[DAO:b930c44] Creating Monetization Functions for Scenes Allowing Content Creators to Generate Income using DCL as a Business-enabled Platform

Governance
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by 0x3f6b1d01b6823ab235fc343069b62b6472774cd1 (MetaRyuk)

I am currently drafting an official proposal to seek grant from the DAO to support this intention and long term benefit for both DCL and content creators. This pre-proposal is to get the response from DCL members whether such an intention would be supported should the official proposal be proposed.

TL;DR: To create scenes with monetization aspects for content creators to achieve income and in parallel, contributing back to the DAO with the potential demand for $MANA, LAND, Wearables and NAME.

One of the most common questions asked by users is how do people make money in the metaverse. This is a common question given how reports from established financial institutions and market researchers predicted that the metaverse could potentially bring about trillions of dollars within the metaverse economy by 2030. Currently, the people making profits in DCL are the early land buyers who either profited by ‘flipping’ or getting rental payment. Grants passed by the DAO to proposals mostly did not equipped with the intent to be self-sufficient and this has caused people to accuse proposers as ‘DAO Drainers’ especially when the output from DAO is more than the input (money coming back into Decentraland after grants have been given).

I have been brainstorming on the possible ways where users and content creators to generate income by using Decentraland as the platform. This involved scenes coded with monetization aspect allowing users to monetize their content with their unique offerings/services. An example of a basic scene involved NFT (self created or wearable) gated function to virtual buildings, galleries or rooms. Additionally, this NFT gated function can also be used to control or restrict an avatar’s privilege - imagine a virtual building with multiple levels/storeys accessible via an elevator or a vehicle and depending on the NFT/wearable owned, the avatar can access specific levels/storeys thereby accessing specialized content. Another way is password-protected objects such as image and video or even doors. Content creators can allow their members to access their unique content via password provided by the creators. Content creators can also enable MANA payment function seamlessly within DCL where members/avatars can access their specialized content once payment is made to the creators wallet - imagine a video that only plays after a MANA payment is made. Content creators can leverage the NAME NFTs to generate WORLD scene where their members can be redirected to ‘private’ WORLDs where a more personalized content can be offered or interaction with the creator/artist.

How this benefits Decentraland:
The NFT gated function enables demand for wearables and also allow content creators to generate their own Ethereum-based NFTs as membership pass and ‘authentication’ factor.
The MANA payment function enables the demand for $MANA token.
The ‘private’ WORLD scene enables the demand for NAME NFTs.

In short, what i intend to achieve here is the ability for content creators to monetize content using DCL as a platform to conduct its business and in parallel enables demand for $MANA and contributing back to the DAO.

A sample scene can be accessed here Empty - Decentraland. Only avatars who owns a DCL ESTATE is able to access the door to the helicopter. The helicopter will then fly to the top of the building and the interior can be accessed via an elevator. The doors in the 3rd level can be accessed with the password ‘1234’. Inside the room is a gallery of image and video.

Imagine a creator hosting unique contents in these rooms and these rooms can be accessed only via a password shared to their members (thereby generating their own specific community). And the building can only be accessed via a vehicle that only accepts avatars with wearables or NFTs generated or airdropped by the content creators.

This is a summary of my proposal which allows content creators to benefit financially in the long run, thereby, being self sufficient without the continuous effort to receive grants from the DAO.

  • Yes. I support this idea that benefits both DCL and content creators.
  • No. I dont support this idea.
  • Invalid question/options

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO

View this proposal on Snapshot

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voting no cause all of this code exists in the awesome repository already:

2 Likes
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Hi Dax, appreciate the comment. I am aware of the Awesome Repository and in fact my sample scene consists of a function that is taken from there.

The intent of the proposal is not to create the codes from scratch (because the codes already exist), it is the application and the execution of these codes into the scene for content creators to experience and realize the applicability of the functions to satisfy their goals and financial objectives.

