GC '07: Entropia Universe

LEIPZIG, Germany--Though massively multiplayer online game players have been long since blurred the line between real and virtual economies in games like Everquest and World of Warcraft, Mindoro's long-running and free-to-play MMO Entropia Universe has embraced the idea of exchanging real money for the virtual kind. We had a chance to visit the MindArk booth at the 2007 Games Convention to speak with CIO Marco Behrmann about the game, originally released in 2003, and the complexities of dealing with a traditional economy in a virtual world.

At first glance, Entropia looks like a mix between Anarchy Online and Second Life. The sci-fi setting revolves around in a world in the process of being colonized by its second wave of inhabitants, after the first wave was wiped out by a horde of nefarious robots. Players have the ability to create, buy, and sell merchandise and items in the game, using what looks to be a flexible skill system that includes everything from creating items, armor, and weapons, to your proficiency with a variety of different weapon types found in the game.

Using your various skills will improve your proficiency at those skills, allowing you better access to higher-end raw materials and, more importantly, more money. If you're a miner, for example, as your skills rise, your ability to harvest increasingly rare minerals will increase. Because those minerals are highly coveted in the game's economy, you're able to sell your mined raw materials, or indeed hire yourself out as a mining contractor to those looking for your specialized skills.

The game doesn't have a traditional mission structure; instead, it's up to the player to find his or her path in the world of Entropia. Behrmann said that when players arrive in the world for the first time, they're dropped off on the in-game equivalent of Ellis Island, where they might be hired by other players to perform tasks, or taken under the wing of a mentor who will receive a reward for successfully training an apprentice in various skills. In addition, user-created events are always on hand to take part in: Behrmann mentioned boxing matches, fashion contests, and a three-month long PVP battle that recently ended as just a few examples of user-created events.

What sets this entire game apart is that the Project Entropia Dollars (the in-game name for the system's currency) can be translated to real currency. There's a fixed exchange rate--10 PEDs for one US dollar--and transactions can go either way, with you injecting your own cash into the system for use in buying game items, or withdrawing money you've made along the way and converting it to cash.

Real money means real security concerns in the game, and Behrmann and the team say that security is a primary concern for the development team behind the game. Every transaction in the game is logged for reporting purposes. In addition, because many of the tasks in the game require cooperation between multiple players, Behrmann said that a contract system is inevitable for the game, allowing multiple players to agree upon what they can contribute to a financial undertaking, and what their slice of the pie will be once the investment blooms.

The fixed exchange rate is one part of Entropia's economic equation; item rarity and degradation combine to make up the other part. As an item is used, be it a sniper rifle or mining tool, it gradually degrades in quality, and its resell value back into the system decreases. However, an item that has degraded can still be sold on the open market via auction for much more than its "face" value, and it's here that the money is to be made.

According to Behrmann, Entropia Universe is updated with new content approximately every six weeks; the most recent patch included new items and monsters, as well as some structural updates. Thanks to a recently signed deal with Crytek, next year Entropia will be upgrading its visuals with the developer's cutting-edge graphical CryEngine, which will surely be a big improvement over the current game's rather stale visuals.

Entropia Universe is currently available for download from the game's official Web site.