What is Mossland?

South Korean developer Reality Reflection was set up to make VR games, but its forthcoming title Mossland is a very different experience.

Mixing augmented reality with location-based check-ins, the real-world real estate mobile game also includes an in-game advertising network to provide a strong financial incentive for players to visit as well as buying (and maintaining ownership of) the most lucrative buildings.

Mixing AR with location-based check-ins, this real-world real estate mobile game also includes an in-game advertising network

Of course, holding the entire project together is the blockchain, which is used to secure ownership of buildings, as well as splitting out advertising revenues to the relevant parties via smart contracts.

Yet, with the game not planned to go live until Q3 2019, there are still some known unknowns surrounding the project. Most notably is while Reality Reflection expects Mossland to run on Ethereum using ERC-20 tokens, it’s currently investigating other systems, with EOS mentioned as one possibility.

Indeed, as planned, the game won’t be launched on any blockchain, with migration of assets etc and the move to becoming a distributed app (DApp) only happening when a sustainable audience has been created.

Real-estate tycoon

The core experience in Mossland is player interaction with real-world buildings.

Reality Reflection will set up and sell high profile buildings to seed the game and ensure a few early adopters don’t start the game owning a disproportionate amount of valauble real-estate.

However, in the early days players will be able to identify locations and add them into the game. Once you own a building, you level it up by adding accessories. Examples given including adding King Kong to the Empire State Building or a dragon to the Leaning Tower of Pisa (see above), although few buildings will boast such specific accessories.

The value of buildings will also increase as players check into them. This will work in a similar manner with Foursquare or Facebook, with players gaining rewards such as the in-game soft currency and items to encourage them to check-in.

Another way of encouraging in-game activity is Mossland’s AR advertising system. Anyone can set up an advertising campaign to run on a building using the in-game Moss currency and players who interact with the advertising will be rewarded using Moss. The building owner will also get 10% of the total advertising spending, as will Reality Reflection.

The economic flow within Mossland’s advertising system

This 10% margin for the property owner means it will be most cost effective to run advertising on buildings you own, encouraging advertisers to buy the most valuable buildings, and hence driving the in-game economy.

A dual token approach

Another aspect of the game which requires some explanation is the currency system.

Mossland will technically have four different currencies.

Moss Coin (MOC) is the blockchain token that will be traded on crypto exchanges. The total supply is limited to 500 million, with 58% sold as part of the ICO. A further 75 million tokens will be sold via in-game in-app purchases, although these will be sold at a 30% mark-up to cover the margin taken by Apple and Google.

To use Moss Coin within Mossland, however, players will have to exchange it for Moss, which is the in-game token used for buying and selling buildings and accessories.

Both Moss Coin and Moss are blockchain tokens but one operates in-game and one outside the game

Both Moss Coin and Moss are blockchain tokens but, as practicised by many blockchain app stores, one operates in-game and one outside the game. Both are finite in supply and Moss can always been exchanged for Moss Coin if a player wants to cash out for fiat currency.

In this way, the 75 million tokens available for purchase in-game will be Moss not Moss Coin.

The two other in-game currencies are the gold soft currency, which is rewarded for completing missions and check-ins and can be bought via IAPs, and Gems. This is the game’s hard currency, which is only available through IAP and used to speed up gameplay.

What’s next?

At time of writing, Reality Reflection has just started its main ICO for Mossland so it remains early days for the project.

Indeed, Reality Reflection doesn’t expect to have a prototype of the game until Q3 2018, which will be followed by an alpha build in Q4 and a closed beta test in Q1 2019. Full global launch, which will coincide with the sale of landmark buildings, isn’t expected until Q3 2019.

You can follow the game’s progress via its website.

AdvertisingARERC20KoreaLocation-basedMobile GamesMOCMosslandReality ReflectionSmart Contracts
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