There are various basic scenes and associated open source codes that are hosted and publicly accessible on GitHub. Some of the interesting codes were featuring the monetization aspects as well as leveraging NFTs as a form of “access control” which could bring about privacy and pseudo anonymity for users that would like to conduct business in DCL. A list of scenes/codes can be found here:
hxxps://github.com/decentraland-scenes/Awesome-Repository#monetization–blockchain
hxxps://github.com/decentraland/decentraland-crypto-utils

However, a new and/or non-technical user has to download these codes, SDK, and other required software/tools in order to see and experience the interaction. This is the problem. Many users are not technical and requiring them to perform the above will likely put them off. As an example, content creators looking at DCL to develop a scene for them to showcase their unique contents for specific users will not have the resources and time to learn SDK from scratch. Furthermore, these scenes in GitHub, if any of them had been deployed in DCL, are not easily found. In other words, content creators are not able to find and experience these interactive scenes thus, unable to feel the usefulness of the scenes mentioned in GitHub.

From a normal user and content creator perspective, having the codes in a repo wouldn’t be helpful as most of them are not coders nor do they have the ability to visualize what the codes are doing that could fulfill what they want. It is also a challenge for members of DCL to simply point would-be content creators to the repository to say these codes exist but have no scenes for them to feel and experience before investing and exploring further. Simply put, if a new user wants to use DCL and ask how can monetize content in DCL, giving them the link to the repository is not the way to answer the question.

This proposal is to utilize those codes in Decentraland’s repo and build a scene consisting of the functions where at the end of the day, a user could visit, experience and interact so that these functions could fulfill their objectives and goals should they decide to explore DCL as the platform to enable their business.

Hope this helps and I would appreciate if you could change your vote given the context provided however, i will respect the vote given.

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I am voting YES on this proposal. I think its about time there is some budget allocated for scene/content monetization for creators/projects. This will help retain creators/new users, increase deployments, and boost incentive to create.

There were a few proposals made in the last few months over content monetization (which failed),with one of the concerns being bot farming, and ensuring carefully designed protocols are in place to avoid false data, and false payout.

Im curious to see how content monetization will emerge on Decentraland.

2 Likes
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Hi Maryana, appreciate your support and vote as well as your comment on this. I am genuinely curious about the past proposals made over content monetization. I haven’t came across much during my research. Could you share some links of these proposals so i can take a look at what was proposed and why they weren’t successful?

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As an architect I have been building in DCL since 2018, and one of the main requests from my clients recently is token gate and how to monetize the scene. I don’t have a programming background, and I would support this idea if it is going to deliver a video or detailed guidelines for how to implement in DCL for people like me with no SDK background.
I know the Awesome Repository is a great library as @dax said, but for me, it was always a big problem to implement it in my scene and almost impossible without video that explain how exactly that can be done.
would be great to have a
1- Sample scene deployed (( like the one u deployed with the helicopter)) in DCL
2-Github open source for the code used
3-Video explaining step by step how to implement that in any scene in easy way for architects and builder like me who lack knowledge in SDK.

1 Like
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Thank you Rizk for the comment and also the practical suggestions. I noted that you voted Yes to this so thank you for that as well. From my research, SDK has provided the tool that benefit coders to utilize to make interactive scenes however, the current challenge is not many users or content creators know coding. In this context, content creators are not coders who create scenes to deploy to parcels/estates but those who create content either for pleasure or business and to have that content hosted in DCL with a way to monetized engagement.

I also note that you are listed as a Decentraland metaverse architect partner (Metaverse Studios). Perhaps, should this proposal be moved forward to an official one, I would like to discuss with you to be part of this idea.

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Hi @MetaRyuk . Sugar club here .

I would like to know what are the key difference you are planning to offer which doesn’t already exists within the scenes that exists in the repository ?

My club has been using gated access since it’s inception ( 3years) with success . We have used samples scenes adapted from the existing repo as well as used paid services to adapt the code to our needs as well.

Are you planning to reorganize the repo scenes i to a new one ? Or optimize the existing scenes ?

