What is The Sandbox Alpha Season 3?

The Sandbox Alpha Season 3 is nearly here – but what exactly does it mean?! Here, we explain The Sandbox metaverse, the upcoming Alpha Season, and how to connect and test it out for yourself. Ready?

LFG!

A New Paradigm for Digital Existence

As Web3 slowly edges toward maturity, no concept is pushing the boundaries further than the metaverse. The metaverse unites some of the most advanced visual technology known to man with a blockchain foundation: this makes for a shared virtual world, where users can not only interact, socialise and play with absolutely anyone, but also curate their own existence through the digital assets they own. This extends to fashion, land, vehicles, in-game assets and more, all of which are owned by players themselves via the blockchain.

In short, the metaverse creates a new paradigm for digital existence, and we’re only at the very beginning of the journey.

The Sandbox: Legacy Game Turned Blockchain Giant

There are currently a number of big metaverse projects underway, but chief among these is The Sandbox – a $1.5 billion dollar universe built on the Ethereum (and more recently Polygon) blockchain. Headed up by founder and COO Sebastian Borget, The Sandbox is one of the big dogs of Web3, with huge names like Snoop Dogg, Binance, Atari, Ubisoft, Walking Dead and Adidas already resident there and building out their own user experiences on the platform.

Despite leading the charge into a shiny, blockchain-based future, The Sandbox started life back in 2012 as a traditional gaming platform, where users could create and play with their own pixel art.

Ten years and a blockchain revolution later, the game has stayed true to its origins: The Sandbox is an unmistakable universe of colourful, 3D voxel characters and realms. Players can not only socialise, curate and play on the platform, but also create, buy and sell NFT-based gaming assets for real value on its native marketplace. 

A Play-to-Earn Model

With a host of big names already on board, The Sandbox is a key flag bearer for Web3, but nowhere is this clearer than its play-to-earn business model. Unlike the legacy gaming industry, in which players themselves paid to play, The Sandbox enables players like you and me to earn real-value rewards for completing Quests and activities on the platform. It’s an experience where everybody wins, one of the defining features of gaming in a post-blockchain world.

But like the majority of metaverse projects, The Sandbox isn’t quite finished – yet. Hardworking developers are still building constantly behind the scenes to bring the platform to its final release state. And while the present iteration of The Sandbox allows players to buy, sell and curate – it doesn’t yet enable all of the play-to-earn functionalities that will be on offer in the final product.

That’s why The Sandbox Alpha events are such a big deal.

What is The Sandbox Alpha Season?

If the term “Alpha” is not familiar to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Alpha testing phases are a norm from the gaming world, and they’re sort of like a “soft opening” for a new platform, service or game. 

So what does it mean in the context of The Sandbox? For regular players like you and me, it means the chance test drive new features and games for a limited time; for the devs behind the project, it’s a chance to understand how players will use the game, iron out potential frictions in the user experience, and figure out what to focus on in the next round of developments. Everyone wins!

So as The Sandbox Alpha Season 3 (yep, that’s right – there have already been two previous events) prepares for takeoff, what can you expect from the experience – and how can you get involved securely yourself? Let’s break it down here.

What’s so special about Alpha Season 3?

The Sandbox Alpha seasons are all about play-to-earn, with brand new experiences released for a limited time during each Alpha Season for users to test out – and of course, earn rewards.

• Brand New Maps

A central element of the Sandbox experience is the platform’s native Quests, with each resident Map featuring various Quests; missions users can take part in via their platform avatar. 

Season 2 in March of 2022 featured more than 200 Quests players could participate in. This included Foreplay, a series of missions hosted inside Snoop Dogg’s mansion, as well as a host of other options. More Quests are expected to be rolled out for the coming Alpha Season, as well as upgraded versions of existing Quests. Pretty exciting, right?

• Live Social Events

The metaverse is a platform for human interaction, so not surprisingly, live social events are a huge part of the deal at The Sandbox, and a host of special events are rolled out specially during each Alpha season. For example, Alpha Season 2 featured a 24-hour set by Blondish DJ live within the platform, a meta-fashion show featuring brand new designs, and even a guided tour of the virtual Star Ferry Pier in Hong Kong, courtesy of Sandbox Resident resident, China Morning Post. These are just a handful of the 15 different experiences on offer, but pretty good indicator of what’s to come this time around.

How do I Enter The Sandbox and The Sandbox Alpha?

Hey we have great news: whether you’re a die-hard Sandbox fan or you just like what you’re reading and want to try it out, anyone can try out The Sandbox – and the coming Alpha Season – for free! All you need to do is connect to the game (you’ll need Windows OS for the Alpha event), and you can do this via the login page with:

• Your Web3 wallet, such as Metamask (you can connect with your Ledger Sandbox wallet for offline security)

OR

• Your social or email account, and Venly

Once you’ve set up your account, you’ll need to create your very own avatar for exploring the territory – after that, the virtual world is your oyster!

The Sandbox Alpha Pass

Play-to-earn is the backbone of The Sandbox, and naturally, you’ll be collecting some juicy rewards as you complete Quests and explore the platform during the coming Alpha event. But if you want to be able to “cash in” your rewards for the platform’s native cryptocurrency $SAND once you’re done, you’ll need to have an Alpha Pass in your wallet at the end of the season. 

In Season 2, passes were given out by The Sandbox at the end of the season to lucky winners via a raffle-style prize draw – and the more you played, the more chance you had of winning.  Stay tuned to find out how to get your hands on a pass this time around.

Ledger Comes to The Sandbox!

Digital ownership is what makes the metaverse so interesting; the chance to curate and own your environment via the blockchain-based assets you collect, not to mention earn rewards as you play. 

But it also means you have a huge responsibility when it comes to protecting your in-game assets, such as NFTs and $SAND tokens (see price). The way you secure your assets will make or break your experience on The Sandbox – and that’s why Ledger will be right there on the platform to make sure your digital life stays safe and secure!

Sandbox Alpha Season 3 will feature the first glimpse of Ledger’s map: our very own space within The Sandbox where you’ll complete security-based missions with our virtual School of Block, and get your crypto security knowledge up to par.

Think you have what it takes? Come and find us!

The Future is Bright in The Sandbox

The metaverse is yet to reach its full potential, but it’s all set to revolutionize the way we play, socialize and exist online – and you can already get in on the action yourself. 

The Sandbox Alpha Season 3 promises to be an exciting dip into the coming world of Web3 – so go forth, curate, play and explore its universe! Just make sure you stop by Ledger’s virtual world to brush up on your security.

See you there, frens!

Check out the Ledgerverse – on The Sandbox

Think you have what it takes?