Understanding NFT Worlds: Parasitic on Minecraft, Creating a New Model for the Metaverse

Translation/Copywriting: Long Jijiang

Review: Sloth Run, KC

1. What is NFT Worlds?

NFT Worlds is a fully decentralized massive multiplayer online (MMO) metaverse game (platform). It is based on Minecraft and consists of 10,000 unique 3D pixel worlds, all procedurally generated with different attributes.

By owning an NFT world, holders gain rights within the NFT Worlds ecosystem, the ability to build and own everything in that world, and the experience of playing the game, among other things. The world can be transformed into anything, such as a racing game, a combat game, a role-playing game, or a mix of two or three genres, or a map for others to play, experience, and more. All of this takes place in a large-scale multiplayer gaming environment.

On one hand, using Minecraft as the infrastructure allows players to:

• Quickly get started; Minecraft is a globally popular open-world sandbox game with a built-in community of billions of players;

• Access NFT Worlds across multiple platforms (PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PS, etc.);

• Utilize numerous open-source mods, plugins, and tools that are ready to use;

• Create their own land (metaverse) freely and connect in real-time with smart contracts and applications.

On the other hand, Minecraft's robust infrastructure also enables NFT Worlds to:

• Save time, resources, finances, and manpower in building a new metaverse platform;

• Quickly deploy MMO gaming experiences and route world access to decentralized hosting addresses through a decentralized world name query server;

• Spontaneously attract "metaverse architects," i.e., experienced Minecraft players who are fully familiar with the game and understand how to proceed.

Additionally, NFT Worlds only supports access through the Java version of Minecraft. It is well-known that while the Java version has lower graphics quality and a slightly inferior experience compared to the Microsoft version, it offers greater freedom for developers and easier import of mods and plugins. In contrast, inserting mods into the Microsoft version requires purchasing resource packs from the Xbox or Google Store. Of course, the Microsoft version also boasts higher graphics quality and more responsive controls.

2. Game Ecosystem

The NFT worlds of NFT Worlds are based on the Ethereum blockchain. To avoid gas fees, its token $WRLD is deployed not only on Ethereum but also on Polygon.

Currently, NFT Worlds has launched five officially certified worlds for players to explore. These worlds are: NFT Worlds SMP #6233

A Minecraft test server built by NFT Worlds for testing server development, bottlenecks, and updates;

The Mothership #9856

The Gray Boys mothership (Gray Boys is a DAO initiated by the two founders of NFT Worlds);

Dino World #3523

A dinosaur world created by the NFT project Bad Baby Dino;

SkuxxVerse #3049

A PvP multiplayer game developed in SkuxxVerse (a metaverse built on NFT Worlds, with 7777 tokens released as passes to enter this world already sold out);

MUSE Oraia #9452

A simulated world created by Muse DAO to explore digital democracy, culture, and economy, MUSE Oraia. Underlying Mechanism The method of connecting user wallets, NFT Worlds, and Minecraft is very simple. After NFT world holders connect their wallet addresses using the World Manager on the official website, they need to copy and paste the generated serial number of the NFT Worlds they purchased into their Minecraft account's land to complete the connection.

When an NFT holder sells their land, a new serial number will be generated. The original connection is severed, and the new holder can reconnect the three.

According to NFT Worlds' official Discord channel, players without NFTs can simply copy and paste the world server address into Minecraft to play on others' lands. When connecting to the world server, the player's Polygon wallet address will be linked. By accumulating playtime, they can earn the local $WRLD token of NFT Worlds.

However, after practical experience, it was found that among the five worlds currently launched, there is no wallet address connection feature. Ordinary visitors only need to open Minecraft, enter the NFT Worlds server address, and explore without any other on-chain operations.

As for NFT world holders, they only need to connect the server address generated after purchasing the world NFT, their wallet, and their Minecraft account.

This also means that, at least for now, aside from the server's name and address, the editable land within the server is not on-chain; it is merely land within the game Minecraft.

