The creators, Mindark, insist that Entropia Universe is not a game, but a 'real' online universe. Certainly there are elements of real life, perhaps most notible is the potential for the more careless participant to lose significant amounts of real money. But there are clearly also elements of game-play in, for example, the hunting and PvP activities within the game.
Entropia Universe (formerly 'Project Entropia') is a massive online universe - real people from all over the world are online together at any given time, engaging in real trade and activities. The 'Real Cash Economy' is based on Entropia's currency - the PED (Project Entropia Dollar) which has a fixed conversion rate to the US Dollar. 10 PED = 1 $US. Participants are able to transfer their own funds into their own account within the virtual universe and are able to withdraw cash to their RL bank accounts. There are also a number of ways of making money within the game without transferring any in such as Vibrant Sweat gathering, collecting oil or finding paid employment.
Using the PED, it is possible to purchase and repair items at terminals, trade with other avatars on the street, buy items from avatar-owned shops, trade via the central auction (there is an auctioneer in most towns) and even purchase apartments, houses and areas of virtual land.
Entropia Universe (or Project Entropia, as it was called then), according to it's creators, had a 2005 turnover of 1.6 billion PED or $160 million US.
Entropia Universe is under constant development with new content regularly added via version updates.
Entropia Universe is set in a distant Sci-Fi future. Participants arrive on the planet Calypso as unskilled new colonists. The colonists may choose to begin building up their skills in any or all activities by simply practising the chosen task, such as sweat gathering, hunting, mining, manufacturing tools or clothes etc. Skill points are accumulated by the participant as they engage in an activity.
Calypso is an untamed planet, with human populations centred in fortified strongholds at various locations. The land between these 'towns' contains valuable enmatter and ore deposits for the colonists to mine. It is also overrun with Calypso's indiginous wildlife which ranges from small, relatively harmless critters to large, aggressive dinosaur-like monsters and worse. Fortunately for the new colonist there is a robust network of revival terminals hosted at all cities, towns and even some remote outposts. This makes dying within the virtual universe little more than a mild inconvenience.
Calypso has many different landscaped which the new colonists will discover as they explore en-route to new trading centres. There are mountains, caves, castles, outposts and deserted camps to discover as well as relics from past battles and early colonisation efforts.
There are robots on Calypso... and they ain't friendly.
The origin of the robot forces is unclear. But, they turn up on Calypso, from time to time, in various numbers ranging from skermishing parties to full-scale invasion forces. When active they generally become a substantial hinderance to colonisation efforts. Even at times when there are no significant robot incidents, there is still a permanent robot presence in the more remote areas on the planet.
One of the more recent additions to the virtual universe is the space station. Colonists can book flights to the space station for about 20 PED, where they can hunt and mine in the diodomes and visit the unique Club Neverdie - Entropia's avatar-owned virtual nightclub.
A large number of societies exist within the Entropia Universe. There are societies thet recruit and retain elite members, societies that recruit and mentor new players, and societies that recruit colonists with one specific primary activity to form, for example, a mining society or a hunting society. New colonists are free to join any existing society, create a new society of their own or remain a freelancer. Once in a society, a participant may leave at any time.
