diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 5e23fb5751..da256034c5 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ services:
   - mysql
 
 python:
-  - "3.4"
+  - "3.7"
 
 env:
   - TESTING_DB=sqlite3
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ before_install:
   - psql -U postgres -c "ALTER USER evennia CREATEDB;"
   - mysql --version
   - mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;"
+  - mysql -u root -e "ALTER DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;"
+  - mysql -u root -e "ALTER DATABASE evennia COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;"
   - mysql -u root -e "CREATE USER 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
   - mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
 
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ before_script:
   - cp .travis/${TESTING_DB}_settings.py testing_mygame/server/conf/settings.py
   - cd testing_mygame
   - evennia migrate
+  - mysql -u root -e "ALTER TABLE `accounts_accountdb` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;"
   - evennia collectstatic --noinput
 
 script: