Hello to you all!
It was fun exploring the newest game on the block – Upland. Its URL reads as play.upland.me, which is more like upland and you. On a lighter note, I suppose you know which way this review is headed when I start with that kind of observation. Well, I won’t blame you. ??
Anyway, I had logged on to the game to check it out and am impressed with what I have seen so far. Prima facie, this game would be to my liking simply because I am a stickler when it comes to collecting and upgrading assets. There are many games that I have played in the past where collecting and storing assets is uber fun. Upland takes the fun to the next level because you can actually own properties as assets. Hmm.. So, if you are one of those guys or gals wishing to buy a house/s but haven’t done so yet, head over to Upland. Buy the land that you want, and you can construct whatever you want, from an apartment to a building and much, much more.
But don’t underestimate the assets and properties that you buy in the game. It could help you buy a real house, after all. Did that get you? Well, that’s what I am talking about. The assets (or your properties) are actually NFTs that can be sold in the open market too. ***If that does not excite you, then this would – recently, an NYSE building in Manhattan was auctioned off for 23,000,0000 UPX; UPX being the in-game currency. But when converted to dollars, it was $23,000. How’s that for a deal?*** And this when the game is still having new players joining in scores almost every day. Imagine the size of properties that you would have and their real-world value!
I mean, people could just become millionaires playing the game. Watch out, Elon, we are going to get you!! ?? But first, let’s take a moment to understand Upland, and then I will share my views and experiences so far.
Upland | The Upmarket Game!
Upland is a game powered by the EOS blockchain. So, no centralization here and some level of guarantee that your assets are well-governed. The game attempts to have virtual properties with real-life addresses. And as I said before, if the game takes off, which I suspect it will, it is going to make many of the asset owners millionaires overnight. You can then use those millions to buy real-world properties. ??
In the game, you will come across parcels of land which are green and blue in color. The green ones are for sale, while the blue ones are owned and not-for-sale. For newbies, the green ones will have parcels marked as FSA, which can be taken over by paying the land's requisite value. More about that in a moment. Upland also has tied up with Tilia Pay, a subsidiary of Linden Labs. Now, you must have heard about Linden Labs as the makers of Second Life, another virtual platform. So, the tie-up of Tilia Pay and Upland brings together real-world transactions to the virtual world. That makes Upland one of the firsts to enable buying game assets with a real-world currency. At the same time, sell assets for a real-world currency. You can’t get better and closer to reality than that!
Okay, now that would have got you excited about the game, I am sure. So, let’s dive straight in.
Upland | A 6000 UPX gift Awaits You
You heard that right. You can hop on to the game with the PublishOx link, and you will be instantly credited 6000 UPX. How much use is that money? Quite a lot. Enough to buy two properties in Fresno for me. So, go get your 6000 UPX over here:
JOIN UPLAND
---------------------
Getting Started
This is the easiest part. You’ve got to get registered with your email id and password. You need to have a Gmail account to get started. Once you set your email and password and have shared your game username, you will be asked to verify your mail address. So, get on to your mailbox and quickly verify the email. That’s it, that gets you started in the game.
Now, you can join and explore the game. Remember, as soon as you join, you will see a treasure chest (or something that looks like a treasure chest) on the map. You won’t miss it. Click on that to claim your 6000 UPX. That gives you some money.
When you start the game, you are by default a visitor and not an Uplander yet. You will have to therefore find those parcels of land in green with FSA marked on them. It is earmarked for first-time buyers. You cannot buy the green parcels of land which is not FSA marked until you become an Uplander. So, you will have to do some sight-seeing to get yourself a piece of land. Remember, the land parcel you buy is a unique NFT, so don’t miss buying it.
---------------------
Becoming An Uplander
Now, to open up all the gamut of the game is to become an Uplander. You have to have assets worth 10,000 UPX and above to become an Uplander. Simply put, you can buy UPX from the store and shore up your assets to 10,000. Or you can bide your time in the game and earn from in-game bonuses for being active every day. There are many more ways you can earn UPX in the game.
If you choose the slower way of earning UPX and then becoming an Uplander, you will remain a visitor till such time. As a visitor, you will be on a visa and will have to renew your visa every seven days by paying some amount of UPX. You can choose to remain a visitor for as long as you want.
