How to value your SandBox NFTs?
The Sandbox is a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences in the Ethereum blockchain. Basically, It is an Ethereum-based metaverse and gaming ecosystem which fits in with the idea of Create & Play! Players can create digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, upload them to the marketplace and use them to build game experiences with The Sandbox Game Maker. The success of The Sandbox can be measured in the trading activity on the open market and also in the number of monthly active users. In the past 30 days, users have traded $1,64 million in virtual land and digital assets. Moreover, the latest iteration, The Sandbox Evolution, has over 1.2 million monthly active users (MAU), with up to 2.6M at peak. Over 100,000 worlds are created every day and over 70 million worlds have been already created.
Table of contents
User-Generated Content Ecosystem concept
The ecosystem of the Sandbox platform
The epicenter of the Sandbox metaverse : LAND
Considering the relevance of ASSET tokens
$SAND : the main utility token and the currency of The Sandbox's ecosystem
Closing thoughts
User-Generated Content Ecosystem concept
Once again, the Sandbox's aim is to provide the creators with true ownership of their creations in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and reward them for their participation in the ecosystem. Therefore, the Sandbox platform implies three integrated products that together provide a comprehensive experience for user-generated content (UGC) production. The Sandbox further benefits users by allowing them to secure copyright ownership of their UGC through the implementation of blockchain and NFT standards.
These products on the platform currently include:
VoxEdit: a software that allows users to create and animate various 3D objects by manipulating the voxels - square 3D pixels similar to building blocks. In other words, it allows the creation of voxel ASSETS, which can then become Non-Fungible Tokens and be imported to the Sandbox Marketplace.
Sandbox Marketplace: a decentralized marketplace for trading in-game ASSETS created in VoxEdit. Voxel ASSETS are first uploaded into an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) network and then registered on the blockchain in order to prove ownership.
Game Maker: a visual scripting toolbox that allows anyone to build 3D games for free. It does not require any coding skills thanks to accessible visual scripting tools.
The ecosystem of the Sandbox platform
The Sandbox ecosystem relies on several components:
ASSETS which are tokens created by players within user generated content (UGC). Once again, ASSETS are converted into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) when they are uploaded to The Sandbox's marketplace.
LAND. Each LAND is a unique NFT. Therefore, it is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse. Players can buy LAND pieces for building purposes in order to populate it with games and ASSETS. Multiple LANDs can be combined to form an ESTATE.
SAND. SAND is the main utility token that serves as the basis for transactions within the Sandbox. It is the ERC-20 token which is being used for the purchase and sale of ASSETs and LANDs, as well as for governance purposes, or for staking and liquidity mining for passive income.
For now, it is time to turn our attention to the valuation of the existing components above the Sandbox NFTs and to the analysis of the tokenomics of the Sandbox Ecosystem.
The epicenter of the Sandbox metaverse : LAND
A LAND is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox metaverse. It is used to create digital experiences, such as games or dioramas, and also populate it with ASSETs. Each LAND is a unique, non-fungible ERC-721 token on the Ethereum blockchain. In total, 166,464 LANDs will be available within a map forming the metaverse of The Sandbox. Therefore, LANDs can be accessed through a virtual map on The Sandbox's official website.
So what is the purpose of the LAND and why is it in demand?
In fact LAND ownership allows you to :
Host contests and events and get rewards for it.
Monetize ASSETs and experiences. Moreover as LAND owner you can choose to charge others in SAND to visit your LAND or to play your games after you customize it.
Play games that you or others create and participate in gameplay in The Sandbox.
Vote in the metaverse governance. By owning LAND, you have a voice in determining the future of the platform.
Stake SAND to earn and customize assets.
LANDS can be purchased during LAND sales. Each of LAND's sales cycles has a declining discount percentage. Also there is a discount on LANDS when bought as ESTATES. An ESTATE represents a group of LANDs that have been combined together into a larger parcel. Usually when a LAND is traded, all its contents and ASSETS are included in the trade. However, the LAND seller may not include the ASSETS in the lot on the secondary NFT exchange. You should carefully read the offer especially when buying a premium LAND, because, without surprise, premium LANDs have more benefits compared to regular LANDs ... which also increase their price. Once they have been purchased in the initial LAND sale they include some premium ASSETs that are very scarce and will not be produced further.
Getting your LAND in the first Presale will ensure getting it at the best price. LAND is a limited commodity available at the lowest price for first comers. Over time, the selling price will increase, so it is always worth purchasing early. The public LAND Price has been fixed at 48 USD. Since you should buy your LANDS with ETH, the price of LANDS fluctuates in ETH according to ETH/USD variations. For instance, a piece of LAND priced at 1,011 SAND now costs $473. However, on the secondary market the cheapest LAND (i.e. the floor price) is 0,3 ETH or about $646.
