Are Metaverses just a place for more Ads?

• · The Sandbox is a virtual game that users socialise in by creating and trading NFTs which is very reminiscent to previous interactive games such as VR Chat.
• · Even with the recent crashes of cryptocurrency, NFTs are still on the rise.
• · Investments made into these metaverses are not interchangeable to the real world.
• · Brands are now investing into these Metaverses as a new way of promoting their products to a new demographic.

In order to understand The Sandbox, Metaverses must be understood first. A Metaverse is a 3D virtual network world that focuses on social interactions. So essentially, it is life in a game.

The Sandbox is a virtual world with users that can build and own their gaming experiences through the Ethereum blockchain using NFTs. Players can create NFTs and sell them on the market.

There are several universes within the metaverse to create the ultimate experience for the players and give them a vast variety of what world they want to live in. The game maker feature in The Sandbox allows for users to create their own games without the hassle of difficult coding. The whole ecosystem of The Sandbox is done so it is user friendly by using existing login accounts to create a wallet to bring beginners into the metaverse, Co-founder and CEO, Sebastien Borget to the Financial Fox.

It’s been two years since the Financial Fox last spoke to Sebastien Borget, and The Sandbox has made tremendous progress since. The creation of SAND, a form of Cryptocurrency that the company has created, has allowed users to use it for trading and selling virtual land, fashion items and concerts.

Major collaborations were made with The Sandbox including Adidas, The Walking Dead, The Smurfs and even famous rapper, Snoop Dog himself. All of which are participating in creating highly valued NFTs.

For example, Snoop Dog would sell and host virtual concerts and Metaverse music videos. Adidas would create fashion items to buy and even real estate listings are put up for users to purchase that usually sell out very quickly. Sounds very familiar to the real world.

This has made The Sandbox the third largest Metaverse platform with investors willing to put in up to $400 million into the game, meanwhile The Sandbox’s SAND had an increase of 60% in their prices as of last week. SAND is up 7.1% over the last 24-hour period as of Friday morning. It’s also up 318.2% over the last year.

Borget told Financial Fox that the idea of The Sandbox is for users to reinvent themselves through an ecosystem that rewards an individual for creativity, ownership, and socializing. By being rewarded for the time you are being present, and even having other forms of monetary gains other than Play-To-Earn, there is now Built-To-Earn, Wear-To-Earn and Attend-To-Earn as a way to engage users to build their avatars.

The idea of having another life in a virtual world is a concept that existed in games since the online world was introduced, but the difference now is you can make money and scarcity exists. it’s been seen throughout the past decade with games like Second Life, VR Chat, PlayStation Home, and even smaller games like WeeWorld.

Scarcity has been the basic economic problem in every economy we see in the modern age. Scarcity refers to limited resources and unlimited wants. Where demand for a resource is greater than the supply for the same resource, making the resource at hand have an inflated value so it’s more expensive.

The great thing about games was it was a form of escapism from the real world and its real-world problems of scarcity. Games had items that you can obtain by going through the levels and missions, and with time, games gave the option to purchase these items. For example, gaining money through online missions on GTA, or buying Skins on Fortnite with dollars. The fun part though was everyone can own it, there was no scarcity to these items.

The issue here is that investments made in these metaverses are not interchangeable to real world money. So, if the game crashes or decides to shut down, all the investments that a user has done would be lost. If the assets bought in these metaverses can be converted outside of the game into real assets, therefore real value.

With Metaverse games, there’s unique limited items that are traded at high prices. And the more unique your avatar is, the higher rewards you gain in the Metaverse. The NFTs created give a social status, if you buy into the Snoop Dog collection, you gain this elite credibility for being part of that universe, like a club. The land you can own can be rented out but only if you get there on time to buy it before it gets sold off.

This sounds familiar to real world problems but in a game that uses Cryptocurrency which has been volatile. So, what was once a game that used to have a virtual stress-free life as a form of escapism, has turned into a virtual real world with all its economic issues but with fun outfits and colours with companies investing in it to promote their business. Brands are experimenting with new forms of advertisements to capture the younger demographic.

Metaverses are innovative and they are generating money and further hype into new technologies and new ways of earning money. Overall, it is a step into the technological future if it continues to go into the right direction, otherwise it will just seem like a big, glorified Advertisement for monetary reasons without any of the fun that comes from virtual realities.

WATCH OUR #FINANCIALFOX EPISODE BUILDING THE METAVERSE WITH STEFANIA IN CONVERSATION WITH SEBASTIEN BORGET, CEO OF THE SANDBOX