Upland is a digital metaverse based on the EOS blockchain and blends the boundaries between virtual worlds and the real world. Some media named Upland a gamified version of Monopoly. Upland’s vision has become much more than this. Players can buy and trade virtual properties from all over the world. These properties can be seen as digital copies of their real-world counterparts where the location of a property in Upland is the same as the real-world location. Furthermore, the size of a property is also being considered. Upland offers players the option to rebuild the world in a digital and unique metaverse. The very first city of Upland is San Francisco, followed by the launch auf New York City. Not limited to these features, Upland will also implement the possibility to actually extract money from the game via selling NFTs for US Dollars. The game can be played via browser on PC, Android and IOS.

The idea of Upland was established by three friends that were playing a round of Monopoly while watching Netflix popluar show “Stranger Things” in which the story deals with an alternative reality. After some discussions about the potential of a blockchain-based game that recreates the real world it didn’t take much time for the development to begin. Upland launched its first alpha build in June 2019 and is growing every day.

Play

In Upland players might purchase virtual properties as some kind of mirror double of the real-world property, meaning you can buy skyscrapers, a mansion in the city center, the local McDonald’s or famous sights. While other blockchain games mainly focus on collectors’ value, Upland sets the goal to create a complete digital and realistic economy that shall be controlled by the community at some point in the future. The biggest innovation is the fact that players will own what they buy – secured by blockchain technology (“play to own”). The best thing about the playing aspect is that Upland was designed in a user-friendly way to implement all necessary blockchain functions (e.g. wallet creation) in the back-end, providing players a hassfle-free gaming experience. You do not need any knowledge about blockchain technology to enjoy Upland.

Earn

As Upland simulates an economy, players will be able to earn money while playing. The currency of Upland is called UPX (pronounced UP-EX) and has a fixed exchange rate of approximately 1:1000 to the USD, meaning for one USD spent you will receive 1000 UPX. UPX can be bought with both fiat money (USD) and a selection of crypto currencies. With the upcoming fiat-out update players will have the option to extract money from their assets via selling NFTs for fiat money.

Connect

The last of the three pillars is also one of the most interesting. Although Upland is still in an early stage it already has quite a large and very active community with players from all over the world. You will have a chance to get to know interesting characaters, make new friends and compete with others.  

What are Non-fungible Token (NFTs)?

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token and describes a cryptographic token used to represent a specific, unique and not mutually interchangeable asset. NFTs are used to manage digital ownership of assets and allow the use of interoperability across various blockchain-based platforms. One part of Upland’s vision is to become a large market place for NFTs. Properties are one example for an in-game NFT. It was announced that players will be able to create new NFTs within Upland and also be able to import NFTs from other games and platforms as well. It is important to mention that NFTs can only be controlled by its owners and Upland’s developers have no access to any player-owned NFT.

The Founders

The three founders are experts in their respective disciplines, each of them has years of working experience to show off. Dirk Lueth, Ph.D. (European Business School) Economy and monetary systems Idan Zuckerman, IT expert Blockchain-Technology and app development Mani Honigstein, M.A. (Harvard University) Mobile gaming and networking

The Team Members

cheliwk Head of Operations (focused on streamlining processes and making sure everything runs smooth) BlockUnchained Product Manager & Live Ops (working on in-game content) X1TheGamer Head of Community & Support (overseeing community outreach and support) General Mort Product Manager (working on product marketing, live ops & content) Hagan Growth & Partnerships (working on growth and partnership campaigns) Andrew Support Specialist (works on all things for support) Lyudmila Support Specialist (just added to the team a few days ago) upme