NYX Cosmetics is the first brand to sign on to a new diversity, equity and inclusion-focused activation that will live in The Sandbox, a metaverse platform where brands can inhabit virtual land and create experiences for users.

Dubbed the “Valley of Belonging,” the experience seeks to be a hub of inclusivity where brands can build projects that drive cultural awareness and education. It will launch on June 24th, in tandem with Pride Month and during The Sandbox’s “Belonging Week,” during which the platform will celebrate a vision for an equitable Web3. The metaverse hub is a collaboration between The Sandbox and People of Crypto Lab (POC), an organization focused on developing inclusivity in Web3 spaces.

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"This is a long-term partnership," wrote Akbar Hamid, co-founder of POC Lab, in an email. "It starts with The Sandbox but will continue on to other virtual worlds."

NYX Cosmetics, a L'Oréal brand, and POC Lab will drop an NFT collection of diverse traits for avatars, which are the personas players adopt in the metaverse. The collection features makeup looks that will incorporate a multitude of skin shades, ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identifications, as a way to highlight that makeup serves people of all identities.

A total of 8,430 tokens will go on sale starting June 17. Players will be able to use the traits in their metaverse avatars once they buy them. NYX will donate all proceeds from the sale—an expected $50,000—to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

With help from game studio Hermit Crab, POC Lab has designed the “Valley of Belonging” to be a place where all users feel comfortable being themselves. The world will include non-player characters (NPCs) including drag queens as well as avatars in wheelchairs. 

POC Lab was given the land for the project by The Sandbox, as part of the platform's Game Maker Fund, in collaboration with Hermit Crab.

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The metaverse is still years from full development, and issues relating to inequity and lack of brand safety have already emerged on various platforms. From virtual groping in Meta’s Horizon Worlds to raunchy strip clubs in VRChat, the dangers that brands must be aware of mirror those they’ve had to deal with on the current iteration of the internet, also known as Web2.

Brands may also need to take another look at the popularity of metaverse platforms. As of last week, plots of land on The Sandbox were selling for roughly a third of what they cost only a few months ago—a result of a greater downturn in the NFT and crypto markets. 

Despite not yet fully being open to the public, The Sandbox has partnered with and sold land to a slew of brands, including Adidas, Gucci and Atari. The platform plans to open its third alpha test for select users shortly after its “Belonging Week.”