Entropia Universe

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Current and old Entropia Universe logo

Entropia Universe in a nutshell

Entropia Universe (formerly "Project Entropia") is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game/Virtual World consisting of the Entropia Platform developed and operated by Mindark PE AB and several 'game worlds' called Planets that are authored and run by independent companies, so called "Planet Partners".

Currently there are 6 active planets, Planet Calypso, ROCKtropia, Next Island, Planet Arkadia, Planet Cyrene and Planet Toulan. There is another entity partially adopting the planet partner concept: Monria, the moon that has been sold for of USD 150,000 in April 2013.

Entropia Universe went "Gold" and became publically available in 2003. In April 2009 Entropia Universe had 820,000 registered accounts and Planet Calypso alone had an economic turnover of $422M USD in 2009.

Entropia Universe has hit the news several times due to sales of virtual objects for large sums of real money such as 100,000 USD for the Asteroid Space Resort that became known as Club NEVERDIE or 330,000 USD for Crystal Palace Space Station.

Those figures are only possible because Entropia Universe is based on a Real Cash Economy (RCE), meaning the ingame currency Project Entropia Dollars (PED) has a fixed exchange rate rate of 10:1 to the US Dollar and players can convert 'real world' cash into game currency as well as the other way round.

Depositing money is not necessary to play the game. To a large extent it is free-to-play but without paying money progession in game becomes harder and harder the further you get and some features simply require you to spent money.

Entropia Universe is currently only available for Microsoft Windows. Very basic game features are also available via an Android app called Virtual Tycoon.

Entropia Universe key concepts

Real Cash Economy (RCE)

Entropia Universe' rather unique and basic feature is the "Real Cash Economy" (RCE). The in-game currency "Project Entropia Dollars" (PED) has a of 10:1 with the US Dollar. Consequently every item, service or activity in the game has a value linked to the 'real world'. Players can convert 'real-world' cash into the ingame currency Project Entropia Dollar as well as the other way round.

However, by the Entropia Universe EULA and ToU there is no real-world money inside Entropia Universe (reference?). Also there is no virtual property whitin the legal meaning of the term "property". Everything in game incl. avatars, their skills, in-game money, etc are parts of the Entropia Universe system belonging to MindArk and partner companies who are licensing the use of these to the players (reference?). Further infomation is to be found on About Making Money in Entropia Universe.

Depositing

Depositing is the process of transfering real-world money into the game. This can be done by the following methods: bank transfer, credit card/debit card (Visa or MasterCard), PayPal, Paynova, Paysafecard, PayByCash, Ukash or PED Certificate issued by MindArk and often given away for promotion.

• 

  PED Certificate holder front and back cover

• 

  PED Certificate holder inside

You can also receive ingame currency by utilizing Sometrics services but that is not considered depositing.

Withdrawing

It is also possible to withdraw money from the game. When withdrawing money the in-game PED are transfered to a regular bank account. Fees are charged on withdrawals at 1% with a minimum fee of 100 PED (10 USD). Withdrawals are processed within 40 working days and can be made in a choice of 8 currencies based on exchange rates provided by the European Central Bank.

Spending PED

(to do: Items, Ammo, Decay, Usage of Materials, Fees)

Earning PED - Making money in Entropia Universe?

Project Entropia Dollars can be "earned" in different ways. For more detailed information on the topic please refer to: About Making Money in Entropia Universe.

• Sweating: Sweating or formally "Sweat Gathering" is the (free-to-play) process of extracting "Vibrant Sweat" from Creatures. Vibrant sweat is mainly used as an ingredient in Mind Essence and thus has a market value of a few PED/1000 units.
• Collecting: fruits, stones, dung and Broken Elysian Technology| can be more or less rarely found on the ground and picked up for free. All of them are ingredients used in crafting other items and thus have market value.
• Missions: Missions some missions can be played for free but nevertheless reward items or that can be sold or used for pay-to-play activities. Also rewarded Skills can be extracted and sold but the process itself requires paid items.
• Events: Regularly you can find events that are free to participate in, either ingame or on community websites, and nevertheless award the winners with more or less valuable prizes, for example: Guess what's inside the egg and win!
• The Entropia Emissary Program is a Facebook app that allows players to share promotional material via Facebook and receive points for these activities which can be turned into low value ingame items.
• (to do: Sometrics)
• Oil rigs and similar: Oil rigs produce a few units of Oil every few minutes. The oil appears on the ground and can be picked up by everyone. On ROCKtropia one can find the Motörhead Stadium Beer Garden where Motörhead Kegs appear on the ground. These free goods spreading facilities are regularly found in areas with Player-versus-Player combat (PVP) enabled, meaning one probably has to fight for the the free items.
• Trading and services: Trading is another way to generate PED but requires an investment depending on the scale of tradng. Also one can provide services to other players like transporting between planets, running events in Event Areas, item and avatar customization services and more. Most of the services also need an small or big investment to get started.
• (to do: Playing for profit, HOF's, ATH's, ...)
• Calypso Land Deeds (CLD) issued by Planet Calypso are similar to shares. They allow the deedholder to receicve a share of Planet Calypso's total revenue on a weekly basis.

