Mehul Patel

Mehul Patel was a software designer, developer and the creator of Earth: 2025, and thus the founder of the Earth community.

Mehul began writing multiplayer online games for BBS systems before the internet was commercially (and widely) available. Most notably, the game Barren Realms Elite bares a striking resemblance to Earth: 2025. It was a turn based game, and even supported network play. BBS systems would dial other BBSes and send game packets to each other nightly; setting the stage for server vs. server warfare. Another game Mehul was widely renowned for was Falcon's Eye. It was similar to Barren Realms, but took place in a mythical/medievial type setting; the precursor to Utopia.

It is speculated that Mehul 'gave up' on Earth for a number of reasons. Most likely, his other business (a coffee shop) needed attention, along with who-knows what kind of family life he had at the time. Earth Empires developers have also noted, the code for Earth 2025 was implemented in a 'totally convoluted fashion', making huge changes would have probably required massive (pain-staking) rewrites. With newer technologies such as PHP and ASP dominating webspace, the game needed to be re-written one way or another.

It is questionable whether he 'gave up' or just saw a better opportunity by cashing-in on the sale of his company. To this day, much of the remaining 2025 player base still hold contempt for him.