Utopia is based in the traditional fantasy realm that originated with Tolkein, but it is entirely text-based. Players are dropped randomly into one of roughly 750 competing kingdoms, each with up to 25 players. There are two separate servers running in parallel (plus a third experimental one), so in total there are almost 40,000 people playing the game. The servers are reset about every three months, creating new "ages" of the game in which everyone starts over at the beginning, giving newer players a chance to compete.

Cooperation with the other players in one's kingdom is essential to success in Utopia. This forces interactions that can, over time, create some very strong friendships. Ultimately, those friendships become far more compelling than the game itself, perhaps explaining the addictiveness of what seems, on the surface, to be an incredibly simplistic game.

Another interesting aspect of Utopia is the third-party support network that has grown up around the game. Most notable is the Utopia Temple, a source for daily news on Utopia happenings, active discussions about the game, a target finder, and (most importantly) the Utopia Angel software -- a Windows-based utility that captures Utopia web pages and performs most of the mathematical calculations necessary to play the game effectively.

As in other online games, groups of players have banded together for mutual support in the form of alliances. Alliances aren't a feature of Utopia itself, so the infrastructure for these organizations exists entirely outside of the game. Almost all alliances have websites and private discussion boards, but many also have extensive collections of tools to assist their members with target-finding and war planning. A list of current Utopia alliances can be found here.