The Sandbox Metaverse: Where Gaming, Creativity, Ownership, and Governance Meet

Muhammad Naeem

Blogger

The Sandbox is an Ethereum blockchain-based decentralized gaming platform that enables its users to create, sell and monetize their digital assets including non-fungible tokens. The Sandbox was originally created to disrupt the traditional gaming industry, where users have limited rights and all the assets in the game belong to developers under copyright laws. However, in the Sandbox gaming ecosystem, players have complete ownership of their assets, and they can even sell them off to generate real-world money.

What is the Sandbox Metaverse

The Sandbox Metaverse consists of three integrated products that provide users a comprehensive gaming experience.

I. VoxEdit

VoxEdit is a set of user-friendly tools that let users create their own gaming experience including creating and animating 3D objects such as trees and animals. These 3D objects are created using 3D pixels called Voxels, which are building blocks in the Sandbox game.

Once these 3D digital assets are successfully created, they can be exported outside Sandbox and traded at the Sandbox marketplace like any other non-fungible token.

II. Marketplace

The NFTs created in the Sandbox using VoxEdit can be uploaded and sold on the Sandbox’s NFT marketplace.

Users upload their NFTs on the IPFS network where they are provided with decentralized storage to secure ownership of their digital assets. Once ownership is proven, their creations become assets that the owners can sell on the marketplace by making an initial sale offer.

III. The Sandbox Game Maker

This amazing feature of The Sandbox allows anyone to create 3D games for free. Even users with limited coding knowledge can build their own 3D games using this user-friendly tool.

They can even monetize their games by adding play-to-earn features.

Who created the Sandbox?

The Sandbox was created by Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget in 2012 under Pixowl Inc. At the time, Pixowl was limited to developing 2D games and had already released several successful games. Pixowl was later acquired by Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based game software company, and released its first blockchain game, the Sandbox, in 2018. The idea behind the Sandbox was to provide players with a gaming platform that would allow them to create, share and monetize their digital assets without relying on a central entity. The Sandbox Metaverse empowers users to be the creators as well as owners of their digital assets.

Is The Sandbox totally Decentralized?

The Sandbox platform has a utility token called SAND which is used to buy, trade, and sell digital assets such as land. While it is claimed that this platform is totally decentralized, it is important to mention that a large portion of SAND is held by the developers. However, the token is mainly used to fund different projects launched by The Sandbox and to fund the creators. Last month, Sebastien Borget announced on Twitter that he will reward $1 million to all the creators who are continuously working on the development of the platform.

The Sandbox’s tokens

The Sandbox is a decentralized platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. There are six types of tokens that are used on The Sandbox platform. Four tokens -- SAND, ASSETS, LAND, and GAME – are used to create an enclosed economy among the users, while the other two tokens -- GEM and CATALYSTs – are utilized for constructing assets on the VoxEdit.

I. SAND Token

This is an ERC20 token utilized within the Sandbox for all interactions and transactions. SAND is considered the native token of The Sandbox. The SAND token is utilized for the following purposes:

Accessing the platform

The SAND token can be considered the primary currency within the Sandbox as it is used to play games, purchase different tools, equipment, land, and other virtual assets in the game.

Staking

SAND allows users to stake and earn passive income on LANDS; also, staking SAND allows users to get more SAND. Furthermore, SAND is the only mechanism for users to obtain the GEMS and CATALYSTs necessary to develop assets.

Governance

SAND can also be used as a governance token to vote in the Decentralized Automated Organization (DAO) on the platform. Users can participate in community governance to vote for different proposals related to the future of the platform. Users can vote for themselves or transfer their voting power to other users using the Delegation feature.

Foundation

The Sandbox Foundation's primary goal is to promote the growth and development of The Sandbox platform and to support the community of users and developers who are continuously creating assets. The foundation provides grants, resources, and support to developers who are creating new games, experiences, and assets on The Sandbox platform. Furthermore, the Sandbox Foundation funded the development of 15 different crypto projects and allowed 100 artists to create NFTs before the public debut in 2020.

II. LAND Token

This is an ERC-721 token that is used to represent virtual land or property in the Sandbox metaverse. Each SAND represents a small piece of land in the Sandbox and users can purchase and own these tokens to create interactive experiences.

III. ASSET Token

This is an ERC-1155 standard token that is created by users who contribute to the platform, such as game developers, artists, and creators.

IV. GAME token

A GAME is an interactive experience and in order to be active in the Sandbox metaverse, it must first be combined with a LAND token.

The Sandbox's Celebrity and Brand Collaborations

The SAND is currently trading at $0.68; despite this, it manages to attract celebrities and well-known brands. The Sandbox has already collaborated with 165 different brands including Snoop Dogg, the walking dead, Smurfs, Atari, and Deadmau5. Moreover, Crypto exchange Binance and NFT collector WhaleShark also made significant investments in the Sandbox Metaverse.

Should you invest in the Sandbox Metaverse?

The Sandbox has shown a lot of potential for the investor and as it integrates blockchain technology, there are great chances that Sandbox will be a good investment option. Due to the rapid adoption of NFTs and more and more celebrities joining the metaverse space, it is highly possible that the price of SAND will rise again in the future. In the end, it depends on how much risk you can tolerate and how much you want to invest. It is always advised to conduct due diligence and do your own research before making any investment.