The Biggest Challenge Decentraland Faces in 2023

Introducing a new series, “Meet the Metaverse,” where I talk with industry leaders from different Metaverses and games. We talk about the future in web3, challenges and uncertainty, and the passion that drives them to create this new brave digital world.

There would be no metaverse without people in it. People are all this is about. And today, I just wanted to share an interview with Melanie Arakaki - UX Lead at the Decentraland Foundation.

Tell us about your background and personal story, Melanie.

I have a degree in graphic design but previously studied fashion design for a few years. Even though I loved fashion design, I decided to switch to graphic design after I started my first job at a tech start-up.

Back then, in 2013, there were too many barriers in the fashion industry regarding career opportunities and supply chains. That is why I chose to study graphic design instead. It was the closest to interaction design we had in Argentina, and it suited me better for my role at the start-up, which I enjoyed a lot.

Thanks to that job, I realized I could use my design and communication skills in the tech industry. Technology was and has always been a part of my life. Both my parents studied engineering. My younger brother is a game developer, and my partner, Mija, is a software engineer. But for some reason, before working at the start-up, I had the wrong idea that you had to be an engineer to work in tech.

I am grateful and feel lucky to have found my voice in UX because it encompasses many fields I am interested in: technology, design, communication, and psychology. Moreover, this year I found an extra layer of meaning to my job by working within a community of people building together, which is very different from working at a traditional corporation.

How did you find Decentraland, and what is your story of starting working with the Foundation?

I got referred by an engineer I met at a previous job. I had some rough ideas about what Decentraland was, primarily through MANA. Before the first interview, I did more research on it and entered the World, but I didn't understand much. I wanted to learn more about it, so I decided to give it a go. I had my first interview with a product manager from the Foundation, and this person instantly inspired me and made me realize this was completely different from what I used to do. After a few weeks, I continued with the interview process and got an offer. The Web3 industry was out of my comfort zone, but I fell in love with the mission and purpose of Decentraland, and I wanted to be part of it.

What would you say is the biggest challenge for Decentraland right now?

I think that the biggest challenge is to onboard and attract new people to the community. And from my point of view, this requires at least three things.

First, better performance and stability are essential because they are barriers for anyone but are especially critical when making a first impression.

Secondly, it's necessary to share Decentraland's mission and values more actively and loudly so more people can understand its differentiator against other projects/metaverses. The idea of a virtual world owned and built by its users needs to be accompanied by evidence demonstrating this is not just a nice slogan but something happening for real. One great way to do this is by sharing stories of community members who are already creating and building together. It is hard to introduce people to Web3, but emphasizing its benefits and values, like transparency and self-governance, might justify the effort of learning something new.

In third place, the barrier to creating content in Decentraland, especially scenes and experiences, needs to be lowered as much as possible. I think Worlds and land rentals have enabled more people to build, but the tooling also needs to be improved so people with less technical knowledge can create content. The Decentraland Editor is a key part of this and will gradually simplify things even for non-technical people.

There are many other areas of improvement, especially from experience. Still, in terms of priorities, the things I mentioned before are the ones that, from my perspective, need more focus and effort.

Are you a digital fashion lover? Please share your favorite creators with us!

Absolutely! IRL, I am an absolute fashion junkie, so it was natural for me to start collecting digital wearables. I have Leo all over my birth chart, so I really wish I could wear wings and shiny auras in real life, LOL.

Some of my favorite creators are Doki, SoultryDubs, Supernina, and MetaJewels.

What's the future of digital fashion in your eyes?

I think digital fashion is a new business opportunity for existing brands and also opens the doors to many new designers who couldn't find their place within the traditional fashion industry. I expect digital fashion to not just imitate traditional fashion but propose new experiences. Avatars are an extension of our personas, but they don't necessarily need to look like us. The digital world enables us to be whatever we want to be. It should be more than just a way to achieve or recreate looks that are hard to achieve IRL. It should create looks we could have never imagined in the physical world. During the Metaverse Fashion Week, we could see a great example with the cat models by Dolce & Gabbana.

Related to this, I am aware that it might be very complex, but one thing I would love to see in Decentraland is diverse body shapes and the removal of body shape binarism based on gender. I think this would be something that will add a lot more expression to the avatars.

What is the most important thing you learn while being in web3?

I learned a lot of things this year, but the most important one is how rewarding it is to work within a community.

As a UXer, you are told that your job is to represent the "voice of users" and advocate for their needs. However, I am sure almost every designer working in traditional companies has experienced at least one situation where business interests were always above everything in the end.

