Gaia Online

The Gaia Wing.

Gaia Online (formerly known as Go-Gaia) is an online forum and games site founded on February 18, 2003 by Derek Liu (Gaia username Lanzer), Josh Gainsbrugh (username L0cke), Long Vo (username VO) and a team of their friends, Studio XD artists, and programmers/web designers. The site currently revolves around its forum, avatars, in-game currency, games (slots, fishing and a new card game), Gaia towns and homes, and the Marketplace, despite its original function as a repository for popular anime links.

Gaia's forum is the largest forum-based community on the internet, with over 580 million posts (plus over 350 million in storage), over 3 million registered users, and an average of 20,000 or more people online at any given time during the day. The most users ever online numbered 48,902 on Sun April 16, 2006 6:22 pm PST, during the Halloween 2005 Trick or Treat event.

On Gaia Online, each user can create their own virtual character (or avatar) and customize it through clothing and accessories located in virtual shops throughout the site. The customizations begin with choosing gender, skin tone, eyes, mouth, and hair style and color. From there, the user tries to earn "Gaia gold" by doing everything from chatting on the plethora of forums to choose from, rating in the galleries (there are three galleries: art, avatar, and homes), answering polls, even clicking on links and going to different Gaia Online pages, and more. Almost everything done on the site can earn a user gold, which can be used to buy clothing and accessories, which a user can in turn use to customize their avatar.

Gameplay

Gaia Online is a life-size forum, originally devoted to an anime linklist which has now been taken down in favor of the forums, a plot, and minigames.

Gaia Gold, Random Events, and Items

Gaia gold is the currency of Gaia Online forums site. It can be earned by posting on the forums. Once a user has earned gold, he or she may use it to buy items to dress up his or her avatar. The items range from "normal" clothing like gloves or socks to fantastic accessories such as tails, fairy and butterfly wings, or halos (although these cost millions of gold +). New hairstyles unavailable to starting users can be purchased at the Salon. The "better" or "rarer" items cost more gold. Many new items have come out or are rumoured to be coming out, such as different plushies, instruments, and weapons in the form of staves, pitchforks, whips, gauntlets, swords, and bows.

The option of donating to Gaia is also available. For every $2.50 that one donates, one receives a "Sealed Envelope" (though they were first "sealed" in December 2003). Around the 25th of every month, the letter will open, revealing a "Thank You Letter" for that month. This letter, when opened, allows choice of two new items available only to those who donated. Users can sell the "sealed letters, "Thank You Letters," or "donation items" for gold to other players or keep them if they prefer. Some rare donation items that have been released in the past include a Halo (the first donation item, June 2003), DJ/portable headphones (August 2003), a devil tail, an angelic sash (a white scarf that defies gravity and floats around one's avatar, October 2003), an angelic/nightmare scarf,(December 2003) the OMG and AFK hats (fuzzy little hats that look like creatures, November 2003). Due to the limited amount of them and the increase in users, these items tend to rise in value rather quickly. The administrators of the site have promised that these items will never be re-released on Gaia. However, through recent conventions, administrators give users who show up a chance to spin a wheel which offers a small chance of receiving an old donation, rare, uncommon, or store item.

In the forums and towns, a user has a slim chance of randomly receiving a rare event such as a pink, blue, or brown box, or a brown or gold trunk; the forums also may have a pink link, which gives 1,000 gold. These give the user rare/uncommon items, such as the face veil, gas mask, or retro furniture. The brown boxes were previously known as enchanted trunks; however, the developers wanted to use trunks for furniture, and so changed them.

In addition, Gaia also holds events for Easter, April Fool's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Sometimes, a so-called "event item" is given, which becomes rare over time, and increases in value. These items, as well as the rare donation items, have become somewhat of a status symbol in recent years. Other user-run events are often run during the year, such as a Summer carnival that was held on June 19 and a ball held in October. Events like these have no administrator interaction, and are completely run by users.

Gaian NPC Characters' Storyline

The Gaia storyline, revolving around characters created by (and roleplayed by) Gaia's staff members, has progressed already to some extent. Characters include the shopkeepers of Gaia's item stores, a reporter who covers plot "news" as it develops, and figures who only appear on holidays (such as the Easter bunny). Due to new Up-grades, there are actual NPC Avatars.

