10 Ways To Monetize Your Virtual Land In The Metaverse

Written by Marc Demar

The Metaverse is on everyone’s lips these days and virtual land is selling like hotcakes. But not everyone who buys land understands the true potential it offers. Many buy to HODL and wait in the hope they can sell for a hefty profit. Nothing wrong with that, but in this article we will focus on other ways to be profitable and monetize the virtual land assets that you own. We will primarily look at Somnium Space and list some of the monetization models we already see today or that are on the verge of being implemented by the pioneers that roam Somnium.

Land Is Key

Before we continue, it is important to understand that land is key in Somnium Space. Granted, Somnium is free for everyone, but you fully unlock the platform when you own (or rent) land. Does it mean you cannot create a profitable business related to Somnium if you do not own land? Not at all (we will give some examples), but with land you can build, create, host, rent and more, so having this asset in your portfolio is multiplying your options.

Passive or Active Income, Effort is Key

An important question you should ask yourself is whether you are looking for passive income streams only or whether you are looking to create a business that requires a more active role. You can do both, but as the Metaverse is uncharted territory and a brand new playing field, there’s a lot of potential for pioneers and creatives who actively build. This may lead to new passive income models over time, but never forget that good old hard work is the road to success. There is no easy way when it comes to building a business. This applies to the physical world and certainly also to the Metaverse. Even those among us who live off passive incomes will admit it required hard work to begin with.

But let’s dive into it.

Virtual Real Estate

This is perhaps one of the most obvious options, and it simply mirrors physical world counterparts. If you own land that is in demand, you are sitting on gold. One the best examples is Chris Bell, real estate mogul in Somnium Space. He owns roughly 100 land parcels in Somnium, which he rents out. He generally aims for an annual ROI of around 10% relative to the current value of the asset. So he determines the property’s current value (by looking at similar properties and recent sales, primarily on OpenSea), and rents the property to people for an annual fee that is 10% of that value. To illustrate, if a property is worth 5 ETH, Chris Bell will rent it to you for 0.5 ETH for the first year.

There are examples of commission based rentals as well. With a setup like this, a parcel can be rented (for free) to let’s say an art gallery or artist in return for a commission on every sale. This is an investment model that can be very interesting and it allows you to support people and businesses you believe in. A combination of both can be done as well, renting property for a lower price in return for a commission on sales.

Especially commission based models require a proper agreement to be in place so that no misunderstandings arise regarding sales and hence the owed commission. Note that herein lies another opportunity for business. Protocols and smart contracts that govern lease, rental, sale and commission administration (which won’t require land, but are indirectly related).

Multi-Purpose Facilitation With/Without Building Services

Not everyone is looking for long term rental. Think of a company that is looking for a team building event in the Metaverse, but doesn’t know how and where to start. As adoption continues, inquiries from companies like this will increase. If you are sitting on land, you better prepare for welcoming them.

Again, this is analogue to what happens in the physical world. People and companies need venues. All the time. For seminars, conferences, team building events, festivals, you name it.

There are already plenty of examples of this in Somnium Space. Natural Warp, visionary crypto artist and well known for some of the most spectacular VR galleries to date in Somnium Space and the whole of the Metaverse, who is also co-owner of the V-RACE car and avatar brand, worked with Wilde Möhre for the Wildeverse Launch Party in Somnium Space. This took place on a land parcel not owned by Wilde Möhre. Instead they paid for the location and building services.

Event Planning

The logical next step is to be an event organizer. Back to the people and companies who need space for their seminars, conferences and festivals. What they typically need is a ‘package deal’ with various services included. If they do not really know how and where to start, it won’t suffice to give them access to your land.

Here is an opportunity to guide them, make sure they get introduced, perhaps build a venue for them, coordinate the music, hire a DJ, and more. There is enormous potential here. You won’t get inquiries every day, but the momentum is building, and before long companies will stumble over each other trying to get in. People with the land and the knowledge will be in high demand.

Blake Hotz, Somnium resident, is one of the Metaverse entrepreneurs who understood this early on. He offers a whole range of services to people who wish to enter Somnium Space. The great thing is that he often uses the services of Chris Bell so that he has the land to unfold his business.

Advertizing

There will be a demand for in-world advertisement as brands want to be where the audience is. As adoption accelerates, more and more companies will be looking for exposure in the Metaverse.

It speaks for itself that advertisement in a spatial environment allows for unique solutions. From simple billboards (or the advanced ones, like those from Admix) and wallcovering interior and exterior ads to 3D product placements and entire immersive experiences, it is all possible.

