Introducing Decentraland Worlds Beta: Your Own 3D Space in the Metaverse

The Decentraland Foundation is thrilled to announce ‘Worlds’, personal 4 parcel-large spaces tied to Decentraland NAMEs that exist separately from Decentraland’s Genesis City and its system of LANDs. The new feature, currently in beta, is available to anyone who owns a Decentraland NAME (a ‘name NFT’ within the DCL ecosystem that can be assigned to your avatar or LAND and costs 100 MANA to create or can be purchased from a previous owner in the Marketplace). Worlds can best be thought of as your own personal 3D space in the metaverse. You can shape the space however you like, create a grassy meadow or maybe a neon-lit nightclub, and even invite people to visit.

While Worlds cannot be sold or traded in themselves, they are intended to serve as a place for Decentraland citizens to build, experiment, and host events and even interactive experiences without having to own LAND. The main aim in releasing the Worlds feature is to lower the barriers to becoming a Decentraland creator, with the ultimate result being the continued growth and enrichment of the Decentraland platform.

The technical potential of Worlds

For now, individual Worlds can span up to 4 parcels in size (each parcel being 16×16 meters), can be a maximum of 100 MB, and can host up to 100 concurrent users. However, as Worlds is in beta, many future changes can be expected, such as increasing the size limitations of the feature, both in terms of parcels and megabytes, and even allowing users to host their Worlds on their own servers.

When designing your World, you’ll have a lot of creative freedom, such as the flexibility to define the layout of the parcels in your space. This will allow you to create a footprint that best suits your needs, whether it be square-shaped, a long path, or something else entirely. Additionally, you’ll have the same options to limit visitors to your World as are offered via Decentraland’s SDK for LAND parcels in Decentraland. This means that if you choose to make it so, only visitors who own a specific NFT (such as a Wearable) or those who have a passphrase will be able to enter. Otherwise, anyone who knows the Decentraland NAME associated with your World will be able to visit it.

How to enter a World

Worlds that have had a scene deployed in them can be entered via a specific URL or by entering a command in Decentraland’s in-world chat box. In the following directions ‘NAME’ should be replaced with the Decentraland NAME associated with the World you are trying to enter.

To enter a World using a URL, put play.decentraland.org/world/NAME into your browser’s search bar and press ‘Enter’
To enter a World via Decentraland’s in-world chatbox, first press ‘Enter’ to open the chat box, then type the command /changerealm NAME.dcl.eth and press ‘Enter’ again to execute the command

How to activate your World

Decentraland’s Worlds beta is already available for anyone who holds a NAME. To activate the World attached to your Decentraland NAME, just deploy a scene using the SDK command line tool (CLI) as you would normally do, but change the targeted content server. For more information, check out the Worlds documentation.

Step 1 (Only if you have more than 1 NAME)

Modify your scene.json file for the scene to add this snippet:

 {   "worldConfiguration" : {     "dclName": "NAME.dcl.eth"   } }  

Step 2

Deploy using the command dcl deploy --target-content https://worlds-content-server.decentraland.org

Step 3

Enter your World using play.decentraland.org/world/NAME or /changerealm NAME.dcl.eth **in the in-world chatbox

Planning to create something amazing in your World? Share it with the Decentraland community by using #DCLWorlds on Twitter!

World FAQs

How do I get my own World?

Worlds are tied to Decentraland NAMEs, so if you don’t already have a NAME but want a World, you will need to get one. A NAME is an NFT in the Decentraland ecosystem that serves as a name that can be assigned to your avatar or LAND that you own. Before you get a NAME for your avatar, the title you’ve chosen for yourself in Decentraland (the name floating over your avatar’s head) will always have numbers and letters, like “#af14” in it. If you’ve ever noticed other users who didn’t have that as part of their avatar name and wondered why, it was because they owned a NAME.

