Axie Infinity and Decentraland
Blockchain games, cryptocurrency games, play2earn and everything related to this gaming niche are still relatively new concepts to many people, but people are already getting to familiarise themselves with it. The interface between cryptocurrency, blockchain technology and gaming is inevitable, and now that it has emerged, its popularity is very rapid with each new day.
There are many blockchain game platforms, while there are many other emerging ones. There also seems to be thousands of projects ahead, and it’s easy to forget who is who or what is what.
That is one of the reasons we have decided to put together a list of 6+ Best Blockchain Gaming Platforms in 2021 that have, or we expect to have, a huge effect on the blockchain gaming platform. For today, we will only be exploring the features and differences between Axie Infinity and Decentraland.
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity, developed by Sky Mavis, is one of the most expensive NFT collections. It is a blockchain-based virtual game that uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrency AXS Axie Infinity Shards) and SLP (Smooth Love Potion). With Axie Infinity, players can collect, battle and trade digital creatures or NFTs, which are known as Axies. New players in the game need to buy a minimum of three-four axies before they can be eligible to play the game.
One of the most attractive aspects of this game is that; it allows participants to earn tokens while playing, which can be traded on Binance as an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency. This model of earning is called the “pay-to-earn model” or “pay-to-play-to-earn” model. Users can cash out their tokens every fourteen days interval, and Sky Mavis claims that this model has attracted a global user base that has generated significant revenue from the metaverse.
Sky Mavis released the alpha version of Axie Infinity in 2019. In 2020, it sold the Axie Infinity native ERC-20 governance token: Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) on Binance Launchpad. Before that, a private token sale for strategic investors was carried out in mid-2020. Sky Mavis intends to use AXS as a progressive decentralization mechanism that will eventually allow the Axie Infinity community to manage the metaverse and have governance set by individuals or organizations for participation in AXS token holdings.
Axie Infinity Game Features
Axie Infinity has four main features: These are; battle, breeding, land, and the marketplace:
- Breeding: You can breed your Axies to create offspring that can be sold, reproduced, or used during the battle. Axies have three genes that determine the characteristics of their offspring. Axie Infinity controls the number of Axie to handle price increases, so each Axie NFT can only be multiplied up to 7 times. Every time you breed Axie there is a fee of 0.002 ETH, and you must also get a small love potion (SLP), which is ERC-20 tokens that can be earned on the transaction, that is in the metaverse or on a decentralized exchange (DEX) for example a uniswap.
- Battle: Battle is a turn-based card game. The player’s target is to defeat his opponent. Each side usually consists of 3 axes. Each Axie NFT has different characteristics, making it suitable for different characters in the game. They also have stats – health, morale, skills, and speed – affecting Axie’s success in the game and participation. In addition, each Axie belongs to a class: beast, aquatic, plant, moon, star, reptile, bug, bird, or nut.
- Land: Axies’ land is known as Lunacia and it is divided into 90,601 lots, each of which is an ERC-721 token. The property is your Axie’s home and can be upgraded with items sold in the Axie Market. Landowners can also find AXS tokens on their properties.
- Marketplace: If you want to buy or sell an Axie, you can do so in the Axie market, although Axies can be sold in other NFT markets as well. You can also buy a plot of land and other items for your land, such as objects and decorations.
Decentraland
Decentraland is a decentralised 3D virtual reality platform that consists of about 90,601 parcels of land. Decentraland was created in 2015 by Argentinians Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano. It was opened to the public in January 2020. This virtual world or metaverse based on Ethereum is owned by its users and managed by a non-profit organisation. It has three native tokens: LAND, an ERC-721 token representing digital land parcels; Estate, an ERC-721 token representing merged digital land parcels; and MANA, an ERC-20 token currency used as a Decentraland’s currency which can be stored in a crypto wallet and custodian. MANA is a token that can be used to pay for goods and services in Decentraland.
Like most other virtual worlds, you can experience Decentral and Metaverse through avatars and use them to explore the evolving digital destination maps. Activities like buying digital art at the Crypto Valley Art Gallery, trading with Bartertown regulars, and studying at Decentraland University are only possible with digital tokens.
Features of Decentraland
There are three basic features of Decentraland: MANA, LAND and Estate and they are defined by three smart contracts:
MANAtoken contract, LANDregistry contract, and EstateRegistry contract. All virtual areas in Decentraland consist of individual LAND properties that you can buy with MANA on the Decentraland marketplace. You can also purchase wearable devices for your avatar, including clothing, shoes, and accessories, from the Marketplace. Every transaction is recorded on the Ethereum blockchain, effectively making it a register of all the digital assets you purchase in Decentraland.
If you own LAND, you can freely create and monetize digital environments and applications such as games and themed communities on it. Parcels of land that are directly next to each other can be combined to form an estate. Some crypto companies like Rarible, MakerDAO, Superare etc. have even created virtual offices and art galleries in Decentraland. Decentral also hosted various virtual meetings.
The Difference Between Axie Infinity and Decentraland
The Axie Infinity is ERC-721 tokens. The ERC-721 token like Land and Marketplace have properties that make each token unique. Therefore, they are not interchangeable and are known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This means that they cannot act as currency but are used to create unique world objects such as avatars, wearable devices, and unique parcels of land.
Decentraland has both the ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. ERC-20 tokens like MANA are also known as fungible tokens, which means that they can be exchanged with other ERC-20 tokens. Likewise, every MANA token is the same and unique attributes are missing. These properties make MANA an ideal world currency for Decentraland.