All About Emotes: A Month of Exploration, Empowerment, and Experimentation
By Decentraland, , in Announcements
Community-made #DCLEmotes arrived in Decentraland almost a year ago, bringing the community closer together with new ways to interact, allowing Decentraland citizens to further customize their digital identity, and even made completely new activities possible. To celebrate this significant feature, the Decentraland Foundation has organized All About Emotes: four weeks packed with activities around Emotes, including workshops for beginners, thoughtful Twitter Spaces, parties, an Emote contest with a special perk, and much more!
This blog will tell the story of Emotes in Decentraland as well as cover the schedule of the main activities planned, full contest details, and resources that will help you if you’ll be creating your first Emote during these special four weeks. Let’s get moving!
The history and significance of community-made Emotes in Decentraland
Emotes are animations you can trigger for your avatar, and a number of basic ones, such as waving, dancing, or clapping your hands, were always available to Decentraland citizens. But everything changed when, in September of 2022, NFT Emotes entered the creator market, allowing anyone to create, publish, and sell their own Emotes. In no time, the Marketplace was flooded with a plethora of community-made Emotes from Rock, Paper, Scissors to an enthusiastic hug.
The array of novel avatar animations made new kinds of activities, such as virtual yoga sessions, possible in Decentraland and enabled users to participate more actively in events, expressing themselves freely. At last year’s Metaverse Music Festival, which took place not long after the new feature’s release, attendees were able to crowd surf, rock out on air guitar, and even touch grass, thanks to community-made Emotes. Most importantly of all, the influx of custom-made Emotes allowed Decentraland’s community to put more of the ‘personal’ in their online persona.
Ultimately, community-Emotes empowered Decentraland citizens to deepen and claim more ownership over their digital identity. Already considered to be one of the top platforms for avatar customization thanks to community-made Wearables so enticing players are wearing them in other virtual worlds, adding community-made Emotes to Decentraland allowed for a level of customized personal expression not found anywhere else in Web3.
https://twitter.com/tangpoko/status/1572668257370542080?s=20
In addition to allowing people to feel more present and represented in their avatar selves, Community-made Emotes allowed for a more meaningful level of genuine human connection than is usually available in online communities. With the power to make any action possible in Decentraland by creating an Emote, the DCL community created hugs, heart hands, and poses for group photos among many others, bringing the community closer than ever and resulting in beautiful moments like Decentraland’s historic first-ever hug!
All About Emotes aims to highlight the very significant feature of community-made Emotes while honoring the creators behind them. Through the activities and workshops planned, the four-week Emote extravaganza should make it easier than ever for new creators to try their hand at making their own Emotes. The community can’t wait to see what you make!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4tVQzSsypRk
Four weeks packed with activities
All About Emotes will be just that, four weeks in Decentraland when everything will be all about community-made #DCLEmotes!
Workshops for beginners, in-depth Twitter Spaces, parties, an Emote contest with a special perk plus 20k MANA in prizes, and more are planned for this special Emote extravaganza.
Check out the schedule of events below and be sure to follow @Decentraland and #DCLEmotes on Twitter to get all the All About Emotes news and content goodies.
All About Emotes Schedule
Aug 14 | Community Emote Contest Opens
20k MANA in prizes is up for grabs and everyone who enters will get an 80% refund of the Marketplace publishing fee on their first submission, so don't miss out on this opportunity! See the full contest details below this schedule.
Aug 16 | Twitter Space: The Role of Emotes in Digital Identity | Twitter Space
Speakers: Peanutbutta, Kim, Nico R, Isa, Shibu , Scott Moore (Emotes → Emojis)
Aug 17 | Beginner’s Emote Workshop with Isa | Emote Workshop
Join Isa as she walks attendees through the basics of creating an Emote and opens up the discussion for community questions. Be sure to go through the helpful resources at the end of this article before the workshop to prepare yourself to get the most out of it! As this workshop already happened, you can see it below!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/5PEF2pwZxtY
Aug 23 | Twitter Space: Creating Emotes Tips & Tricks | Twitter Space Speakers: Peanutbutta, Kim, Canessa, Kinetix
Aug 24 | Emote Emoji-Making Party with Scott Moore | Emoji Making Party Join as Scott teaches everyone how to transform their Emote into a fantastic Emoji. For the best results, wear your favorite outfit and equip your top emote. Add and use your emojis in discord, emails, and other fun places!
