Entropia Universe
Encyclopedia
Entropia Universe is a massively multiplayer online virtual universe
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...

 designed by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 software company MindArk
MindArk
MindArk is a Swedish software company. It created Entropia Universe , a popular MMORPG-style online virtual universe. In partnership with American companies Nextpert and Neverdie Studios, it will launch the next generation 3D virtual world, Next Island in 2010...

, based in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

. Entropia uses a micropayment
Micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...

 business model, in which players may buy in-game currency (PED - Project Entropia Dollars) with real money that can be redeemed back into real world funds at a fixed exchange rate of 10:1. This means that virtual items acquired within Entropia Universe have a real cash value, and a participant may, at any time, initiate a withdrawal of their accumulated PEDs back into real world currencies according to the fixed exchange rate, minus transaction fees, the minimum amount for a withdrawal is 1000 PED. It generally takes several months for a withdrawal to be made, and as a result players often discouraging players from making such withdrawals, and revenue of the business is therefore largely generated from activities within the virtual universe.

The Entropia Universe is a direct continuation of Project Entropia. Strategic partnerships with media companies and financial institutions combined with the addition of new or enhanced developer tools in 2008 are expected to allow for the construction of new planets, to exist within the financial structure of Entropia Universe, for third party content providers to develop and market independently.

The Entropia Universe entered the Guinness World Records Book
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

 in both 2004 and 2008 for the most expensive virtual world objects ever sold, and in 2009, a virtual space station, a popular destination, sold for $330,000. This was then eclipsed in November 2010 when Jon Jacobs
Jon Jacobs (actor)
Jon Jacobs is an English actor, entrepreneur, director, producer, writer and creator of the avatar Neverdie, which is frequently stylized NEVERDIE, from the virtual world Entropia Universe that Reuters described as “a legendary adventurer, celebrity, and fabulously wealthy entrepreneur in the...

 sold a virtual resort on Planet Calypso for $635,000; this property was sold in chunks, with the largest sold for $335,000.

Development

Development of Entropia Universe (formerly Project Entropia) was started in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in 1995 by Jan Welter Timkrans and a group of colleagues. During its initial testing phase in 2002 the offices of MindArk were raided by court officials following a complaint by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 that MindArk was using unlicensed software. MindArk has stated that this may have been an attempt by Microsoft to derail the game's development because of its threat to their game Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call is a fantasy MMORPG for Microsoft Windows-based PCs developed and published by Turbine Entertainment. It was published by Microsoft until 2004. Asheron's Call is set on the continent of Dereth and its surrounding islands on the fictional planet of Auberean...

. The game was launched commercially at the start of 2003.

Gameplay

The backstory of Entropia Universe is that of a distant science-fiction future. The specific settings vary a little bit on each planet. On Planet Calypso participants assume the roles of colonists who must develop the untamed planet of Calypso and explore its two continents, Eudoria and Amethera. Populated with fierce and dangerous creatures, the perilous wilderness on Calypso is also rich in minerals and ore, both of which can potentially be a source of income for would-be colonists.

There are two space stations in orbit over Calypso. Their names are - Club NEVERDIE (CND) & Crystal Palace (CP). In order to travel to them, players either need to own a hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

 which contains a working spaceship, or alternatively, players can pay other participants acting as pilots to fly them there. all pilot services are disabled, so temporary teleports to and from the space stations are being provided for a fee of 40 PED.

Since the beginning of 2010 two new planets have been added to Entropia Universe. The first planet released was Rocktropia, which is a rock & roll themed planet. The second planet released was Next Island, which is a resort planet. Next Island is, as of December 29, 2010, in beta." 24 May 2011 Planet Arkadia was added.

The outposts, cities, and auction posts on the planet serve as trading hubs where virtual items such as tools, weapons, and minerals are bought and sold by colonists. The wide range of professions available to colonists makes the accumulation of skills and resources a lively business. The cities also serve as social and cultural connection points for the colonist community. Some colonists on a rare occasion participate in the project only socially without engaging in business, such as beggars and priests of Lootius.

Cost to participate

The service can be downloaded and played for free, following an account registration procedure. However, a new player receives only a damaged orange jumpsuit
Jumpsuit
Jumpsuit originally referred to the utilitarian one-piece garments used by parachuters/skydivers, but has come to be used as a common term for any one-piece garment with sleeves and legs.-Use:...

, a pair of grey shoes and a tool for gathering vibrant sweat from creatures. As such, although one is able to participate for free, more involved gameplay is difficult without depositing funds. Players with little or no money are initially limited to the following actions:
  • Using the service as a 3-D virtual chat room or exploring the virtual universe.
  • Using an in-game process called "Sweating" or "Sweat Gathering" to extract bottles of "Vibrant Sweat," which can then be sold to other players for PED or changed to items. The 2010.06.03 VU release may introduce 2 new types of "sweat".
  • Collecting "fruit", "dung", and 6 sorts of precious rare stones which can be sold to other players to raise funds.
  • Performing numerous "jobs" for other players – for example, acting as a trader
    Merchant
    A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

    , or buying pre-defined amount of crafting materials at specified rate for crafters.
  • Performing several missions (quests
    Quest (gaming)
    A quest in role-playing video games — including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their predecessors, MUDs — is a task that a player-controlled character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward...