Have a look at the glass house in Somnium Space, which is a famous house museum in Connecticut, USA.

Building and placing a virtual replica of a physical structure is a perfect example of how land can be utilized. Whether it be for educational purposes or advertisement and promotion, it offers visitors a unique experience which they’ll take with them to the physical world.

Note that Somnium WORLDs, NFTs in their own right, offer users the ability to develop entire immersive worlds and not just builds. A WORLD as a form of advertisement is completely uncharted territory, but with this brands can opt to have highly customized, unique immersive experiences placed directly inside Somnium Space.

Somnium WORLDs do not exist on their own and require land to be accessible.

Ticket Sales

It’s not operational just yet, but without doubt there will be ticketing solutions for handling access to events, builds, WORLDs and more.

Ticketing solutions would be particularly interesting when you own or rent land. We already talked about commission based rental models (where you get a percentage of each sale) and it is easy to image how a ticketing system could spawn similar monetization models.

If you own or rent land and host/organize an event for an external party, you could agree on a model where you get a percentage of the ticket sales.

Host Games

Similarly, your land could host experiences/games that require payment.

It may sound complex. But the key is to team up with the right people. You could for example pay for the development of a “pay to play” game and place that on your land.

At some stage more and more game developers will understand that having their VR games ‘plugged into’ Somnium Space via WORLDs is a game changer. Land is scarce, so if you own land you are well-positioned.

Host Teleportation Hubs

There are multiple modes of transport in Somnium Space. You can walk, run, jump, respawn (at city center), kayak, drive or use teleportation hubs. If you own one or more of the latter, and you own land, you can place them in strategic positions to allow people to go where they want to go.

The reason why this is interesting is that at some stage, people will need to pay a small fee for using them. A percentage of that fee will flow to owners of the hubs.

Offices/Apartments

It’s not possible yet, but a logical feature would be the ability to build and rent out multiple studios/apartments on a single plot of land. Especially XL parcels would be suitable for that. This is somewhat similar to renting out entire parcels to a single individual or entity, with a key difference that there is support for multi-tenant setups.

It would be good news for both users who are looking for affordable space and land owners who would be able to boost income by providing some really interesting options for individuals and businesses alike.

To give an idea, it would be entirely doable to create 10 large spaces on a single XL parcel. Credit usage (each parcel supports a number of credits that governs how much you can build on the parcel), can be limited by smart custom objects, leaving enough credits for each individual space.

The giant Somnium Times TV studio on Medium (waterfront) parcel 1346 is a good example of how a large office with low credit count can be created and placed in Somnium Space. It features 6-7 large spaces and studios that support a variety of use cases.

Again, this is not yet supported. This does not prohibit multi-tenant setups, but they would require manual agreements and outside of the Somnium platform.

Ad-Hoc Meeting Spaces

This is similar to facilitating events on your parcels, with or without building services. However, note that you can also view your land as instant meeting rooms where people can gather and meet.

With Somnium Web you can share a simple link that people can use to instantly jump to your parcel from any device with a Browser. It even supports private instances which ensures no unwanted guests can crash meetings.

This feature opens up for models where you make your parcels available for ad-hoc gatherings, not unlike Zoom or Skype, but in a more fun setting. It is up to you to develop the idea and sell it to potential clients, but the feature is right at your fingertips.

Wait And See, Exciting Times Ahead

You do not have to do anything with the virtual land you own right now. A valid strategy is to wait a bit and see what other options may arise. There is no doubt that Somnium Space means business. We’ve seen developments accelerating and there is no reason to believe this will stop. In fact, we know there are some very exciting things on the roadmap.

In terms of land value, this is not the place to speculate. But the demand side will not suffer when utility increases, scarcity remains, and more and more people and businesses alike open their eyes for the Metaverse.

Other Ways To Earn

This article focusses mainly on how land owners can monetize their land. It is not exhaustive however and only a small subset of how money can be made in the Metaverse. Somnium is populated by performers, DJs, architects, workshop organizers (e.g. workshops on meditation have been given), movie makers, game/experience developers, crypto artists, gallery owners, avatar designers, wearable creators, reporters (Somnium Times), event organizers, coaches, and many more.

So do not despair if you do not have land. There are so many more ways to build your future in Somnium Space.

Marc Demar
A @somniumspace native, editor of the @somniumtimes,
believer in the future of decentralized, persistent, immersive VR, traveler, trader, writer.