[DAO:abd84b7] Delegate the Reference Client roadmap to the Decentraland Foundation

Governance
1

by 0xadd3b79052ae213a732c9267081f0a943fc6ff7c

Linked Pre-Proposal

Delegate the Reference Client roadmap to the Decentraland Foundation

Summary

Should the Decentraland DAO delegate the responsibility of developing and executing the roadmap for the Reference Client to the Foundation?

Abstract

The Reference Client (the app at play.decentraland.org) is currently the most widely used Decentraland client. Right now, the Decentraland Foundation is the main contributor to the Reference Client’s open source code base, but given the DAO’s ownership of the client (and the need to have the DAO approve major changes), the Foundation is hindered in how quickly and effectively it can develop new features and improvements.

To overcome this hurdle, the Foundation is suggesting that the DAO delegate the development and maintenance of the Reference Client to the Foundation. This delegation would be reviewed and renewed every 12 months.

This delegation would empower the Foundation to:

  • Communicate and execute a solid roadmap both for community developers and users
  • Build a richer feature set (e.g. better in-world navigation, social interaction, and content moderation tools)
  • Ensure that the client is faster and more stable
  • Improve the quality and performance of the client’s graphics
  • Improve the client’s ability to support more concurrent users

Motivation

To better understand the scope of this proposed delegation and the extent of it’s impact on the broader platform, it’s important to define some terms:

The “DAO”

The DAO was created to help the community direct the development of Decentraland’s policies, infrastructure, content moderation, and smart contracts. The DAO owns the smart contracts for Decentraland’s digital assets (like LAND, Names, Wearables, etc.), so any changes made to those contracts must be approved by the DAO. Furthermore, platform-impacting decisions or changes to Decentraland’s codebase (i.e. decisions that impact the entire Decentraland community, like strategic decisions for the client) must be approved by the DAO.

The “Decentraland Foundation”

The Foundation is a non-profit organization that was formed to help protect the intellectual property of the Decentraland brand (something that the DAO lacks the legal status to do). The Foundation was also tasked with supporting the decentralization of the platform alongside the community.

The “Decentraland Stack”

Decentraland is made up of a complex “stack” of different smart contracts, protocols, and applications. Together, they make up the Decentraland Platform. Generally speaking, the different decentralized layers can defined as:

  1. The smart contracts that make Decentraland’s scarce digital assets (like LAND, Estates, Wearables, Names, etc) possible.
  2. The Catalyst software used to run the distributed network of servers that host and provide content to users.
  3. The software development kit that people use to build content for Decentraland’s virtual world.
  4. dApps like the Builder that allow people to create and arrange content for Decentraland’s virtual world without writing code.
  5. dApps like the Marketplace that allow people to manage and exchange Decentraland’s digital assets.
  6. Clients that allow users to interact with the content of Decentraland. Decentraland clients are like web browsers (e.g. Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) in that they all provide access to the same network and information, but are not the web itself. In 2022, this also includes the PC and Mac clients, currently in beta and available to download from Welcome to Decentraland.

The “Reference Client”

The Decentraland Reference Client discussed in this proposal is the web based app and the PC and Mac clients that allow people to access and interact with content and other users within Decentraland’s virtual world. This application sits at the top of the Decentraland Stack.

It’s helpful to remember that the Reference Client does not constitute the entire Decentraland Platform, that it is just one alternative for accessing the Decentraland Platform, that anyone can develop a customized client, and that the roadmap discussed in this proposal for the Reference Client can’t dictate changes to any other components of the platform—those must still be approved by the DAO on a case by case basis.

Specification

Duration and renewal of the delegation

The DAO would delegate to the Foundation the responsibility of developing and maintaining the Reference Client for a period of 12 months, according to a roadmap approved by the DAO on a biannual schedule. The Foundation will be responsible for presenting and delivering a product roadmap for 2023.

The roadmap will be prioritized in collaboration with the DAO by implementing a mechanism for proposing and signaling support on new initiative.

Ideation and validation for the roadmap

The DAO will have a clear path to contribute ideas and requests to the roadmap. This could take the form of a new polling category within the DAO, specific to client feature requests and suggestions. These proposals could then be voted on by the community, with accepted suggestions being passed to the Foundation for inclusion in the next iteration of the product roadmap.

Deviations from the roadmap

The Foundation would be able to reasonably depart from the roadmap to make full use of the Foundation’s familiarity with the competitive market, Decentraland’s user base, and regulatory requirements

Funding development

Funds to develop the Reference Client (e.g. payroll for developers) would still be provided by the Foundation, not the DAO.