In both cases your new scenes will still need to be downloaded by new users in builder and tested and adapted to their needs ( sdk adaptation) . Not every gated experience is the same …

That’s also why I tend to agree with @dax . Whatever scene you will be (re) creating will also need knowledge of builder / sdk to adapt and test out . :thinking:

1 Like
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Hi SugarClub,
Practical and straightforward questions.
There are no significant differences in terms of the codes themselves. These codes, as pointed out by Dax, are available in the Awesome Repository. In fact, my proposal was inspired by the Awesome Repository which some of the codes there were used in my sample scene here hxxps://play.decentraland.org/?NETWORK=mainnet&position=-81%2C59.

What I intend to do here is to create an elaborate scene featuring most of these codes where a new user can interact and experience in a single scene. I am aware of the token gated access for your club which i find it really great. However, there are other codes that can be used to combine with an output that have yet to be seen in DCL. For example, paying MANA to gain access to a certain content (opening an image or play a video or download a file) within DCL or password protected content or access to members of the public or fans of the content creators.

Right now, the codes in the repository are simple and each codes have their own purpose and not ‘integrated’ together into a scene for user to properly experience them. Secondly, the challenge of the current repository is for non-coders/technical users who may not have the resources or ability to learn or use the technical tools to explore the codes in details.

For the last part of your comment, this is where content creators can utilize people with the technical resources should they decide to pursue the interactive scene which they had experienced and interacted in the scene deployed based from this proposal. This enables business engagement and short-to-long term partnerships between content creators with no technical knowledge and the SDK coders, plus also 3D modellers who can help to design more elaborate scene for their own requirement.

In other words, if this proposal were to be enacted, an elaborate scene (think of it as a big showroom) with many of the main monetization features are included will be created and deployed to a district. It will also contain tutorials, knowledge base documents and guide on what each feature does for new users to understand further. If a user likes the features in the virtual building or finds an interaction that fulfils their objective, they are welcome to use the scene as a reference to connect with 3D architects and coders. It would be easier for non technical content creators to show to their partners what they want rather than trying to figure out what those codes in the repo are actually doing.

P.S: There are several people in DCL that i know who are engaged to manage the content of their clients. I personally am managing content for one of the DeFi and NFT projects from Polygon and Cronos in Decentraland. The project owners have no coding knowledge and I am given the task to manage and operate for them.

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It makes me think of scenes from Unreal Engine where a lot of interactive features are displayed side by side in a sample scene for people to test out.

Sounds good however that will not remove the barrier for people to learn how to take that sample of your scene and adapt it to their own needs .

What it will do though is build a more comprehensive library ( in world ) of monetizing examples .

The mechanics of asking for mana for something : playing a game or playing a video I think already exists in repo mode if am not mistaken.

Keep in mind that now with multiple chains and networks a gated experience needs to be on polygon / matic at the very least as well as Ethereum if a user needs a specific NFT collection as access token .

1 Like
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“The mechanics of asking for mana for something : playing a game or playing a video I think already exists in repo mode if am not mistaken.”
Yes. It is in the repo but i have yet to see this deployed in a scene in DCL. Hence, I would like to input this and others into the scene so people can test for themselves how these features actually work than just seeing the gifs in the repo. :slight_smile: A one stop shop showroom of monetization possibilities in a scene for user to experience, explore and interact.

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I originally planned to ask for mana to experience the scene at the club . However I opted for a VIP area instead with NFT access . It’s very hard to make people pay for something online right out the gate .

That goes for web2 as well. Free experiences are needed first to bring people in your scene . With possible paid content later on if you are providing a very interesting game or experience. Otherwise no one will want to pay mana for your video . Just my 2 cents .