• The First Gaian Anniversary Ball - Johnny K. Gambino was first introduced as the 'most powerful man on Gaia', alongside his son Gino Gambino. The two hosted a celebration of the site's first anniversary. Attendees got a first-look at the inside of Gambino's Mansion. Several shopkeepers from around Gaia were present as well, including Ian & Rufus, Ruby, and Sasha. Guests that ran into Gambino while at the ball were given gold in increments of 1,000 pieces each time! (February 18 2004)
• The Second Annual Gaian Ball - At this user-organized event, Gino appeared and introduced G-Pins by giving them out to users who attended the ball. These items play a significant part in the future. Gino warns the receivers of the pins to be quiet about the gifts, as he was not supposed to be giving them out. (March 5 2004)
• Gaia Olympics 2004 - Johnny K. Gambino hosted the first annual Gaia Olympics. From each town, two NPC's were chosen to participate in the competition, which was a race from Isle De Gambino to Durem, and back again.
• Introduction of G CORP - The mysterious organization known as G CORP, the world's largest manufacturer of biological medicines and advanced technology.
• Halloween 2004 - Before Halloween, a strange individual known only as 'Labtech X' appeared in the Marketplace selling strange vials of a green, unknown liquid. Users, noting the strangeness of this, rushed to purchase the vials from the NPC. Users were left in suspense until Halloween, when Gambino opened up his mansion to host the event.
• Christmas 2004 - Gambino was first seen during this event after the explosion of the mansion (see above). During this time, his journal was showing his adventures around Gaia looking for his lost son, Gino. On the map, you could go and click on Gambino, and wish him good luck. For this, he would thank you. In the end, Gino saved his father when Gambino was about to throw himself into Durem's reclamation facility, but it turned out that Gino did not remember who his father was. Also, before Christmas, users could sing carols to nine NPCs in their various shops in order to earn presents from them. The presents could not be opened until Christmas.
• The Second Gaian Anniversary Ball - The Von Helson Sisters, Anna Corinne and Marie, made their first appearance. The "Two Most Powerful Women in Gaia" hosted the party at their Durem mansion. Various NPCs showed up, and Gaia Anniversary Balloons and Hats were handed out. The sisters also handed out two-part V Pins, but rarely.
• Gambino VS Von Helsons - Gambino appeared at the base of his blown-up mansion, asking for donations to bring it back. Then the "mansion" became a tower.
• Easter 2005 - The Von Helson sisters hosted the Easter party at their mansion. Inside the mansion were hidden Easter Eggs, eight of which could be traded in for a basket from a cybernetic Easter Bunny (called the Easter Rab-BOT by some) holding either a Bunny Mask or a Chick Mask.
• April Fools 2005 - As Gambino continued his maniacal power trip on top of his tower, Gino connected the crazed evil exhibited by Gambino with the father he had known, regaining his memory.
• Gino Returns - Part 1 - Sasha and Ian's store speechbubbles changed to include references to each other a short while before the event, and a manga was released in sections that detailed the beginning stages of this plot update.
• Gino Returns - Part 2 - Recent story events included a manga with it, this happened again on October 11. The story takes place immediately after the last manga on August 5, just as Ian walks in where Gino is sleeping, holding a kitchen knife.
• Halloween Bash 2k5 - The Halloween event essentially brought the site to its knees with too many users accessing it at once. Bucho invited everybody to the mansion for a halloween party. The event was ended 6 hours early so the Trick-or-Treating event could be fixed to handle the high number of users that would be on Gaia.
• Gino's Sacrifice - The Grunnies escaped from the laboratory in the basement of the infamous Gambino mansion; it is suspected that this was the work of G CORP. They began to run and wreak havoc throughout the mansion by infecting people and turning them into one of the three stages of the Grunny zombie.
• Jack VS Santa Claus - Part 1 - Shortly after the events of Halloween, Santa Claus made an announcement expressing his anger towards the holiday.
• Introduction of S Corp - A mysterious new guild popped up in the GGN, run by NPCs. It is similar to G Corp (see above), led by Mrs. Claus and populated by the journals of ElfTechs.
• Jack VS Santa Claus - Part 2 - While S CORP was blowing up, Jack came back to Barton's Fountain to announce his plans for next year's Halloween. He was inturrupted by Santa, who apparently was fused to the Gift Transport Mech Suit (GTMS), an upgraded version of the mecha Jack had destroyed.
• The Masque Interview - In a surprise announcement, the masked hero known as The Masque agreed to a quick interview with Cindy from GAIA 9 Action News.
• New Years Ball - In this event we seen Sasha meet The Masque, who then revealed his identity as Gino, previously believed dead. Ian was arrested for burning down Gino's Mansion by the Gaia Police. This was the first manga update to place real users in the background with several GCD'ers featured.
• The Trial of Ian - A forum event was held to determine Ian's guilt. The prosecution hired an experienced robot lawyer, but the defense's robot lawyer was on his first case, and had trouble relating to humans. After the arguments, there was a vote with Gaian users as the jury.
• Trial Verdict - In this news report at the Durem courthouse, we find that 81% of the Gaian population had voted Ian innocent. As he leaves the courthouse with his defense attorney and Rufus by his side, thanking the public, he sees Moira, Sasha, and Vanessa. Sasha starts to cry and Ian follows suit, and just as he is about to confess his feelings to her, the sniper who shot Johnny K. Gambino once more appears on the roof of the Durem clock tower and shoots Ian.
• Valentine's Day - In this event, we first saw Gino entering the Barton's Jewelers with the intention of buying "the rarest and most expensive item". We then switch to Sasha who is by Ian's bedside at the intensive care unit of the Gaia hospital. As Ian starts to snap out of his coma, he remembers a day that he spent with Sasha on the beach where they talked about the Diamond Seashell. Ian claims that it is a myth while Sasha says that it's just extremely rare, but she could have her lucky day. While Ian wakes up to find Sasha near him, he talks about that same day, opens his hand and reveals to Sasha the Diamond Seashell, claiming that it's as beautiful as her. At that moment, Gino enters with his gift, and looks positively jealous.
• The Gaia Anniversary Ball 2k6 - An event to celebrate Gaia Online's three years in which NPCs dished out pink, yellow, and blue G Shades and the G Buckle to the guests. Gino Gambino frequently searches for Sasha the whole time and Logan tells fish stories. There were many threads in which people could bump and dance chat, and several users gave away items like Coco and Kiki Kitties, Fairy Wings, and gold in celebration of Gaia's birthday. It was a day of glitches, in which some users' avatars were switched around and distorted, such as the body being enlarged and certain parts cut off, or an avatar with items and hairstyles the user did not have. People suspected that perhaps Gino was up to something and trying to take over Gaia, and though some members tried to get people to leave the ball and save themselves, chaos reigned and people transformed into things they were not. Few from that day on dedicated themselves to finding out what Gino really was up to, somehow thinking that he was behind this evil plot.