So, how does NFT Worlds reward players with its $WRLD token? By monitoring player activities in Minecraft.

In other words, NFT Worlds acts as a gateway. Players enter Minecraft through NFT Worlds, build and play on Minecraft's land, while NFT Worlds itself does not possess any actual land like Crypto Voxels.

This means that NFT Worlds can "parasite" on different platforms, not just limited to Minecraft.

For the current NFT Worlds based on Minecraft, entering the editable land area through the World Manager means that players are still playing the game Minecraft, while NFT Worlds has merely built an economic system on top of it, issuing the $WRLD token, allowing players to earn while they play.

To some extent, the NFTs of NFT Worlds are merely "skins" or visual representations; the actual editable land remains within Minecraft.

So, if NFT Worlds' underlying structure completely relies on Minecraft, how does the value of its NFTs and tokens change?

NFT Worlds relies on traffic to increase the value of its $WRLD token. As people's attention to NFT Worlds grows and its traffic increases, the demand for NFT worlds rises, leading to price increases. Since $WRLD is the main circulating token in its economic model, it can be used to purchase assets, exchange local tokens from different worlds, and more.

As demand for $WRLD increases, when the supply of tokens cannot meet demand, an equivalent estimation between ETH and $WRLD will emerge. At this point, people will be more inclined to use ETH to purchase $WRLD rather than slowly earning it through tasks and world cultivation. Consequently, the price of $WRLD will also rise. On-Chain Interaction

First, all NFTs are created with a large amount of on-chain data. This data is submitted to the blockchain at minting. It is immutable and represents the baseline state of a world (i.e., different values, rare characteristics, etc.), allowing other developers to create new layers using dApps, tokens, etc. It is worth noting that the NFT land issued by NFT Worlds is on the blockchain, but the actual land is within Minecraft and not on-chain. For example, if a player purchases and builds on a piece of land in Crypto Voxels, that land is visibly present in Crypto Voxels, and the player can see it and manipulate their avatar to walk or run on it.

However, for NFT Worlds, its NFTs are not editable; holders can only enter a preview interface to view the land's topography, environment, etc., but cannot interact with or edit that land (digging, building houses, etc.). The truly editable land is within Minecraft.

Additionally, if players want to go to other worlds for limited-time events (such as a carnival), one world can act as a "transport hub," teleporting players to different worlds. Players will also receive a pass NFT without gas fees to ensure they can log into other worlds and participate in events. For players traveling between different worlds, their real-time status is constantly changing.

If a player's information can only be stored in one world, when logging into other worlds, players in that world will not be able to access the "outsider" player's profile, status, tasks, and achievements. To achieve real-time reading of player information across worlds, NFT Worlds will write each player's data into the blockchain via API integration.

3. Game Interaction

Player Interaction Due to NFT Worlds' underlying structure being in Minecraft, a significant portion of the player base consists of native Minecraft players who are not very familiar with Web 3.0. Additionally, experienced metaverse players interested in NFT real estate are also part of the audience. However, as previously mentioned, since NFT Worlds is just a gateway and a chain, these metaverse players are also Minecraft gamers.

Assets in NFT Worlds can be divided into two parts.

First, there are the NFTs and local tokens provided by NFT Worlds: the world and $WRLD. Players can obtain worlds in two main ways: first, by purchasing land on the secondary market OS; second, by renting a world from NFT Worlds. Players will have complete usage rights to that world and pay $WRLD as rent periodically. As for the $WRLD token, it is deployed on both the Ethereum and Polygon chains and can be earned through P2E.

Secondly, NFT world holders can issue their own local tokens within their respective worlds, but trading with tokens other than $WRLD requires paying gas fees. However, NFT Worlds supports NFT players in creating token exchange pools to swap local tokens from different worlds with the officially issued $WRLD.

Gaming Experience Currently, players can engage in several activities.

