Need to set up a DAO? Do all metaverses have to be decentralized?

Written by coolhorsegirl, compiled by xunyang, SeeDAO to see

Let's visit two metaverses: Walmart Land and Decentraland, as I'm trying to answer the question: do all metaverses have to be decentralized? Along the way, I'll sort out the agenda behind each metaverse and weigh the costs and benefits of building a metaverse through a DAO.

At the Christmas dinner, my work attracted a lot of discussion (or interrogation). "Web3 empowers the people," I said, though it's a bit of a cliché. "It's decentralized. Imagine if everyone could vote on how their social media works, instead of making decisions about Facebook like Mark Zuckerberg did?" This example is easy to understand for me, but some of them are in their 80s and don't know much about the web3 world. I've done my best. In conclusion, my point is clear: Web3 aims to fully democratize.

Is that right?

Later, my grandparents asked me to explain a crash course on the hottest topic in web3: the metaverse. I subconsciously backed off, and my mom kicked my leg under the table. While explaining the metaverse to confused elders (who probably didn't really care), I suddenly found myself living in the cliché of web3 Twitter. Between toasts and fillings, I asked them to think back to the episode of The Office where Dwight uses Second Life and the scene where I played Club Penguin as a kid, or even just a VR headset, "I swear, the metaverse has been around for a long time." When I went into detail about one of the hardest parts of web3 to understand, they nodded reluctantly.

The metaverse – part of an immersive virtual world in the new world of the internet – provides a (usually) decentralized network of virtual spaces in which users can interact, trade, and create content. It provides a web3-style digital ownership core through gaming, social, and online marketplaces. It's not hard to find some real-world applications that my grandparents might understand, and with the long history of pseudo-metaverse like "Second Life" and "Club Penguin," the true metaverse has recently become mainstream. In late September, Walmart launched a pair of "immersive experiences" on Roblox — Walmart Land and Walmart Universe of Play.

So is Walmart's top brass creating a metaverse-labeled mess on Roblox, or will this centralized metaverse experience become the standard of the future?

That night, my 8-year-old cousin also showed me off his experiences at Roblox, which seemed to change his life in more detail than I expected from his vocabulary.

I'm off topic.

I love Walmart, and their parking lot feels like home to me on many road trips. And at the beginning of the new year, no one really went back to work, so I had time to diverge the thoughts that crossed my head.

So, based on my experience in the Walmart metaverse and my quick experience with the decentralized metaverse Decentraland, to look at the question: do all metaverses have to be decentralized?

Step into Walmart's metaverse

I downloaded Roblox and felt a little excited. But like that New Year's Chinese New Year's Eve party I attended, I whimsically thought Walmart Land would be full. But Walmart Land's dystopian sight and sound only attracted three players – and some even copied my outfit, damn it!

! [Thoughts after experiencing the Walmart metaverse and Decentraland: Does the metaverse have to be decentralized?] ](https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/27/images/5c001c793a5cb6b2f80a4c66d1dd70e7.)

This is not a good start. And these things look a bit like a copycat version of Lego, and their price reminds me of my weekend in Zurich. I had a bit of trouble finding loot boxes, so I couldn't claim coins to board the airship or go to the shop to buy new gear. There is a clear problem with the user experience, to say the least. So I'm ready to ask for help in chat rooms, but I'm concerned that their age might prevent them from providing any truly meaningful guidance. My fears were confirmed: "employees" don't exist.

! [Thoughts after experiencing the Walmart metaverse and Decentraland: Does the metaverse have to be decentralized?] ](https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/27/images/ebc75c1822f8d51d3da9ec60d9ae97c6.)

My 2018 MacBook Air was a loud fan throughout the game and I didn't know how to get off this Ferris wheel. The Walmart Land page of the Roblox game store is full of negative reviews. User feedback doesn't seem to be on Walmart's list of priorities for trying to "lead the cultural conversation" (to quote Walmart CMO William White).

Eventually, I got off the Ferris wheel (by restarting the game), picked up some coins, and went to the store.

Finally, there's a dress photo. (Remember to check out your Roblox gear before judging me – it's the only thing I can afford.) ）

! [Thoughts after experiencing the Walmart metaverse and Decentraland: Does the metaverse have to be decentralized?] ](https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/27/images/504e91947a8a7f34c71a200708ae0fd8.)

The truth about the Walmart metaverse

Walmart Land and Second Life are a bit like both marketing to children.

Officially, Walmart Land allows users to interact with brands in new ways of interaction. In effect, it's a way to market toys to children or "young shoppers" as Walmart defines it. Roblox has more than 50 million daily active users, 2/3 of whom are under the age of 16.

Perhaps this assessment is too superficial, but we have seen this situation before.

It makes sense that Walmart wants to join the hype of the metaverse – it's a money-making tool. Second Life was one of the first widely popular metaverse experience products, with more than 1 million users at its peak. Twenty years after its launch in 2003, Second Life's GDP (more than $500 million per year) is higher than that of some countries.

