Building a Platform Like Decentraland Metaverse: Features and Cost

The metaverse is a rapidly evolving digital space that is constantly being shaped by technological advancements and changing user preferences. As new technologies emerge and user expectations shift, the metaverse will continue to adapt and grow, offering increasingly immersive and personalized experiences. This ongoing evolution presents exciting opportunities for businesses, developers, and individuals to explore the potential of the metaverse and contribute to its development.

Decentraland is a decentralized virtual world platform operating on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to purchase, sell, and develop virtual land parcels. Decentraland’s decentralized nature ensures that no single entity controls the platform, fostering a community-driven and transparent ecosystem. This blog will guide you through the process of creating your own metaverse platform, similar to Decentraland, explaining the process and cost of development.

Key Market Statistics: Growing Demand for Metaverse

The global metaverse market is witnessing significant growth driven by the rising demand for immersive virtual experiences. A report from Grand View Research projects the market value will soar from $65.5 billion in 2022 to an impressive $475.7 billion by 2030. This rapid expansion is largely attributed to advancements in technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and blockchain, which are transforming the way businesses and consumers engage in digital environments.

Source:  GrandViewResearch 

The entertainment and media sectors, along with retail, are key contributors to the growth of the metaverse market. Brands are utilizing metaverse platforms to create virtual storefronts, providing distinctive shopping experiences, while companies are developing interactive gaming spaces, hosting virtual concerts, and crafting immersive storytelling, all of which enhance user engagement.

The Asia Pacific region plays a crucial role in the metaverse market, primarily due to its swift technological advancements and widespread smartphone usage. Countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea are at the forefront, making significant investments in AR and VR technologies. As industries continue to explore the commercial opportunities presented by the metaverse, this market is set to transform how businesses operate, connect with customers, and create new revenue streams on a global scale.

What is The Decentraland Metaverse?

Decentraland is a decentralized virtual world platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to buy, sell, and develop virtual land parcels known as LAND. These LAND parcels serve as digital real estate, providing users with the autonomy to create unique experiences, build applications, and engage with others within the platform’s persistent and decentralized environment. 

Decentraland offers a variety of applications and use cases, including gaming, social events, real estate, art and culture, and business and marketing. It is a dynamic and evolving platform that offers a unique blend of technology, community, and creativity. It provides a space for users to explore, create, and connect with others in a decentralized virtual world. 

How Does Decentraland Metaverse Work?

Decentraland operates on the Ethereum blockchain, providing a secure environment for digital ownership and transactions. Users begin by acquiring MANA, Decentraland’s native cryptocurrency, typically purchased from crypto exchanges and transferred to a compatible digital wallet. To enter the Decentraland world, users create and customize their avatars, choosing names, appearances, and outfits. This avatar serves as their identity, allowing them to explore various 3D environments by teleporting through coordinate portals using a simple point-and-click movement system.

A key feature of Decentraland is the ability to purchase LAND parcels, which represent virtual real estate. Each piece of LAND is permanently recorded on the blockchain, granting users full ownership rights. LAND can be bought directly from Decentraland or on secondary markets using MANA. Once acquired, users can develop their parcels by adding buildings, scenery, games, and interactive elements with Decentraland’s development tools. In addition to individual creations, communal spaces like plazas and event venues encourage social interaction and engagement. 

5 Must-Have Features of The Decentraland Metaverse

To create a vibrant and engaging experience, the Decentraland Metaverse incorporates features that enhance user interaction and creativity.

Virtual Real Estate 

Users can buy, sell, and own digital land in the form of NFTs. These parcels are permanent, and ownership is tracked through blockchain technology. Landowners can develop their virtual space by creating experiences like buildings, games, or events.

Avatar Customization

Decentraland allows players to create avatars with personalized looks, including outfits, accessories, and unique appearances. These avatars are fully interactive in the virtual world.

3D Interactive Environment

The platform offers an open, physics-based 3D world where users can explore different themed districts, interact with other players, and engage in various activities, from attending virtual events to discovering hidden areas.

Marketplace and MANA Currency

The built-in marketplace allows users to trade virtual goods such as land, wearables, and other digital assets using Decentraland’s native cryptocurrency, MANA. It is an integral part of the economy, enabling easy transactions between players.

