Ikariam is a browser-based massively multiplayer online game of the strategy genre produced and maintained by German-based Gameforge AG.

The game is set in the era of classical Greece in an archipelago, with players being made ruler of a small town, which they must expand and lead.

[7] There are five main types of resources: Wood, Wine, Marble, Crystal Glass and Sulphur.

[8] Each island's inhabitants may cooperate and donate building materials to improve the efficiency of their island's resource gathering facilities, which enables all local players to obtain resources more quickly.

Citizens of the town can then be trained as soldiers, sent to research new technologies, or perform other tasks, which they are paid tax money for undertaking.

The player can also view combat reports that provide overviews of past and ongoing land and naval battles here.

Ikariam is nominally free-to-play but players may opt to purchase in-game advantages via a Microtransaction[9] system.

Also, you get a small amount of "bonus" resources each day, depending on the number of people in your alliance.

An alliance has three jobs that can be assigned by the leader: the Diplomat, the General and the Home Secretary.

[10] Each of these servers represents a different game "world" with its own population of players and its own map of thousands of islands.

Older worlds such as Alpha and Beta tend to have higher-ranked players and more economic and military stability.

Newer worlds represent more of a frontier experience with free-flowing alliances and warfare.