Metaverses Worth Visiting in 2022

The concept of virtual worlds is growing among enthusiasts and millions are interested in experiencing the metaverses for themselves. While this new concept of virtual realities powered by cryptocurrencies is a bit too much to wrap your heads around, people are already lining up to register their land in these metaverses.

Metaverses have exploded in popularity over the last few years, giving enthusiasts access to immersive virtual worlds. And since there are too many options on the table, enthusiasts are often unsure about which one to choose. But, to help the enthusiasts decide, we’re presenting our readers with a detailed list of the best metaverses that are worth visiting in 2022.

Decentraland

Developed by Argentinian developers, Decentraland is one of the first live metaverses built on the Ethereum blockchain. The ecosystem of Decentraland is fueled by two-token economies with MANA being the native token used for trading the utilities within the metaverse. Moreover, Decentraland features a gigantic grid where landowners can own, trade, and develop the owned land.

Each land parcel is under the digital ownership of the users and they’re free to utilize the land as they see fit. However, these land parcels are quite expensive and require a player to invest upwards of $6000 to get their hand on an ordinary piece of the virtual land.  

In the beta mode, Decentraland lets users build unique 3D objects and enable them to curate their virtual lands using the limitless customization options. Furthermore, Decentraland is soaring in success with hundreds of thousands of people daily engaging with the gameplay and governing the policies through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

Decentraland offers guest users a chance to experience the metaverse by roaming around the land and engaging with the various objects and smart contracts built into the fabric of the metaverse. Aside from offering a realistic experience of the metaverse, Decentraland also offers lucrative opportunities for its users to monetize their lands and assets through the functionality of decentralized smart contracts.

Lastly, major brands such as Animoca Brands, Kosmos Ventures, Fundamental Labs, and many other giants within the crypto spheres have invested in the metaverse to contribute to a sustainable economy of the metaverse.

The SandBox

The SandBox is one of the fewest live metaverses that are powered by the Ethereum blockchain. It offers an immersive experience of the virtual universe by offering rewarding gameplay to the users. The SandBox allows its users to roam the gigantic metaverse and engage with various elements that make the experience one of a kind.

Even though the metaverse is in its initial stages, there’s tons of stuff for players to engage with. Players can start off by completing the various in-game quests and go on to develop their own pieces of games using the native builder tools. The cheapest open listed land on the OpenSea market goes for around $2200. 

Unlike other crypto-based projects, The SandBox offers the freedom to its players to leverage the metaverse to build exciting products and monetize them using smart contracts. $SAND is the native token to the metaverse and one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the market.

Players can build 3D objects without having to be experts using The SandBox’s creative builder tools. Even without prior knowledge of rendering 3D objects, players can use the simple builder tool to create imaginative NFTs and deploy them on the land parcels or sell them in the marketplace to turn a profit.

With the contributions of Animoca Brands, The SandBox managed to make a mark among crypto enthusiasts.

My Neighbor Alice

My Neighbor Alice is a Farmville-inspired metaverse and features cartoon-ish gameplay but it is soaring in success with tons of people investing early in the metaverse to occupy the virtual space. Focused on offering a sophisticated metaverse experience to its players, My Neighbor Alice leverages blockchain technology and adopts decentralized mechanics to appeal to a broader audience.

Much like other metaverses on the market, players can purchase and develop their land parcels within the gigantic metaverse. All the in-game assets in the shape of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are owned by the players and these can be sold on the marketplace to turn a profit. ALICE is the native utility token used for various trading aspects within the metaverse.    

One of the most prominent aspects of the metaverse is the emphasis on socializing within the metaverse. To improve social norms and open up avenues for monetary gain, players are encouraged within the virtual universe to engage and socialize with other players. 

As the metaverse is live and enables players to roam around and explore the virtual space, it is becoming increasingly popular as a tourist destination for all virtual tourists.

Illuvium

While Illuvium isn’t yet live, the pre-release gameplay shows that the metaverse is sure to be one of this year’s biggest. In an immersive RPG-metaverse powered by Ethereum, players take on the role of their digital avatar to roam through the land and hunt magical monsters, also referred to as Illuvials.

Due to the nature of Illuvium, it doesn’t appeal to a broader audience, however, the in-game elements within the metaverse do excite RPG-enthusiasts from all over the globe. In this virtual universe, players occupy pieces of land and use them to develop their team of monsters and devise clever strategies to take on their foes.

Since the metaverse is in its infancy, it will take a while before the beta version is released to the public. However, the land sale is live and interested people could purchase a piece of Illuvium through the native marketplace using the native token, ILV.  

Star Atlas

A space-themed metaverse with one of the most stable tokenomics coupled with impressive gameplay, Star Atlas, prior to its launch, has intrigued enthusiasts with its wide range of offerings. The virtual space-themed universe of Star Atlas lets players explore the cosmos for extraterrestrials and get paid for mining the precious resources.

One of the distinctive features of Star Atlas is that it is operated by its players through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). The holders of the governance tokens utilize a democratized system of management to vote on changes in policies and in-game content.

The Star Atlas universe is under development but, according to the roadmap laid by the developers, the virtual universe will go live in the latter part of the year. While the initial gameplay seems promising, enthusiasts have high hopes from the metaverse.

Mars4

With the Earth deprived of its resources, humans are forced to explore the cosmos to find their home, and the red planet, Mars seems to be the answer. An enchanting metaverse with a fascinating player-versus-environment (PVE) mechanics, Mars4, a metaverse based on the planet Mars is turning heads with its blockchain-based concept of virtual reality. 

Partnered with the likes of Polygon, Illuvium, Dweb3, and Gate Labs, Mars4 offers its users an opportunity to own a piece of Mars and colonize it using the resources at hand. There’s a limited number of land parcels within the metaverse and players could purchase these lands to develop them for monetary gains.

The current price for each land parcel within the metaverse is approximately $575. However, the price is likely to increase since the demo version of the metaverse is live. Similarly, rare land parcels on the grid are quite expensive, and acquiring them could break your bank.  

Mars4 Dollars are the native tokens used within the metaverse for utility tokens. These tokens are often rewarded to the users for engaging with the various parts of the gameplay. There’s a strong emphasis on the play-to-earn (P2E) feature of the metaverse and the developers plan to leverage the blockchain technology to offer its users the ability to earn passive income.

Conclusion

By the end of the decade, the blockchain market is likely to grow into trillions, and early adopters will reap the rewards of their investment. The Metaverse is the future, but for now, the virtual spaces mentioned above are worth their weight in gold in 2022 and are absolutely worth visiting.