Termination of the delegation

The DAO may choose at any time to revoke this delegation in favor of giving it to another entity.

Limits of the delegation

The delegation is limited to the Reference Client and does not allow the Foundation to make changes to other areas of the Decentraland platform; any such changes must pass through a vote in the DAO.

Rationale

  • The Reference Client is a complex application that is relevant to the continued development of the platform.
  • The development life cycle for something as complex as the client requires countless technical and strategic decisions to be made on a daily basis
  • Given the time it takes to write proposals and pass them through the DAO, it would be extremely impractical to have the DAO weigh in on each of these decisions
  • So, it’s clear that in order to develop the client at a speed sufficient to compete with other metaverse projects, at least some level of formal delegation is needed
  • The Foundation is the best candidate to receive this delegation given its proximity to the platform, its resources, and its knowledge of the market and the Decentraland community
  • The suggested delegation would provide the Foundation with the autonomy needed to execute quickly, while still being subject to the relevant decisions, directions, and control of the DAO

Conclusion

Transparency and reporting

The Foundation is working on finding new ways of working that would improve the transparency of its roadmap plans, scope, ongoing work, and updates on results.

In order to enable two-way communication and create more opportunities for questions and answers, the Foundation has already announced that it will hold regular (approximately monthly) technical AMA sessions with the community. They are also considering additionally holding more general AMA sessions in order to cover all the areas in which the community may have questions and concerns. These sessions could potentially take place on a quarterly basis.

Lastly, the Foundation is looking into establishing more public data sources to easily provide data to the public that has previously only been for internal use.

The Decentraland Foundation’s mission statement:

Decentraland’s goal is to be a fun and entertaining platform with a thriving community that educates and onboards people to the philosophies and tech of Web3 while empowering Creators in the hope that, when the masses realize why decentralization is important, a viable option will be available and the next iteration of the internet won’t be monopolized by a handful of corporations.

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

2

Worlds were not voted by the DAO. There should be some rules and topics that Foundation should follow and discuss with community, in other way it would lead to situation when DAO wont have influence on DCL future development.

3

Worlds didn’t need to be voted on by the DAO. Anyone could have thinned the catalyst server at any time to offer the utility of Worlds to Name NFTs. The same worlds service will be abstracted away from names. This can all be done permissionlessly.

1 Like
4

Integration into the client (/goto worlds, using the foundation server as the default one) as been done by the Foundation though.
But I agree that Worlds didn’t need a proposal to be created.

5

So in essence if I understand it, the DAO would be sort of delegating the work of the ref client to the Foundation(with no monetary exchange), to create a more efficient and seamless process, allowing for more progress to be made?

That idea is great, but regardless of how talented, capable, and smart the employees are, (and I personally do trust in what they can build and create), I think it goes against, what a lot of ppl want and believe in here, decentralization.

Here are my questions below:

It says “could take form”, is this a hypothetical, and in the next part of the process we’ll get specific on if a new poll category is appropriate? Then it says “with accepted suggestions being passed”, I would hope these would be more than suggestions, if the DAO is delegating the work, and this is attempting to be a decentralized platform, then should it be more than a suggestion, and more like an actual objective IMO.

Wait so, we will as a community together create a roadmap for the ref client, and this is essentially saying that Foundation can go and do whatever they want not on the roadmap? While I understand there should always be progress in unexpected areas, because ideas and collaboration foster creativity, but if the community doesn’t want the platform to be focused on a certain area, and Foundation says he we’re going to only focus on that area, then please explain the decentralized nature of that? I think this grey area we’re in of if it’s decentralized or not, gets muddier with this statement.

I think based on my last statement, seeing the line in the mission statement of “when masses realize why decentralization is important” and what this pre proposal is trying to do, is at odd with each other.

Again I trust in the people doing the work and their intentions, but at the end of the day, this seems like a step towards a more centralized work flow and platform.

EDIT: Also adding in a question that came up in the DAO discord chats, about when we would see a ref client roadmap? As a key piece of what this about, thats a pertinent piece of info to provide. I also think we should possibly consider delegating objectives from the roadmap instead of the entirety of it, or consider other alternatives to a full hand off that could be more true to decentralization.

1 Like
6

This vote is ceremonial at this point, but don’t you think the DAO should see the roadmap before it is actually asked to vote on it’s implementation?

Voting no for now, to ensure we can see the roadmap whilst this proposal is still in the draft stage.

1 Like
7

This is a renewal for a previously passes proposal: [DAO: QmaNhT3] Delegate the Reference Client roadmap to the Decentraland Foundation which for some reason was not linked here.

