Decentraland Foundation Quarterly Update: Q3 2023

By Decentraland, , in Announcements

Q3 of 2023 at Decentraland saw numerous new features, platform updates, community wins, and exciting events. Dive into the Decentraland Foundation’s Q3 report to learn about everything that happened in the past three months as well as a peek at what’s to come in Q4.

2023 Quarter 3 Updates

Community Engagement & Creator Support

  • Telling Community Stories: The heart of Decentraland is its community and your stories deserve to be told! In Q3, a new Wearable category, Handwear, was released in no small part thanks to the efforts of Decentraland community creators. To celebrate the release, we spoke with some of the creators involved, such as Nikki Fuego, Doki, and CKBubbles and shared their story in the journey to making Handwear a reality. Read the full article here. A variety of Emote creators were also highlighted in a special Meet the Creators piece published as part of the All About Emotes campaign. Give it a read and hear what they had to say!

  • Revamped Newsletter & New User Welcome Flow: During Q3, Decentraland’s newsletter changed providers which allows us to provide you with more fun and personalized news updates. At the same time, the team worked to create a whole new Welcome Flow for new users which introduces them to all the most important and exciting features of Decentraland across 9 emails, improving the onboarding experience.

  • Launched the All About Emote Campaign: Four weeks of Emote Spaces, Workshops, Contests, Parties, and more to celebrate a year of community-made Emotes in Decentraland and their significance in an evolving virtual social world. 

    • Coming out of this campaign, Sept and Aug are now the #1 and #2 highest months for secondary sales of Emotes and Creating Emotes Docs Views show a 49% Increase (Aug) and 148% increase (Sept) over average. Congrats to all of the creators for successfully bringing their ideas to the Marketplace and sharing them with the community! 

    • If you’re looking to learn more about how to create Emotes check out Isa’s Beginners Workshop and AwedJob’s Emote Emoji Making Party. 

    • See the winners of the most recent Emotes Competition.

  • Introduced Community Votes for Contests: The beginning of Q3 saw the closing of the 2023 Decentraland Game Jam in which many community members submitted a variety of amazing gamified experiences. See them here. As Decentraland is a community owned and created platform, the Foundation believed that the community should have a voice in deciding winners in Decentraland contests. To make this a reality, starting with the 2023 Game Jam, a Community Choice vote was held via DAO poll, a practice which was repeated for the All About Emotes Contest!

  • Hosted the first Community All Hands Presentation: Decentraland Community All Hands sessions, are a revamped format that replace traditional AMA sessions. This new approach is designed to provide more comprehensive insights and foster deeper connection and synergy between the Decentraland Foundation and the community. Sessions are broken up into 3 segments: Foundation Update, Product Update, and Ask Me Anything (AMA). These will be happening every 8 weeks.

Spreading Awareness of Decentraland

  • The Decentraland blog serves not only to keep the community informed and fill information gaps, but to help bring in new users as well. This past quarter blogs such as Brands and the Metaverse and What you can do in the Metaverse were published to this end. The former showcased the value Decentraland offers to brands looking to engage their user base, covering successful case studies of past activations, while the latter blog  covered the many roles and opportunities a Decentraland citizen could take advantage of, beyond gaming and exploration. 

  • Facilitated the establishment of the Ambassador Program, helping take it from idea, to proposal, to reality. Co-funded by the Foundation and the DAO, the initiative is designed to empower passionate and dedicated members of the Decentraland community to play a fundamental role in driving community engagement, fostering real-world connections, and promoting the Decentraland project globally. The program has been kicked off and ambassador application reviews are underway. The Foundation is eager to see even more Decentraland events popping up around the world as a result!

  • Spreading awareness of Decentraland means putting our unique virtual world on people’s radar—one of the best ways to do that is to have a physical presence, engaging in talks and panel discussions at key events around the world. Over the past quarter, the Foundation represented Decentraland at the following events: 

    • Hackathon at NFTSE - July 14-15. NFT Show Europe featured a 2-day, IRL Hackathon hosted in collaboration with the Foundation and Metaverse Architects. The Hackathon showcased the inspiring possibilities of AI innovation in the metaverse while aiming to accelerate development of the Decentraland platform and the new SDK 7.

