What is The Sandbox & How to Join the Metaverse

Learn all about one of the largest virtual worlds in the Metaverse

The Metaverse changes the way we perceive gaming, and at the forefront of this new generation of games is the virtual world, The Sandbox.

Have you ever thought about being part of a Metaverse to receive financial rewards for playing and building gaming experiences? With The Sandbox, that is possible. In this article, we’ll explore what The Sandbox is and everything you need to know to get started.

What is the Sandbox?

The Sandbox is a virtual world powered by the Polygon blockchain where you can create, experiment, and play with 3D voxel assets. The game allows users to create them for full asset ownership and monetization through the Sandbox marketplace.

Moreover, The Sandbox also has its own cryptocurrency called SAND, which the community can use to purchase assets, land, and games within the platform.

Discover The Sandbox

How does the metaverse work?

In The Sandbox metaverse, everything is built on voxels, which are 3D cubes that make up the environment and assets within the game. Players can create their own assets using The Sandbox’s VoxEdit tool, or purchase assets from the in-game marketplace.

Once you have your assets, you can use them to create your own games and experiences within The Sandbox Game Maker. The Game Maker is also available for free. These games can then be played by other players, and if they’re popular, you can earn SAND tokens from them.

The Sandbox metaverse world also features a sophisticated game economy, where in-game assets have real value because they can be sold or traded on the Sandbox marketplace. Moreover, players can earn revenue from the games and experiences they create.

Who is on the Sandbox team?

The Sandbox metaverse was created by the blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands. Its team is comprised of experienced developers, engineers, and designers who specialize in gaming and blockchain technology.

Notable members include Sebastien Borget, the co-founder and COO, and Arthur Madrid, the CEO of Pixowl, the studio behind the creation of The Sandbox. Together, they work to advance the development of the metaverse and bring new features and experiences to the platform. Additionally, The Sandbox is a member of the Blockchain Game Alliance, a coalition of gaming companies committed to promoting blockchain technology in the gaming industry.

Get to know The Sandbox tokens

The in-game currency and utility token is called SAND (an ERC-20 token), which is used to purchase assets and land within the platform. It’s the main utility token of the game, and you can earn it by playing games, participating in the community, or selling assets.

Watch the video below for a full explanation:

https://youtu.be/6gkPOOUs-UY

Check SAND tokens price

Furthermore, in-game assets, such as clothing, plots of lands, and user-generated games, are also non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Each token plays an important role in the game economy, and they can all be used to improve your gameplay.

How to play The Sandbox? Step-by-step

If you’re interested in playing The Sandbox, you should know the game is still in development, having been through three Alpha seasons at the time of writing in May 2023. However, thousands of people have already tried it, and the game is totally free to play. Some earnings mechanics and extra activities are only available to those holding certain NFTs

1. DYOR and access the website

The first thing you need to do is visit their official website and read the official docs. Make sure to understand the game dynamics before investing.

2. Create your Avatar

You can start by creating your Avatar and making it look just like you – or whatever version you want to see in this virtual world. The Sandbox also allows you to purchase assets like clothes and accessories to make your Avatar look how you want. You can create your Avatar for free or buy assets for them.

If you want to go even further, you can get celebrity Avatars and play as them and Snoop Dogg are some famous people that have joined The Sandbox Metaverse.

Another cool thing about Avatars in The Sandbox is that you can use your NFTs from outside the game there as well. For example, holding a World of Women NFT or Cool Cats NFT character will allow you to use it in The Sandbox simply by holding that particular asset in your wallet.

3. Connect your wallet to sign in

Then, you can go ahead and connect your web3 wallet to the game. This is when you can get a bit confused if you aren’t used to playing blockchain games. But it’s quite a simple process, and you can watch our video What is a web3 wallet for some insights on them.

The Sandbox connects to different wallet services, and you can choose between MetaMask, Bitski, WalletConnect, and Coinbase Wallet.

4. Download the game

Once you’re all signed in you can start playing The Sandbox. The next step is to download the Game app, where all the magic happens. The game is available on desktop for Windows and macOS, and it’s quite simple to understand.

Once you install the game, you can create your own gaming experience on your land or play on someone else’s creation.

5. Explore the Sandbox map

The Sandbox metaverse game map extends now for 15,000 virtual square kilometers, making it the largest virtual real estate in existence. It is made of small, big, and huge squares (166,464 parcels of land in total), each playable, purchasable, or rented out by players. Each of these squares is called LAND.

You’ll recognize very familiar logos, to which the respective LAND belongs. Each brand there has been building its own experience, missions, perks, and shows.

6. Join events to play and earn

Some of the most popular ways to have fun in the Sandbox, however, is joining one of the live special events in partnership with a Web3 community. You can enter these events and play specific quests for the chance to earn rewards.

The Sandbox April Festival event allowed gamers to play and earn

The more and the faster you’ll complete quests within each area, the higher your position on the game leaderboard, which rewards the most performant players with $SAND (the in-game currency), used to purchase game assets, customize your avatar or play specific game experiences with.

Remember that quests in each area must all be finished in one playing session. Otherwise, you’ll have to restart them all, while you can replay them to rank up on the leaderboard (upon account verification).

How to play and earn passive income with the Sandbox?

Playing The Sandbox can be a fun way to earn crypto tokens. Here are some tips on how to get started:

1. Start by playing the game and getting familiar with it. Explore different worlds, play games, and interact with other players.
2. Create your own assets and game experiences using The Sandbox’s VoxEdit tool. Once you have created your assets, you can sell them on the marketplace for SAND, the game token.
3. Purchase virtual land in The Sandbox to create your own experiences and earn revenue from them. As land owners, players can sell tickets to your experiences and charge SAND for players to participate.
4. Participate in community events and competitions to earn rewards and recognition. The Sandbox frequently hosts events and competitions that reward players with SAND and other prizes.
5. Hold onto your SAND tokens and earn passive income through a staking pool. The Sandbox has a staking mechanism that rewards users who hold SAND tokens with additional tokens and benefits.