Developer Tools

Decentraland provides a suite of tools, including a Software Development Kit (SDK), that allows developers to build interactive applications, games, and experiences on the platform. Even those without extensive coding experience can create virtual environments using simpler tools.

5 Innovative Features to Add to Platforms like Decentraland Metaverse

To enhance the user experience and expand the functionality of the Metaverse like Decentraland, several innovative features could be introduced.

AI-Driven NPCs

Introduce AI-powered NPCs with dynamic personalities, tasks, and behaviors. These NPCs could offer quests, information, or personalized assistance, adapting to user preferences and evolving with each interaction.

Mixed Reality Integration

Allow users to merge their physical and virtual environments through AR glasses or mobile devices, bringing digital objects into the real world and blending experiences across both realities.

User-Created Ecosystems

Enable players to design and manage entire ecosystems, allowing for the introduction of flora and fauna in virtual worlds. The ecosystems could react dynamically to changes, simulating environmental interactions like weather and resource management.

Decentralized Governance with Voting

Create a governance system where landowners and users can vote on platform-wide decisions. This system could influence policies related to virtual economy regulation, event hosting, and platform updates, giving the community direct control.

Cross-Platform Portability

Implement a system where users can carry their avatars, digital assets, and currencies across different virtual platforms, enabling seamless interaction between multiple metaverses. This feature would encourage collaboration and expand user experiences beyond just one platform.

Why You Should Create Your Personalized Platform Like Decentraland Metaverse?

Building your own metaverse like Decentraland allows you to create a fully customizable platform with features tailored to your audience, ensuring unique user experiences. Here are a few reasons why you should consider creating your own Decentralized-inspired Metaverse

1. Customization and Control

By developing your metaverse, you have complete creative control over the features, user experience, and aesthetics. You can tailor the platform to suit the unique needs of your audience or business model.

2. Revenue Generation and Monetization

A decentralized virtual world offers various monetization opportunities, such as selling virtual land as NFTs, in-game assets, and providing a marketplace for users to trade items. Revenue can be generated from transaction fees or premium content.

3. Community Engagement and Retention

Creating an engaging virtual world enables users to immerse themselves in unique experiences, which fosters a strong, loyal community. Virtual events, social interactions, and user-generated content can keep participants active and engaged for longer periods.

4. Decentralization and Transparency

Building on blockchain ensures that ownership and transactions within your metaverse are secure, transparent, and verifiable. Decentralization also empowers users, giving them control over their assets, which can boost trust and enhance long-term platform stability.

5. Scalability and Future-Proofing

By owning the infrastructure and architecture of your metaverse, you have the freedom to scale and evolve the platform over time. This flexibility allows you to adapt to future technological advances and incorporate cross-platform integration, keeping your virtual world competitive.

Steps for  Building a Platform Like Decentraland Metaverse

Building a metaverse like Decentraland involves a combination of cutting-edge technology, smart economic systems, and innovative virtual environments. However, this process is not as simple as coding a few 3D spaces and letting users interact. Here are some core aspects that need to be considered when creating a metaverse like Decentraland.

Define Your Metaverse Vision and Goals

Before starting the technical and creative process, clearly define the purpose of your metaverse. Who is your target audience? What kind of experiences will your virtual world offer? Are you focusing on social interactions, gaming, virtual real estate, or immersive art? The success of platforms like Decentraland comes from their well-defined niche and strong community. Once you identify your metaverse’s core offering, all development efforts should align with these goals.

This vision will serve as a guiding star for design, development, and user engagement strategies, ensuring that all efforts remain cohesive and focused.

Choosing the Right Blockchain Technology

The foundation of platforms like Decentraland is blockchain technology, which ensures transparency, security, and decentralization. Decentraland, for instance, uses Ethereum, which allows for decentralized ownership of land and assets. But Ethereum comes with its limitations, such as high gas fees and scalability challenges.

Each blockchain has its trade-offs. Your decision should depend on the specific needs of your metaverse, including transaction volume, cost-effectiveness, and future scalability.

Ethereum for its robust developer ecosystem but higher transaction costs.

Binance Smart Chain offers faster and cheaper transactions.

