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1992: Bestselling writer Neal Stephenson uses the term "metaverse" in his novel "Snow Crash" for the very first time.
2021: Facebook changes its name to Meta and hires 10,000 employees to create the metaverse.
Thirty years later, Stephenson's idea becomes reality and the financial market reacts positively. Projects like Decentraland, The Sandbox and Axie Infinity are definitely exploding, creating a high workforce demand. Game development, cybersecurity, blockchain, data analysis, the list goes on. McKinsey forecast shows that the metaverse has the potential to grow up to $5 trillion by 2030. The IT industry is set to build the digital future.
What is Decentraland?
The concept of Decentraland was born in 2015, thanks to Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano. In 2017, most of the initial developers' investment has come from the sales of digital plots, with a purchase price of around $20, and MANA tokens - Decentraland's official cryptocurrency - for $0.02. The project raised $26 million at launch.
In April 2021, the NFT and metaverse markets, in the midst of a bullish trend, skyrocketed Decentraland’s land value, with prices ranging between $6,000 and $100,000. Plus, Facebook announcing its rebranding and a strong metaverse investment has been a key factor for the whole crypto market, sending MANA’s price to the moon at $5.79 (an all-time-high never reached again).
By the end of 2021, popular brands and giants from multiple sectors appeared on Decentraland or invested in the project. Names like Samsung, Adidas and Atari made their presence felt inside the virtual world; Sotheby's held its first auction in the metaverse and major fashion brands, including Dolce & Gabbana, have been invited for the Metaverse Fashion Week; musical artists, such as Deadmau5 and Grimes, played gigs through the platform; banks such as JPMorgan invested in digital lands.
Genesis Plaza
Gameplay and game mechanics
The world of Decentraland is simple and intuitive. In a few minutes, by logging in directly with a web browser, you can create your own digital avatar and get access to Genesis Plaza, the game area dedicated to users taking their first steps. MANA, the cryptocurrency of Decentraland, is required in order to purchase items, lands or carry out specific activities. Many of the in-game items are created by users. Each of them represents a non-fungible token (NFT), which can be sold on the Decentraland marketplace. Just like objects and items, lands are also NFTs and they can be purchased through the marketplace as well. In the metaverse we find shops, casinos, playgrounds, businesses that perfectly look like their real-world equivalents.
Decentraland’s most trending criticisms are the low daily user activity within the virtual world, limited in-game content and graphics models which are below the 2022 video game market.
JPMorgan office in Decentraland
Job opportunities
The impact of Decentraland is not just about fun or investment opportunities. The metaverse is a fresh and growing sector. The demand is high and there are hundreds of job opportunities available online. The metaverse development spans multiple areas, allowing different profiles to join the party. 3D developers, programmers, coders; for those who already work in the gaming industry, the transition is smooth. Many of the skills acquired in the field can be valuable within the metaverse. For those interested in the blockchain sector, there are endless opportunities for smart contracts integration and overall metaverse improvements. Also cybersecurity profiles are in high demand. The fruition of a virtual world accessible by everyone at any time requires protection, privacy and security.
A digital evolution
The pandemic has dramatically speed up the development of new emerging technologies. Plus, thanks to the rebrand of Facebook in Meta, the push towards the metaverse is the result of the digital transformation: jobs have been transitioning to platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet; the blockchain development and the adoption of cryptocurrencies are symptoms of the aforementioned digital transformation; the metaverse seems to be an imminent reality, not a mere futuristic concept. Furthermore, 87% of Generation Z has an average weekly playtime of around 7 hours.
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Into the Metaverse is an in-depth series about the metaverse and its development. Below a comprehensive list of the video games we have been talking about:
Sources:
https://docs.decentraland.org/decentraland/introduction/