So there is still the need for creators to think and adapt their scene to what they need in order to attract users . That barrier is still there …

1 Like
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Well… if this is adopted, it will not be my video but a content creator video… and that could either be for pleasure or business. :wink: And i do agree with you, that barrier will still be there…

1 Like
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sorry for the late reply, have been celebrating the past few days!

basically i agree with @SugarClub - i 100% understand that some kind of solution for non-technical users needs to be developed, but considering that the SDK is not yet stable (maybe with v7 it will come closer), i’m not sure it’s entirely feasible to work on that at the moment.

however - what you’re proposing is not that as even with clearer examples (although i would argue the awesome repo is very clear even if it is a bit outdated in places, and soon to be moreso with sdk v7 coming out) if a land owner/renter wants to monetize a scene, they will need to customize their actual scene, not just pull a ready-made scene and expect to make money.

i get where you’re coming from - the ability for non-technical users to monetize a scene without a supporting team is going to be a big step in making DCL a lot more mainstream, but i don’t think this proposal actually does that.

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The idea has a lot of potential. If you could bundle all the monetization features from the AmazingRepo into one scene then provided an easy interface for non-technical users I think it would be a great boon for those looking to set up these features in their scenes. Anything that lowers the required of technical skill to set up a scene is going to be very useful.

Many of those features are not modular and much of the code exists in the game.ts, so setting up multiple instances is usually a drag or downright messy. I think the best amalgamation of existing features would be an external module/library that you can just install along-side existing code and set up in a couple lines of code (or just a documented json file for even easier use).

There are also other low-level utilities that can be developed alongside the existing features. As an example, ‘new TokenAction(contract, function)’ could return a reference to an in-scene object initialized to activate the given delegate function whenever a token related to the given contract is detected, with all the required components (trigger, sync, etc) already set up.

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Thanks for the comment @TheCryptoTrader69 . I have yet to see the monetization features truly being taken advantage and deployed in scenes and as you probably have observed yourself, the majority of the scenes in DCL are static. I have come across reports mocking DCL as a place to only display NFTs and with the majority of the static scenes, I can’t fault them for saying that. DCL has provided the tools that can do more than just displaying images or videos. There are a handful of interesting scenes that are interactive however, the question remains, how do people make money in the metaverse? That is why my proposal intends to tackle that question. Can we compete with web 2 content creator’s platforms such as OnlyFans?

Can we use the available tools to streamline end to end interaction and transaction in DCL? Transak created its first ATM in DCL where people can buy MANA using credit card. Metazone has a virtual DEX (3D modelled ATM in DCL) that can swap ETH to MANA. This proposal aims to make the monetization features either in a single scene or multiple side by side scene that allows people to realize the possibilities by interacting and experiencing these features.

It is predicted that the Metaverse will bring about trillions of dollars by 2030… question is, how can DCL be part of this economy? This is something that i have been very critical of and something i see as a challenge to personally tackle. This proposal is a start to something bigger…

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Creating Monetization Functions for Scenes Allowing Content Creators to Generate Income using DCL as a Business-enabled Platform

This proposal is now in status: FINISHED.

Voting Results:

  • Yes. i support this idea that benefits both dcl and content creators. 39% 1,005,521 VP (131 votes)
  • No. i dont support this idea. 61% 1,511,687 VP (37 votes)
  • Invalid question/options 0% 0 VP (1 votes)
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I agree with dax here

Might you show us what you mean rather than attempting to only explain it to us? Doesn’t have to be extravagant. As noted in other comments above, SDK7 is out now making the Awesome Repo and other materials outdated. Sounds like an ideal opportunity to create an updated or totally novel implementation of your idea.

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I like this… as a content creator with zero coding/sdk experience it really perks my interest to see what I can do to monetize some of the content in my world/land. I’ve been a DCL resident for a year and didn’t even know some of these things existed. At the very least, a scene with a bunch of gadgets that I can toy with to see “how can you monetize/gamify your scene content in DCL” would be a plus. How much would this cost? Thanks.

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Creating Monetization Functions for Scenes Allowing Content Creators to Generate Income using DCL as a Business-enabled Platform

This proposal has been REJECTED by a DAO Committee Member (0xbef99f5f55cf7cdb3a70998c57061b7e1386a9b0)