Quoting from the previously passed proposal above:

Blockquote
Duration and renewal of the delegation
The DAO would delegate to the Foundation the responsibility of developing and maintaining the Reference Client for a period of 12 months, according to a roadmap approved by the DAO on a biannual schedule.
The Foundation would be responsible for writing each 6 month iteration of the roadmap, but each iteration must be approved by the DAO.
Ideation and validation for the roadmap
The DAO must have a clear path to contribute ideas and requests to the roadmap. This could take the form of a new polling category within the DAO specific to client feature requests and suggestions. These proposals could then be voted on by the community, with accepted suggestions being passed to the Foundation for inclusion in the next iteration of the product roadmap.
Deviations from the roadmap
The Foundation would be able to reasonably depart from the roadmap to make full use of the Foundation’s familiarity with the competitive market, Decentraland’s user base, and regulatory requirements, but these departures must be later approved by the DAO as part of the biannual schedule.

I don’t see any updates posted on the previously passed proposal. Where are the roadmaps that were approved in 2022? Are there links to each iteration of the roadmaps somewhere?

Has the roadmap for this year been published?

Is there a clear path for contribution and enactment of requests to the roadmap? Did we ever create the new formal polling category specifically for this or would this fall under the “Ideas Bag” category?

8

Vote: NO

I applaud and appreciate the increased and improved lines of communication between the Foundation and the community via AMAs, Canny.io feedback, DCL Discord channels, and Twitter spaces. However, I too would like to see the roadmap that is discussed as CK mentions.

In education we have a term called “gradual release” which describes the hand off of knowledge and concepts from an educator to a student. I’d like to see in this roadmap a plan for a gradual release from the Foundation to whatever entity continues the development of the Reference Client.

9

Delegate the Reference Client roadmap to the Decentraland Foundation

This proposal is now in status: PASSED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes 56% 5,026,974 VP (263 votes)
  • No 44% 4,057,634 VP (12 votes)
10

Thank you for excellent questions and feedback.
I believe there is a misunderstanding about how best to handle the roadmap and, more broadly, Decentralization. I’ll try to provide a clear and concise explanation and answers to the concerns raised.

Decentraland is an open source project with decentralized infrastructure, a public good for the benefit of its users (the community). This doesn’t mean that product development and product leadership & vision are, or need to be, decentralized at this early point in time.

The Foundation’s mission and reason for existence is to lay the groundwork for the Decentraland project while also working toward a community-based sustainable business model that can enable and provide tools to the community, allowing a gradual decentralized take over of all aspects of the platform’s development and maintenance, building collaboratively at all levels of the project. We’ve already seen some progress on this in the form of the different DAO committees and community teams.

The current state of the project is that there is a significant context/resources/contributions asymmetry between the Foundation and the community. During these last two years of delegation, the Foundation has been the primary contributor to the transformation of the vision into tangible artifacts and products of the ecosystem. Simultaneously, the Foundation is proactively working on improving communications with the community in all aspects of product development. While working on this, “decentralizing the product development lifecycle or product vision" without a cohesive strategy could be harmful for the project advancement and market fit.

We must move quickly, with the community serving as the primary stakeholder and advisor, always moving towards a progressive decentralization, but with the freedom to steer the wheel as needed. Adding bureaucracy to a yet immature process will slow down growth and development, and in these early stages of product fit it’s misaligned with our limited resources and the increasingly competitive landscape.

The approach recommended by the Foundation is to increase the collaboration spaces for community conversation and co-creation by organizing user research/testing sessions, product sessions, technical AMAs, and IRL meetups. We will continue to look for ways to be transparent and communicative about the major milestones the product team is working towards during the year, and we will keep updating the information as it becomes available. Foundation’s guiding principle is to serve the Decentraland community and be guided by their needs and advisory. We are dedicated to making decisions that serve the best interests of the community, with no other motivation driving us forward.

Worlds:

The DAO has delegated the reference client to the Foundation. Worlds is an experimental feature of the explorer. It’s in beta, and it didn’t change the basic setup or smart contracts of catalysts which would require a DAO vote. As originally described on the white paper, we are building a decentralized network to support spatial content in this new era of the internet. Worlds is just another way to create & share spatial content to a wider audience. The long term plan and DAO implementation will be discussed.

Genesis City is the main lobby, the interconnected, traversable experience of the Metaverse, full of wonders, gateway of many other experiences. Genesis City value increases with the rate of new content and interesting things to do.

Worlds is a private space associated with your avatar Name, with no neighbors. All worlds have a back link to Genesis City tho! The Worlds feature lowers the entry barrier for creators.

Agus, Decentraland Foundation’s Executive Director