One World

"Unlike many other 3D virtual environments, Entropia Universe is not based on shards. This means that instead of duplicating content on servers, rather it is designed as one continuous world". "To achieve this hundreds of servers are connected to create open landscapes with seamless transitions and on-demand streaming."

Planet Partner concept

Entropia Universe features a Planet Partner concept. MindArk PE AB develop and operate the Entropia Universe platform and provide an "Entropia Universe Planet Development Kit" (EUPDK) to partner companies who develop their own planets within the universe.

CryEngine 2

In 2009 with Version Update 10.0 Entropia Universe switched from Gamebryo to CryEngine 2 allowing for high-end visuals.

• before/after images
• VU10
• http://www.crytek.com/cryengine/cryengine2/overview

Entropia Universe Gameplay

For more detailed insights on specific topics please refer to the Entropia Universe Guide.

General

• Entropia Universe is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, you play with other players from all over the world via the internet.
• Entropia Universe is a persitant virtual world that continues to progres even if you don't play.
• Entropia Universe is unlike most other MMOGs not a "sharded" but a "shared universe", all players are playing within the same world, there are no multiple instances of the game on different servers.
• Entropia Universe is an immersive virtual 3D environment in which you mainly play by controlling an 3D Avatar.

Avatar creation

The avatar creation system offers a multitude of options that allow you to create an avatar within a broad variety of human appearances. The following video gives an introduction to the avatar creation system:

Video:qxSJe8UhN9c

Avatar management

beauty, clothes, homes, progression

Virtual property

Entropia Universe offers a huge selection of virtual property. Besides the items used for major gameplay activities like hunting there are also vehicles of almost every kind, homes, furniture and decoration, all kind of clothes, and investment opportunities like shops, taxable land areas, motherships, etc etc etc.

Professions and skills

Entropia Universe features a multitude of professions and skills in various categories such as "Combat" and "Manufacturing". Ingame skills increase automatically by performing related activities, for example getting hit by a creature increases defense skills. Like most other things in Entropia Universe and unlike in other games skills can be bought from and sold to other players in Skill Implants, except a set of skills in the "Attributes" category - such as Strength, Agility, Health etc.

The big three: Hunting, Mining, Crafting

Among the activities and professions in Entropia Universe Hunting, Mining and Crafting (Manufacturing) are considered "the big three". They cover large portions of the gameplay as part of missions, instances, events (competitions), general skilling or simply as "stand-alone" activity.

Hunting

The planets in Entropia Universe are home of a multitude of creatures that players can hunt. For hunting there are even more weapons than creatures available and in addition weapon attachements like scopes, laser amplifiers and more. There are also tools for healing and many different armor sets for protection. All of these items come with specific strengths and weaknesses that should be considered for hunting specific creatures. Hunting can be done in first person view or third person view. Hunting is embedded in most missions, competitions and instances but is also done for regular skilling.

Mining

Mining is the search for mineral deposits that are available in the two general categories "ores" and "Energy Matters". On Planet Arkadia you can in addition mine for treasures. Various mining equipment is available, absolutely needed is a "Finder" and the consumable "Probes" to find deposits as well as an "Extractor" to extract deposits. Unlike hunting mining is rather a non-time-critical point-and-click process.

Crafting

...

Trading

Trading is a popular 'profession' in Entropia Universe. Traders use the in-game auction system, shops or avatar-to-avatar trade trying to buy cheap and sell high. Buying small quantities of the same resources to achieve larger stacks that sell for more PED is another common trading method, depending on the specific item this can also work the other way round. Transporting goods through Space from one planet to another to profit from varying market values on different planets is also common. There's also higly spectulative trading on the grand scale, including items like Motherships -the biggest class of spaceships in Entropia Universe- and estates potentially worth ten thousands of USD.

