We’re going to score our first project, Decentraland. Decentraland is a virtual world “owned by its users”. It is a browser based 3D world available for PC. Users may buy land, currency (MANA), and NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Generally the game has had mixed reviews by game reviewers due to its technical shortcomings and low player count. A few reviews are listed below.

Regardless of the overall quality of the game itself. We are here to rate its digital property rights score. So let’s dig in. The categories are described in detail in a prior post if you need to review.

The score will be a 1 to 10 number (1 being the worst property rights and 10 being perfect property rights). The composite number will be an average of 6 subcategory scores. The subcategories are:

Control - (the owner should be able to control whether to use the asset)

7 - Obviously the owner of the land or other NFTs gets to decide whether to develop their virtual property. This is ideal; however, Decentraland will not be getting a perfect score even in this category. If you dig into their End User License Agreement (EULA), they maintain complete ownership of all the tools required to use and develop your land. “The Foundation has no continuing obligation to operate the Tools and the Site and may cease to operate one or more of the Tools in the future, at its exclusive discretion, with no liability whatsoever in connection thereto.” Therefore, your use does depend on Decentraland DAO.

Exclusivity - (all the costs and benefits from owning an asset should accrue to the owner)

10 - I am not able to find any commission that Decentraland makes on sold land and NFTs; therefore, all of the profits should accrue to the owner.

Transferability - (all property rights should be transferable from one owner to another in a voluntary, open and widely trafficked exchange)

10 - This is the ideal scenario, really. Decentraland NFTs sell on the Ethereum blockchain and ecosystem. They reside on the largest markets and are completely transferrable as NFTs.

Enforcability - (property rights should be secure from seizure or encroachment by others)

7 - Generally the property rights are secured by the Ethereum blockchain which is ideal; however, given the right to remove access being held by Decentraland DAO, there is definitely a way for Decentraland to dispossess you of your property.

Utility - (the asset should have intrinsic and/or utility value)

4 - This is a difficult category. In one way, Decentraland LAND is highly valuable. You can develop it using their tools both in a user friendly way and deeper if you have programming experience. This is as flexible as one could hope; however, the utility is severely compromised by the size of the user base. The user base is extremely small and really there is no reason to believe it can grow substantially. Currently the cheapest plot within Decentraland costs $10k. This is 20x the price of an entire current gen console. How can people possibly become invested in this project? Without new users, new content and increasing use, the land and NFTs are stuck in a tiny market. Given these two disparate attributes, we have to even out the score to the middle.

Progressivity - (the asset should contribute to wide progress of the metaverse, interoperability is the key attribute)

4 - Decentraland should be applauded for pushing forward a landscape with deep customization. This will undoubtedly inform future projects. However, collaborations with other metaverse projects have largely been ignored. I don’t see much use in Decentraland NFTs beyond the Decentraland game itself.

Score - (average of all 6 subcategories)

7 - Overall there are good digital property rights in Decentraland. However, the EULA severely restricts users’ autonomy and authority. This should be rectified. Also, the overall utility of the game assets is seriously limited by both the floor price of entrance into the community and the resultant small user base involved in the game.

Questions, comments, suggestions and advice can be delivered to bytesrights@gmail.com or at Twitter @bytesrights