Planet Mytopia is Weapon-free*

There must be a barely hidden message in Mytopia’s name: this new, addictive social gaming site could likely become a large cause of myopia, or at least CVS, for its well cared-for users.The open beta is still under quite a bit of construction, but the current offerings and style seem to indicate a warm, relaxing, and time-consuming world of games to inhabit.

Upon signing up, you are asked to fill in the basic information and create your avatar (I dressed my Mytopic self as an updated femme fatale of games). After that, the Flash-based sphere is yours to explore.

Various interactive buildings open onto expected options: your home contains all profile, settings, mail, and other personal information you may need to access, while the town hall contains links to a Mytopia-wide Hall of Fame and forum. The decadent casino currently only offers video poker (slots coming soon), but the club house already holds five gaming areas: backgammon, bingo, chess, dominoes, and sudoku.
The Mytopia world is a colorful, cheerful one, with slightly blurred edges, which creates a soft and inviting domain. But don’t be fooled by the lack of intimidating music, microphone taunts, and fear of being sniped from around a corner: it’s a competitive, multiplayer realm which tracks points, “skills,” and experience. And it does so across the three giant social networking sites, Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo, as well as within cross-platform widgets. If you’re worried you’ll embarrass yourself by being two-move checkmated, each game has a practice mode available against the computer.

Although the general view of casual gamers seems to be of lone solitaire or sudoku addicts, we are seeing (as reported recently) these games in a social light more each day. Since launching less than two weeks ago, Mytopia’s beta has received over 300,000 registered users, half of which have a paid membership that allows for admission to tournaments for ‘grand prizes.’ Since the casual game LAN hasn’t caught on just yet, Mytopia will be an excellent alternative for Flash gamers who want to cash in on their clickability. And those of you (read: everyone) who are patiently wiping away streams of drool while waiting for GotGame may find this casual, alternative an acceptable filler.

*Except for the murderous-looking robot on the login page.