Unveiling the Lucrative World of Decentraland 

By Arnold Mutunga

A Comprehensive Guide to Making Real Money in the Metaverse

The intersection of Web3 Gaming and DeFi is opening up amazing new opportunities for gamers and investors alike to generate revenue by participating in blockchain gaming ecosystems. The nexus of these innovations has bred boundless potential for earning income by either participating directly through gaming or by leveraging digital assets.

In this article, we take a deep dive into Decentraland, one of the most renowned blockchain-based gaming platforms, to understand the different ways in which you can generate revenue from Web3. The choice of Decentraland is both arbitrary and a conscious one since it provides a comprehensive feel of how blockchain-based games work. Most of the lessons you learn can be applied across other Multiverses, Web3 games, and DeFi platforms since they’re conceptually closely related if not similar.

Decentraland Overview

Decentraland is an Ethereum-based decentralized virtual reality platform that lets users create, explore, and engage with a virtual environment through customized avatars. The decentralized platform guarantees the ownership of digital assets that are customized as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Decentraland’s unique selling point is its virtual land parcels referred to as LAND in the virtual world with each piece being a distinct NFT. Users can purchase, sell, or develop LAND in Decentraland. In turn, depending on location and utility, this land can create value that users can leverage to earn an income from the Metaverse.

Decentraland has its native cryptocurrency, MANA, that facilitates commerce in its metaverse thus promoting a flourishing digital economy by enabling in-person transactions and administration.

Now that we are familiar with the fundamentals of Decentraland, let’s examine the numerous opportunities to earn actual money in this virtual environment:

Earning Money from Gaming

Virtual Real Estate

Investing in virtual real estate is the most straightforward way of earning money on Decentraland as it is one of the ecosystem’s most profitable business ventures. Users purchase, sell, and rent out these parcels just like real estate in the actual world. These lots may increase in value over time, especially if they are in prime locations with plenty of traffic or close to well-known attractions. Users have 2 options they can explore to make money here:

•         Buy, hold, flip: Invest in land, wait for its value to rise then sell. 
•         Develop to lease or sell: Add value to property with constructions and other attractions, then lease the parcel, or sell it for a profit.

Example:

John successfully bid 1000 MANA tokens to acquire a piece of land in the central district of Decentraland. His land’s value rose over time as the platform became quite well-known and engagement with users surged. He then sold the parcel for 5000 MANA tokens, making a profit of 4000 MANA.

Gaming and Entertainment

There are many kinds of gaming available on Decentraland ranging from easy mini-games to fully blown casinos. Users can engage in these gaming activities and get incentives in the form of NFTs or cryptocurrencies. You can participate in some of these popular gaming activities on Decentraland:

•         Treasure hunts: There a wide range of games available in collaboration with other users or gaming platforms with various rewards.
•         Casino: Enjoy multiple casino games like poker, roulette, and blackjack that offer a chance to win MANA or other cryptocurrencies.
•         Esports: You can participate in organized Esports competitions and events and stand a chance to win large cash prizes.

Hosting Events and Experiences

Organizing events such as concerts, art shows, or online get-togethers, on Decentraland can be quite profitable. The platform has a lively community that is eager to attend and participate in virtual meetups for social interactions, amusement, and educational opportunities. This is a great chance for creatives and event organizers to provide new experiences in the digital realm. To ensure success you should:

•         Determine your target audience and tailor an event around their interests.
•         Either own land or rent space from other landowners in a suitable location.
•         Use social media, relevant communities, and Decentraland forums to spread the word about your event.
•         Make money from your event by selling tickets, obtaining sponsorships, or offering digital goods.
•         Make sure that participants have a smooth and immersive experience by utilizing interactive features and interesting information.

Example:

Sarah, an aspiring musician, set up a virtual performance at the amphitheater of Decentraland. She collaborated with virtual brands to sponsor the event and charged 100 MANA for each ticket. Sarah made 10,000 MANA via the sale of tickets, sponsorships, and virtual items, in addition to the more than 500 guests who attended.