Another metaverse game with a much better user interface, Fortnite, is free, but it does something similar to Walmart Land — marketing merchandise to kids and making $20 billion. It took me a long time in Walmart Land to earn coins to buy clothes, and in Fortnite I could do it in 30 seconds with just $20 on my mom's credit card. I can also buy dance moves and power-ups to help me succeed in the game. And strangely, shopping at Fortnite seems to be less of a hassle than at Walmart. Why?

Decentralized autonomous organizations and metaverse

DAOs can help solve problems in centralized organizations, especially in the metaverse defined as "decentralized." DAOs can govern and manage virtual assets in the metaverse through various on-chain tools, and can be used to fund and manage virtual reality projects in the metaverse, such as developing new virtual worlds or creating virtual goods and services, and they are doing so. Let's take a look at what is widely considered to be the best example of a decentralized metaverse in web3: Decentraland.

Dubbed the "virtual world in your hands", Decentraland is a virtual world built on Ethereum that can be earned through games through the use of its native token, $MANA, for voting governance. $MANA holders, who are mostly Decentraland players, or at least buyers investing in the space, have full control over the entire metaverse.

You can use $MANA through the DAO to control the policies that govern how this virtual world behaves. What can actually be controlled:

· Types of wearables built, allowed, and prohibited

Specific information and dates of land (LAND) auctions

Size of market fees (in terms of $MANA destroyed)

Assign $MANA grants to development work

Member of the Security Committee, Decentraland's governance team

Add and replace community-run content servers

Universal protocol upgrades

I'm ready to enter the (decentralized) metaverse

I quickly created a new character, and its body parts weren't made of blocks. Compared to Walmart, it is a very big improvement. And interestingly, each of these clothing and item options was voted on by the DAO. Millennials' dress styles are very popular, and I think this is largely due to the player base.

! [Thoughts after experiencing the Walmart metaverse and Decentraland: Does the metaverse have to be decentralized?] ](https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/27/images/210db7ea251d6245980838f2d7669cd2.)

Whether it's the need to separate "hands" into new categories to avoid accessory categories being blocked by items, or the delegation mechanism for MANA holders, everything can be discussed on the Decentraland governance forum.

! [Thoughts after experiencing the Walmart metaverse and Decentraland: Does the metaverse have to be decentralized?] ](https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/27/images/f04c22d4d021029eadf26e28219fea63.)

The biggest benefit: better user interface, and better user experience. I would say it's cool to see players decide the details of their game. It brings some fond memories from before I was 10 years old, and players can vote on what color of pseudo-metaverse the Penguin Club should offer Penguin.

In other ways, the decentralization of the metaverse seems to have huge flaws in micro-management. The aforementioned "hand" proposal is so easy to implement that in theory, the developers of Walmart Land could solve it in minutes. But at Decentraland, the proposal is 800 words long and has been "discussed for almost a year" (their words, not my words). It took a year to split a category, which is worrying.

Negative comments criticizing DAOs for slow decision-making (or lack thereof) are common. Even so, metaverse tokens are the best performing sector in the cryptocurrency market so far in 2023, $MANA up nearly 38% over the past few weeks. Other metaverse tokens have also risen since the start of the new year, such as The Sandbox's $SAND up 31.3%, Gala Games' $GALA price doubling, and more.

Walmart Land vs. Decentraland

The values of the metaverse align with those of web3, and I explained this to my extended family at the dinner table: users should control and own the content they create.

Walmart Land doesn't really embody the essence of the metaverse: the decentralization of the internet. Walmart Land operates in a much more totalitarian way, and it's clear that every aspect of the game conveys another message: "Please buy our toys, kids." It's clear that these businesses see Web3 as an opportunity to exploit a younger, more purchasing generation, but digital natives will see through this attempt. MBA type people still don't understand the true power of DAOs, not just from a technical point of view, but from a cultural level that is difficult to teach.

That's why the metaverse, which operates as a DAO, doesn't have a culture of corporate-style exploitation.

DAOs allow users to design the metaverse of their choice to some extent. The metaverse operated by the DAO is designed by and for metaverse users. The system looks perfect: in the metaverse where a person spends the most time, he also contributes the most to its development, although this decentralization also brings some trouble. The debate about Decentraland adding the "hand" category may seem boring, but it does highlight the differences with Walmart Land regardless, especially in terms of atmosphere. Walmart Land will only repeatedly guide users to buy anything that Walmart's elites think should be included.

DAOs and the metaverse have the potential to revolutionize the way we interact and transact in the digital world by providing greater transparency, security, and decentralization. The combination of these technologies can create new opportunities for innovation and growth in the digital economy. Compared with Walmart Land, it is easy to see that the metaverse operated by the DAO has a big advantage over those created by centralized entities that "focus only on maximizing shareholder value rather than the voice of the user."

The best user experience comes from the decentralized metaverse & activates the voice of its community.

So, when did Walmart decentralize?