Polygon, which provides a scalable and cost-efficient layer on top of Ethereum.

Solana is known for its high-speed transactions and low fees.

Utilize Existing Development Frameworks and Tools

Building a metaverse like Decentraland from scratch can be time-consuming and costly. However, leveraging existing development frameworks and tools can significantly streamline the process. Instead of coding the entire platform from the ground up, developers can take advantage of ready-made tools and frameworks to reduce the overall development time and cost. Some helpful open-source tools and platforms for metaverse development include:

Web3.js: A popular JavaScript library that allows for easy interaction with the Ethereum blockchain.

Unity3D or Unreal Engine: Both engines offer pre-built asset libraries, 3D environments, and rendering tools, saving valuable time in developing complex virtual environments.

Blender: For creating custom 3D models and avatars, Blender is a versatile and free tool.

InterPlanetary File System: A decentralized protocol for storing and sharing files across the blockchain, offering a secure way to manage user-generated content.

Scalability and Performance Optimization

Scalability is another important aspect to focus on when creating a metaverse like Decentraland. As your metaverse grows and the number of users increases, maintaining performance without lag becomes crucial. You can consider these scalability solutions for optimizing your Metaverse.

Layer-2 solutions: By implementing Layer-2 scaling techniques, you can reduce the load on your primary blockchain.

Efficient code architecture: Optimizing the backend architecture can enhance the efficiency of interactions in your metaverse.

Cloud services: Offloading some data processing to cloud services can also help manage user load and reduce latency during peak times.

Interoperability Between Virtual Worlds

By creating a metaverse that is compatible with other virtual worlds, you encourage more user engagement and build a larger ecosystem. Users expect the ability to transfer their assets, avatars, or experiences across different metaverses seamlessly. This will future-proof your metaverse and provide more value to users, as they will be able to move between different digital experiences without losing assets or progress.

Standardized Protocols for assets and avatars like ERC-721

Cross-chain functionality allows assets to be moved between different blockchains.

Collaborate with other metaverse projects to foster a connected ecosystem.

Creating an Immersive User Experience

To build a metaverse like Decentraland, you’ll need to create environments that are not only visually appealing but also engaging and interactive. Several key factors contribute to an immersive user experience:

High-quality graphics and 3D environments: Users will spend more time in your metaverse if the environment is captivating and well-designed.

User-generated content: Users can create their own spaces, events, or assets encouraging deeper engagement.

Social features: Integrating voice chat, messaging, and collaborative spaces where users can interact fosters a community atmosphere.

VR/AR Integration: Offering compatibility with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality devices will provide a more immersive experience for users, enabling them to feel physically present in the digital world.

Creating a Metaverse Economy:

A thriving metaverse like Decentraland cannot exist without a strong, user-driven economic system. In Decentraland, users can purchase land, create virtual businesses, and trade digital assets. To sustain such an economy, you need to establish a clear and decentralized economic model with the following considerations:

Tokenomics: Whether it’s a utility token for transactions or a governance token for decision-making, the economic model should incentivize participation. Ensure that your token system has a limited supply to prevent inflation and maintain value.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization: Giving users control over certain aspects of the metaverse, as Decentraland does through its DAO, encourages a sense of ownership and investment in the platform. This could include decisions about platform updates, resource allocation, or community guidelines.

Monetization Opportunities: Offering users various ways to monetize their experiences, such as virtual businesses, event hosting, or asset trading, makes your metaverse more attractive to a broader audience.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

While building a metaverse like Decentraland, it’s essential to account for legal and ethical issues. The decentralized nature of the metaverse presents unique challenges in terms of governance, user rights, and intellectual property protection. Some key considerations include:

User data privacy: Ensuring the protection of user data and preventing misuse is a critical legal requirement.

Intellectual property rights: Since users will create and own virtual assets, it’s important to establish clear rules around ownership, usage rights, and dispute resolution.

Age restrictions and content moderation: Given that users may encounter various types of content, it’s essential to have policies in place for age-appropriate interactions and content moderation to maintain a safe environment.

