IXD Lab (IV) Questions
- Nelson, LAN MS at UWEDM
- Feb 24, 2025
- 6 min read
20 FEB 2025 -- IXD Lab 4
Lecture Outcome
In Lab 4, the lecturer gave us a concept for planning the layout of each section in our metaverse. (Please refer to another blog post.)
Also, the lecturer gave us some examples outside of the academic field, such as the use of The Sandbox, like SCMP [-1] and Ninja Playground [-2].
In Lab 4, the lecturer gave us the questions below to think about...
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Questions
What is interaction? What is metaverse?
> Duplicated question to lecture 1 question.
Suggest 3 metaverse spaces, which The Sandbox includes. And compare their functionality, target audience, and attractiveness.
The Sandbox
The Sandbox runs a metaverse online game, and it is significantly different from those platforms below in that the Sandbox have decentralized asset ownership throughout the NFT-based blockchain (The Sandbox Game, 2025) [1]. It is more heavily inclined to commercialize and monetize its use.
Users in The Sandbox can create their digital assets and “share” their assets by minting them into NFT tokens; the NFT token is denoted as the SAND coins in the Sandbox [1]. Users can mint several items to circulate in the blockchain market so the creator can earn cryptocurrency, the SAND coins. Because it is decentralized, no fiat currency is induced, only in cryptocurrency.
The Sandbox encourages users to create and mint their assets and craft their metaverse rather than real social interaction. Playing Sandbox experience also qualifies players to earn SANDS (The Sandbox Game, 2023)[2].
It is more commercial-oriented and more attractive to business users. Thus, businesses can use The Sandbox to promote their ideal business goals and seek investment. As such, they have lands to purchase with NFTs for their business (The Sandbox Game, 2025)[3].
The Sandbox is on VOXEL-based styles, similar to blocky Minecraft but more focused on user-created assets. Creating assets and game rules in Sandbox is far easier than coding in Minecraft, so the technical competency of creation is much lower.
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the famous brands in the metaverse.
I recall that Minecraft can be separated into Java, Bedrock and Education Edition. The Java edition is the most-played version in the world. Players can join single-player or multiplayer worlds in both Java and Bedrock editions (Mojang Studios, Microsoft, 2025)[4]. The single-player world is not a nominally metaverse, but a multiplayer world, such as my experience server hosting, is definitely a metaverse.
Players can join the world with “Steve” and “Alex”, but the avatar can be changed into different skins. Players can build their unique experience when they acquire their server-side hosting. Minecraft has unlimited creativity in every world.
Plugins and Modding servers also prevail worldwide, and players can freely join after they purchase the Minecraft game. Plugins and Modding development is free and has a comprehensive guild but requires more technical skills such as Java programming, JSON scripting, and SQL database management (Cadenhead, 2015) [5]. It is far less friendly to players who want to create something but lack technical skills.
Compared to Java and Bedrock versions, the Bedrock version provides a marketplace for the player to create their mini-game, adventure map, skins, and textures by exchanging with “Minecoins” (Microsoft, 2025)[6], and the creator would earn those coins when people buy their stuff. However, “Minecoins” is the official single-way exchange. As such, the coins the users earn can only be spent within Minecraft, except there is a grey zone to sell to fiat money via under-the-counter.
Java editions with no such marketplace may require the above-stated technical skills to make those kinds of stuff in the game.
EULA is updated every year on commercial usage in Minecraft, as I have experienced. So, it needs to run your commercialised and monetised business on its provisional permissions (Microsoft, 2025)[7]. It considerably lowers the interest of real-world business parties using Minecraft to promote their aspect.
However, a wider age range of teenagers is the most significant target audience in Minecraft, and this has not affected the game itself.
Roblox
Roblox is like The Sandbox, an online game-like metaverse platform. As I recall, it required Lua language to build and develop codes for crafting the experience in Roblox (Roblox, 2025) [8]. Also, microtransactions between the creator and other players would introduced, and official Roblox will collect some of the revenue for their creation.
Players can use “Robux” as their world currency to buy avatars and skins. Like The Sandbox, “Robux” can be cash-out into real-world capital like fiat currency in the official pathway (Roblox Support, 2017)[9].
The player can host a live event or craft collaborative creativity games in the Roblox world.
Because it is free to download and access most translation-free content, children and younger teenagers (below 18) are the most significant target audience in Roblox.
