How It Works
You draw a shape on the world map. If no one else is there, it becomes yours. Anyone can buy it from you at any time — you cannot refuse, but you get paid, and the next price is higher.
That is the whole protocol. The rest is detail.
This page stays in plain language. For the engine under the hood, see How It Works — Technical.
Claiming a place
You open the map, find an empty area, and trace a shape around it.
- Draw. Trace a closed shape over the ground you want. The app shows the area as you draw, and warns you if your line crosses something that is already claimed.
- Sign. Your wallet pops up and asks you to confirm. You pay the registration price — area of the shape, multiplied by the rate for that level of the map.
- Check. In a second or two, the protocol tests your shape against every neighbour. If your shape crosses an existing place by even a sliver, the whole move is cancelled and the registration fee is refunded — though gas for the failed transaction is still charged by the network.
- Done. The place appears on the public map. The parcel is yours — but it has no name or visual layer yet. That's the next step.
Less like filing paperwork, more like planting a flag. Either the flag goes in cleanly, or the ground refuses it and you walk away with your money.
Start with a smaller, cleaner shape. Odd spikes and hair-thin slivers fail the quality checks. A simple rectangle around the thing you care about registers faster and costs less.
See Register Land for the step-by-step walkthrough.
Making it yours
A shape on the map is just a shape. The layer on top — the name, the colors, the places you pin inside it — is how everyone else sees it.
Once you own a place, you control:
- A name. Anything you want, visible on the map.
- Colors and fill. Your aesthetic on public geography.
- A short description. Context for the curious.
This layer is the point of owning a place. Without it, you hold a silent parcel. A street corner turned into a memorial, a district painted like a festival poster — this is where merca stops being a map and becomes a medium.
See Name & Visual Layer for the editor walkthrough.
Losing a place
Someone pays the current price. The place is theirs. You cannot block the sale, and you cannot stall it.
You find out after the fact: the money sits on your balance, and the place is gone from your list. No goodbye step — the transfer, the payment, and the price update all happen in one move.
The money splits three ways:
| Goes to | Share |
|---|---|
| You, the seller | 85% |
| Protocol treasury | 7% |
| Owners of larger places that contain yours | 8% |
Worked example. Someone buys your place for $100. You get $85. The protocol keeps $7. The remaining $8 flows up to whoever owns the bigger region your place sits inside — a neighbourhood owner, a city owner, and so on. Round numbers, illustrative only.
Why you cannot say no
No place on the map can be marked "not for sale". That is the rule.
Picture a street where every shop has a price tag nailed to the door. A stranger walks up, pays the number on the tag, and walks in with the keys. The old owner cannot argue — the protocol chose the tag. To keep the shop, set the tag high enough that nobody bothers.
That is merca. Uncontested land stays cheap, because nobody wants to take it. Contested land gets expensive, because every attempt pushes the next price up. The market never freezes, because someone always has a price at which they let go.
You cannot refuse a sale. If someone pays the current price, the place is theirs in the same move the money arrives. Keep enough funds nearby to defend a place you care about.
Why the price rises
You do not set the price. The protocol does, from three things: the area of the shape, the base rate for the level it sits on, and a multiplier that climbs with every sale.
The first buyer after registration pays about 2.95× the registration price. After five hand-changes, the place costs roughly 35× registration. Growth slows after that, but it never stops.
Worked example. A place costs $10 to register. The first buyer pays about $30. The second pays about $65. By the fifth owner, the tag reads roughly $350. Round numbers, illustrative only — real prices depend on area and level.
Want highly contested land? You pay for the fight that got it there.
The climb is by design. It rewards early registration, punishes flipping, and guarantees that places people want end up funding the map underneath them.
See Buyout & Premium for the full formula and the resale ladder.
Five things to know
- Two places never overlap. The protocol rejects any shape that crosses an existing one. No disputes, no arbitration, no lawyers.
- Every place is always for sale. No owner can lock a place against purchase.
- The protocol sets the price. You do not.
- Every sale raises the price. Contested land compounds fast — roughly 35× after five owners.
- Every sale pays three parties. 85% to the seller, 7% to the protocol, 8% to owners of the larger places that contain yours.
Going deeper
- Key Concepts — places, hierarchy, the map index, buyouts, the visual layer
- How It Works — Technical — the engine underneath: shapes, overlap checks, forced sales
- Buyout & Premium — the full price formula and resale ladder
- Register Land — the claim flow, step by step
- FAQ — common questions from new readers