Say hello to Gogo in Decentraland!
What is Decentraland? It is a new virtual world, where you can socialize and make money. Users can build, buy, and sell land with a cryptocurrency called MANA. My friends kept asking me if Decentraland is similar to Second Life or will be better than Second Life, and the answer it… I don’t know. We’ll find out!
Decentraland has been in beta for years, but will officially launch on February 20th. According to the Decentraland blog, there will be a four-day in-world treasure hunt where you can win prizes and tokens.
When I made my Decentraland avatar, I first had to spend 100 mana tokens to claim my name! You can play for free as a guest, but it is encouraged that you spend a little money to claim the name forever. This is an incredibly smart way for this platform to make money. Everyone is a guest (with a display name option) until they spend some money.
Here are some screenshots from my browser. Editing my avatar is a breeze. The clothes & accessories are free! I don’t know if there will be an option to buy more things later, but for now, you have a nice sized wardrobe to start.
Cryptocurrency is complicated, but thanks to some guidance from a friend, I was able to buy enough MANA tokens to supply my Second Life friends with their own unique name in Decentraland.
Do you want to play Decentraland? First, create a Decentraland account. Skip this next step if you plan on being broke. But if you want to claim your name and have some MANA tokens, then keep reading. In order to get money into Decentraland, you must have a way to buy some cryptocurrency. My friend recommended Dapper, so that’s what I used. Install Dapper, the cryptocurrency wallet. There are many out there, but Dapper is a simple browser-extension wallet and it supports the MANA token, which you will need if you want to spend money in Decentraland.
You’ve installed Dapper, now what? In order to get MANA, you must first buy a cryptocurrency called Ethereum (ETH) then convert it to MANA. It’s tricky to know how much to buy or where to buy ETH, there are lots of options. I opted to do it all through Dapper, for simplicity’s sake.
After I bought approximately $50USD worth of ETH, I converted it to 997 MANA tokens. Through Dapper, I was able to send it to my friends in Second Life, using their Wallet Address. It’s more cost-effective for one person to buy enough for a group cos every purchase and every conversion costs money.
Are you a Second Life resident interested in Decentraland? Are you a Decentraland resident that wants to be friends? Let me know in the comments!
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Great article! Hope to see you around Decentraland. If you and your buddies want to learn more about Decentraland and other virtual blockchain worlds, check out DCL Plazas. See you around!