User:Robindeurloo/sandbox

Entropia Universe is a massively multiplayer online virtual universe designed by the Swedish software company MindArk, based in Gothenburg.

Development
Development of Entropia Universe (formerly Project Entropia) was started in Sweden in 1995 by Jan Welter Timkrans and a group of colleagues. During the development there has been a lot of changes. In 2001 the game used the NetImmerse 4 game engine, which to today's standards does not look so nice, but for 2001 it was state of the art. On May 20, 2002 they started the Commercial Open Trial and the game was opened for the big public. Some of the more interesting editions to the game are:

The next interesting development in the history of Entropia Universe came on 17 August 2009 which is the implementation of the long awaited CryEngine 2 from Crytek. This again gave the game the cutting edge of game engines and made the game look very good. The one problem with this engine is that it is not made for MMO's and therefor needed a lot of work from both MindArk and Crytek to get it to work. Because of this new engine almost everything in the game had to change including the landmasses on the, then only, planet Calypso, which they packed into an even with a nice story of attacking robots and a big space ship crashing into the planet changing the land. After a few days where the game was offline it restarted with the new engine and everybody had to go and explore the new planet again. There were also some systems that were disabled right after the implementation of the CryEngine, of which some got back after a few weeks and some took months or even years. There are still systems that were in place before CryEngine that have not yet returned at the end of 2012.

Character creation
Before beginning the game a player has to choose a name for his avatar, which must be a first name, a last name and a nickname of which all 3 names will be visible to all the players in game. The name can not have any profanities in and can never be changed, unless MindArk thinks the name is inappropriate. Next the new player will need to create his or her avatar and can choose to adjust about everything, from sex to height to eye, hair and skin color.

During the process of creating your avatar there will be some personal info asked which will not show up for anyone in-game. This info is used by MindArk to verify that you are real when you wanna withdraw money out of the game. Giving them false information, could end you up not being able to withdraw any money.

After initial creation further physical modifications can only be achieved through the services of other users acting as hairdressers or plastic surgeons, for example.

Contrary to most other MMO's every person is only allowed ONE avatar and having more then one could end a player up banned from the game loosing any funds they have invested in the game. This drastic measure is implemented to don't give players the opportunity to cheat or farm, which could really influence the game and it's players in a negative way because of the real money that is involved.

Because of the 'only one avatar per person' rule people should be careful when they wanna start the game over from the beginning (no idea why people would do that) because when starting the game over with another avatar that will be your second one and you could be banned from the game. If for some reason you do wanna start over, the smart thing to do is contact MindArk asking them to delete your previous account. This is also on situation where filling out your real information is needed, because they will most likely ask for some form of identification, before deleting your account.

Security
The standard security for the Entropia Universe consists of just your user name and password, but because of the Real Cash Economy, and the 1000's of dollars some players have inside the game, players have the choice to secure their account in a way that is much stricter then most game, using the Gold Card System. This system consist of a Gold Card with a chip on it and a Card Reader. This system is also seen with bank all over the world and as far as we know has never been cracked or hacked to access the Entropia Universe.

Planets
Entropia Universe, or Project Entropia as it was called back then, was created in 2003 with only one planet called Planet Calypso. With the anticipation for more planets in the universe the name was changed to what it is called now.

The second planet was released on April 6, 2010 and is called Planet Rocktropia and is owned and developed by NEVERDIE studios of long time Entropia Universe player Jon 'NEVERDIE' Jacobs. The theme of this planet is music, which is seen throughout the planet.

The third planet to be released was Planet Next Island on December 8, 2010. The theme of this planet is paradise and it indeed looks like that, with nice beaches and landscapes.

The fourth planet that was launched is Planet Arkadia on May 25, 2011. The theme of this planet is Treasure Hunting which you can do both in-game as outside the game.

The fifth planet that was launched is Planet Cyrene on May 1, 2012. This was a soft launch to let excising players on the planet and test things out. When the full launch is planned is not know at this time.

Space, while not really a planet, this is a different area in the Entropia Universe, connecting all planets. Space is developed and managed by MindArk themselves and allows the players to travel from one planet the the others in their space ships.