The worlds will be developed in conjunction with Cyber Recreation Development Corp., an online entertainment company supported by the Chinese government. MindArk plans to train CRD employees to design and run the worlds, which will also be accessible to players outside of China.

Entropia Universe--the continuation of Project Entropia--boasts a user base of over 500,000 players. Users currently inhabit two continents on a single world, and take part in activities such as hunting, mining, and fruit collecting, in order to fund the purchase of goods such as items and real estate. Much like the virtual world of Linden Lab's Second Life, Entropia allows users to play for free, in addition to supporting the exchange of in-game currency for real money, thus creating a vast virtual economy. Those who choose to deposit hard currency into the game stand to earn a significant return depending on their business prowess. In a recent example of in-game investment, MindArk last month revealed that five in-game banking licenses had sold for a total of over $400,000 US at auction. The winners included Entropia celebrities, entrepreneurs, and real-world banking corporations.

"It is estimated that the project will generate some 10,000 qualified job opportunities in China," said David Liu, corporate chief of CRD. "An important aspect for this project is also the positive effects on our environment that we foresee. People will actually be able to work from home inside Entropia Universe, as many people do today, even from rural areas, thereby decreasing the amount of pollution generated by travel."

Following Google's controversial adherence to censorship in the Chinese market, the announcement by MindArk has caused many commentators to question the viability of self-expression within a virtual Chinese world. According to the Associated Press, the Hong Kong Daily newspaper has predicted that the Chinese government will create a police force for the game to enforce its ban on politically subversive behavior.

"We don't have any police force in Entropia Universe," responded MindArk executive Carl Uggla, while admitting that the game's current policy did not rule out future censorship by CRD. "That's something between them and the Chinese government."