Word Of Caution: I incidentally could not log in on the seventh day and could not pay the visa charges. As such, the game kept sending me reminders on my email id, but I just could not log on. The net effect, the game erased my holdings. ?. Can’t blame them for that. So, ensure that you pay the visa charges if you are still a visitor. No point losing your asset as it is your NFT.
---------------------
Finding an Ideal Land Parcel
Now, here’s where I feel cross with myself for losing my initial property. Why? Because finding another FSA-marked property is some effort. That’s also good news because there are many getting on to the game and therefore buying land. Even if the current players buy multiple land parcels, that is still good news as the game will have demand to open up more land for sale. That is a sure sign of growth, isn’t it?
By the way, the game is already expanding to other places, and gamers can buy new properties in multiple places. So, don’t worry, there will be enough land available for you.
My Impression of the Game
As I mentioned earlier, I like games that have asset buying and building. This game takes the cake in that regard for multiple reasons:
- The asset here is "property" that we naturally love to buy and develop.
- The asset is held as a unique NFT stamping your virtual ownership on it.
- The asset has real-world value.
- The asset can be traded with in-game currency.
- The asset can also be traded with real-world currency through Tilia Pay.
- As more and more people join the game, the market economy will drive buy-and-sell transactions between players. That means the value of land will appreciate based on supply and demand.
These are some of the reasons I love the game and will be investing some time to build and grow my ownership. Remember, it is not just a plot of land but also construction that you can do on the land. You can even have rent for people passing over your land. So, this is, in a sense, closer to the real-life occurrence.
Now, I would love to compare Upland with similar games that I would have played earlier. One of the games that comes to mind is SIM city. However, SIM city was more about joy and strategy and hardly any resemblance with the real world. Upland, on the other hand, is all about real-life value along with the joy of playing. ??
If I were to talk about asset ownership, building, and growth purely, I would like to compare it with “Clash of Clans”. Again this is not an apple to apple comparison as Clash of Clans also had battles with other clans. The idea of the battle was to earn Elixir, Dark Elixir, and Gold. Gems weren’t easily available, and so you had to wait to get them or buy them with a real-world currency. But there was no payback. Much like any traditional game, your assets have value only in the game. Even in the game, they were not transferrable. In other words, you can have all the fun with no real-world value. Now, you know why your mama did not want you to play video games.. ??
But with Upland, you look like an executive strategizing his/her next property move. That should make mama proud, on a lighter note. So, there is no comparison to Upland with any other game that I have played so far. Again, Clash of Clans was a bit out of the way. It was not an exact game comparison, but I guess readers got a sense of what I was pointing towards.
***My opinion: Good game to try out. It will only get better and better with each day. The game has a lot of potential, and I would suggest that you get on with it right away.***
Additional Resources to Know More About Upland
You don’t have to take my word for it but do your own research as well. Here are some of the avenues for you to get more information.
- Download Upland and check out the game using this special link that will provide a DOUBLED signup bonus of 6,000 UPX (worth $6), Upland’s in-game currency.
- Check out Upland’s website here.
- Read Upland’s Medium blog that contains all major announcements and updates.
- Discover Upland’s 2021 Roadmap.
- Dive into content created by broadcasters of the Upland Contributor Network. These broadcasters are special Uplanders who create content about Upland’s current happenings, as well as creating websites that track critical statistics about Upland’s economy.
- Upland Academy - Made in English and German. Provides a great starting point about the game.
- Upx.World and DailyUplander - Provides information based on public blockchain data and some of Upland’s open APIs.
- Upland Action News - Fun videos covering what’s going on in Upland.
- The UPX Podcast - An in-depth podcast about the game, the economy, and the players.
- Upland Central - Video Tutorials, community promotions, and more.
- A Rap song about Upland and its currency UPX.
- The Discord server that is home to a majority of the Upland community and where all current topics and announcements are discussed. Our Uplanders are an incredibly friendly bunch, so feel free to join and ask some questions!
- Watch the latest Upland founders’ AMA, broadcast live on Jan. 29th 2021.
---------------------
**Image Courtesy:** Upland Resources and Clash-of-Clans village
---------------------