Content Creation

If you’re creative, Decentraland is the right platform for you as there are lots of ways to make money off of your abilities within the game. Decentraland allows developers, designers, and artists to produce and commercialize one-of-a-kind NFTs. These digital assets can be full game experiences, wearables for avatars, artwork, or 3D models among others. To maximize content creation opportunities on Decentraland you should:

•         Use 3D modeling tools to create digital assets, or collaborate with talented designers and artists.
•         Ensure your creations are exceptional, unique, and aligned to the prevailing market trends.
•         Use the Decentraland marketplace to list your digital assets for sale and set competitive prices that take demand and rarity into account.
•         Use online forums, communities, and social media to promote your creations and draw in customers.
•         Stay up to date on the most recent advancements and innovations in the NFT space to fully exploit emerging opportunities.

Example:

Michael, a digital artist, created a line of unique wearables using future concepts as inspiration. He priced each garment between 50 and 200 MANA tokens dependent on their rarity and design complexity when he posted them on Decentraland’s marketplace. Michael sold his digital assets and made a consistent income due to the increasing demand among virtual fashion lovers. In less than a month, he had amassed over 10,000 MANA tokens.

Leveraging MANA to Earn From DeFi

MANA, the native cryptocurrency of Decentraland, serves as the primary medium of exchange facilitating all the financial transactions on the platform. Besides this, MANA also offers users and investors a number of ways to make money through DeFi platforms that provide additional revenue streams from the following avenues.

Liquidity Provision

In the DeFi world, Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) typically pay a portion of the trading fees that a pool generates to liquidity providers. Holders of MANA can supply liquidity to DEXs by adding MANA tokens to liquidity pools, alongside another cryptocurrency (like ETH). In return they receive a share of the trading fees paid by traders who convert MANA into ETH and vice versa by contributing MANA and ETH to the pool.

The size of the liquidity pool and trade volume usually determines the rate of returns. Depending on the state of the market and the liquidity pool dynamics, annualized returns may vary from 5% to 50% or higher.

Staking and Governance

Decentraland has staking pools that enable MANA holders to safeguard the network and take part in governance decisions like proposed ecosystems and protocol updates.

Token holders can use MANA as collateral for staking contracts in Decentraland to gain voting rights and earn staking incentives. By casting their votes on suggestions, users may influence the direction of the Decentraland platform and take part in governance.

The staking period, total staked MANA, and network activity determine the rewards gained from staking. Annualized returns may be as high as 15% or higher, with further benefits earned with increased levels of engagement in governance activities.

Yield Farming

Yield farming involves either participating in liquidity mining programs to farm more tokens or providing MANA tokens as collateral to earn interest on protocols like Aave, Compound, or Yearn Finance. Yield farming allows MANA holders to earn extra income in the form of protocol, governance, or yield farming tokens.

The protocol, token incentives, and market conditions all have a significant impact on returns. The range of annualized returns is 10% to over 1000%; however, caution is advised as higher returns are usually accompanied by higher risks. As such, it is advisable to do due diligence before making any financial commitments to these platforms.

Airdrops and Token Sales

MANA holders may get free airdrops of fresh tokens from friendly, newly launched projects. They also have the option to take part in token sales initiated by platforms that are built on or integrated with the Decentraland ecosystem.

New projects looking to build communities quickly usually try to tap into well-established ecosystems with a huge following like Decentraland. In this case, MANA holders can benefit from free airdrops for being part of a recognized community. The returns from token sales and airdrops differ significantly depending on market demand, tokenomics, and project fundamentals. Potential rewards can take the form of governance rights, dividend payments, or token appreciation.

Conclusion

The nexus of Web3 Gaming and DeFi has given rise to a myriad of earning opportunities for investors, gamers, and other stakeholders. Even though blockchain technology may be considered quite technical for the average person, there are still some straightforward avenues that people can exploit to generate revenues.

Users can earn income in the metaverse through a variety of options provided by Decentraland. Users can take advantage of the platform’s decentralized infrastructure to monetize their abilities, creativity, and business endeavors through investing in virtual real estate, organizing events and experiences, or producing and selling digital commodities. Even those with no prior experience in the metaverse can achieve financial success in Decentraland by adhering to the instructions and illustrations shown in this article.

This article focused on Decentraland to showcase the various opportunities that the platform has for gamers, investors, and other interested parties. The platform serves as a case study with these opportunities espoused herein bearing semblance with other platforms as they cut across the entire Web3 gaming landscape. As we conclude our series on Web3 gaming, readers are now armed with the knowledge necessary to make Web3 gaming, and the potential profits it entails, a part of both their entertainment and investing experience.