In the voxel-based gaming world, there is no doubt that Roblox and Minecraft have established reputations among players, regardless of age. These two projects allowed creators to have control over the game, giving them the freedom to explore and create. A few years later, a new project known as The Sandbox emerged, starting with mobile platforms where it accumulated more than 40 million installs globally.
What sets The Sandbox apart? Blockchain and NFTs.
The Sandbox sets a clear goal that aims to change the norm: to bring blockchain into mainstream gaming, providing both crypto and non-crypto enthusiasts with a gaming metaverse like no other. Its depth of impact on the community is a matter of perspective, but the project’s plans and executions shed light on what’s in store for players in the next few years.
What is The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is a virtual world that runs on the Ethereum blockchain, giving players the power to create, own, and monetize their gaming experience using the platform’s utility token called $SAND. Its concept is driven by its goal of giving the gaming community true ownership of their creations by incorporating non-fungible tokens (NFTs), enabling them to generate the fair value they deserve.
The project saw the limitations in the traditional gaming market, where existing barriers hinder creators from gaining rights and ownership of their works and characters. The Sandbox is intended to overcome such constraints through the power of blockchain technology and NFT copyright, as well as disrupt the gaming market through this new gaming paradigm of user ownership.
NFTs and the $SAND token are the in-game assets of The Sandbox economy, which quickly became the virtual world’s center, allowing everyone to craft, play, share, collect, trade, earn cryptocurrency, and enjoy copyright ownership.
Sand Token ($SAND)
$SAND is an ERC-20 (Ethereum-based) utility and governance token that plays an essential role in The Sandbox platform, boasting a wide variety of use cases within its gaming ecosystem. Note that it has a three billion circulating supply.
Here are the use cases of $SAND token:
- Medium of exchange – The community can play free games without fees, although not all games are free. The token can also be used to hire game designers and artists for collaborations. For creators who want to host contests, $SAND is one of the rewards that can be given to winning participants. Game designers can also opt to charge players who want to access their map with $SAND. Aside from this, players can use the token in other ways, such as buying LAND and other in-game assets.
- Governance – $SAND enables holders to make decisions for the betterment of the platform, following the DAO structure. As a holder, you will enjoy voting rights on changes within the gaming ecosystem.
- Staking – It enables the community to generate passive revenue depending on amoung of LANDS and $SAND they own. Staking rewards also come in the form of $SAND.
Note that 5% of the total transaction fees across The Sandbox will be allocated to a Staking Pool, which is rewarded to stakers, as well as the Foundation. The Foundation is responsible for supporting the ecosystem of the metaverse as a whole through the projects it funds.
Staking $SAND
The Sandbox wants its community to think about the project’s long-term success by implementing a staking program to support its vision and develop trust among its members. It introduced a $SAND staking mechanism on Polygon, Ethereum’s Layer 2, allowing users to stake their tokens and earn interest while taking advantage of low fees.
Those who want to review their staked $SAND may go directly to the dashboard when they log in, where they can obtain information like the tokens required for staking, total value locked, estimated annual percentage rate (APR), and weekly and current rewards.
Moreover, $SAND owners will get a proportional share from the liquidity pools depending on how much they have staked. The more $SAND a user stakes, the higher the returns and vice versa. There are also LAND multipliers that can increase yields by a factor of 1.1 to 1.6, depending on how much you own.
| LAND Owner Type | Number of LANDs | Staking Multiplier |
| Unique | 1 | x1.1 |
| Proprietor | 2 | x1.15 |
| Magnate | 50 | x1.25 |
| Tycoon | 200 | x1.4 |
| Mogul | 1000 | x1.6 |
LAND
LAND is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse, where game designers can create games and build environments according to their imagination. There are a total of 166,464 LANDS in the virtual world, and all of them are verifiably unique. Users can also form ESTATES by buying multiple LANDS and merging them.
Creators who own LAND are eligible to provide a whole new metaverse experience for visitors or guests. LAND was designed with only one limitation: the owner’s imagination. You can host different activities such as games, dioramas, galleries, and more.