To get a NAME for yourself you can either create one in the Builder for the cost of 100 MANA or purchase a preexisting one from a previous owner in the Marketplace. If you choose to create one from scratch, you will be limited to 15 characters and will have to settle upon a NAME that has not already been claimed by someone else.

Why did I get a 404 message when I tried to enter a World?

A World is only active if a scene has been deployed to it. If you’re seeing a 404 message, it is likely the owner of the World does not have a scene deployed yet.

How big can a World be?

Currently, Worlds can be up to 4 parcels large, can have a maximum scene size of 100MB deployed, and can host up to 100 concurrent users. The World limit is intentionally larger than the maximum deployable scene size in Decentraland’s Genesis city (for 4 parcels the max would be 60MB) in order to give creators the flexibility to experiment and learn. However, as Worlds is only in beta right now, these limitations are expected to change.

How can I create a scene to deploy in my World?

Scenes for Worlds are created using the same SDK that is used to create scenes and experiences in Decentraland. Tools like the web-based Builder and the soon-to-be-released Decentraland Editor are available to create them. You can find more information for creators in Decentraland’s Docs.

I don’t code. How can I get a scene designed and deployed to my World?

The Decentraland Foundation and DAO have compiled a talent directory of creators and other professionals they’ve worked with and can recommend for future projects. At this time, the directory can be found under ‘Metaverse Studios’ in the Content Creator section of Decentraland’s Docs.

With over 180+ studios to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find a skilled professional for whatever task you may need done, whether it’s designing and deploying a structure, creating Wearables and Emotes, or even helping you plan, develop, and execute a fully-fledged interactive experience. You can also use the filter function to find studios that are in your time zone and speak the same language as you to ensure the studio you end up choosing will be a good fit.

Can I control who has access to my World?

Yes. When creating the scene for your World in Decentraland’s SDK, you can define mechanics that will allow you to limit who can enter your World to only those who have a certain NFT (like a Wearable) or who have a specific passphrase. These are the same options that are available for scenes in Decentraland’s Genesis City.

Where are Worlds hosted?

Worlds are currently hosted in a server run by Decentraland Foundation, but in the future you should have the option to host your World on your own server.

Can I use my Wearables in a World?

Yes. You will appear as your usual Decentraland avatar in Worlds and will have access to any Wearables or Emotes you own via your Backpack, same as you do in Decentraland’s Genesis City.

Can I travel between Worlds and back to Genesis City?

Yes. In all Worlds you can use the chatbox to enter commands, just as you would in Genesis City, and teleport to other Worlds. There is also a button in the top left corner of every World that will take you back to Genesis City.

To use the chatbox to enter a different World:

Press ‘Enter’ to open the chatbox, type /changerealm NAME.dcl.eth (where NAME is the NAME associated with the World you want to teleport to) and press ‘Enter’.

Why would I buy LAND in Genesis City if I already have a World?

Currently, Worlds can only admit up to 100 visitors at a time and can only be 4 parcels large. If you would like to build large scenes or host events where you expect more than 100 people at any time, you will want to buy or rent LAND. Scenes and Experiences deployed on LANDs in Genesis City are also more easily discovered by users as they don’t need to know specific information like your NAME to visit—they can just stumble upon your scene while exploring. Additionally, Worlds will not grant you any additional Voting Power the way LAND parcels do. It is also important to keep in mind that events hosted in Worlds will not be listable on Decentraland’s Event Page in the beta stage of Worlds.

Can I move a scene from my World to Genesis City, or from Genesis City to my World?

Yes, it will be very easy. Just make the necessary changes on the scene.json file (if you had more than one NAME and needed to specify which one’s World your scene was being deployed to) and re-deploy your scene to the decentralized catalyst network, the targeted content server for Genesis City.

Just remember that the size limitation for Worlds (100MB, an average of 25MB per parcel) is larger than that for LAND parcels (15MB a parcel), so make sure your scene is sized correctly for deployment to Genesis City!