A land area is a piece of a planet owned by a player. The owner controls what spawns there, and takes a percentage of the loot everyone takes on it.
They are one of the clearest examples of Entropia Universe's economy working as a real economy: a player buys an asset, invests in making it attractive, and earns from the activity it hosts.
Why hunters go there
If a land area taxes your loot, hunting there costs more than hunting the same creature elsewhere. Players do it anyway, for good reasons:
- Better spawns. Owners tune density and maturity to make the area worth visiting, and density is worth real money to a hunter. See Planning a hunting run.
- Creatures you cannot find easily elsewhere, including combinations an owner has deliberately arranged.
- Convenience. Facilities, teleporters and a layout designed for hunting rather than for scenery.
- Events. Owners run competitions on their land, which brings both prizes and other players.
The trade is straightforward: you pay a tax, you get a better hunting environment. Whether it is worth it is arithmetic, and the tax belongs in your cost per kill.
The tax
The owner sets a percentage taken from loot on the area. It is deducted automatically.
For a hunter, this is a direct addition to cost. A land area with excellent spawns and a high tax can still be better value than a poor free spawn, and it can also be worse. The only way to know is to compare, with the tax included.
Owning one
Land areas are bought and sold between players, and they are among the more substantial assets in the game.
What an owner does:
- Tunes the spawns, choosing creatures and maturities to attract the hunters they want.
- Collects the tax from activity on the land.
- Runs events to bring people in.
- Maintains a reputation, because hunters choose where to go and word travels.
What an owner is exposed to:
- It is an illiquid asset. Selling a land area takes time and the right buyer.
- Income depends on activity. A quiet period is a quiet income.
- The game changes around you. Updates that shift what creatures or resources are valuable change what your land is worth.
This is a business rather than a purchase, and the owners who do well treat it as one.
Land areas on Entropia Central
Land areas have their own profiles here, showing activity recorded on them and what has been looted there. If you own one, you can claim its profile and manage what it shows.
See Land areas in the documentation for how that works, and browse the land areas directory for what is there.
Reading an area before you go
The questions worth answering before a trip:
- What is the tax?
- What spawns there, and at what maturities?
- How busy is it? A great spawn with ten hunters on it is not a great spawn.
- What does the creature drop, and does it carry markup? See TT value and markup.
- What is the recorded activity like? The area's profile here shows what has actually been looted, which beats a description.
That is enough to decide whether the tax buys you something, which is the only question a land area really poses.