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Gaia Online (formerly known as Go-Gaia) is a forums-based website. Opened to the public on February 18, 2003 by Gaia Interactive, Gaia first began as an “anime linklist with a small community,”[1] but it was openly stated by founder Derek Liu (username “Lanzer”) that the website was moving towards that of a social gaming one.[2] It eventually became the forum based website it is today.
Users of the site, known as Gaians, are able to create a customizable avatar for which they can purchase items using virtual currency, which is earned by engaging in many activities. Users may also purchase special, month-specific items with real currency.
Gaia Gold
Gaia Gold (or simply gold) is the unit of currency on Gaia. Users may be granted gold through virtually any feature on the site, including posting in the forums or journals, playing minigames, leaving comments in user profiles, completing quests, or just by browsing the site. Gold can be used for almost anything, such as the items in the marketplace or the items in shops owned by various NPCs (Non-Playable Characters). Items purchased with Gaia Gold may be equipped onto a user’s avatar or their Gaia Home, a virtual house that may be furnished with items.[3]
Avatar system
When registering an account on Gaia Online, users choose the appearance of their avatar’s hair, skin, and eyes, as well as the avatar’s gender.
The avatar system on Gaia Online is one of the major features that sets Gaia apart from other forums. Unlike traditional forum avatars, which are images provided and uploaded by users, the avatars are characters that can pose, dress up, and hold items. Gaia is distinguished from other dress-up doll sites in that the clothes and items must be purchased with Gaia Gold or American dollars (see Donation Items/Monthly Collectibles).
A user may choose the color of his or her avatar’s eyes, skin, and hair. A user may also choose to change the appearance of his or her avatar’s eyes, hair, and mouth. Avatars may be male or female, and can be posed in dozens of positions.
On rare occasions, a Skin may be released that allows users to alter the appearance of their avatar even further than the default options allow. Skins are usually only obtainable via a special holiday event, and disappear if the avatar is deleted. To date, a total of three skins have been released, but only one is available. Skins are usually only released on Halloween, for a limited time. An exception to this rule is the Halloween 2006 Alien Skin, which was made available through NPC shops after the event.
Forums
A post on the Gaia Online forums system
Gaia Online’s forums system is a phpBB2.xx -based collection of message boards which give users the opportunity to post their ideas, engage in discussion, chat, or post nonsense. Gaians may roleplay in a storyline of their own, or interact with NPCs. Gaia is home to many main forums, which are further divided into subforums. Users’ posts usually appear in a speech bubble next to the poster’s avatar.
Gaia Online’s forum system also includes a private messaging system. The Private Message (PM) system on Gaia is a small e-mail-like system that allows users to send “mail” to each other.
Guilds
Users with similar interests can create or join Guilds, or private, user-moderated forums. Guilds may be based upon the discussion of a certain topic, or just a place for friends to chat. Some guilds are dedicated to certain causes or goals, such as speculation on future plot updates, helping new players, role-playing, grammar, or hangouts for prominent members. Guilds can be made public, so that everyone can post and read; private, so that the public can read but only members can post; or hidden, so that only members can read and post in the guild. The Guild Captain (the user who “owns” the guild) can create entry fees and promote other guild members into Vice Captains or Crew Members, granting them administrative powers.
Donation Items/Monthly Collectibles
Sealed envelopes throughout the years
In June 2003, in an attempt to increase site revenue, Gaia Online released its donation system, in which for every US $2.50 a user gave to the site, the user receives an item known as “Sealed Envelopes” in their inventory. On the 15th of every month, the Sealed Envelope disappears from the user’s inventory and is replaced by a “Thank You Letter” for the month in which the user made his or her payment (for example, a “Thank You Letter for August 2004″).[4] Users are then able to “open” these virtual letters and can choose one per letter of two or three online items to be granted to their inventory. These items were known as donation items, until potential legal problems led administrators to change their name to monthly collectibles.[5] Monthly Collectible items and the Thank You Letter items they are found in are limited to the month that they were released in: for example, the items found in the Thank You Letter for April 2006 can only be found in that letter, which could only be purchased during the month of April of 2006. Due to this fact the price of collectables as well as their envelopes go up in time.
Letters can be obtained via Paypal, credit card, traditional mail, over the phone or by text message.
Games
Gaia Online currently offers seven Flash games: GAIA Fishing, GAIA Towns, Word Bump, Jigsaw, Slots, Cinemas and Cards. In each game users can win different items or currency that can be traded in for items. For example, in Gaia Fishing users catch fish and garbage, which can be exchanged for fish-shaped hats or clothing made out of recycled garbage. Tickets won from playing Blackjack and Slots can be used to purchase items for users’ avatars and homes.
GAIA Towns
Although classified as a game, GAIA Towns (often simply called Towns) is more similar to a 3D Instant Messenger, but with interactivity of users’ avatars and homes. It does, however, offer a chance for Gaians to collect trash, insects, and flowers that can be exchanged for items at NPC-run shops. Small amounts of gold may be found by shaking rocks and trees. Gift boxes, which may be “opened” to receive a random rare item, occasionally appear to users in Towns.
GAIA Quests
People will complete quests to recieve items that can be sold on the “gaia marketplace” or equipped to an avatar. The items that can currently be recieved by completing quests are: clothing from stores, 10 of Gracie’s Soccer balls, a toy rabbit named Mimzy, a magnifying glass (See Nancy Drew), a hat, and gold. Some of the items can be sold for quite a lot of gold.
GAIA Cinemas
On April 23, 2007 Gaia Online released GAIA Cinemas, a virtual movie theater in the same vein as towns.
Up to twenty people can enter a theater to watch classic B movies and 50s educational films including Night of the Living Dead, Shaolin Temple, Duck and Cover, and other public domain movies. It functions in a similar fashion to Gaia Towns, in which users can walk around, chat, or sit down while watching the film. A concession stand also sells themed emotes to throw at the screen. The option to view the movie alone, or without the emotes and chat functions when watching are included. Several easter eggs were also included, such as everyone in a theater screening Night of the Living Dead temporarily becoming zombies. More films will be added to Gaia Cinema in the future.[6]
The World Map
Barton Town on the Gaia Online World Map during wintertime. The link to the forums is being hovered upon.
Originally the only way to navigate around the Gaia Online website, the World Map is an integral part of Gaia. It is a series of images, each depicting different ‘towns’ in Gaia: Barton, Isle De Gambino, Durem, Aekea, and various fields and fishing lakes. Locations on the World Map change in appearance according to the time of day and the season.
The World Map contains links to other parts of the site, which you can get from the top of the page such as the forums, GAIA Towns, or various shops. However, since the introduction of shopping and games pages, the World Map is often not used for its original purpose. The World Map also features a Teleport function, which takes a user directly to a location on the World Map without the need to travel through the various fields that link the different regions.
Plot
Gaia Online’s plotline is illustrated through plot comics and staff-controlled NPCs. The plot illustrates events involving the various NPCs, and is often used to accompany the various major holiday events.
The Gaia Online storyline officially began in Fall 2004, when the account [NPC] Gambino started up the fictional company G-Corp, setting into motion the initial plot. The first illustrated update was for Christmas 2004, and the first actual manga was drawn for the April Fools Day 2005 event, and subsequent plot updates following the same format.
