I purchased my first parcel of land in the Metaverse. Specifically, it’s in the Mars neighborhod, on Satoshi Island in the world of Cryptovoxels.
Metaverse
When someone asks me what the Metaverse is, I usually start with a question, “are you familiar with the book or movie, Ready Player One?” More than half the responses are usually yes. If not, I ask if they are familiar with virtual spaces that you can build in such as Second Life or Roblox.
I became familiar with the term coined by Neal Stephenson in his book Snow Crash that I read around 2008, although it came out in 1992. I played a lot of video games growing up and was a huge fan of Star Trek’s holodeck and this was the experience I was ready for.
Very simply, the Metaverse is a shared 3D virtual space where people are represented by digital avatars. Some are owners of land and they build on it – galleries, parks, houses, shops – really whatever your imagination allows in the space you have to build with.
Cryptovoxels
There are various Metaverses to choose from, but the ones my circles talk about the most are The Sandbox, Decentraland, and Cryptovoxels.
There are a few reasons I chose to buy a parcel on Cryptovoxels: people in some of my communities were buying properties, it reminded me of Minecraft, my son started a clothing line to sell clothes for avatars, and it seemed a lot less competitive to buy land because it’s a bit less polished than the other options. As a DIYer, I prefer it when things are a little messy and I like getting in early.
Plans
I am forming my plans for this space, and I am imagining that I will create a gathering space for experimenting with different practices that I do in the real world such as forest therapy. You may think that won’t work, but for the past few months I’ve been attending virtual forest bathing walks so why not?!
How To Buy
If you are intrigued, the first thing you need to do is play around in the space and get to know it. See if it’s something you can imagine spending time in and investing in. It’s like “real” real estate in that you own the property and you can also sell it. There are no guarantees that you will make a profit, so never spend money you can’t live without.
- Look at the properties for sale on the map.
- Buy from Cryptovoxels when they release new parcels or make an offer on a property that someone owns
- You will need an Ethereum wallet and eth currency. I use Metamask but there are others to choose from.
- The sale goes through Opensea.
Questions
I’m brand new and have more questions than answers. There are very helpful resources including the Discord community. If you buy a parcel please let me know and I’ll teleport over. š