Aug 30 | Twitter Space: Emote Creator Stories & Their Inspiration | Twitter Space Speakers: Peanutbutta, Kim, Tangpoko, Isa, BluesMedia
Sept 5 | Community Emote Contest Closes
Sept 6 | Twitter Space: Open Mic with New Emote Creators & Contest Recap | Twitter Space Did you make your first Emote for the contest? Send a DM to @Decentraland on Twitter and we can invite you up during the Space to talk about the process and showcase your work!
Sept 7 | Emote Extravaganza Party | Event Link There's no better way to celebrate all the awesome creations than with a party! Equip your best emotes and get ready to jam to Stoney Eye live!
An Emote Contest for Everyone
20k MANA worth of prizes plus about an 80% publishing fee discount for first contest submissions have been put up for this contest, so give it a try. Especially you, first-time creators! Use the opportunity of All About Emotes to make your first ever Emote with the help of the workshops, Q&A’s, and other helpful resources brought together for this event. Everyone is rooting for you, so give it your best shot!
To honor the way community-made Emotes have brought the #DCLfam closer together and to highlight their significance in the evolution of digital identity in our ever evolving virtual social world, the contest theme is ‘Community’.
Show the world what community looks like in Decentraland.
When:
August 14 till September 5, 2023 7AM UTC
What to do:
Create and publish an Emote based on the theme of ‘Community’. Think about the ways people interact with each other in Decentraland, what it means to be part of an online community, and how you represent your digital identity in a virtual landscape.
How to enter:
Make sure your Emotes are published in the Decentraland Marketplace and fill out the official submission form before September 5, 2023 7AM UTC
Special perk:
To make this contest more accessible to everyone, especially first-time creators, everyone who enters will have $120 USD worth of MANA refunded to them from the $150 USD Marketplace publishing fee on their first submission in the current contest (maximum one refund per individual).
Prizes:
5000 MANA for 1st Place
1500 MANA for Places 2nd-10th
1500 MANA for the Community Choice Award
Judges:
Isa Souza Gomes, Decentraland Foundation 3D Animator and Emote creator
Shibu, Decentraland Foundation Art Director
Alvaro Luque, Decentraland Foundation Product Manager
Yassine Tahi, CEO at Kinetix (AI powered Emote creation tool)
The Decentraland Community via a DAO Poll (for Community Choice Award)
Judging criteria:
Fluidity, Movement Quality of Emote
Uniqueness
WOW & FUN Factor
Represents the theme of “Community”
Contest Guidelines
1. Emotes must already be approved and published in the DCL marketplace by the contest deadline to qualify.
2. Emotes must be community related.
3. Individuals may only claim one prize in places 1st-10th (the Community Choice Award can be claimed together with one of the 1st-10th places).
4. Everyone who enters will get a max of $120 USD worth of MANA refunded to the wallet associated with their creator account, regardless of how many submissions they enter into the contest. Only an individual’s first submission is eligible for the $120 USD publishing fee discount.
5. The $120 USD worth of MANA publishing fee refunds will be deposited after winners are announced.
6. By publishing an Emote in Decentraland’s Marketplace, Entrants give the Decentraland Foundation permission to use depictions of their Emotes in marketing materials and share them on social media.
7. MANA prizes will only be deposited into the Creator’s wallet address linked to the Emote in the Marketplace.
8. Submissions will only be accepted if they are sent in via the official contest application form before the deadline of September 5, 2023 7AM UTC.
Helpful resources for making Emotes
Learning to make your own Emotes may seem intimidating, but lots of successful Decentraland Emote creators have gone through the process of learning from scratch and so can you!
Check out these helpful resources to start your learning journey:
Emote Overview Official Documentation and YouTube Tutorial: Creating an Emote
Avatar Rig, Rigging Features and YouTube Tutorial: Rig Overview
YouTube Tutorial: Animation Tips Isa's Beginner's Emote Workshop Join in the month long All About Emotes celebration and don't forget to share your favorite Emotes on socials using the hashtag #DCLEmotes!