A guide to the Somnium Space metaverse

Somnium Space is a blockchain-based free-to-play NFT virtual-reality metaverse that allows users to create virtual lands, play, work, trade and earn money. The metaverse is a mash-up of real-world, augmented-reality and virtual-reality domains. Consider it a 3D Internet where you can engage with friends, work, travel, attend events and buy products and services.

What is Somnium Space?

Somnium Space is an Ethereum- and Solana-based virtual-reality platform. Users will be able to construct a new planet in Somnium where they can live, work, play, trade, acquire land and produce content. Somnium is also a location where you can try new things and meet individuals from all over the world.

Somnium’s long-term objective is to create a virtual environment that thousands of people may explore simultaneously in a distributed manner. The team sees its initiative as a complement to the actual world rather than an alternative to it.

A history of Somnium Space

Somnium Space was presented at conferences on virtual reality in 2017. Early access to Somnium Space was made available on the website in the beginning of 2018 and has been available on Steam since then. Somnium was designed so that people could meet communities and listen to their thoughts and views while arranging concerts, discussions and athletic events in a working environment. The platform rose to fame when it made its initial land offering.

What are NFTs in Somnium Space?

Somnium Space uses world tokens as NFTs and as in-game content that may be dragged and placed onto land parcels.

NFTs and CUBE tokens (Somnium’s native cryptocurrency) can also be used to make wearables that can be sold to others. These wearable NFTs are traded on the Ethereum, Polygon or Solana blockchains. The NFT designer can profit from these NFTs by selling them in their online shop within the gaming ecosystem.

Somnium Space users have the option of creating NFT tickets as well. For instance, let’s assume you wanted to stage a crypto rock concert or an auction of fine art in the future. Only ticket holders would be able to see the concert if the tickets were sold as NFTs. People without tickets could still roam the virtual country, but they wouldn’t be able to hear or watch the event.

What is Somnium’s token (CUBE)?

CUBE is the native cryptocurrency (token) of Somnium Space. CUBE is an ERC20 token that is used as in-game money, making it easier for users to trade with each other. Users can also use CUBE tokens to pay for admission to interactive arcades and amusement parks located on their virtual property holdings. ETH, CUBE and NFTs can all be held on Somnium using your Ethereum address.

Users can also purchase NFT avatars with CUBE tokens. Users may use CUBE for all kinds of transactions, including land rents, acquisitions and sales. There are 100 million CUBE tokens available.

The top exchanges buying Somnium Space Cube (CUBE) tokens

• BitWell: BitWell is a Singapore-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that deals with spot, option and futures trading.
• Gemini: Gemini is a prominent privately operated cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell, trade and securely store over 40 different cryptocurrencies. It has now partnered with Somnium Space to allow the trading of CUBE tokens.

What makes Somnium Space unique?

Somnium Space allows users to acquire “land parcels” on which they can potentially build whatever they want. Somnium users can claim possession of the land, just like they would in the real world. Just as in real life, land in the city is more costly due to its intrinsic attractiveness than acreage out in the middle of nowhere.

Somnium has developed a world optimized for a variety of applications, such as Mobile VR, PC VR, Android applications, etc., to ensure seamless deployment further down the road.

How does Somnium Space work?

Somnium Space tokenomics

Somnium Space uses tokenization to transfer value (in-game unlocks) to players. It uses the Ethereum blockchain to enable players to tokenize in-game assets like land parcels, avatars, trinkets and wearables. This enables players to access the value created in the metaverse throughout the broader crypto and token ecosystem.

Three distinct forms of token assets compose the Somnium Space economy:

• CUBE tokens
• Land parcels
• Avatars

Land parcels

Each land parcel is an ERC721 non-fungible token (NFT), which means it is one of a kind and cannot be fabricated or reproduced, much like tangible land.

Anyone can purchase or sell land through the OpenSea marketplace on a peer-to-peer basis, and all transactions are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain as proof of ownership.

Every Somnium Space land token has its own coordinates corresponding to a specific spot on the Somnium Space map. The value of a lot is often determined by its closeness to popular spots with outstanding views, the size of the property, its proximity to the shoreline and its proximity to the central waypoint.

Somnium Space also offers a limited number of tokens that allow any landowner to construct more. It’s unclear whether they are still available for purchase. You may also rent land from other users in Somnium Space, which allows you to get started with a small investment.

Avatars

A Somnium Space avatar is the virtual persona that represents you. Having an avatar is essentially the same as establishing a username/account on a particular website.

Using the Somnium Space avatar SDK, you can build and upload your own avatar. This technology allows anybody to design their own avatar or upload an existing avatar directly into Somnium, allowing users to express themselves in a way that isn’t limited to being one typical size or shape – or even human.

Karma levels

Somnium Space relies heavily on karma levels. It is a representation of social standing and the perceptions of other virtual inhabitants. Somnium uses a variety of criteria to determine karma levels, such as the following:

• Ratings: Those with higher karma levels will have a greater effect on other virtual residents’ ratings.
• Engagement: This ranking is based on a user’s economic transactions, game time, land ownership and world discovery rate.
• Other factors like building activity, involvement and event organization are all examples of these.

The CUBE awards that players will receive in the future will be determined by their karma level.

Somnium Space overview

With the addition of land parcels and all digital assets into the blockchain, Somnium Space aims to take a significant step toward decentralization, granting users complete authority over their assets.

Somnium Space frequently asked questions.

• How does Somnium Space make money?

  Somnium makes money through land offerings, in-game purchases and advertisements as well as through conducting virtual events in the metaverse.

• How can I benefit from buying virtual land?

  You can make money by selling tokenized digital assets and avatars, setting up a virtual studio within Somnium Space, showcasing and monetizing virtual experiences, having a retail presence within Somnium and selling brief demonstrations (or entire games/experiences).

• Is Somnium Space centralized or decentralized?

  Somnium was initially centralized but the organization has adopted many decentralized features over time.

Written by

Anirudh Tiwari

Writer

Anirudh Tiwari was a writer for Finder. He has written for crypto publications like CoinTelegraph and BeInCrypto. He has a Master’s degree in Finance. Apart from work, he is a music connoisseur and likes to play the drums. See full bio