diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
index 24d0429bb2..8b488377d6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: [3.7, 3.8]
         # TODO: mysql disabled, not able to connect to it so far
         TESTING_DB: ['sqlite3', 'postgresql', 'mysql']
-        # fail-fast: false
+        fail-fast: true
 
     steps:
 
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ jobs:
         host port: 3306
         character set server: 'utf8mb4'
         collation server: 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci'
-        mysql database: 'default'
+        mysql database: 'evennia'
         mysql user: 'evennia'
         mysql password: 'password'
 
diff --git a/.travis/mysql_settings.py b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
index 8a28faebf3..0dc167ffa7 100644
--- a/.travis/mysql_settings.py
+++ b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ DATABASES = {
         "USER": "evennia",
         "PASSWORD": "password",
         "HOST": "127.0.0.1",
-        "PORT": "3306",  # use default port
+        "PORT": "",  # use default port
         "OPTIONS": {
             "charset": "utf8mb4",
             "init_command": "set collation_connection=utf8mb4_unicode_ci",
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ DATABASES = {
             "NAME": "default",
             "OPTIONS": {
                 "charset": "utf8mb4",
-                # 'init_command': 'set collation_connection=utf8mb4_unicode_ci'
-                "init_command": "SET NAMES 'utf8mb4'",
+                'init_command': 'set collation_connection=utf8mb4_unicode_ci'
+                # "init_command": "SET NAMES 'utf8mb4'",
             },
         },
     }