Gold Cards

The Entropia Universe is a place where Real Money changes hands daily and where every activity you participate in costs or earns you money.

Since this is all taking place online, Security is real concern.  People can have hundreds to thousands of dollars invested in their avatar or in the game, so they want to make sure that investment is secure from hackers.

Mind Ark has provided a safety device that lets us sleep soundly at night knowing our money is safe in the virtual world.

The security system is called Gold Cards.  You can get a Gold Card and reader from Mind Ark.
More info on their site.
The Gold Card looks like a credit card, but instead of a magnetic strip on the back, it has a little spot on the front with multiple contacts to interface with the smart card sandwitched inside.
You are also supplied with a Gold Card Reader which is about the size of a USB flash stick. You don't plug it into the computer at all. (thats how I thought it worked before I got mine)

The way it works is when you go to log into the game you use your username and password like normal, but then once its verified that you have entered the right password for that username a new log in screen comes up asking for your Gold Card number.  You then insert your card into your reader, and it displays a 6 digit number that is never the same.  You then type those 6 numbers into the log in screen and your avatar logs in like normal.

This means that a "hacker" could use some illicet means of obtaining your username and password but still be unable to log into your account since you need both the username and password as well as the proper gold card number to log in.

This is great untill you work a hard week and then sleep in on Saturday morning when your 15 month old son decides to take it off the table and hide them in seperate locations amongst his toys and couch cushions.

If you are serious about this game, and plan on investing any kind of money (more than 1-200$) then I think it is very important that you get a Gold Card to secure your account.

Look into getting one HERE.