Online communities which develop organically are the holy-grail of Web3 projects. They are not only a sign of the power of a virtual platform, but also respected, a cornerstone of social and economic immersion. As the web 3 metaverse industry still relies to a great extent on token-incentives for user interaction, Upland is emerging as an exclusive platform where players form communities in a certain (virtual) geographic location.
This trend has been talked about significantly by crypto’s modern-day political philosophers. In his 2022 groundbreaking book The Network Government state, Balaji Srinivasan explains the early stages of startup communities as “online communities with larger aspirations”, and Network Unions as “groups capable of collective action with a purpose, organizing its members for their mutual benefit. “. It appears that some “nodes” in the Upland metaverse may now fulfill this requirement.
Upland is an open web3 metaverse platform connected to the real world. The company’s task is to “create the most dynamic maker-communities via a powerful entrepreneur economy which enabled players, creators, developers, and brands to produce goods and experiences, monetize assets, and offer utility and entertainment to other players. “Headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in LV, Ukraine and Brazil, Upland was among Fast Company’s “Next Big Things in Technology” in 2021 and one of “22 San Francisco Startups To Watch in 2022” by Built In SF. As monopoly coming to life, Upland makes the familiar and relatable into the virtual.
The Upland Community Directory shows how these initiatives appear. One can see that UCN Broadcasters – players who produce content – have setting up communities, with the Holliswood node in Queens, New York-being one such instance. Raddishhead, who operates the popular YouTube channel Upland Analysis, has been cooperating with channel followers to build the neighborhood in Queens and make it their own. Currently, around 30% built, as a community, they have pulled their spark (building resources) and UPX to develop the node and encourage building participation.
Appealingly, players from certain nationalities have created “expat” communities in the Upland metaverse. Whether it is the Canadian Uplanders’ Group node in Maple Park, Kansas City, Japan Town in Bucktown, Chicago, or the Israeli “Kibbutz” in Granada Hills, Los Angeles. Upland players eagerly connect with their real-life fellow-nations in the virtual world. Take Fresh Meadows, Queens as an instance. Conducted by Brazilian influencers Lucas Mucide (Upland Player of the Year), Bruno Clash, P2ECrew, Heitor Miguel and Rai Cripto, and together with Brazilian brand partners Flex Interativa and BeFly, more than fifty players joined to purchase property in what is currently famous as “Little Brazil.”With more than 300 properties minted in a “hitting party,” players worked out the strategy, scheduling, and tried to bring a real sense of community to the process. In their Discord channel discussions, the node is currently having future plans for Brazilian flags as outdoor decor and building a manufacturing plant and an exhibition. They are working with their brand partners to host a Little Brazil Music Festival in the neighborhood, just like the real-life Brazil Day in NY.
Some communities are forming around certain interests, instead of geographies. The Upland Racing League (URL) is an association built around cars and racing in Upland. The founders DAK and MASSCHEF organized racing seasons via Upland with Race Commissioners – players who put the teams together. Planners – Players who are organizing the various race tracks; plus the drivers who race. The 700 Discord members, the community is building tracks, producing outdoor scenery for the tracks, and collectively decides on the rules. Further, developing this as a Layer 2 Upland overlay, the URL is creating a third-party competition in Unity as a skill-based competition.
Other nodes organically connecting forces with this initiative. For example, Boystown node in Chicago, is calling their neighborhood’s Circuit Race Track development “sanctioned by URL.” This is a great example of Balaji Srinivasan’s description of Web3 community versus Web2 communities. Balaji’s vision is that in web3 “we’re all in this together” as web2 games are a one-way player interaction with project operators. Supporting the Web3 approach, Upland’s roadmap represents a strategy of building tools for players to develop booming communities and economies on their own, such as the URLs.
Plenty of Upland nodes develop independent initiatives and governance too. An instance of one such community is Portage Park. Winners of the Halloween decoration challenge 2021, the node takes pride in their social activities. Russellemvy, the newly elected initial mayor of the Portage Park node in Chicago Upland, explained some of the community initiatives they are pursuing: “We are interesting more Metaventures to Portage Park; Block scout shops, NFLPA legal shops, outdoor decor and others. Besides, we hope to dev stores and expanding into layer two apps”. Explaining the Governance mechanism the community has created, the Mayor stated they have “formed a Council consisting of three elected individuals (DongDingBat, CrownHandler, Outsomniac), four moderators (CityRunner, COOP, MRFR, Hanzilla206) in addition to the Mayor. Any member of the Portage Park community can suggest an idea for a contest or giveaway. Then the council meets and discusses which ideas they want to pursue more.” The council. He noted, communicates directly with the people about the proposal and choose which one to present to the community. Initiatives aim to improve the community, create more structures or help attract new players.
A perfect example of this process is the Portage Park Building Guidelines. The community decided to limit the structure color scheme to while and red, but to everyone’s delight, guidelines were modified to allow a various accent or details color. As property prices have normally grown with the popularity of the node, OG players sell to new people below-market value to maintain entry and incentivize community growth. “It is really a wonderful community.” Russellenvy said proudly.
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