Partyhat Thesis x Ethereum

The economy of Jagex's 2000s MMORPG Runescape was an originating metaverse moment: Players living their virtual lives within a game earning gold via resourcing, providing goods, services, and classic adventuring; The success and growth of which ensured Runescape Gold or 'RSGP' had a tangible USD value and solidified the MMO in the hearts of many as in-game intertwined with the real world to establish value and rewards outside the game itself.

Coveted above all in this Runescape economy, was partyhats, a limited and deflating set of 'useless' items, these wearable paper hats dropped during the initial christmas event and were some of the only items in the game that had a limited amount minted, never to be recreated again (aside from an infamous dupe incident that these days blockchain technology would prevent).

As the playerbase grew and gold became less scarce, partyhats increased not only their RSGP value, but dramatically in USD as well. Largely due to the deflationary supply and the ease of holding a singular expensive item over managing large stacks of gold or other soon to be superceeded combat items. Partyhats represented a bastion of stability and a store of value in the ever-changing MMO economy.

This combination of limited supply wearable items in an MMORPG growth environment was a game changer for the playerbase, who quickly solidified partyhats as a vanity item only the wealthiest of users could afford. A self propogating effect as the speculation and desire for the item rises alongside it's price creating a positive feedback loop; The party hat thesis was born.

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Ethereum's First Partyhat

Fast forward to 2017 and cryptopunks launch on Ethereum with the concept of profile picture scarcity, claim a unique character in the set of 10,000 to use as an online persona. A launch ahead of it's time and not to be largely appreciated for another 4 years - solidyfing punks and the partyhat thesis as a real world phenomenom within the emerging economy of Ethereum.

This event reinforced that the partyhat thesis is not just limited to games, but is a social construct - whether it be traditional rare art & clothing, partyhats, punks, or as I will argue, avatars & wearables - they are likely to appreciate in value relative to growth in the underlying economy due to historical importance, deflationary supply and the element of visual desire.

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Enter: The 3D Metaverse

As VR evolves and the population spends more time plugged into virtual spaces, the need for self identity and expression through a metaverse avatar will become tantamount to the culture of today's twitter persona.

Users will search for an artist's work that can uniquely represent their 3D virtual self and the trend of rare and unobtainable vanity items will resurface. Perhaps even greater than the cultural revolution of million dollar profile pictures - prestigious 3D wearables with VR and metaverse compatibility, permanently minted and owned on the ethereum blockchain are here and hiding in plain sight.

Whether it's by iconic artists like Fewocious, historical items from an early metaverse beta, technical achievements like early avatar replacement concepts, or just plain iconic, limited and rare items, the metaverse already has a plethora of 3D "partyhats" to choose from.

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You Get What You Pay For

As a user, the crisp clean outlines on well-made metaverse wearables by established artists airs it's own legitimacy. However, this alone would not be enough to obtain partyhat status. After all - Runescape being a large and diverse MMO economy is a key feature of the value they've obtained.

As a reader, you may have encountered these items before, perhaps even seen their high sales on twitter and brushed it off as insanity from the virtual realm, a game you have no interest in - Why would someone want items that work in a metaverse they may never enter?

Interoperability

Being an open sourced metaverse, Decentraland is committed towards transparent development and interoperable, composable systems.

Robust systems are already in place that enable users to:

• Upload 3D wearable files, standardized and pre-rigged for multiple usecases
• List, buy and sell on an open market place
• Store creations, ownership and transaction history on the ethereum blockchain
• Combine wearables and export 3D avatar files compatible with .VRM human avatar bone structure

These systems additionally enable creation, economics, ownership and complex usecases of digital wearable assets outside of Decentraland itself, whether you wish to stream as your metaverse persona, enter alternate metaverses like VR chat, or deep-dive and build out more complex functionality like eye/mouth movement, it's all possible - now.

What's the big deal?

If the above ensures these 3D files are secured and interoperable with the upcoming metaverse industry; Decentraland's collection of 3D wearables contain the oldest and potentially rarest compatible avatar items in existence.

However, be warned, not all wearables are created equally - there are several factors that contribute to overall rarity and consumer interest.

Layer-1 Vs Layer-2

Our first stop in calculating rarity is the chain the item is located on. Decentraland launched with layer-1 wearables stored directly on the Ethereum blockchain. As fees and contract deployment became expensive, Decentraland rolled out newer layer-2 polygon contracts, locking the base layer-1 contract from more wearables ever being added.

This has left a historical effect on DCL Wearables, with the collection split between the smaller, original and deflationary layer-1 collection, and the new unlimited polygon collection.

Immediately, we can see great value in the original layer-1 collection being both on the base chain, and being forever locked ensuring a deflationary effect as items get lost or forgotten. This is where the rarest items can be found, dating back to Halloween 2019, and finalizing it's last collections in 2021 when DCL moved to polygon.

While layer-1 will claim the title of rarest wearables, there are still notable levels of rarity on layer-2, this can be due to brand value like the mythic coca-cola shirts, artist wearables like Alison Wonderland's ram skull, or just rare but useful in-game items like the Ice poker cigar.

Mint Category Rarity

All DCL collections are minted with an assigned rarity rank, this rank ensures a contract can print up to, but no more than it's assigned cap.

Here is the break down of rarity and mint allowance:

​​​​Common: 100000
​​​​Uncommon: 10000
​​​​Rare: 5000
​​​​Epic: 1000
​​​​Legendary: 100
​​​​Mythic: 10
​​​​Unique: 1

As you can see, the bulk of rarity is likely contained within Unique, Mythic, or Legendary ranks, although exceptions can always be made for items such as the Atari x RTFKT purple shoes which have proven their marketability even with a max cap of 1000 available.

Additionally, individual collection contracts can be locked prematurely. Reducing the total supply even lower than the rarity cap.

Some good examples of this are the layer-1 beta jacket (only 4 minted out of 10) or the layer-2 XCOPY spacesuit misprinted as rare and locked after 10 mints as it was intended to be mythic.

Notoriety

The final piece to rarity is the story behind it, what artist, brand or historical information is linked to the piece. I believe many of these require context outside the scope of this article so I've opted to link a few of my favorites.

Fewocious' Boots
Jonathan Wolfe's Infinity Cow Coat
Bryan Brinkman's Bryfocal Goggles
Jose Delbo's Comic Cap
RAC's Fit
Coldie's 3D Glasses
Wonderbot
KJ Walker's Groovy Pants
Nick Graham's Apollo 11 Licensed Puffer Jacket
Decentral Games' Mythic Robe

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*End Transmission*

Avatar wearables are stories in the growing metaverse, a story that doesn't start or end with Decentraland, but one you can wear, contribute, and become a part of through every game you take it to or build on top of.

The partyhat thesis and metaverse are here to stay. I hope this piece has encouraged some thought around the future virtual economy and what impacts interoperability may have.

See you all in the metaverse, Morphbot out.

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/morph_bot
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/morphbottv
Layer 1 Wearables sale bot: https://twitter.com/DCLWearables