Essential Technologies for Developing a Platform Like Decentraland Metaverse

The development of the Metaverse hinges on several crucial standards and protocols that ensure a seamless and immersive experience for users. Businesses and companies involved in this space must focus on creating a decentralized network of high-bandwidth computers. This infrastructure is essential for hosting the Metaverse, enabling real-time interactions without reliance on a centralized authority.

1. Open Programming Languages

Open programming languages like JavaScript, HTML, and WebAssembly are indispensable. These languages facilitate the development of complex applications and experiences, similar to those seen in existing platforms like Decentraland. The integration of technologies such as WebXR and WebGPU Shader Language further enhances the graphical capabilities and interactivity of virtual environments.

2. Smart Contracts and Blockchain

Smart contracts and blockchain technology play a vital role in ensuring secure, transparent, and permissionless transactions within the Metaverse. Companies that incorporate these technologies can provide users with a trustworthy environment for exchanging digital assets and currencies.

3. XR Technologies

Extended Reality is essential for merging real and virtual environments, allowing for advanced human-machine interactions. Companies can leverage various hardware, such as VR headsets and haptic gloves, to create immersive experiences that engage users on multiple sensory levels.

4. Robust Computing Power

The computing power required to support data processing, artificial intelligence, and projection must not be underestimated. Businesses in this field need to invest in robust computing capabilities to handle the demands of a dynamic Metaverse.

5. Payment Gateways

Payment gateways that facilitate transactions in both digital and traditional currencies are crucial for the economic ecosystem of the Metaverse. These systems enable seamless exchanges, encouraging participation from a wider audience.

6. Three-Dimensional Immersive Simulations

The creation of three-dimensional immersive simulations that replicate real-world environments is a cornerstone of Metaverse development. Companies must prioritize the design of interactive worlds that engage users and enhance their overall experience.

Cost of Developing a Platform Like Decentraland Metaverse

Total Estimated Cost                                                                              $10,000 – $100,000

Here are few considerations directly related to the unique features and operational needs of a platform like Decentraland, impacting the overall budget significantly.

1. Land and Asset Creation Costs

Virtual Real Estate Development: The cost of creating, purchasing, or leasing virtual land parcels, along with expenses for designing and building assets (e.g., buildings, items) that can be placed on those lands.

2. Smart Contract Development

Blockchain Implementation: Costs associated with writing and deploying smart contracts for land ownership, transactions, and governance. This includes developer fees and potential gas fees on the blockchain.

3. 3D Modeling and Content Creation

Asset Creation and Licensing: Expenses for hiring 3D artists to create custom models and animations, as well as potential licensing fees for any third-party assets or tools used in the development process.

4. Community Engagement and Incentives

Incentives for User-Generated Content: Costs for programs or rewards that encourage users to create and share their own content, which can include monetary incentives, contests, or in-game rewards to foster a vibrant community.

Conclusion

Building a metaverse like Decentraland is no small feat. It requires a well-rounded understanding of blockchain technology, user engagement, economic systems, and legal frameworks. However, by focusing on these critical aspects, developers can create a thriving virtual world that fosters community, creativity, and commerce. While the path to a fully realized metaverse might be challenging, the potential rewards—for both developers and users—are vast. By getting the foundational elements right, you’ll be well on your way to crafting a virtual universe that stands the test of time.

How Can Idea Usher Help

At Idea Usher, we understand the strategic importance of the metaverse for your business growth. Our team specializes in developing metaverse software solutions that enhance customer engagement and drive operational efficiency. With over 500,000 hours of coding experience, we bring expertise and innovation to every project. Let us partner with you to utilize the metaverse and unlock new revenue streams for your business.

FAQs

Is Decentraland safe?

Decentraland employs blockchain technology for secure transactions and ownership verification. However, as with any online platform, users should take precautions to protect their digital wallets and personal information.

What are NFTs, and how do they relate to Decentraland?

NFTs are unique digital assets that represent ownership of items or content within Decentraland. Users can buy, sell, and trade NFTs, such as wearables and artworks, using MANA.

How can I earn money in Decentraland?

Users can monetize their LAND by developing experiences, hosting events, selling virtual goods, and trading NFTs within the marketplace.

What devices can I use to access Decentraland?

Decentraland can be accessed through modern web browsers on desktops and laptops. There are also plans to support mobile devices and VR headsets in the future.