is possible to place one's experiences, is already well underway, with prices that rival those of the main cities in the world.
It is also not surprising that access to the Alpha, guaranteed for those who have contributed to the game or won some kind of access, and which also guarantees various advantages (1000 SAND, about 5-6 dollars and 3 NFT), has absolutely crazy prices. We are in the digital Far West and the free market is king. If anyone is willing to spend several hundred thousand dollars on a digital boat, why stop them?
This more colorful aspect, however, shouldn't cloud the playful potential, but not only of the project. We are talking about what we believe could be the future of the world of video games and entertainment in general, perhaps not in its playful structure, but most likely in the economic one. Being paid directly for your contributions to a video game, being able to exercise control over your digital content and immediately find a receptive market in which you can easily exchange and sell the things you also own digitally (such as the sword you no longer use, or favorite influencer's T-shirt) could be the future.
The Sandbox Alpha is very limited for now. There is a central hub that opens onto the NFT museum and then onto three thematic areas in which some easter eggs and simple missions are hidden, designed to let you explore the environment. In the main area there are also portals that teleport to separate instances where new experiences can be found. For the moment there is a sort of third-person RPG, an additional museum and a disco, but every day a new part of the game is open to everyone and soon those of Snoop Dogg will arrive, dedicated to the Smurfs or Atari. br>
Definitely more interesting are the game editors that allow you to create new experiences (in this case you must have a LAND), as well as objects (even animated ones) and new clothes and customizations for the avatars. This is where players can start making money with The Sandbox, but more on that later.
Governance
The Sandbox may seem like a cross between Minecraft and Roblox This is also because the game, especially in the near future when the transition between the Ethereum and Polygon networks will be completed, it will also propose a decentralized governance and finance system. Owning SAND will not only allow you to purchase in-game items, but also actively participate in the development of The Sandbox. Those who own this coin, in fact, will be called by the developers to decide the future of this metaverse through voting. The mechanism that makes the value of a vote depend on the amount of money owned is unconvincing (as if it were a real shareholder), but it is already a step forward towards a more democratic process.By Polygon there will probably also be the possibility of staking your SANDs in order to earn passively just for owning them. Switching from ETH's proof-of-work (more expensive and energy-intensive) to Matic's proof-of-stake will make The Sandbox network management costs lower, but above all it will give you the opportunity to "lend" your coins as a yardstick to verify the correctness of the new transactions, said a lot in a nutshell.
Given the great success of The Sandbox, the development team has decided to open part of the Alpha to everyone. Pass holders, in addition to being able to claim rewards at the end of the Alpha, will have guaranteed access to some exclusive parts of the metaverse. Many others, however, are open to everyone. At this address you can also try the game for free, remembering that, for the moment, The Sandbox is only available on PC and requires an ETH wallet to access.
The Sandbox is a project that must certainly be studied, not it matters whether it will be successful or not. Inside, many of the issues that will disrupt the video game market in the coming years are being tested, such as the metaverse, earn-to-play, games on blockchain and those generated by users themselves. However, we are in an embryonic state, but the potential for the birth of something great seems to be all there. We will closely follow the development of the game and its next steps. You?