After purchasing a world (i.e., the NFT issued by NFT Worlds), NFT holders can start building in two ways. Of course, capable and patient world NFT holders can build themselves. Alternatively, holders can hire officially certified world builders from NFT Worlds to help set up the initial version and gameplay, bypassing the building phase.

In addition to NFT world holders being able to build their own worlds, players (regardless of whether they hold an NFT world) can enter other players' open worlds through Minecraft to play.

NFT holders can also create public worlds for other players to game in, directly opening them up and issuing them—i.e., holders can create their own games within NFT Worlds.

Furthermore, world creators can create an unlimited number of "portals." As long as players interact with one of these portals, they will be teleported to another world and receive a specific coordinate in that world.

This enables cross-world collaboration among world creators and a connected world system (e.g., alliances); it can also create more future possibilities: the emergence of worlds as "hubs/transport stations" to other worlds and the smooth exploration of all worlds within the NFT world ecosystem by players.

What does the system provide to players? NFT Worlds officially offers many services to players. In addition to the previously mentioned "world rental" and "proxy building" services, in terms of open worlds and game issuance, if NFT holders cannot complete the technical work during the issuance process themselves, they can collaborate with officially certified developers from NFT Worlds to achieve issuance functionality across different platforms and systems.

In the future, NFT Worlds also plans to launch an official automated game issuance hosting service, allowing NFT holders to issue with one click without relying on external resources.

When NFT Worlds itself provides rental services and technical services for NFT worlds, the founding team does not need to organize player communities or manage player ecosystems. For example, YGG identified Axie Infinity, created a community, and launched a systematic rental process with mentorship, investing in other blockchain games.

However, as previously mentioned, players can rent the usage and building rights of worlds from NFT Worlds for $WRLD as rent. If the holder of an NFT world is a complete novice with no background in games like Minecraft, they may find it challenging to build, and can seek collaboration and assistance from officially certified Minecraft builders.

In addition, there is the open sandbox platform of Minecraft itself. Players can freely explore maps, play, build, and also modify and expand through various mods and plugins.

4. External Community Connections

Moreover, aside from individual holders and players, organizations such as NFTs (e.g., projects like Azuki) and DAOs can also develop their communities through NFT Worlds.

First, NFT Worlds supports NFT holders (who may be the official representatives of a particular NFT project or core team members of a DAO organization, etc.) to verify the ownership of different NFTs (ERC721 or ERC1155) by incoming players.

For example, holders can quickly check whether players joining their world hold a specific series of NFTs, how many they hold, and whether they possess any specific NFTs from that series.

Based on what people own or do not own, world holders can allocate different rights, benefits, and content to them in real-time during the game.

On the other hand, from the perspective of individual players holding specific NFTs entering the world to play, interact, and experience, this is a positive incentive. NFT holders hope to publicly assist the growth of the metaverse for the projects they are involved in and bring in more players. In turn, the growth of the metaverse provides more opportunities to expand game modes, content, and more—this also increases the overall influence of NFT projects and community members.

5. Team

NFT Worlds was founded by @iamarkdev and @Temptranquil, who have over 10 years of experience collaborating on Minecraft.

Their goal is to create a fully decentralized platform that lowers the barriers to creation. Each world can provide unique game mechanics, experiences, P2E, community gatherings, and more. World holders (creators) can freely create their owned worlds, and others can visit and play in different worlds at will. Roadmap

Conclusion

The NFTs issued by NFT Worlds are on the Ethereum chain, while the land used for building is in Minecraft; it merely controls the World Manager to connect the three parties. NFT Worlds cleverly established an economic system on top of traditional Web 2.0 games (such as the already popular Minecraft with numerous players and communities), allowing original players to earn while they play.

In reality, establishing a gateway and monitoring for the operation of the P2E mechanism is not difficult. NFT Worlds largely relies on the native player base of Minecraft.

Clearly, Minecraft has no way to counter this. At the bottom of NFT Worlds' official website, a small line indicates: NFT Worlds has no affiliation with Minecraft, Mojang, Microsoft, or any related parties, nor has it received their endorsement or formed a partnership.