    ) that can be completed without any in-game equipment or money.
  • Trickery: cheating
    Cheating in online games
    Cheating in online games is an activity that modifies the game experience to give one player an advantage over others. Depending on the game, different activities constitute cheating and it is either a matter of game policy or consensus opinion as to whether a particular activity is considered to...

    , and stealing.
  • Finding abandoned items or PED lying on the ground.
  • Begging
    Begging
    Begging is to entreat earnestly, implore, or supplicate. It often occurs for the purpose of securing a material benefit, generally for a gift, donation or charitable donation...

    , which is largely frowned upon.
  • Take part in newbies missions in order to receive free tools and ammunition.

Players may purchase items needed to kill Entropia's tougher creatures—which are often likely to yield a higher number of valuable items than their weaker kin—or they can participate in the "Mining" and "Crafting / Manufacturing" professions, which can produce saleable items to fund further gameplay. However, an element of risk is involved in all of these activities, and the expected payback
Expected value
In probability theory, the expected value of a random variable is the weighted average of all possible values that this random variable can take on...

 is usually less than the funds required to initially partake in them.

Many players attempt trading as a fun and seemingly attractive method for acquiring PEDs, but has typically low margins
Markup (business)
Markup is the difference between the cost of a good or service and its selling price. A markup is added on to the total cost incurred by the producer of a good or service in order to create a profit. The total cost reflects the total amount of both fixed and variable expenses to produce and...

. One exception to this is trading so-called "uber" items, which are rare and efficient versions of normal devices. Such items can retail in-game for the equivalent of thousands of US dollars.

Other ways of earning PEDs have included: organizing ticketed
Digital ticket
A digital ticket is a virtual instance of a ticket which represents the digitization of rights to claim goods or services.-Criteria:A digital ticket must fulfill the following criteria:* Secure...

 events within Entropia, operating a player-owned shop (such as a beauty salon), managing a shopping mall for its taxes
Tax collector
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. Tax collectors are often portrayed in fiction as being evil, and in the modern world share a somewhat similar stereotype to that of lawyers....

, piloting others into space, virtual real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 agency, providing a clothes/furniture coloring/texturising service, or promoting
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....

 those enterprises.

Character creation

Before beginning the game, the player's character model can be manipulated in a variety of ways. The model's skin, eye and hair colour can be selected in addition to altering physical dimensions of the body and facial features. After initial creation further physical modifications can only be achieved through the services of other users acting as hairdressers or plastic surgeons, for example.

Partnerships

The cultural city of 'New Oxford' within Entropia Universe offers participants the opportunity to purchase real world items, such as contemporary art and clothing.

Some of the companies that have partnerships to sell real world items within the Entropia Universe include 'Vexed Generation Clothing Ltd' of London, England, '21st Century Fine Art' which has its real world offices in New York, USA. 21st Century Fine Art have also opened a gallery in the heart of 'New Oxford' within the Entropia Universe.

Next Island, one of the EU planets, has licensed Transformers 3 images for virtual goods. http://nextisland.com/planet/2011/press-releases/second-wave-arrival-sandy-lutra-offers-transformers-3/

Significant events and virtual property sales

On December 14, 2004, the game creators MindArk
MindArk
MindArk is a Swedish software company. It created Entropia Universe , a popular MMORPG-style online virtual universe. In partnership with American companies Nextpert and Neverdie Studios, it will launch the next generation 3D virtual world, Next Island in 2010...

 announced the conclusion of the first "Treasure Island Sale". This was a virtual island put up for auction. The winning bidder, an avatar named Zachurm "Deathifier" Emegen, paid 265,000 PED (US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

26,500) for the island. At the time this was the highest price ever paid for a virtual item. According to the press release, it is "a large island off a newly discovered continent surrounded by deep creature infested waters. The island boasts beautiful beaches ripe for developing beachfront property, an old volcano with rumors of fierce creatures within, the outback is overrun with mutants, and an area with a high concentration of robotic miners guarded by heavily armed assault robots indicates interesting mining opportunities."

On October 24, 2005, a virtual 'Asteroid Space Resort' was bought by Jon "Neverdie" Jacobs for a sum of 1,000,000 PED (US$100,000), greatly surpassing the sale of Treasure Island. Jon Jacobs is also the writer and producer of a song played within the Entropia Universe called "Gamer Chick". The Asteroid was named Club NEVERDIE after Jacobs's own in game Avatar and has made headlines around the world for the high price of the purchase and his own ambitious plans to turn the resort into a venue for "Live Entertainment in Virtual Reality" Although, TO create this Virtual Entertainment for us, he took the huge gamble of mortaging his own house in order to purchase the Space Station. He later reported that his investment had almost tripled in the 2 years following. Some also believe this was a publicity scam made up by MindArk.

On November 9, 2005, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 reported that "Deathifier" had recouped his investment in under a year. He made money by selling virtual homes as well as taxing other gamers to hunt or mine on the island. "The money made to date is only a taste of what can be achieved with my virtual island purchase," said Deathifier.