    • Hosted a Booth and Workshop at ETH Argentina from August 16-19. Foundation and DAO team members had a booth at the main event where they spoke with the community about a variety of projects. An SDK 7 Workshop was also hosted and a closing party was organized with Ripio.

    • Represented Decentraland in the panel ‘Beyond the PFPs’ at Permissionless II which took place September 11-13 in Austin Texas. We discussed the expansive role of Art in the metaverse and how it can encompass not only typical art but also artistic expressions of persona through Wearables and Emotes. 

    • Web32 Belgium Workshop - September 27, the Foundation was invited to give a workshop about the Decentraland Ecosystem and its creator economy.

Decentraland in the Media: 

Q3 brought global opportunities to showcase Decentraland to a wider mainstream audience with a focus on Fashion, AI, and the future of the metaverse. 

Supporting Platform-Enriching Events

  • MESH Art Fair & Metaverse Art Week 2023

    • The Foundation partnered with art collective Vueltta to deliver both MESH: the art fair for VR, metaverse, and 3D creators, and Metaverse Art Week 2023

    • Thirty-two artists created new immersive installations for MESH, including leading names like Rebecca Rose, Hannes Hummel, Michelle Brown and Dev Harlan. These can still be visited at (52, 62) and were recently featured by CNN program The Next Frontier. Six MESH installations were also shown in a real-life exhibition at NFT Show Europe.

    • Over 60 artists and creators were part of Metaverse Art Week 2023. Seven parties were hosted by venues including Casa Roustan, MetaParty, SugarClub, and Dollhouse. 

    • Vueltta held five Twitter Spaces for MESH / MVAW23 with guests including Right Click Save magazine and Here&Now Events. Over one hundred listeners attended every space. There was also a dedicated in-world tour for The Wip Meetup, and a special opening night tour for members of Decentraland DAO.

    • Special thanks to the Community Building Decentraland (CBD) community who supported MESH and MVAW23 artists.

  • Launched the strategy and plan for Monthly Event Themes to help to further decentralize platform-wide events, empower the community to get involved, and cultivate creativity. If one or more of the themes sparks an event idea, let’s turn those into reality! Get in touch with Foundation through the official application. 

Product Releases & Platform Updates

Over the course of the past quarter, Foundation teams have been hard at work to deliver a variety of updates and new features to the Decentraland platform. Ranging from small changes to exciting new features, development focused on 3 main areas: social connections, content, and immersion. 

Major Releases

  • Handwear: By popular demand and in no small part thanks to the work of community creators, a new Wearable category was added to cover all your hand accessory needs. Read the whole story here. https://twitter.com/decentraland/status/1682401231996870657?s=20

  • Portable Experiences & Smart Wearables: A huge new feature that unlocks a lot of creative potential, Portable Experiences are experiences that can be triggered anywhere in Decentraland and allow you to interact with hidden layers, like seeing and collecting floating gems or activating event-specific guides. Smart Wearables are Wearables that can harness these unique experiences, such as a jet pack that gives you the ability to fly! Learn more here.

  • Emotes 2.0: The next generation of Emotes has arrived, taking your expression in Decentraland to the next level. Now Emotes offer more than movement with the possibility to add props and sounds. Learn more here. Don’t forget to mark your calendar, a release party for Emotes 2.0 is scheduled for Oct 12 where you’ll be able to claim your own free Emote with props & sounds. RSVP. https://twitter.com/decentraland/status/1707483326997475520?s=20

  • DCL Camera: Capture your favorite Decentraland moments in-world with just a click and share them with your friends! https://twitter.com/decentraland/status/1691816186197987375?s=20 

  • AI NPCs: AI offers endless opportunities to those building virtual worlds. Demonstrating a small facet of this potential with integration of Inworld AI technology, a developer platform for creating AI characters, 3 new AI NPCs were added to Genesis Plaza to welcome new visitors. Learn more about AI NPCs and the future of AI in Decentraland here.

