Another corporate sellout? SCARY!
I have been playing around on Upland for quite some time. I started as a helpless noob with barely a penny (or UPX as the in-game token is called) to my name, trying to find properties I could afford in Fresno, California.
That one word, Fresno, was an early sign of an ongoing concern I have with the integrity and vision of the Upland project.
Upland wants to create a metaverse of property ownership, like a giant Monopoly game, layered on top of real world cities. This is a weirdly compelling idea. For example, if you have been to any of the cities in the Upland metaverse, you could virtually own the place where you got drunk on your 21st birthday, saw a legendary My Bloody Valentine or BB King concert, where you lost your virginity, car keys, or anything else. You could buy your birth home or you favorite coffeeshop. Or, you could buy NFTs consisting of the address and a Google streetview of the same.
The fact that Upland started in the USA has some advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that the USA had dedicated itself to sprawling cities with single-family homes, meaning you can buy a property that is just 1 house as opposed to being one of 20 people who all own the same NFT of an apartment building.
One disadvantage is that there is not much history in USA cities relative to other parts of the world. That problem is compounded when dumbass cities like Fresno are plopped onto the market. No one in the USA has been to Fresno or has any idea what it looks like, and that is doubly true for the rest of the world. No one aspires to owning a home in Fresno, or any of the other mediocre cities flooding the Upland metaverse. I am sure they can be nice places to live and work, but as aspirational purchases? They must rank up there with owning an NFT of one of the socks for the 3rd studio guitarist on the 6th track of the non-original cast recording of the Broadway musical flop "Cheese: A True Story."
Two words: Cash Grab
But occasionally, Upland adds a really good, maybe even great, American city. There are not many to choose from. You could argue New York City, which they have, Los Angeles (not yet?), Chicago and New Orleans (more on them in a bit), and maybe Santa Fe, maybe San Francisco, probably Philadelphia or Boston, and you are already grasping at straws. But instead we get Cleveland, Bakersfield, Rutherford blah blah blah... the socks of some random guy from "Cheese: A True Story."
When they get it right, you can learn fun facts and context about these cities based on which properties are designated as part of collections. They highlight interesting parts of a city's past and culture. Cities in anointed neighborhoods trade at huge premiums, and supposedly represent the great history of their locations, so there is a lot of interest in these designations, and lots of speculation when people have the opportunity to buy. But sometimes the neighborhoods that are called Collections are just insane, random, or stupid.
I am so disappointed in Upland's ideas of what are significant neighborhoods in their metaverse cities. I think they are dropping the ball the more the rapidly expand and court mainstream investors like the NFL. When devs chase outside cash and only listen to whales, the games stop being games and just become speculation, in my opinion.
Let's look at the two big cities that dropped recently, Chicago and New Orleans. They got some things right about both, many things, really. Distinctive architecture, some of the most famous neighborhoods. Some. But there is a lot of unpredictable dreck in their list of notable neighborhoods worth of Collection status. And even more annoyingly a lot of vital, critical misses that betray a lack of integrity (in my mind).
When you think of Chicago, what do you think of?
Blues? Well, the home of the blues, the Near South Side is NOT a collection neighborhood
Deep Dish Pizza or Hot Dogs? Well, Little Italy is NOT a collection neighborhood
Lots of suburban crap is. Yay!
When you think of New Orleans, what do you think of?
Jazz and vibrant African American culture? Well, Treme, the oldest African American neighborhood in the USA and home of Black culture in New Orleans is NOT a collection neighborhood.
Lots of suburban crap is. Yay!
I suppose that in order to punish people who know something about the history of a city, Upland may want to be surprising in their selections. But isn't that itself a stupid, stupid reason to declare some part of a city to be important? It is important because people who know about it think it is NOT important? It undermines the idea of a metaverse layered on top of real locations, I think, to randomly value soulless expanses of cities and ignore their history and culture. Seems like a dumb thing for me to get annoyed by, but there you have it! hahaha From the beginning I had concerns about the integrity of a game that will not stop dumping dumbass properties onto the market, meaning that the average user struggles to turn profits on properties because there are hundreds and hundreds of new properties entering the market all the time. And there are signs they do not care about the actual history and significance of the places they call collectable. To my mind that is like overpowering random Splinterlands cards with no thought to balance or gameplay, and never correcting it.
The solution is easy. Slow down. Respect and learn about the cities prudently added to the metaverse. Don't try to trick your average user.
I am sure it is hard to get it right, but the great games do!
For your pleasure, here is the streetview of my "culturally significant" property in the "collection" of South Shore, a far out suburb of Chicago.
Wow, you can feel this history!! :/
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Thanks for reviewing, now I found the reason why I have not logged into Upland for a while.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Maybe you will be surprised by heaps and heaps of accruing UPX when you return? You can buy a historic dumpster in outer Bakerfield haha!