Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands is a roleplay-focused, text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) released on September 9, 1997. It was published by Achaea LLC, now known as Iron Realms Entertainment. Achaea is operated by collecting the revenue through a microtransaction system, which allows payment for the acquisition of in-game benefits. Gameplay In the game, players explore a fantasy sword and sorcery world revolving around six city-states and their respective Houses. As in most role-playing games, players can fight monsters for experience points and treasure, perform quests for non-player characters and interact with other players. One of the major forms of interaction is player vs. player combat, where the dynamic conflict, especially the conflict between Good and Evil plays a dominant role in Achaea. The other play mechanics include the free market economics, which allows the players to design and craft goods, and the player-run social structure, including Houses (formerly guilds) and politics. The world consists of over twenty thousand locations, known as rooms, ranging from common countryside to more exotic and surreal environments. Players may choose among eighteen classes, ranging from familiar fantasy elements such as paladins to more unusual options such as Tarot-using Occultists. Recent structural changes have enriched the environment of Achaea further, by opening up the seas to player controlled ships. This has made available many minigames including diving for treasure, deep-sea fishing and even a form of piracy. Revenue Achaea is one of the first known examples of a game with microtransactions. It had been initially launched when Internet service plans were time-limited, effectively gating access to MUDs so that their cost of operations were low. However, when America On-Line offered flat-rate plans, this removed that gate, and many MUDs like Achaea became unprofitable since players could spend much more time on them. Achaeas creator Matt Mihaly came up with the idea of a dual currency system to generate revenue to cover the higher operating costs; while one in-game currency remained free, the other premium currency could only be purchased with real-world funds, and many special items could only be purchased with the premium currency. Achaea's controversial revenue structure has received attention from the game development industry. Although Iron Realms Entertainment provides a custom MUD interface for the game, there are neither up-front costs, nor monthly fees typical for the MMORPG-genre. Instead, players may spend money for credits that are then used in-game to acquire skills and