Today on February 20th 2020 the virtual world of Decentraland is opening its doors to the public with its official launch. Anybody can setup a free avatar with a generic name to discover the online world freely. Once gamers want to have their own name, or create building, they will need to invest money. Buying a name costs approximately six dollars, while land is available on the public marketplace.

Decentraland has been at the center of lots of trading and speculation in recent weeks. Currently traders have listed the cheapest land parcels for 14 thousand MANA, which equals approximately 880 dollars. The more to the center a parcel is located, the more expensive it will become. At the same time gamers can buy names and in-game wearables for their avatars.

Developers no longer in charge

Decentraland has been available in beta for some time, but with its official public launch it’s making steps towards true decentralization. With the launch of the virtual world the developers established a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This means the developers are no longer in charge, and there’s no big red button that can change things Decentraland.

The Decentraland Foundation received 222 million MANA ($13.86 million) to further develop the virtual world. The foundation is non-profit and community-driven. In addition the developers announced they will burn 333 million MANA (roughly 20 million dollars) to reduce the concentration of power.

So what is Decentraland?

Decentraland is a virtual world that’s from now on governed by its users through a foundation. It’s a public platform in which the community has a say. The users built everything. MANA spent on virtual land and in-game wearables will be burned. As a result the supply of MANA will always decrease, in turn increasing the value of the Ethereum token.

Users can build virtual building and items in The Builder, an easy-to-use editor for 3D objects. Those who are a little bit more technical, can give into the SDK and use a set of tools to create new forms of gameplay within Decentraland. When other game studios build games inside the virtual world of Decentraland, it’s often referred to as a metaverse.

Decentraland and other virtual worlds like Cryptovoxels and The Sandbox, have been in the spotlight quite a lot recently. Last week almost one million dollars worth of virtual land was sold across these games, with Decentraland leading the pack. Those interested in adding NFT trading to their portfolio, should consider these six tips.

Also published on Medium.