First steps into Decentraland

in #decentraland7 years ago

The "Terraform" auction for Decentraland begins in two hours. I’m excited. Maybe my imagination is stepping far beyond reality- but I’m about to take another step in my interaction with blockchain technology. Steemit , of course, is an awesome blockchain platform!
Prior to today’s Terraform auction, in the Decentraland world, I purchased two parcels within the Arena District. My intention is to create an art gallery and music space, with opportunities to benefit artists around the world.
Imagine: a building three stories tall. Artists who can have their work displayed within the gallery. Smart contracts between myself and the artists (renting the space).
Imagine: an artist takes over one floor of the virtual gallery. Visitors walk in and look at the art. Visitors can potentially purchase the actual (real-world) art via a smart contract purchase and have it shipped to their home or business. Or, visitors could purchase one-of-a-kind virtual artworks, again via smart contract, for their own virtual spaces within Decentraland. There could be smart contracts for temporary “rentals” of the virtual artwork. The possibilities are endless. And, it’s a great opportunity for artists to continue working on the projects that matter to them, without compromise, while gaining exposure and income. My goal is to create a cool space, provide exposure and income back to the artists, and generate a small income for myself. This is, however, a creative venture, first and foremost!
Imagine: an artist collaborates with a VR technical wizard, creating a swirling, multi-media art experience for the visitor. Imagine visual and musical artistic collaborations, or a level dedicated to new musicians (experimental, “live”, whatever).
Now I’ve got to build this place!
I plan to learn A-Frame VR development. I’m a complete beginner. No programming skills. But I can learn. Maybe I’ll make a father-son project out of this. Or collaborate with people who have the technical skills.
Maybe I’m putting the cart before the horse with this blog post. Maybe I had too much coffee. Even if this whole project fails: at least it’s an opportunity to continue learning and interacting with blockchain tech. This virtual world may provide the blueprint for future real-world uses (such as future real estate transactions on the blockchain).
I don’t even own a VR headset. But I will. I just have the sense that we’re on the verge of all those futuristic dreams becoming reality. I wanted to take part in the world of Tron when I was a kid!
Bottom line: I hope to play a part in this future by committing to my own physical/mental/spiritual harmony, and by being of service to humanity!
I intend to document my experiences in Decentraland. If this post was of any interest to you, please let me know. Thank you for reading!

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Very interesting, @jwilliams! Do you have some links for this platform? I hope you have great success on it! Upped and followed! @dakini5d

@dakini5d
Here is the main site for Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/
This site is for the auction (the auction will open today at 10 pm GMT, so less than an hour from now, and will run for one week): https://auction.decentraland.org/
There is a Decentraland reddit page, which I've been taking part in.

To be honest, I only heard about this entire project a few days ago, after I made a small investment in MANA (the cryptocurrency of Decentraland). I didn't know what MANA was at the time, it just looked like it was going to take off. After investing, I started looking into the actual project, and really fell into the rabbit hole. It was difficult to find good information about the whole project. After debating whether or not to join the auction and buy District land, I just decided to "go for it"- the whole project might tank, but to me, it was a chance to further use blockchain technology (along with VR, which is mind-blowing). So, I've moved from making an investment into simply having fun with the project and its possibilities.

That would be AMAZING! I have some pictures I would love to display in an area like that.

My intention would be to 100% protect the integrity of the art, via smart contracts with artists, so that it couldn't be pirated (a digital "signature" contract from the artist verifying the authenticity). I'm hopeful, and confident, that smart contracts will be a game-changer for the arts, and that virtual reality will open a whole new universe of opportunities for artists. Although it may be a few months in development, I hope to one day solicit proposals from artists for display in the gallery! Here's a link to a post, written by a founder of the Arena District: https://steemit.com/art/@jameshsmitharts/decentraland-dcl-concept-art-arena-district. I will be blogging here on Steemit.

I just heard about Decentraland last night and am extremely interested. Have you connected with a larger community of people who are engaging with it? I know it's at an early stage, but what's the buzz? Is a community developing around it? Thanks! Happy to follow your posts.

I apologize that I missed your comment. Reddit has a small Decentraland community, which may have some useful information (although much of the discussion revolves around MANA prices). Several of the Districts have started their own Slack accounts. In my opinion, it's been a bit quiet the past few weeks (since the auction ended). The Decentraland team is working to create a Mana wallet that could be used for trading land (via Ethereum smart contracts, I believe). I'd recommend following Decentraland on twitter, also, for up-to-date info.

I think that for anyone interested in virtual reality, there is incredible buzz and potential around this project. Also, you may want to check out this past weekend's "Rare Digital Art Festival", which was held in NYC. There is just an incredible amount of potential uses for Decentraland, including virtual art galleries.

I need to post more often! Thanks for your interest, this is good motivation for me to get writing again. I'm currently teaching myself programming, with the goal of learning virtual reality development over the coming year. Take care!