Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Do not trade or invest based on the information in this article. The Otherside is mostly unknown and rapidly changing. Please do your own research on the official Otherside webpage and communication channels to ensure you have the most accurate and up to date information. The author is not responsible for any losses incurred as the result of reading this article.
Oh, hi everyone! Rusty here. I had the most interesting experience this past weekend. It felt like a dream. This was no ordinary dream. My imagination sometimes runs wild. The crazy part is, I never woke up. Turns out, this wasn’t a dream at all! I got a first-hand glimpse into the Otherside!
The Moonlings have expressed interest in the Otherside through our MoonBank Idea Board. Curious little things, always exploring. Their home planet was taken from them, so I can’t really blame them for wanting to see what else is out there. The Otherside seems very welcoming to NFTs of all types and sizes (which is important for the little Moonlings). Maybe there is a chance to venture there in the future.
Well, let me tell you all about my experience and what I think I know about the Otherside. Keep in mind things are quite dynamic and always changing in this space, especially the Otherside.
We first heard about the Otherside a few months back in March. Someone called Yuga Labs sent us a video. It looked majestic — fishing, cigars, and a mysterious drink. My kind of night. Oh, and something called a Koda!
The Otherside teaser offered a lot of promise of excitement and fun, but left a lot of unanswered questions. While there is still much to be discovered, I’ll dive into what I’ve been able to glean so far.
The World
The Otherside is a new Metaverse, or digital realm. It is described as “part galaxy and part archipelago, with islands extending from the Biogenic Swamp at the center and roiling outwards to the Infinite Expanse.” (The Otherside World). The land is split into several individual land plots, with ownership of those proven by a digital deed. The plots vary in many different ways, which we will describe later on. The image below shows the individual plots of land (tiny dots). You can see that many are connected into islands, as previously described. I’m assuming we will use watercraft (e.g., jetskis, speedboats, or event yachts) to travel between. At the center of the world is the Clubhouse, where many fun times will be had in the future! The BAYC owners were able to claim the land closest to the clubhouse. Probably because no one trusts us to make it very far and get home after a fun night at the clubhouse.
The Otherside expands well beyond what is pictured. 100,000 plots of land are in the initial distribution (which began this weekend). The remaining 100,000 will be distributed later on (for 200,000 plots total) — the hints that have been given indicate these will be used to grow and encourage the building of the Otherside ecosystem, but that decision is way above where I sit.
Location is quite important in any real-estate endeavor. I don’t imagine this will be any different. You want to get land in areas that are fun to hang out in or offer benefits. You want to be close to your frens. I think it’s likely that different activities and groups will pop up all around the Otherside, but we think the clubhouse will always be one of the prime locations. Let’s next explore some of the unique features of the land.
Unique Features
There are five different regions of land. At their base, the different regions are made up of different sediments to build upon: Biogenic Swamp, Chemical Goo, Rainbow Atmos, Cosmic Dream, and Infinite Expanse. Beyond the base sediment, the land also differs in terms of environment, resources, and other hidden things that one can find — like roaming Kodas and rare artifacts! A sample deed is shown in the figure below. The full details of what is known to date can be found on the Otherside webpage, but we will highlight some key details in the next section.
More About the Deeds
The deeds revealed within 24 hours of minting. Thus, there are no unrevealed deed surprises as to what is out there on the market. However, the BAYC and MAYC claims have not all completed. These will bring new deeds into the fold.
Items and Characters:
There are 10K Kodas and should be roughly double that number of artifacts once all deeds have been claimed. The artifacts are all of a specific type (e.g., forged pickaxe). The artifacts are all ‘rare objects’ and some of which cannot be crafted by any other means. The Kodas are a mystery of their own. They are unique, with different traits. There is a decent possibility that Kodas and artifacts will not be tied to the land they are on. I fully expect that Kodas will become their own NFT collection, but it is unclear how they will be tamed. Will they need to be ‘caught’ or bribed in some way? I believe the artifacts will be tradeable on a marketplace with $APE.
Deeds with Kodas are some of the most desirable, due to their mystery, potential utility, and rarity. Artifacts add value to deeds, but depend highly on the rarity of the artifact (1/1 Pandora’s box anyone?). If searching for Kodas or artifacts, you may not care too much about the rest of the properties, and just seek the Koda or artifact you desire.
Land make-up and resources:
The deeds are dynamic, but it remains to be known to what extent. Every deed comes with an environment, ranging from the most rare ‘Chaos’ to ‘Bog,’ the most common. These environments are also ranked based on a tier system of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best. There are also four slots for potential resources that can be in the land. These resources have different rarities and tend to match with specific environments. The resources also have different tiers. My guess is that the higher tier resources will produce greater quantity and/or quality. You will likely use these resources to build, craft, and create different items, and modify your land. I also assume you will be able to trade resources on a marketplace.
Finally, each land has different sediment characteristics. This is based largely on it’s distance from the center of the Otherside. The BAYC land is Biogenic Swamp sediment, while the MAYC have Chemical Goo, and the other spaces range from Rainbow Atmos, Cosmic Dream, and Infinite Expanse.
How dynamic?
The specifics of the deeds, the resources, the items, and the land are still in speculation. The question becomes, how dynamic are the deeds? Can one reset the entire deed, if they really like the location? Will the sediment and environments will remain the same? Can one increase the tier of the land with power-ups or resources? Will some resources be able to be created (e.g., planting a tree)?
Depending how the game works, we have tough decisions to make. More challenging is the fact that we don’t know how the game will work. If everything is static, then you would want the exact deed you are looking for. We know this isn’t the case, but how dynamic are the deeds? If fully dynamic, then we could just buy a location on the water that vibes with us. This is the game theory that makes everything more enjoyable.
It will be quite interesting to see if the MetaData properties and image for the deed dynamically change as the deed changes.
Community interactions
One of the most exciting aspects for any Metaverse is the community. The Otherside is no different. Not only will community members roam the lands, but the Otherside webpage states that “Land and owners are creators, and can participate in demos, prototypes, test builds, in-person events, and contests that help bring the Otherside to life.” Further, the website states “Every interaction you have with Otherside will help it grow — you don’t need any special or technical knowledge.”
This is quite interesting! We literally get to shape the world we are engaging in. Also, the Otherside should be open to NFT characters from all walks of life. It will be interesting to see what communities join the fun and hang out in the Otherside together, and what these communities can build and accomplish together.
Final thoughts
Demand for the Otherside is setting new records. In just a few days after the initial mint, the combined secondary volume on LooksRare and Open Sea set records, selling over 200K ETH! (Nearly $600M at current prices). We’ve only just seen a glimpse into what the future of the Otherside holds. I am truly exited to see where it goes from here, and hope this article helps the Moonlings and other communities learn more about this majestic swamp land!
I hope that everyone has a chance to partake in the adventure, whether you own land or play and enjoy this new Metaverse for free (details TBD on how that will work, but I assume it will be possible, just like other Metaverses). It will be interesting to see what projects move into the Otherside and make a home for the themselves there, and what they create. The dynamics will certainly be interesting, as owners collectively get to shape the future, based on our decisions. Keep in mind that the Otherside is changing and this article uses some facts from the official webpage, but also speculates on the unknown. Even the things we think we know could change in the future. The expectations are high. It is truly exciting to see such high demand. This bodes well for the entire space and the future of the Metaverse!