  • Avatar VRM Export: Hugely popular since its release, VRM Exports allow you to take your super unique Decentraland avatar anywhere, be it an interoperable party in another metaverse or your next video call! Learn how to do it in this tutorial. https://twitter.com/decentraland/status/1684271871678636040?s=20 

Worlds

  • Worlds for ENS Domain Holders: Anyone with an ENS domain, a decentralized username that can be used across both Web2 and Web3, can now claim access to their own Decentraland World with an upload limit of 25 Mb. Learn more.

  • Dynamic World Size Limit: Worlds from Decentraland NAMEs will now have a dynamic maximum file size limit depending on a user's Decentraland holdings. Each NAME, LAND, and set of 2,000 MANA tokens owned will grant an additional 100 Mb of storage on the Worlds content server to be used as you wish. Learn more.

  • Host Events in Worlds: World owners will now be able to list their World-hosted events on the Event page alongside events taking place in Genesis City.

For Creators

  • Add Animations to Scene: Make your experiences more immersive—upload avatar animations with your scene files and set them to trigger during gameplay. Learn more.

  • Quests: Quests are a way to create a series of tasks for players to complete. Creators can take advantage of quests to generate exciting interactive content for their players. Learn more.

  • Smoother SDK 7 movement: (Releasing shortly) Thanks to the addition of tweens, movement in SDK 7 scenes will be noticeably smoother.

  • Smart Items in Web Editor: The Web Editor which utilizes SDK 7 is set to eventually replace the Builder. Adding an initial set of smart items (doors and levers with actions and triggers) is a step closer to achieving that goal. More smart items will be added in upcoming months.

Exploring Decentraland

  • Map Improvements: Navigating the Genesis city map just became easier— Toggle between parcel and satellite view, find crowded places and friends, filter by PoIs and Favorites, and more.

  • Search for Places: Search featured locations in Genesis City and Worlds via the Places page to find the places that interest you.

  • Scene Categorization: To further enhance the process of searching for scenes that interest you, categories, such as gaming, gambling, social, art, education, etc. will be added to the Places page.

  • Scene Content Moderation: (Releasing shortly) Scenes will now be rated Teen PG 13+ (for all users), Adult PG 18+, or Restricted. The community can flag scenes as NSFW and Foundation moderators will review and set the appropriate rating. 

Miscellaneous 

  • Improved Search in Marketplace: It is now easier to find and discover the items that might interest you without having to put in a specific’s item’s exact name.

  • Profile Updates: You can now swap NAMES, modify your bio, add links & other info, and manage your wallet on your Profile—and guess what? You can do it all from your phone now too! Go to profile.decentraland.org to view yours.

  • Single Sign On: Seamlessly login to Decentraland dApps with only 1 signature—from the DAO to the Marketplace, you’ll be ready to roll after signing in once.

Roadmap for Quarter 4

As we approach the final quarter of 2023, the Decentraland Foundation is poised to bring significant enhancements to the platform, anchored by three key strategic pillars: Onboarding Excellence, Polished Experience, and The Next Decentraland Frontier.

  1. Onboarding Excellence: Our aim is to refine the user journey, making it seamless for both Web2 and Web3 enthusiasts. By streamlining this process, we hope to augment the Decentraland user base and foster a more inclusive community.

  2. Polished Experience: Instead of inundating the platform with numerous new features, our emphasis will shift to refining existing tools and products. A solid, reliable experience is our priority for the next phase.

  3. The Next Decentraland Frontier: As we gaze into 2024, our eyes are set on groundbreaking research and innovation that will shape the next generation of Decentraland.

At the heart of Decentraland lies the opportunity for users to unleash their creativity and form connections with fellow visionaries. Our role at the Foundation is not just to facilitate, but to nurture these engagements. To foster community spirit, celebrate our talented creators, and encourage the community to get involved and claim more ownership over Decentraland events we're thrilled to introduce monthly event themes for the rest of 2023 and the upcoming year.

