Decentraland is a 3D virtual world platform supported by blockchain where users can purchase products with real money. It becomes live to the public in February 2020 and is one of the early players in the metaverse field. Decentraland is essentially in a form of a web browser game. The transactions could be about virtual land, avatar wearables, or even digital art pieces as NFTs via the MANA cryptocurrency.
Why is it engaging & What features are well done
It adopts a simple and familiar form of interaction through web browsers, whereas the concept of metaverse is new and appeals to people’s curiosity. The design of the scenes also uses bright colours and simple art style which is friendly and inviting.
In addition, there is a high degree of freedom of editing the avatar in terms of body, face, hair, top, bottom, shoes, and accessories, which gives users a strong sense of participation and realism.
However, in my opinion, the idea of trading various types of NFTs is the main attraction of Decentraland. Its financial value as a means of investment is what engages people. For example, a plot of land is sold for 2.4 million recently. This is more significant than its technical and artistic value as a game.
What features can be improved and how?
The graphics lags too much for normal users without advanced setup. For me, I am using my laptop with GTX1060, running the game on chrome and ethernet, and I literally cannot move around. A continuous move on the mouse is reflected as one frame change after 10 seconds. Basic tasks like navigating myself or even responding to pop-up windows are impossible. This is also why I could not say more about which features are well-done, because I did not get to experience any. It could be that my hardware standard is too low, so I watched some review videos like the one below, but as the commentator suggests, the motion is not smooth either.
In addition, even if the animation is smooth, the 3D visuals are too rough for a metaverse application positioned at its standard. The silhouette lines do not look refined, and the art style is not that aesthetically appealing which reduces the passion to purchase any wearables for the avatar, really. This might work for a normal 3D game, but for a world-class metaverse platform, it could do better.
In conclusion, I think Decentraland has a great concept and has the advantage of starting early in this field of metaverse. It is already gaining popularity and making remarkable progress. However, it needs to work on its animation and graphics to attract more people.