In June, The Sandbox sold 1,080 land parcels in less than 3 seconds! During the second wave of their Summer Jam sales, 1,050 land parcels and an additional 350 premium land parcels were sold. In July, an NFT investor who goes by the name of Danny, purchased a huge piece of real estate in The Sandbox by paying $863,000 to get his hand on the virtual land. The seventh and final wave of the Summer Jam LAND sale ends on August 12 at 1PM UTC.For this last wave there are a total of 756 LANDS + 302 additional Premium LANDS and seven more partners to discover.
The value of a LAND depends on several factors, including proximity to major partners, whether there are any assets in the bundle, as well as anything built on the LAND and the size of the LAND. As a LAND seller, remember that you will need to perform some market research and remain highly competitive! On the other hand, the LAND could be a good source of passive income if you rent it to Game Makers for their use. This feature will be available in the future.
Considering the relevance of ASSET tokens
As mentioned above, ASSET tokens refer to user-generated content (UGC). In other words, it is about voxel models, which artists made for The Sandbox using Voxedit. Once these assets are uploaded into the blockchain ecosystem through the Sandbox marketplace, they are automatically transformed into NFTs based on the smart contract ERC-1155.
ASSETs are entities designed for the purpose of providing content for in-game experiences, such as games, that are built on LANDs. They can also be collectables or be monetised and be traded.
ASSETs are divided into different categories:
Entities - This refers to NFTs that are used to populate an experience with non-playable characters (NPCs) such as people and animals. For example, a friendly folk, a giant dinosaur, a treasure hunter etc. It can also be an environmental asset like a disco ball or a festival party bus. For example, a Low rider transformer with a Legendary Catalyst (to be seen below) trades at the Sandbox Marketplace for 21000 $SAND.
Equipment - The above are NFTs that can be added to the player's inventory. These ASSETs can be equipped in order to achieve the objectives of the game, such as a sword or a pair of gloves. For instance, a Flight helmet with an Epic Catalyst trades at the Sandbox Marketplace for 262.50 $SAND.
Wearables - These are the aesthetic items that change the appearance of the player's avatar. More broadly it is about anything that can be attached to your avatar to give it a unique fashion style. Wearable should be available soon one the Sandbox marketplace.
Art - This refers to NFTs that mainly serve as decorative visual elements for additional appeal in games. For instance, a Witch tower trades at the Sandbox Marketplace for 3150 $SAND.
Blocks - These are environmental blocks that alter the appearance of the world. In addition to the basic blocks that will be available through the Game Maker, players will be able to create custom new blocks that can be used to build unique experiences.
How the scarcity of an ASSET affects its value and how it is defined?
Scarcity is defined by the CATALYST that is added to the ASSET. There are four different CATALYST levels - Common; Rare; Epic; Legendary - which all define the total maximum possible number of copies of an ASSET. The higher the tier of the CATALYST is, the more scarce an ASSET is.
Generally, the rarer an ASSET is, the more valuable it is to a game designer or an ASSET collector. The stats that an ASSET has through the use of GEM are also a factor in its value. However, there are some other factors to consider when determining the value of an ASSET. For example, the quality of the ASSET's design, which means that very high quality ASSETs with great little details and well-made animations will probably be in high demand.
A rare ASSET of low quality or with weak animations will probably not be seen as highly valued by collectors or game designers.
$SAND : the main utility token and the currency of The Sandbox's ecosyste
As you can already guess, $SAND is an extremely important part of The Sandbox platform and it is also a governance token. $SAND is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. The live $SAND price today is $0.5958 USD. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #120, with a live market cap of $527,302,358 USD. It was launched on the Binance trading platform in August 2020.
It has the following use cases:
Medium of exchange: As the medium of exchange it is necessary for making purchases from The Sandbox's marketplace.
Governance: It allows holders to participate in governance of The Sandbox's platform.
Staking: Users can stake $SAND tokens to earn rewards. It can also be staked into a liquidity mining pool to get rewards too.
Play2Earn : Players can potentially earn some $SAND by playing games. While some game designers may choose to charge players a small amount of $SAND for playing their games.
Foundation Fund & Staking Pool : A 5% transaction fee is charged on all $SAND transactions. 50% of this fee is allocated to the Foundation Fund and the other 50% is allocated to the Staking Pool.
Closing thoughts
The Sandbox metaverse is one of several blockchain-based virtual worlds claiming to change the dynamics of the gaming market. The platform involves rewarding creators for the value they produce through user-generated content. Moreover, you can generate revenue in The Sandbox in various ways.
It is important to note that the Sandbox is still in the early stages of growth, yet it has a lot of potential to be shown in the near future. At the same time demand for the native SAND token, which buyers need to acquire land, is heating up.