More info on the Events can be found in the GCD Sticky.

Gaian NPC Characters

(Under construction by Wolf_Demon and Pyro_Kittay and an anoymous person)

• Ian- Owner of the Barton Boutique in Barton Town. He has had a crush on Sasha, ever since they met, and still does.

• Rufus- Ian's cat. Rufus helps manage the Barton Boutique. For some odd reason, instead of meowing, he barks like a dog.

Rufus' Quotes -Purrrr~ -*yawn* -*woof* *woof* -The secret store discount? I'll never tell. -Meow~ -Don't even think about pulling my tail -E=MC^2 -I'm not moving, no matter how many times you nudge me. -Ooo! Ooo! I love being scratched behind the ears. -Ian...

• Agatha- Owner of Barton Jewelers, located in Barton town.

Agatha's Quotes -Welcome Hun, would you like to take a look at some of my fine Jewelry? -I can also engrave your purchases for a little bit extra. -I'm afraid we only carry the basic barton brand watches here. If you want a Volex watch, you'll have to go elsewhere. -Gold makes the world go round! I recommend the gold locket. Your luv will adore you for it! -I assure you, we carry only the finest crafted jewelry in all of gaia. -Well, if you're on a budget, might I suggest the silver bracelet?

• Rina- Runs the Barton Flower Shoppe.

Rina's Quotes

• Moira- Runs the Durem Depot.

Moira's Quotes

• Old Man Logan- Runs the Ole' Fishing Shoppe.

Old Man Logan's Quotes

• Leon- Runs the Gaia Guilds Building.

Leon's Quotes

• Vanessa- runs the Durem Salon.

Vanessa's Quotes

• Edmund- Runs H.R. Wesley, a fancy clothes store.

Edmund's quotes

• Liam- Runs the Crate& apperal store

Liam's quotes

• Sasha- Runs the Gambino Outfitters store.

• Johnny K. Gambino- Was once the richest man of Gaia, but whereabouts of him are currently unknown. He was a big star on Gaia's storylines.

• Gino Gambino- The son of Johnny Gambino. Known to have been "the masque" and is in love with Sasha.

• Ruby- Runs the Gambino Hatrack store.

Controversy

Recently, events such as "naked avatar glitches" and a third party survey have caused some controversy over the respectability of the administrators with the Gaian public. The naked avatar glitch prompted many users to want naked avatars for artistic and non-vulgar purposes. Some even point to the MPAA PG-13 rating, regarding its allowance of nudity, as a comparison to the self-proclaimed PG-13 website's intolerance of it. NOTE: The administrators have been working to fix glitches like this. Initially, users found with an avatar exploiting a naked glitch were warned, and had their avatar reset. These glitches have since been fixed.

The survey released by a third party company included a question in which it mentioned the addition of a paid "Premium" feature. This along with the releasing of items the administrators promised not to release lead many to believe that they are going against their word and are going to make Gaia more for money and not for the people. However, this has been largely dismissed as a rumour.

The recent release of a new layout has created an uproar among some longtime users. Some users dislike the new "blockier" layout, believing that Gaia should revert to the old one. Some still claim this today and are trying to get the "admins" to fix it, though this would be very unlikely. In addition, a new homepage change has caused confusion for some. A few users are questioning if Gaia is attempting to make things easier or look "cooler"; others have no objection to the new layout or actually prefer it. The new layout includes: a shop system in which the user can browse each shop according to newest items, different categories of items, and price; the menu at the top of the window implements HTML (recently, the option of using a Flash toolbar was disabled), and allows access to almost everything on the site; a new profile page which shows a user's friends, comments, journals, multimedia, signature, equipped items, and wishlist items.

External links

• Gaia Online Home Page
• Interview with Derek Liu, founder of Gaia Online, Big-boards.com
• "The One Year Later Interview," follow-up interview with Derek Liu, Big-boards.com
• Gaiapedia - MediaWiki dedicated to Gaia Online