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Utopia (Online Game)Utopia is a text-based multi-player online computer strategy game whereupon creating an account, players are given a provincial territory with a base amount of resources and randomly assigned to Kingdoms. Utopia refreshes itself every two-to-three months in rounds, and resets with usually minor changes to gameplay mechanisms. There are three gameservers: "World of Legends," where new players are encouraged to start, "Battlefields," where the game's most competitive players can be found, and "Genesis," an experimental server where possible play changes are tested. Overview Kingdoms consist of twenty to twenty-five other players, which are then assigned to Islands and given a numerical designation. Each kingdom has a monarch whose responsibilities can include everything from player coordination to choosing war targets to diplomacy. Most monarchs will delegate various responsibilities to other players within a kingdom. For diplomacy, although there is a mechanism for in-game messaging, most players use instant messaging software like ICQ or AIM, with IRC hosts also playing a role. Utopia has in-game forums for each kingdom to coordinate actions and socialize within, and out-of-game forums for strategy discussions, general talk, propagandizing, etc. Gameplay Players are given a choice of Race classes (Human, Elf, Avian, etc) and Personality classes (Merchant, Freak, General, etc) for strategical variations on play. Time in Utopia moves as such: one real-time hour equals one Utopian day; one real-time day equals one Utopian month. Seven Utopian months (or one real-time week) equal one Utopian year. There are four basic military units of varying values, and sometimes varying in value between race classes: soldiers (little offensive or defensive value, but are trained to attain higher value), offensive specialists, defensive specialists, and elites which can be used both offensively and defensively. Elite unit values differ wildly between race classes. Provinces also make use of thievery and magic operations. Due to the limitations on population (a combination of peasants, military units, thieves, and wizards) within a province, players are encouraged to specialize as attackers, thieves, or mages. At each restart, all provinces are given 72 real-time hours to grow under protection, when no attacks of any kind are possible, and no aid passed between kingdommates. Protection usually ends at midnight US central time on the assigned date. Players starting when a round is already in play also receive three days of protection, but are given more resources than if they'd created their account at the beginning of a round. Growth Through the course of play, a province-holder will grow in size and worth by expanding either via exploration, which requires a purchase and loss of minor military units per acre, or aggression, referred to in-game as "landgrabbing." The latter costs no money and the offensive units sent out return in a set number of Utopian days. Players can either choose random targets - other players - to landgrab, or do so in a kingdom-wide war against another kingdom. In addition to a player's skill, a province's size at end-game is also relative to whatever curves are created by changes in the gameplay mechanism from round-to-round, and the prevailing strategies of Utopia's top players in reaction to the changes. Society One social aspect of the game which makes its way into play are alliances. Alliances are not officially endorsed by the game-masters, but rather accepted as an inevitability. The official game does not support them and there is no server space for alliance operations; coordination is self-motivated and usually carried out in private forums. Occasionally, alliance-wide wars will break out. There are two schools of thought regarding the object of the game. For some, the point of play is mainly the social aspect; with something like 40,000 possible accounts per server the social possibilities seem infinite. The game's more competitive players focus on getting their provinces and kingdoms listed in the Hall of Honors, which is posted at the end of each round, either for their landsize, networth, or "Honor," a point system which rewards players for their aggressiveness. Those who excell in both social and competitive play tend to become the game's elites. If one does not wish to play in the kingdom they are assigned to, that player will have the option of deleting and remaking their account or defecting to another kingdom. History Utopia came online in January 1999 after a series of betas, referred to by players as "First Beta," "Long Beta," and "Short Beta." Game creator Mehul Patel was involved in the BBS-based gaming movement prior to moving to the web with Earth oline multiplayer game.. Utopia's earliest rounds are often spoken of as a golden, chaotic age by the game's most experienced players. Because kingdoms were broken up after each of the betas, players initially assumed they would also be broken up, after each round, once the game officially went online. When that didn't happen, many players formed strong loyalties and attachments to their kingdommates, but this started to create minor stagnation among the game's societal structure, particularly pertaining to the upper strata of Utopia's most successful participants and kingdoms. After Utopia's first three rounds, Patel attempted to correct the stagnation and created the sole, forced, game-wide kingdom break-up in its history. The effect was considered disastrous; wide-scale cheating resulted as players traded accounts. For some, it was to reunite with their former kingdommates. For others, to create "super kingdoms," comprising the game's most competitive players. The result was to compound the stagnation ten-fold. Although there had been some minor account trading taking place in the early rounds, it was generally unspoken of. After the shuffle, it became common knowledge and an openly-endorsed strategy by Utopia's competive players. Before the shuffle kingdoms where the individual players weren't particularly competitive, but had strong loyalties to each other, were usually able to band together to take down a harassing individual of stronger size, but less well-integrated into their own kingdom socially. With trading, having a well-socialized kingdom took far less effort and that segment of the more competitive players were enabled to take complete control of the game's hierarchy. Patel eventually cracked down on the practice, but it still prevails among those with the technical knowledge and skills to hack the server. External links
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