diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 07b8fd393..11cc35fc5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ before_install:
   - psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE evennia;"
   - psql -U postgres -c "CREATE USER evennia WITH PASSWORD 'password';"
   - psql -U postgres -c "ALTER USER evennia CREATEDB;"
-  - mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;"
+  - mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8;"
   - mysql -u root -e "CREATE USER 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
   - mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
 
diff --git a/.travis/mysql_settings.py b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
index c6d04df12..137f67f94 100644
--- a/.travis/mysql_settings.py
+++ b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ DATABASES = {
         'PASSWORD': 'password',
         'HOST': 'localhost',  # or an IP Address that your DB is hosted on
         'PORT': '',  # use default port
+        'OPTIONS': {
+            'default-character-set': 'utf8'
+        }
     }
 }