Meta Residence Tower: Expanding Virtual Spaces in Decentraland
By Decentraland DAO, , in Community Highlights
The Meta Residence Tower (MRT), one of the latest DAO grant projects, is a metaverse skyscraper located at 117, -25 with thousands of NFT rooms that Decentraland users can furnish with no-code tools. More than just a skyscraper, MRT is an expert-driven real estate project that allows beginner metaverse users to create or access customized virtual spaces.
By building a skyscraper with 10,000 NFT-assigned apartments, the MRT project simplifies two underlying challenges for incoming metaverse users—buying real estate and accommodating it to their preferences. These activities sometimes require some know-how of Web3 currencies and possibly some programming.
By offering drag-and-drop furniture presets and a straightforward UI to purchase an apartment, the MRT significantly lowers the entry barrier for any user who wants to dive into the metaverse and have a home of their own.
A real estate project built upon Decentraland’s open platform
The MRT project created a sizable virtual building in Decentraland with 10,000 apartments that users could own via NFT. The building’s apartments come in four different layouts: Studio, 1 Bedroom, 2 Bedroom, and Penthouse. It is also possible to create an open space. Each apartment has an interior designer constructor, a drag-and-drop menu with over 700 furniture items, and customizable ceiling, floor, and wallpaper options.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hVGA5h7UOa0
MRT was conceived as an easy way to allocate virtual real estate. Decentraland has continuously enabled newcomers to explore and create virtual spaces in the metaverse—even beyond the finite LAND parcels of Genesis City which can either be purchased or rented in the Marketplace. In late 2022, the Foundation announced Worlds, which made it much easier for anyone to get their own virtual space in Decentraland for just 100 MANA. Worlds provide users with a personal space in the metaverse that’s ready to be shaped into anything they can imagine, together with free pre-built templates for those who just want to get right to hanging out and hosting events in their Worlds. Inspired by this concept, the creators behind MRT, which also happened to be the creators behind 8 MetaBalls, came up with their own approach to streamlined virtual real estate in the form of apartments and proposed the project in May 2023.
The $110,000 grant petition submitted to the DAO also outlined the project's path to sustainability based on apartment sales. This, of course, would make the MRT skyscraper a commercial project. In this light, the team has stated that they feel compelled to return the grant money as it is made back in revenue from apartment sales. This is an uncommon approach to DAO grant-requesting and a solid precedent of how the DAO-led program can help set up projects that turn in value and revenue. As per the official statement, 30% of the sales of apartments, smart items, and upgrades will be transferred to the DAO every month until the entire amount is paid back.
This plan meant some additional paperwork. Even though the original proposal was quickly approved in the Platform category, it had to be re-submitted in a different class. The DAO Grant Support Squad and the team behind MRT agreed that, since the skyscraper is a for-profit initiative needing funding, it should belong to the Accelerator category.
MRT as a social hub
In addition to selling apartments and furniture items to generate revenue, the MRT project will also earn money from fees charged when users utilize special features, like selling event tickets or using a video streaming service.
https://twitter.com/residence_meta/status/1749841551809774017?s=20
Wondering how a standard apartment could become a place of social gatherings? The MRT team has accounted especially for this use case! To help organize social gatherings, the developers included a no-code social solution that allows users to create an open, flat space by removing all the walls in their apartment, known as “Open Space.” Users can also set up a ticketing system. A special Event board inside the space where users can highlight their events helps inform the community about upcoming parties. The tower, indeed, has a whole amenity fix. MRT has already been the scene of parties hosted by DJ-Trax as well as the DCL Brazil Birthday Party.
Helping people get together is fitting for the team behind MRT. The project team is spread worldwide, with 3D modelers and project managers spread between Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Canary Islands. Some might remember them from the 2023 Game Jam, where they won the contest thanks to their MRT Backroom project. Now they can all convene at the skyscraper’s top floor for their gatherings!
Decentralized towers to scale up real estate in the metaverse
MRT is live and ready to use. Users can easily purchase their flats from the project’s official website and there were already fifty events hosted in the tower last year—even while the project was under development.
However, the team working on the MRT has always expected to develop the tower continuously. One of their latest additions was to shift MRT over to Decentraland’s SDK 7, which they had set as one of the primary milestones. Plus, thanks to the SDK 7, the UI got a major makeover using Decentraland feedback for max immersion.
Changes have not happened only on the project’s architecture, though. MRT recently increased their offer with free smart items for residents—50 in total. True to their entertainment origins, they also launched a poker game that's getting attention from card players in Decentraland, since any resident can host the poker game in their apartment and start tournaments.
That’s a lot in the present tense, but the roadmap has just started for MRT. One milestone that the team will focus on is to make the stack running MRT fully decentralized. Besides turning updates into NFTs, they plan to set up a DAO and a Multisig wallet. They will also move 15 pieces of their LAND into this community wallet to sign off the switch to a server-less version.
Another feature they'll focus on is Flats in Worlds, which will utilize Decentraland’s Worlds feature. This will let users put their apartment, with all its functions, into their own separate virtual world via their NAME.
How to contribute to Meta Residence Tower
Buying an apartment is easy and straightforward. You can access MTR’s website and pick your favorite spot. You can also head to the tower and purchase on site. The building supports two currencies on Polygon: USDT and MANA at current rates and gasless transactions. To catch up to speed, you can also check their draft proposal and see what they’re up to. Still, since the skyscraper is intended to be a “Web3 social simulator,” it’s likely that the best of what’s to come will be from the user base itself. And that’s precisely how you can best contribute.
Users are leaving their doors open and showing off their layouts. Others have hosted events, streamed shows, and shared their screencaps on socials. If you’d like to help support the project, you can do the same! You can always tag MRT on Twitter or connect with them on their Discord. Founder Tony Mo will be ready to answer your queries!
The metaverse is full of yet unrecognized potential and opportunities. Do you have an idea that could benefit the Decentraland community? Learn more about the DAO’s grants here.
Do you know of a cool Decentraland community project that you think should be next in the Community Highlights series? Contact the Decentraland Foundation team @decentraland on X.
Disclaimer: The service described in this article was not developed or audited by the Decentraland Foundation. Always be careful when engaging in any kind of transaction. Decentraland is not responsible for any loss of funds/assets.