Services

Item customization, beauty, estate management, event mamagement, transport, etc

Sweating

Sweating, formally "Sweat Gathering" is the process of extracting "Vibrant Sweat" from animals. Vibrant Sweat has a low but quite stable value since it is used for further processing, mainly to "Mind Essence". That way Sweating is widely known as a way to generate a few PEDs and actually play for free.

Missions

Entropia Universe features a mission system. So far there are 800+ Missions. Some of those missions can be completed without using any PEDs or Equipment.

Instances

Entropia Universe also features an instances system. Instances are seperate areas with usually higher quality content that players usually enter in small teams to achieve a specific goal usually in very limited time. But instances can also be used for official competitions running for several weeks.

PVP

Player-Versus-Player combat is enabled in various seperate zones on planets and almost in complete Space. Depending on the setting of the zones one player can loot specific categories of items from another player, usually only stackable items such as resources and not single items like weapons. Specific categories of player-owned estates have an option to set/unset PVP combat.

Socializing

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Space and planets

...

Entropia Universe Planets

Planets run by Planet Partners in the Entropia Universe. A more detailed comparison of the planets can be found on Entropia Universe Planets. {{#setmainimage:Entropia Universe Port Atantis Harbour.jpg}} [[File:{{#setmainimage:Entropia Universe Port Atantis Harbour.jpg}}]]

Planet Calypso

Planet Calypso is the first planet in the Entropia Universe. It is run by Mindark subsidiary Planet Calypso AB, has been online since 2003, became profitable in 2004 and had an economic turnover of $422M USD in 2009. Planet Calypso is also the largest among the planets and includes the destinations Asteroid (formerly Club NEVERDIE) and Crystal Palace Space Station. Calypso's theme is the human colonization of the frontier planet and fighting the robot threat.

ROCKtropia

ROCKtropia is the first planet after Planet Calypso launched in 2010. ROCKtropia is developed by NEVERDIE Studios headed by Entropia Universe player Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs. ROCKtropia's theme is focussed on pop culture and entertainment. In late 2011 a destination called Hunt The THING based on the remake of the movie The THING was added to the planet.

Next Island

Launched in late 2010 Next Island is third planet in Entropia Universe. It's backstory deals about scientists discovering ways to travel to a parallel universe (Next Island) and throughout time. In 2011 the first time travel destination Ancient Greece has been added to the planet.

Planet Arkadia

Planet Arkadia launched in April 2011. It's the fourth planet added to Entropia Universe and the second one headed by a former regular player ("Ozi", David Dobson). It's setting is similar to Calypso's with aspects of space colonization and Military Sci-fi. A distinct feature is Treasure Hunting, a kind of premium mining variant and instance gameplay.

Planet Cyrene

Cyrene (2012)

Monria (Moon)

In early April 2013 a moon was sold for 1,500,000 PED (=150,000 USD) and named "Monria". Officially Monria is not a planet but features a revenue sharing model similar to regular planets but without the development needs/opportunities of a regular planet.

Planet Toulan

Planet Toulan is an Arabian themed planet developed by Jordanian game developer Beladcom.

Theryon Wars

Theryon Wars is an add to Entropia Universe by Spanish developer Pyxel Arts. Originally it was supposed to launch in 2014 but it's currently not known whether the planet is still under development at all.

Planet Postmoderna

Planet Postmoderna is an independent MMO project and aspiring planet partner. No affiliation to Entropia Universe at time of writing.

Planet Michael

Planet Michael was a Michael Jackson themed planet under development by SEE Virtual Worlds. In June 2011 the partnership between MindArk and SEE Virtual World has been terminated and Planet Michael will not be added to Entropia Universe.

Universal Monsters Planet

Besides Planet Michael SEE Virtual Worlds were supposed to create another planet, the Universal Monsters Planet planet based on the Universal Studios Monsters and monster hunter Van Helsing. (((Source?))) Unfortunately also the Universal Monsters Planet will not be added to Entropia Universe since the partnership between MindArk and SEE Virtual Worlds has been terminated.(((Source?)))

Dotman, 2nd Earth, CRD Planet

CRD was supposed to craft a planet for Entropia Universe but unfotunately is not listed as a planet partner anymore..
Unfortunately the head and promoter of the project at CRD passed away in June 2008.

Entropia Universe Milestones

A very detailed overview on Entropia Universe history can be found on Portal:Entropia Universe History.

