March 31, 2022
I’ve spent every waking moment in and outside of my IRL attending Twitch Streams, Twitter Contests, and AMAs. I’ve Spent countless hours in the metaverse collecting voxlite, remembering codes, and completing tasks for the NPC’s. I filled out forms until I memorized my wallet address and danced the night away at the end of every Sandbox GMAE Stream. I did not win an Alpha Season 2 pass.
As I logged in, I was greeted by our very own KandidlyKristen. We danced on a giant duck after I bested her in a game of “Hot/Cold” to find her. She had tuned into my stream as the only viewer for the entire show, sharing hints on where to find her. She then answered all the questions I had of her about this space.
Lets recap: March 3rd, 2022
My first experience with the sandbox was that glorious email titled:
“The Sandbox Alpha Season 2 Now Live! – Re-enter The Sandbox Metaverse 
”
Being a brand new sand-baby I had no idea what an “Alpha Pass” was. All I knew was that It was possible to obtain through means of my own participation and could make me more Sand than I had started with. Kristen explained that it was my “ticket” to a huge community reward and that everyone was here to win one. I was hooked. I started researching all the knowledge on TSB I could find. Discord, Twitter, Email announcements, and Twitch were my friends in this quest.
I gravitated towards the Twitch community and met a few avid streamers who were much more versed in the sandbox than I. It was as if they had been playing for years and I was late to the party. First I met A gentle giant with a cowboy hat – at least That’s how I envision him still to this day, who shortly after meeting in chat helped me stake my first funds into the community rewards staking pool. He walked me through swaps and trades step by step on his live stream to help me. I met a generous talking bear and a king who ran giveaways and had their friends playing games for prizes. There was a Green man with many voices who took us step by step through making the games in the Sandbox Maker. I had met these people obsessed with mushrooms who were amazing artists. Other parents like me took time out of their day to contribute to this Sand-space. This was only a few days after I entered the sandbox.
Each one of these streamers were so vastly different in their approach to The Sandbox. The commonality was with the people. If you say HI in chat – you will be greeted equally. If you ask for help in chat, someone will help you find the “gwei”. If you share something you made, you will receive support. After each stream, it is a common practice to “raid” someone else in the #sandfam who is also streaming TSB content, Especially if that person had a low viewer count on their stream. Better yet, never have I seen so many people “Hype” to an empty chair until the person came back only to discover they had 200 new followers. A solid 8 minutes of chat hype in some cases – all for the chance to say “Welcome to the #sandfam!” “Give me your wallet – THIS IS A RAID!”.
We have made new friends along the way and from every known continent. When my regular streams weren’t active I found myself in Sandbox streams from other countries and languages. I don’t know any other languages, but you can still feel the atmosphere of the #sandfam. People building and playing, laughing, and loving. Thanks to Emoji’s I could even join in the fun and was equally welcomed.
I found myself unable to tune out The Sandbox, there was always something else to learn and see. I carried my phone around the house, raiding from one Twitch stream to the next, following Twitter contests, and playing the game in my downtime. It became my obsession. My family didn’t understand what I was doing. Who were all these people? Why was I always looking forward to getting back to my computer?
“If you have never been there before, you wouldn’t know ”.
From the outside, I can see how bad this looks. Spending all my time itching to get back to what I have learned to be the greatest collection of loving, kind, and talented human beings.
“You just don’t get it until you experience it for yourself ”.
Let me try to make you understand.
In the last 34 days, all my efforts did not win me one of the 10,000 Alpha passes. Yet, I am at peace.
In the last 34 days, I have learned more, laughed more, had my heart pound more than it has in a very long time. I have made friends, nay – Family. I have fed my inner child through play and excitement. I have expanded my ability to turn my imagination into a tangible asset within the metaverse. If you noticed the word “tangible” in the same sentence as the word “metaverse” – you are not mistaken.
All of your creations have touched me in a way that has opened the floodgates to my creative soul. I am not here for free NFTs or to play a game. I am not here to check out or run away from my life.
I am here to learn, create, share, and most importantly love those who share these passions with me today.
I came to the sandbox with an empty wallet and a dream.
34 days later, The dream has changed and my wallet is full. My wallet has not changed much monetarily, but I can share some awesome NFT’s shared with me from friends.
Today, I am not dreaming.
I have entered into a world full of the most wonderful people I have met in a short period of time.
I have made family, shared ideas, gained opportunities, and brought my dreams to life.
April 4th, 2022
34 days later, I am not an Alpha Season 2 pass holder. I have gained so much more. I have found a home.
Today I am #sandfam.
Author: Maddox