Regardless of background, gamers are allowed to visit one land to another, providing a way for everyone to connect in a new world.
Players who do not own LAND still have a chance to host their activities by renting from others. The rental scheme gives LAND owners the ability to earn passive income and renters the opportunity to host events/games without owning LAND. Note that LAND can be used as an advertisement space to generate yields, depending on the popularity of an ESTATE.
To sum it up, LANDS allows players and creators to build metaverse experiences that they can enjoy and bring out their artistic side without limitations.
Who Uses The Sandbox?
A lot of big-time celebrities and global brands are heavily involved in The Sandbox. From Snoop Dogg owning a replica of his real-life estate to Paris launching Paris World, many players are coming together to form this phenomenal environment that could play a pivotal role in the metaverse of the future.
Household names like Atari, Ubisoft, and Adidas, all of which have purchased multiple LANDS, can also be found in The Sandbox, where they are building the early stages of metaverses. You can also find regular people who may or may not own any LAND but just come to connect with others or hang out with friends virtually.
How to Play The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is a vast virtual world to explore, but it only requires simple steps to play the game. In this section, there are three parts explained which include creating an account, buying NFTs, and playing the game.
Creating an Account
Players must have a cryptocurrency wallet to create an account on The Sandbox. Beginners who do not own a wallet can make one, and there are no fees to do so. The Sandbox supports different web3 wallets that can run on Ethereum. MetaMask is currently the most common one, so we recommend it.
After setting up a wallet, attach it to The Sandbox to access the game.
Creators also need to log into their account at The Sandbox. The following steps serve as a guide for the process:
- Go to The Sandbox website to log in.
- Choose one of the three options: email, social, or web3. For your security, we highly recommend you log in via a web3 wallet like MetaMask.
- Note that you will still need to give an email to complete your account’s creation.
How to Buy The Sandbox NFTs
The Sandbox marketplace is where users can buy NFTs like entities, art, buildings, wearables, and more. There are seven easy steps to complete in order to purchase The Sandbox NFTs:
- Create or log into an existing account on The Sandbox.
- Buy $SAND and ETH from exchanges. Note that $SAND is used for purchasing items in the marketplace while ETH is needed for gas fees.
- Go to the marketplace.
- Explore the different types of NFTs. You can click on an NFT to view its information.
- Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, click the buy button to purchase the NFT.
- Determine the number of copies and proceed by clicking the continue button.
- Sign the transaction on your wallet to confirm it.
Note that the player’s inventory on The Sandbox website will display the NFT after completing the transaction.
Alternatively, you can also purchase NFTs on third-party marketplaces like OpenSea.
Playing The Sandbox Games
To access The Sandbox Games, players should follow these steps:
- Go directly to The Sandbox website and log in using the created account;
- Navigate through the left side of the screen and click on create;
- Download the Game Maker, extract the file, and run the installer;
- Launch the game.
After the game has started, the screen displays three options: My Drafts, Templates, and Drafts Gallery, where players can see the designs of other creators. Choose any worlds to begin playing.
Note that these are user-created worlds, most of which are made by independent developers so you probably can expect some bugs, especially in the early days. But it’s a good experience nonetheless to try out some of the games or perhaps create one of your own.
Think of it as the beginning of a metaverse, where users can hop from one world to another without any limitations. Missions can also vary depending on the design and the imagination of the creator.
Who is the Team Behind The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is composed of a diverse team with years of expertise that work together to establish a well-positioned gaming project. Arthur Madrid is the company’s CEO, while Sébastien Borget is the COO. The rest of its members are located across the world, providing their contributions to build a game that everyone will enjoy.
Pixowl, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is responsible for developing The Sandbox. On the other hand, Animoca Brands, one of the most prominent investors in the web3 gaming projects, acquired a majority stake in the project last 2018. These two further helped The Sandbox become closer to its vision of building a unique metaverse for players to experience.
All things considered, the project has some of the largest backers among web3 organizations. Take a look at its list of partners:
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