In the case of Decentraland, all community members, including the Foundation, share the same goal: growing the platform and the protocol. Of course, there is still a lot of work to build more bridges and find agreements between different groups of people and interests, but the process is much more transparent and collaborative than in any other place I have ever worked at.

This diversity of opinions also leads to fascinating philosophical debates, which I find very enriching.

Another thing I learned from the interviews we are doing with community members is the idea of "keep building." So many talented people are building under the mindset of "if it doesn't exist, create it." This sentiment is very contagious. It's impossible not to get inspired by all the amazing things other people do in this space.

What do you enjoy doing in the Metaverse?

What I like most is attending parties or any social events that let me meet people from different places worldwide. I love regular events like WAGMI Wednesdays at the Dollhouse.

I enjoy making new connections and helping more people get on board. I am thrilled to see more South American people joining Decentraland.

Another thing I do is often go to festivals. As in real life, I love discovering new music, especially from independent artists. For example, last year, I learned about many Mexican artists thanks to the Calaverse, and also I found Japanese v-artist Edo Lena through her wearables.

As for games, I enjoy quests like the Halloween ones that DappCraft built, and I am pretty active in Butterfly Prawn because I like how I can make progress even if I am not online.

And what are your hobbies IRL?

I love drawing and illustrating, but it takes work sometimes to find the time or the motivation. That is why I recently partnered with a friend who is a 3D artist, and we hope to launch our first collection of wearables in Decentraland soon. It will be like my childhood dream come to life.

I also enjoy reading a lot, mostly non-fiction. I am really into behavioral sciences, cognitive psychology, and philosophy. I know it sounds boring, but our mind is my favorite mystery. My current book is Kindred by Rebeca Sykes. Aligned with these topics but edgier (and funnier) are psychedelics. The last book I read on this is How to change your mind by Michael Pollan, and I recommend it to everyone.

I often play video games with my partner and friends. When I was younger, I mainly played RPGs (my favorite game is Chrono Cross), but my guilty pleasure is Dota 2. It can get very competitive and toxic, but I love how strategic it is.

Last but not least, I enjoy traveling a lot, especially when it involves hiking and being surrounded by nature.

Should traditional fashion brands explore the Metaverse, and why?

There is a massive opportunity for fashion brands in the Metaverse because the need to express ourselves and build our identities is at our very core.

The Metaverse is a social space; whenever you have a party or a festival, it works similarly to real life. You want to look good and authentic and mostly do that through wearables. So for the same reasons physical fashion works, digital fashion does.

Also, physical fashion has many limitations. Many of these limitations are the ones that led me to switch careers. Ecologically speaking, the way fashion works today is not sustainable at all. The Metaverse gives brands a business opportunity and a way to continue being creative and innovative without all the cons and waste of the physical supply chains.

There is also an advantage of the blockchain regarding status and differentiation. Fakes and dupes are everywhere in the physical world. Even though expert eyes can differentiate an original, most of us would never identify one when buying in the secondary market. Therefore, there is a huge advantage for big names in the industry to sell NFTs that, thanks to the transparency of the blockchain, will always retain their status and authenticity attached to their brand.

Do you have any good friends or co-workers you met in the Metaverse but never saw IRL? How does that work, and what do you think about metaverse relationships?

I haven't met anyone from Decentraland IRL. However, I know there have been some real-world events, and I hope to make it to one, although the physical distance is a barrier. Luckily, there is a growing local Argentine community, and I look forward to meeting more people from here.

Metaverse relationships are unique, and at the same time, they remind me of friends I met online on other platforms. What I like about the connections made via social networks is that they are mainly built around shared interests and goals. I know many people who have started doing business or collaborations with others they met on Decentraland.

What's one thing that metaverses will change forever?

This is a tricky question, and there might be a lot of wishful thinking in my answer. However, the Metaverse as a virtual place parallel to the real world is not radically new. For example, 15 years ago, I used to play Habbo Hotel with my cousins, which is still considered a metaverse.

What is unique about new Web3 metaverses like Decentraland is the concept of virtual worlds owned and built by their members. As a result, they are immersive experiences where you have more control, participation, and ownership. This means you and your work don't depend on opaque algorithms and corporate interests.

From my point of view, the platforms that will have the most impact in the world are the ones that will innovate on inclusion and social connections and not only focus on technical or visual aspects. That is the only way to transcend screens and have a real impact on people.

I think the most critical challenge is understanding how we can work better together while avoiding (and even reducing) the reproduction of the social inequalities of the real world.

Creativity flows in safe and fair environments where talented people feel inspired, appreciated, and rewarded while contributing and connecting to something bigger. This is needed to build something fundamentally different and not just a new representation of the same old system.