• Beta: 05 May 2001 - The game enters Phase I of Beta testing with a number of around 50 participants.
• Gold: 31 January 2003 - Project Entropia went Gold.
• Amethera: A complete new continent called Amethera is released on Planet Calypso.
• Treasure Island sale: Treasure Island was the first major estate sale in Project Entropia. It went to to Australian gamer David Storey aka "Zachurm Deathifier Emergen" for USD 26,500 USD which ensured that it appeared in the Guiness Book of World Records 2004 as the most expensive virtual object.
• Club NEVERDIE sale 2005: Following Treasure Island in 2005 an Asteroid Space Resort was auctioned and bought by well-known Entropia Universe player Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs for USD 100,000. He named the space resort after himself: Club NEVERDIE.
• Name change: The game changes its name from "Project Entropia" to "Entropia Universe".
• 500,000 accounts: On 13 October 2006 the number of registered accounts exceeded 500,000.
• Shopping Malls sale: 4 Shopping malls are sold.
• Banking Licences: 5 Shopping malls are sold.
• FPC spin-off: First Planet Company is created a 100% subsidiary of MindArk PE AB to take over the development of Planet Calypso.
• New Avatar Creation System (2007):
• CryEngine 2 migration: During August 2009 Entropia Universe experiences the most disruptive change in it's histroy, the game engine is switched to CryEngine 2
• Crystal Palace sale (December 2009): Crystal Palace Space Station in orbit of Planet Calypso is sold for 330,000 USD.
• Mission/Quest System (2010):
• ROCKtropia (2010): ROCKtropia
• Vehicles (2010): Vehicles
• Next Island (2010): Next Island
• Medusa's Head sale: Medusa Islands
• Ancient Greece (2011): Ancient Greece
• Planet Arkadia (2011): Planet Arkadia
• Space (2011):
  Space
• Calypso Land Deeds (2011): In late 2011 MindArk introduced Calypso Land Deeds (CLDs) on Planet Calypso. CLDs work similar to shares, the deedholder is given a share of the planet's revenue on a weekly basis.
• Hunt The THING: Hunt The THING
• Instances (2012):
• Virtual Tycoon (2012): In late 2012 MindArk released Virtual Tycoon, a mobile app for devices using the Android OS. Virtual Tycoon enables access to basic game system that before have only be available by using the regular game client on a Windows PC.
• New Avatar Creation System (2013): In early 2013 a completely new Avatar Creation System has been introduced offering players many more options to customize their avatars and also increasing the visual quality.
• TEN (2013): Entropia Universe celebrates its 10nth birthday (after going Gold) with special events and items: TEN.
• Moon estate sale(2013): A moon is auctioned offering the owner a revenue model compared to that of regular planets.
• Monria 2013: Monria - a "moon" based on the Cthulhu Mythos
• Planet Toulan (2014): Planet Toulan - an Arabian themed planet
• Creature Control System (2014)

Key Figures

• Turnover

Number of players

• Registered accounts
  In late 2010/early 2011 the number of registered accounts must have exceeded 1 Million
• Active players
  there are highly speculative assumptions about the number of players, for example:
  • Average number of depositing players per month: 35650
  • Average number of players online at any given time: 1150

Virtual item sales

1. 635,000 USD for Club NEVERDIE (Asteroid Space Resort), NEVERDIE selling it to various other Entropia Universe participants.
2. 330,000 USD for Crystal Palace Space Station by "Buzz Eric Lightyear" (Erik Novak) on December 28, 2009.
3. 150,000 USD for the Monria (the moon) by "Modified Akoz Power" acting for a group of investor on 03 April 2013 (http://www.entropiaplanets.com/threads/moon-sold-for-150-000-in-entropia-universe.8997/)
4. 99,900.10 USD for a bank / banking license by "Yuri iNTellect Efremov" representing the Russian Internet Payment Provider Moneta.ru on May 08, 2007
5. 95,000.20 USD for a bank / banking license by "Jolana Kitty Brice" on May 08, 2007
6. 94,338.40 USD Monria (the moon) purchased by Virtualsense Ltd on 26 November 2015
7. 90,000 USD for a bank / banking license by "Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs" on May 08, 2007
8. 74,600.70 USD for Emerald Lakes Shopping Mall by "Onkel RobRoy Bob" on Dec 29, 2006
9. 70,067 USD for Port Atlantis Shopping Mall by "Epsilon Eps Vaz" on Dec 29, 2006
10. 69,696.9 USD for Item:Unique Green Atrox Queen Egg by "Zachurm Deathifier Emergen" (David Storey) who bought it from "Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs" on Febuary 01, 2010, making it the most expensive portable virtual object.(to do: exact date)
11. 60,0000 USD for a bank / banking license by "Baroness Anshe Chung" on May 08, 2007

(Extrapolation of the list of most expensive items.)

