It is a given that the 20th century is an age of substantial progress. We live in a technological age where virtual reality (VR) is becoming an essential part of everyday life. The blockchain ecosystem has enhanced VR technology and created a metaverse, where people can travel into a whole new world of enhanced reality.
We now have Virtual Blockchain Worlds (VBWs)–sometimes referred to as the metaverse–which are virtual communities where you can play, build, and trade within. These are not online games in the traditional sense. They are platforms where people build virtual worlds and have fun interacting with each other in a digital environment. Somnium Space is an example of this.
What Is Somnium Space?
Somnium Space is an Ethereum-based virtual reality world that’s open source and available for purchase through a decentralized marketplace. Artur Sychov, founder, and CEO, launched Somnium Space in 2017 and made it available to the public in September 2018. Through the Ethereum blockchain, digital assets and VR properties–such as land, buildings, and homes–are bought and sold in its online multiverse.
The platform allows players to create, develop, and sell their own worlds, experiences, and objects in a highly interactive virtual environment. By doing so, they can explore the creations of other Somnium Space users. Whether you’re just dipping your toes in, or diving right in, Somnium Space lets you explore, share, and monetize everything you build in the virtual world. The extent to which players can create and experience different things is essentially limitless.
In contrast to traditional multiplayer VR games, Somnium Space allows all users to be co-located in one massive virtual reality environment. Players can then create and share their own Somnium Space environments that can be fully programmed and customized. More importantly, Somnium Space is a self-contained universe that is fully interoperable with a broader network of other virtual realities and metaverses, enabling them to interact with each other as well, as interact with non-fungible tokens (NFT) and digital assets generated in Somnium Space.
What Makes Somnium Space Unique?
Users of Somnium Space can purchase any land parcels and claim the possession in the same way that you can buy land in the real world. The catch is that it costs more to buy land in urban areas than it does in rural areas. Thus, in Somnium Space, the land is valued by its innate attractiveness.
How Does Somnium Space Work? (The Somnium Space Tokenomics)
Traditional gaming platforms are based on the concept of value generation for the game developer. Users either pay money for games or they can play free but only use certain features or they can buy customizations or even full versions of the games once they’re inside the ecosystem. However, a major drawback of this system is that one person cannot transfer their in-game assets and improvements to another player.
Somnium Space is built around an entirely different concept. Through tokenization, they return valuable assets to its users, such as land parcels, merch, avatars, wearables, and collectibles. With this system, Somnium space is separate from the conventional system and preserves the power of valuable assets to the players.
There are three types of token assets in the Somnium Space economy. We’ll talk about each of them:
CUBE Token
Somnium Space CUBE is an ERC-20 token that is based on the Ethereum blockchain and built to power the Somnium Space Platform. It is a utility token used to facilitate in-game transactions between players. Somnium Cube also acts as a bridge between other virtual assets, including ETH, NFTs (ERC-721), and CUBE, and allows users to seamlessly purchase virtual items and engage with other players in the metaverse.
Land Parcels (PARCELs)
Somnium Space users must first gain one of these Land Parcels before building an independent world on its platform. Each land parcel is a non-fungible token, a unique asset that cannot be reproduced or copied. Through OpenSea’s decentralized peer-to-peer platform, users can buy and sell land. The record of ownership is stored on the Ethereum blockchain.
When you buy Somnium Space land tokens, you’ll place a claim on a specific location in Somnium Space. Each claim is associated with a certain point on the map. The value of the land will depend on many factors. First, it’ll be based on the distance between the land and other popular locations. The property’s size and location near the shoreline and the central waypoint will also play a role.
AVATARs
A Somnium Space avatar is basically your virtual persona. It’s like having your own personal identity online. You can purchase this using CUBE. Somnium Space avatar software development kit allows anyone to create their own avatar or upload an existing avatar directly into the platform. This means that you can become anyone you want to be.
Final Words
Metaverse is a booming market. Although virtual reality gaming experiences are a relatively recent phenomenon, there has already been a massive rise in adoption. Platforms like VRChat, Rumii, Engage, and AltSpace have become popular avenues for people to indulge in virtual reality gaming. Meanwhile, the development of Ethereum-incorporated virtual worlds like Somnium Space is truly a game-changer by unlocking new opportunities for users to create new things and earn value in a way that was never possible before.
A blockchain-based platform like Somnium Space creates an experience in which users are the main creators and receivers of value. This means that it’s possible that the virtual reality you’ve just experienced will be yours to monetize and share in your own way. Although the system may be virtual, Somnium Space’s mission is to build an economic system that goes beyond the limitations of the physical world.
If we look at how blockchain technology and the decentralized economy are growing, we can see that it is not so far away from our lives. This is just a peek at what VR platforms are capable of. We are now about to embark on a new era, in which endless possibilities await.
