Gaming and cryptocurrencies are increasingly mixed with terms like "metaverse" and "play-to-earn." If you want to try out this new world but don't know where to start, the answer might be a crypto game called The Sandbox.
Your first steps in The SandboxFirst
, go toThe Sandbox's website using any browser. As is common with blockchain projects on the Internet, the first thing you will be asked to do is to connect a crypto wallet. If you don't have one yet, don't worry: you can easily create one for free.
This post is part of CoinDesk's Metaverse Week.
You don't have to have crypto tokens in your wallet to join The Sandbox. You just need a secure place to receive the tokens you earn.
Next, you need to provide an email address and choose a nickname.
You will then be asked to create an avatar and customize various body parts: Hair, top, leg clothes, shoes, etc. You can look completely different from real life with blue or green skin, or try to create an avatar that looks like you. The biggest problem with this step is indecision, since there are so many choices.
Now that you have an avatar, you'll notice that the Sandbox world is structured according to a map to make navigation easier. You can see all the digital properties in the world and click on the ones that interest you. This geographical way of displaying projects within a project is quite common for Metaverse games.
If you hover over the map, you'll see that many of the things there are "experiences", usually games with levels to complete. They are designed by your fellow players, not by the developers of the environment itself. You'll probably see popups telling you that you've completed "0/15 quests". If you want, you can jump right into one of the quests. Before you can do that, you will be prompted to download the client software for the sandbox, which is free and fast.
Of course, you can do even more things faster if you invest some of your own money. For example, you can design your own game. But don't worry, if you don't feel comfortable or aren't ready yet, you can just start playing without investing any money. It's best to explore and research as much as necessary to understand the experience and find out if your investment is worth it.
The sandbox graphics have been compared to the globally popular game Minecraft because of their boxy aesthetic. These cubic components of the world are called "voxels".
What is The Sandbox and how does it work?
The Sandbox is an open-world online multiplayer game in which players compete against each other to earn non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It is one of a whole series of online games that have gained popularity with the hype surrounding NFTs. Another one is Decentraland.
The sandbox has actually been around much longer than the NFT boom - it has been releasing games for mobile devices since 2011, without any blockchain element. It wasn't until 2018 that the company made the switch to blockchain.
The major advance of The Sandbox's switch to blockchain is that players can trade the things they build in the game, and their ownership is provable outside the game environment. You no longer need the developers to say you own your Sandbox creations. It's recorded indelibly on the blockchain.
The utility token of the project is SAND. You need it to buy something else. It was originally created on the Ethereum network, but began transitioning to Polygon in 2021, along with the entire Sandbox NFT ecosystem. The project cited environmental reasons for the switch, saying it could reduce its carbon footprint.
SAND is also used for staking in the Sandbox network on Polygon, which means token holders can participate in verifying transactions on the network when they temporarily deposit their tokens. In return, they are rewarded with additional SAND tokens. As of May 2022, nearly $100 million worth of SAND tokens were blocked from staking, according to The Sandbox.
After SAND, you should think about LAND, which is needed to build anything in the game. There is a fixed supply of LAND tokens: 166,464, which means that theoretically the value of these LAND tokens should increase as user numbers and public interest in the game continue to grow.
Once you have LAND, you can get creative. For one, you can create your own in-game games using the free downloadable Game Maker software. If you want, you can also do this in collaboration with other players. You can also create visual art with VoxEdit, a software that calls itself "the leading software that lets you create, manipulate and animate your own voxel-based NFTs".
The objects you create this way receive blockchain tokens called ASSETs, which makes them tradable and can convert them into NFTs. Other tokens called GEMs and CATALYSTs can be attached to these tokens, which affects their value. But this is something you can deal with once you get started - you may not be interested in this aspect of The Sandbox at all.
One final point to note about LAND is that you can rent out your LAND to other users. This means that you can use it to earn passive income while others get a chance to be creative.
One last note: you don't need a lot of technical know-how to perform the above steps. The software that The Sandbox works with is meant to be accessible to amateurs. Thus, don't be deterred if developing a video game or creating an NFT is beyond your abilities. The best way to find out is to explore and play the environment and see what else you want to try. You may find it easier than you expect.
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