Technical Details

Systems Requirements:

Very High Settings

Internet Connection: ADSL or better Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 Computer Processor: Intel I7 / AMD Phenom II Computer Memory: 4096 MB RAM or more Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 285 / ATI Radeon 4870 or better DirectX: Version 9.0c or later Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space

High Settings

Internet Connection: ADSL or better Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 Computer Processor: Intel Core duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 Series or better Computer Memory: 2048 MB RAM or more Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Series or better / ATI Radeon 2900 series or better. DirectX: Version 9.0c or later Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space

Medium Settings

These requirements should be considered the minimum system requirements for Entropia Universe: Internet Connection: ADSL or better Operating System: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 Computer Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.8g hz or AMD Athlon 64 Series or better Computer Memory: 2048 MB RAM or more Graphics Card (with latest drivers): NVIDIA GeForce 7800 Series or better / ATI Radeon 1900 series or better. DirectX: Version 9.0c or later Sound Device: Direct X compatible sound device Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels Hard Drive Space: 10 GB of free space

Low Settings

If your system falls below the Medium Settings requirement you may still be able to participate in Entropia Universe, but your visual experience will be hampered. If you use Medium Settings on a system below Medium Settings requirements, you may suffer from low frame rate. If you use Low Settings, there may be artifacts such as white texture-less avatars, no ground vegetation, short draw distance and no shadows. Please note that support is not given on technical issues deriving from a computer that only handles the Low Settings.

Entropia Universe Controversies

Planet Partner inequality

MindArk are regularly accused of unequal treatment of their Planet Partner companies, acting in favor of their own (via 100% subsidiary Planet Calypo AB) Planet Calypso and discriminate against other planets. For further information please refer to Entropia Universe Planet Partner Concept#Planet Partner inequality controversy

Entropia Universe Media

Videos

Original Project Entropia "Infomercial" from 2004

Video:U7y7ROoZKSY

Images

Entropia Universe Screenshots

To do: Space, Interfaces, Genesis

Planet Calypso Screenshots

To do: Gateway, Asteroid, Crystal Palace, Beacon More in the Planet Calypso Gallery.

• 

  Port Atlantis Harbour

• 

  Port Atlantis, Needle Tower

• 

  View over Swamp Camp

• 

  Sissiphaw Water Plant

• 

  Item Collection

• 

  Hunting Araneatrox

• 

  Mulciber

ROCKtropia Screenshots

To do: City of Dreams

• 

  Zomhattah at night

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  Motörhead Stadium

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  Hyperplex Cinema, entry to Hunt The THING

• 

  Hunt The THING

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  No Way Out Maximum Security Prison

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  Hell

More in the ROCKtropia Gallery.

Next Island Screenshots

More in the Next Island Gallery.

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  Tropical paradise

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  Tropical paradise

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  Tropical paradise

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  Ancient Greece

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  Ancient Greece, Cyclops attacking

Planet Arkadia Screenshots

More in the Planet Arkadia Gallery.

• 

  Ruins

Planet Cyrene Screenshots

More in the Planet Cyrene Gallery.

• 

  Terranix Male (wallpaper)

Monria Screenshots

More in the Monria Gallery.

• 

  Crater with habitats

Planet Toulan Screenshots

More in the Planet Toulan Gallery.

Theryon Wars Screenshots

More in the Theryon Wars Gallery.

Entropia Universe articles, reviews, interviews

^{Press releases, news and magazine articles featuring Entropia Universe}

Selected Entropia Universe articles

2007

• March 12, 2007: Virtual worlds, real money on edition.cnn.com

Selected Entropia Universe reviews

2013

2011

• http://www.giantbomb.com/entropia-universe/3030-21652/user-reviews/2200-21614?review_id=21614 (2011)

Links, references, contributors, other sources, categories

• Entropia Universe Glossary, Entropia Universe related terms and abreviations
• Entropia Universe Guide, more details on specific topics
• Shortcuts to this page: http://www.entropiaplanets.com/wiki/EU,

Contributors:

Other sources: Wikipedia | Entropia Directory