diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b116d4a649..bdc7205d49 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_unicode_ci;"
+  - mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;"
   - 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 087a24ac39..852317038b 100644
--- a/.travis/mysql_settings.py
+++ b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ DATABASES = {
         'HOST': 'localhost',
         'PORT': '',  # use default port
         'TEST': {
-            'NAME': 'default'
+            'NAME': 'default',
+            'OPTIONS': {
+                'ENCODING': 'utf8mb4'
+            }
         }
     }
 }