VR Chat
VR Chat aims to emphasise social interaction in addition to content creation. It is not aimed in commercial-orientated at the first step. Offers of assets are accepted donations rather than sales of assets. However, VR Chat creates a large community of varied subcultures (VRChat Wiki User, 2024) [10] and unique social cultures within their world, engaging sociality that those above three platforms can not be bitten with VR Chat.
However, they are required to purchase VR Chat on Steam to enter their world. As stated on the official webpage (VRChat, 2025)[11], VR is not a must in VR chat but lessens immersive interactivity.
What is The Sandbox platform?
> As stated above
Introduce tools in The Sandbox, like VoxEdit, GameMaker…etc…?
VoxEdit
VoxEdit is a voxel-based editing, “assets creating tool” (VoxEdit, The Sandbox, 2024)[12] that targets only the Sandbox platform; it is free to use. It provided the “modeller”, “animator”, and “Block editor” for the core feature.
After a user makes digital assets, they can mint them as NFTs and sell them on their Marketplace for Sandcoins (SANDs). It can also be exported in a specific file format.
There are specific, strictly defined block sizing rules and many technical-specific guidelines to teach users to make assets. It is designed to be accessible and does not require senior modelling skills, just like playing Minecraft, placing blocks voxel instead.
GameMaker
GameMaker is an editing tool to craft “experiences” in The Sandbox.
It is like a “game engine”, the backbone of each Sandbox experience. With GameMaker, users can edit quests, rules, logic, and scene components in the experiences (GameMaker, The Sandbox, 2019)[13]. It does not require high-level coding skills when using the GameMaker, and no intrinsic cost will be induced.
The Sandbox
It runs like a “game launcher”, in this case, bridging GameMaker and VoxEdit. To render and publish our creators’ crafted experiences and assets onto a media surface.
A YouTube link used as a reference for your Sandbox project floor planning and design?
Two YouTube links used as a reference for your Sandbox questing design?
Answer for both Q5 and Q6
This is the video demo I took or one of the low-fidelity prototypes on the IXD metaverse project that would be implemented into the metaverse project in the IXD module.
An annotation illustrates the quest flow and NPC dialogues in the video.
Project Progress Update in Lab 4
Please see the next blog post.
Last Update
Nelson LAN
23 FEB 2025
Reference
[1] The Sandbox Game (2025) Welcome to The Sandbox. 7 January 2025 [online]. Available from: https://docs.sandbox.game/en [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[2] The Sandbox Game (2023) Play, Create & Earn. 25 October 2023 [online]. Available from: https://docs.sandbox.game/en/general/play-create-and-earn [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[3] The Sandbox Game's (2025) The Sandbox Map. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.sandbox.game/en/map [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[4] Mojang Studios, Microsoft (2025) Minecraft Official Site. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/about-minecraft [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[5] Cadenhead, R. (2015) Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Minecraft Mods Programming. Que Publishing. [Accessed 22 February 2025]. (VTC Summon – ISBN 0-13-390322-2)
[6] Microsoft (2025) Minecraft Minecoins. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/marketplace/buy-minecoins [Accessed 22 February 2025].
[7] Microsoft (2025) Minecraft EULA. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/eula [Accessed 22 February 2025].
[8] Roblox (2025) Scripting @robloxdevrel. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://create.roblox.com/docs/scripting [Accessed 23 February 2025].
[9] Roblox Support (2017) Roblox Support. 2017 [online]. Available from: https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005718246-Developer-Exchange-Terms-of-Use [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[10] VRChat Wiki User (2024) VRChat Wiki. 2024 [online]. Available from: https://wiki.vrchat.com/wiki/Community:Culture [Accessed 23 February 2025].
[11] VRChat (2025) VRChat VRChat. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://hello.vrchat.com/ [Accessed 21 February 2025].
[12] VoxEdit, The Sandbox (2024) The Sandbox. 2024 [online]. Available from: https://www.sandbox.game/en/create/vox-edit/ [Accessed 23 February 2025].
[13] Game Maker, The Sandbox (2019) The Sandbox. 2019 [online]. Available from: https://www.sandbox.game/en/create/game-maker/ [Accessed 23 February 2025].
Less related material, Lab Used Material
[-1] TheSandboxGame (2025) Alpha Season 3: SCMP Hong Kong's Star Ferry Pier - The Sandbox. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmmGLJidF0Q [Accessed 20 February 2025].
[-2] Ninja Kingdom @KyoseiBank (2025) The Sandbox - Ninja Playground. 2025 [online]. Available from: https://www.sandbox.game/en/experiences/Ninja%20Playground/5207d599-736f-4eed-893c-0b06361f740e/page/ [Accessed 20 February 2025].
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