Navigating the Metaverse

Introduction

It started with an ordinary game of Monopoly. Three friends shook dice and exchanged pink and blue bills over an old, chewed board as the hours melted into the Santa Clara night.

The game unfolded the same as it had since they were kids: The opening land-grab, the alliances, hating (and then not minding) sitting in jail, the ante suddenly spiking when a red hotel broke ground on Boardwalk. At some point, one friend asked the group if they ever heard of an “NFT,” or non-fungible token. One friend shrugged his shoulders. The other said to stop stalling and pay the rent. After all, it was 2018. CryptoPunk NFTs weren't selling for millions of dollars and Snoop Dogg wouldn't be outed as NFT influencer Cozomo de’ Medici for another three years. NFTs just weren't a big deal yet.

As the game went on, they started talking about NFTs more. They didn't know much about it, but the idea of true ownership of digital assets, backed by blockchain, had interesting prospects. Right there, bringing together Monopoly-style property-collecting, blockchain gaming, and NFTs, the Upland metaverse was born.

This might not seem crazy now, but in 2018 the metaverse wasn't nearly as trendy as it is today. Back then launching a blockchain game sounded a bit crazy. Think about it: Three Silicon Valley entrepreneurs believed they could upend multi-billion-dollar industries like video games and social media with a mobile game concept based on a century-old property-management board game. As it ...