See Other Trending Games on Polygon

How can gamers create assets in The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is the most advanced open Metaverse supporting the creator economy and decentralizing its revenue. The voxels-based graphics and tools allow for a no-code building experience, enabling even beginner creators to contribute and monetize their efforts.

There are three main tools to create, sell and monetize your own game experiences, ASSETs and experiences:

VoxEdit

A free-to-use 3D modeling and animation program designed for creating voxel-based digital assets, for The Sandbox.

The Game Maker

The Sandbox’s game maker is a simple and easy-to-use tool that allows you to design, test, and share experiences, such as games, within The Sandbox’s Metaverse.

The Game Maker is an interface and a fund that rewards those who have proven game design/digital world design skills to help them produce and publish excellent games and experiences for players of The Sandbox to play. Here, building games is possible without prior coding knowledge.

Can I play The Sandbox for free?

Yes,you can experience The Sandbox metaverse for free and explore other people’s creations with a free Avatar.

However, if you want to create your own experiences, you need to purchase lands. And while you can also make assets for free, you need some Gems (purchasable tokens) to mint them. So, everything regarding the play-to-earn aspect requires a prior investment.

If you only want to play for fun, you can enjoy The Sandbox for free. How the earning mechanics will work exactly is still to be determined. But, judging by the Alpha test seasons, it’s likely that certain NFTs can boost the earning potential of players.

The Sandbox Season 3 Game Review

Buy and sell digital assets in The Sandbox

You can find these NFTs for sale on The Sandbox’s official marketplace, but also on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea.

The Sandbox marketplace is also where you can buy and sell game assets created by other players or companies directly to the sellers. You can monetize voxel assets created in VoxEdit and also purchase lands. It allows the trading of player-owned or created assets, which are interoperable between different games and different platforms (for example, you can purchase avatars by Snoop Dog, BAYC, Moonbirds, and many others).

This is also the best place to search and compare virtual lands – or metaverse real estate NFTs. The Sandbox Metaverse is made up of 166,446 lands, and you can do whatever you want with it: build your own game, a social gathering spot, a private mansion, or create an experience for other players to enjoy.

Keep track of their prices using the DappRadar NFT Collections Explorer and find out how to value The Sandbox’s lands in our report.

What is the difference between The Sandbox and Minecraft?

Both The Sandbox and Minecraft rely on user-generated content, but only one of them can reward players and creators for their contribution. Thanks to the implementation of NFTs and crypto coins, The Sandbox has already attracted online communities, corporations, and big brands. What’s more, in The Sandbox, players can earn revenue from the experiences they create, while in Minecraft, they cannot.

Top partnerships: brands and celebrities in the Sandbox

The Sandbox metaverse has partnered with numerous brands and celebrities to bring unique experiences to the platform. Here are some notable partnerships:

• Snoop Dogg: Snoop Dogg has created his own experience in a Sandbox land and has also released his own NFTs on the marketplace.
• Atari: Atari has partnered with The Sandbox to bring classic games like Pong and Asteroids to the platform.
• The Walking Dead game: The popular TV show has its own experience in The Sandbox, where players can explore and interact with the show’s characters.
• Smurfs: The beloved children’s franchise has its own game in The Sandbox, where players can interact with the Smurfs and complete quests.

These partnerships bring new and exciting experiences to The Sandbox and show the platform’s potential for creating unique collaborations between brands, celebrities, and players.

Is The Sandbox worth playing?

If you’re a Web3 gaming enthusiast or simply interested in user-generated content and earning revenue from your creations, then The Sandbox may be worth a try.

However, deciding whether or not to play a game is a personal choice, so you’re the only one who can know if it’s worth it for you.

What are The Sandbox metaverse alternatives?

Besides The Sandbox, there are a few other interesting Metaverse virtual worlds with land NFTs, such as:

• Upland;
• Decentraland;
• Somnium Space;
• WorldWideWebb.

Some offer more features than others and also are more advanced in their roadmap. It’s worth remembering that this type of game belongs to quite a revolutionary era where things are changing fast.

So, if you’re interested in joining the Metaverse and playing in web3, be prepared to have everything you know about gaming questioned. It’s a fun ride!

The future of the Sandbox

Although the Sandbox is still in early development, it’s one of the biggest names in web3 metaverse worlds. So far, we’ve seen it innovate and take blockchain terms to giant media outlets with its three Alpha seasons.

Now, it continues to launch developments and announce partnerships and bets on user-generated content, and the quality of its games will grow exponentially.

DappRadar’s reported that in Q1 2023, investments in blockchain gaming and metaverse projects surged by 12.95% to reach $739 million.

However, Sebastien Borget told The Block in March 2023 that he “believes the future of the metaverse platform lies in the hands of individual creators, not the brands that have made it something of a corporate crypto darling.”

The Sandbox lands, therefore, remain the project’s biggest belief so far.

The Sandbox Special Report: Understanding LANDs Potential

Discover more metaverse games with DappRadar

As gamers, we found The Sandbox metaverse to be not only an engaging, varied, and ever-evolving web3 gaming experience but especially a platform for content consumers and creators where we can play an active role.

We found an impressive number of renowned brands and gamers that believed in the project and keep supporting it.Whether you’re looking for the next worthwhile blockchain game or just a good opportunity, it’s worth keeping up to date on The Sandbox.

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1. This article is reprinted from [DappRadar]. All copyrights belong to the original author [Letícia Melo]. If there are objections to this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, and they will handle it promptly.
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