Kickstarting this initiative is the much-anticipated Decentraland Music Festival. This 3-day event is not just a festivity, but a canvas for our community's artists and creators. We opened the doors for community applications, ensuring meticulous curation and strategizing event placements while offering unwavering support to transform this festival into a confluence of unmatched creativity.

Be it diverse community events or meaningful platform improvements, we hope you’re as excited for the last quarter of 2023 as we are!

Upcoming Events

AI World Fair | Oct 25-27

This event aims to demystify key AI concepts and explore the technology roadmap for the short, medium and long term. 

A collaboration between Web3 development agency Verse Digital, Metaverse Land Company, and Decentraland, the AI World Fair will provide a platform for brands and companies in this rapidly evolving industry to showcase their work and for attendees to experience new tools and features in a gamified ecosystem. RSVP and learn more.

MET Amsterdam | Nov 2-3 

Decentraland Foundation Executive Director, Yemel Jardi will participate in the panel, ‘Meta-Philanthropy: Pushing The Creative Boundaries,’ hosted by the World NGO Day Foundation. He will also moderate a panel with Absolut, Tangpoko, and Parcel Party titled: ‘Emerging Tech & The Digital Creator Economy: Innovating in Virtual Worlds’ . If you’ll be attending, swing by the panels and meet the team at the exhibition booth. Decentraland Music Festival | Nov 16-18

Previously recognized as Metaverse Music Festival, Decentraland’s annual music festival is getting a fresh identity as Decentraland Music Festival to signify the Foundation’s dedication to supporting music in the Decentraland community. Brace yourselves for an unforgettable celebration of music and community with this highlight of Music Month!

Inspired by this year’s theme of Rebirth & Regeneration, Decentraland Music Festival ’23 embraces core values of radical self-expression, communal growth, and artistic renewal. It aims to foster a vibrant and inclusive community where artistic expression knows no limits, individuals can connect, collaborate and share love for music that unites us all. #DCLMF23 will comprise 5 stages curated by partners to bring amazing content to the DCL community.

Curious what’s next and want to plan ahead? Check out the Monthly Themes announcement which lays out monthly event themes through to December 2024. Become familiar with them and maybe even inspired! Your participation is welcome. 

Upcoming Releases & Updates

ETA: Mid November and early December

  • Social Login: Don’t have a wallet? No problem! Log in with Gmail, Twitter, Discord, and other social media accounts. Thanks to magic.link, the service that will make this feature possible, your account will still be secure, non-custodial, and decentralized. This additional feature will help to make Decentraland more accessible to Web2 users.

  • Cross-chain NFT Purchasing: Buy Wearables, Emotes, LAND, and NAMEs paying with any token from any EVM-compatible Blockchain

  • SDK 7 UI Fixes

    • Examples include: 

      • Auto-adjust width

      • Pointer events on a UI handling

      • Images in buttons

      • Visual cues

      • Adaptable font size

      • Bold, italic, serif, and monospace font option

  • Metadata Aggregation: Preview information when sharing a Decentraland link will include more data.

  • More Web Editor Smart Items: More items, such as a video player, ambient sound, and NFT images will be added.

  • Marketplace Notifications: 

    • Get in-dApp notifications:

      • Selling an item

      • Receiving royalties

      • Bid accepted

      • Bid received

      • LAND rented

      • Renting period is over

      • New airdrop🪂

Closing

Q3 saw a huge number of improvements to the Decentraland experience, new features, community wins and highlights, as well as exciting events. Looking forward to the future of Q4 and beyond, even more is planned with a focus on improving the onboarding experience as well as preparing the platform for the next generation of Decentraland. As the Decentraland Foundation, we are eager to keep supporting, empowering, and growing the community while continuing Decentraland’s evolution towards a platform that is fun and easy for everyone to use and create in.

If you don’t already follow Decentraland on Twitter, we’d highly recommend you start now as it’s the best way to stay on top of all the exciting updates and announcements that come out every week. You can also subscribe to Decentraland’s weekly newsletter and get updates on all the biggest news and events delivered straight to your inbox. Thank you for your continued support and for being part of the vibrant Decentraland community!