On May 2, 2006, MindArk
MindArk
MindArk is a Swedish software company. It created Entropia Universe , a popular MMORPG-style online virtual universe. In partnership with American companies Nextpert and Neverdie Studios, it will launch the next generation 3D virtual world, Next Island in 2010...

 announced the introduction of an ATM card enabling players to withdraw the real-world currency equivalent of their PED funds directly from any real-world Versatel ATMs. As reported on the BBC newsfeed users could sell virtual items online and then go purchase a dinner for themselves down the street in real life with this cash card technology. It was stated that $165 million had "passed through the game" in 2005 and that this figure was expected to double in 2006.

Mike Everest, a home-schooled high school senior from Durango, Colorado, and his mother earned $35,000 in 2006 by constructing and selling weapons in Entropia. Of this, $12,000 will be used as college funds for his siblings. Everest spent an average of three hours per day playing the game and intended to continue playing to fund his own college education.

On October 17, 2006, MindArk
MindArk
MindArk is a Swedish software company. It created Entropia Universe , a popular MMORPG-style online virtual universe. In partnership with American companies Nextpert and Neverdie Studios, it will launch the next generation 3D virtual world, Next Island in 2010...

 announced that Entropia Universe had achieved the milestone of over 500,000 registered users. "The growth of Entropia Universe is an enormous achievement for us and the members," said Jan Welter, CEO of MindArk, developer of Entropia Universe. "As the world of video games evolves to become more than just a means of two-dimensional entertainment, we are seeing a demand for the integration of real-world features in virtual environments. Individuals are joining the Entropia Universe community to interact, meet new people, learn new ideas, reach entrepreneurial aspirations, create societies and even foster new relationships in everyday reality."

On May 8, 2007, MindArk announced the results of the world's first virtual Banking license
Banking license
Under most jurisdictions, a banking license is a prerequisite for a financial institution that wants to provide banking services, such as taking deposits from the general public....

 auction. These two-year exclusive licenses aim to integrate real world banking systems into Entropia Universe. The virtual Entropia Universe banks will work similarly to real world banks, or pawn shops. Initially, they will be provided with secure systems enabling them to lend money to participants and collect interest, design and name their own virtual bank building(s), and make their own personnel available through avatars. Each winner must add a further US$100,000 as working capital
Working capital
Working capital is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization or other entity, including governmental entity. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital. Net working capital is...

. MindArk CIO
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...

 Marco Behrmann said, "The five banks will have integrated services within the mechanics of Entropia Universe and will not just be virtual advertising
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...

 spots." After months of bidding the five licenses sold for a total of US$404,000, to:
  • Avatar “Janus JD D'Arcwire”, representing Wirecard
    Wirecard
    Wirecard AG is a global financial services and technology company headquartered in Aschheim, Munich, Germany. The company provides payment processing, card issuing and risk management services to more than 10.000 corporate customers worldwide. Its Internet payment service competes with PayPal and...

     Bank AG, who paid US$59,060.
  • Russian Internet Payment Provider
    Payment Service Provider
    A payment service provider offers merchants online services for accepting electronic payments by a variety of payment methods including credit card, bank-based payments such as direct debit, bank transfer, and real-time bank transfer based on online banking...

     MONETA.ru, with avatar “Yuri iNTellect” who paid US$99,900.
  • Entropia celebrity “Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs”, who paid US$90,000.
  • Second Life
    Second Life
    Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

     virtual celebrity and entrepreneur Anshe Chung
    Anshe Chung
    Anshe Chung is the main avatar of Ailin Graef in the online world Second Life. Referred to as the "Rockefeller of Second Life" by a CNN journalist, she has built an online business that engages in development, brokerage, and arbitrage of virtual land, items, and currencies, and has been featured...

    , who paid US$60,000.
  • Avatar "Jolana Kitty Brice", an Entropia Universe participant and entrepreneur who paid US$95,000.


On December 8, 2009, the sale of the Crystal Palace Space Station was announced. A public auction held from December 14, 2009 through December 28, 2009 determined the new owner.
It was won by Buzz Erik Lightyear who paid 3.3 million PED, or US$330,000 for it.

On June 15, 2010, parent company MindArk AB released its 2009 annual report. They reported a cash flow of -18.6 Million SEK (-$2.4M). In the report it states that the real life bank they were planning to start is on hold due to a lack of funds. MindArk also says they have a signed letter of intent to sell their original virtual planet, Planet Calypso, for a price of $6,000,000 USD to an unnamed company. This company was later on announced to be SEE Virtual Worlds, which was already a partner with the intention to release at least two planets in the Entropia Universe (Planet Michael
Planet Michael
Planet Michael was a planned MMORPG inspired by the music, videos, and life of Michael Jackson. It is being developed by SEE Digital Studios AB and will be published by SEE Virtual Worlds, LLC. The game is scheduled for release in late 2011.-Overview:...

, a virtual world celebrating the life of Michael Jackson, and a second planet featuring monsters from Universal) but in June 2011, MindArk released a statement announcing the end of the partnership with SEE altogether.

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