#Hotel mogul game key series#

The prices were listed in MANA, Decentraland’s own cryptocurrency.

I had to look at a map on Decentraland to see where the land was, but then go to OpenSea to buy it as an NFT based on the X and Y axes on the map. The other problem was, it was hard to tell what and where I was buying. Plus, once I had my empty green square of virtual land, I’d have to buy NFT trees and NFT lawns and NFT sofas to keep up with the avatar Joneses, and NFT security guards to stop anyone from stealing all those NFTs. This seemed like a bargain compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that other virtual plots of land have sold for - until I realized the “real estate” here is only a bunch of computer code. Parcel sent me information on three parcels in the museum district they thought might appeal to me because the neighborhood had the intellectual vibe that could be helpful to attract people to my salon for journalists. Each 16-by-16 “meter” parcel was selling for around USD$8,000. Decentraland might want certain things and the owners might want different things.” That gave me pause - why come to the decentralized world only to have some functionary middleman tell me what I can and cannot do on my land? The setup didn’t sound very decentralized or Web 3.0 to me. “The district leader might not be thrilled that you’re squatting on land and not adding to the value of the museum district,” Gaynor said. Decentraland has a more traditional cartoon look and is used for socializing, shopping for digital art, watching movies, and going to concerts.ĭecentraland has clearly defined and zoned neighborhoods, including districts for gambling (Vegas City), music (Festival Land), education (University), and porn (District X).ĭecentraland districts resemble housing communities with a homeowners association, with “district leaders” making sure everyone sticks to the neighborhood’s rules and original intent. The Sandbox has that blocky Lego look where everything is made of voxels (like in Roblox and Minecraft) and focuses on gaming. Gaynor suggested that I tour the two largest blockchain real-estate metaverses. I wanted a communal experience where I’d run into new people to make fun of skeleton astronauts with. I didn’t want a whole metaverse to myself. Mona was a little too monastic for me though. Ranging in price from US$1,000 to US$30,000, Mona properties looked like Roblox reconceived by the guys who spray painted the sides of vans in the 1970s. In one NFT world, there were sharks flying in the sky above me in another, I was greeted by skeletons in spacesuits.

#Hotel mogul game key series#

It’s like a video game without the game, just a series of streets or rooms or spaceships for your avatar to wander around in. He suggested Mona, where each ownable space is your own personal metaverse.Įach Mona parcel is an NFT that an artist has created. So I told Gaynor that I was leaning toward something fun, like a social club for journalists. “Do you want to simply buy land and hold it for 30 years and cash out one day? Or build an experience like a concert venue? Or sell a lot of ads and have a lot of billboards?” Gaynor asked.Īll of those sounded like good ideas, but they also sounded like work, and I wasn’t looking for a job in the metaverse. Sensing that I needed help, Parcel CEO Noah Gaynor asked me a basic question: What did I want to do with my virtual real estate? This was not a question I had pondered about any of the homes I’ve wanted to buy before, since all I wanted to do was live in them.īut you don’t sleep or raise a family in the metaverse. I’d had enough trouble picking a house on one tiny speck in one real-life universe. Parcel supports five metaverses, which is four too many metaverses for me. To get started on shopping for my first virtual home, I went to Parcel, which calls itself the Zillow of the metaverse. More than US$500 million was spent on virtual real estate last year, and Citigroup forecasts that the metaverse market could be worth up to US$13 trillion by 2030. So I figured I should also start my Web 3.0 investment portfolio with real estate - in the metaverse. I am overwhelmed with the complexity of crypto trading, but I somehow managed to buy and sell a co-op apartment in New York City with my sanity intact. Parts 4 to 6 find him immersed in move-to-earn as a STEPN jogger, chasing riches as a crypto day trader and joining IreneDAO to explore simping in Web3. In Parts 1 and 2, he opens a crypto wallet and dives into play-to-earn as an Axie Infinity gamer.

This is the third installment of a special Forkast series on crypto newcomer Joel Stein’s adventures in the blockchain world.