'Gaia Online' is an anime-themed
forums-based website. Opened to the public on
February 18,
20033 by
Gaia Interactive, Gaia first began as an "anime linklist with a small community,"
[3] but it was openly stated by founder Derek Liu (username "Lanzer") that the website was moving towards that of a social gaming one.
[4] It eventually became the forum-based website it is now.
[5] Big-Boards.com reports Gaia is the largest forum on the Internet,
[6][7] with over a million posts made daily,
5 over a billion posts total,
5 and over 2.5 million unique users each month.
5 Gaia also won the 2007 Webware 100 award in the Community category.
[8]
Users of the site, known as Gaians, create a
customizable avatar for which they can purchase items using
virtual currency called Gaia Gold, which is earned by engaging in many activities, including Gaia's many
Flash games. Gold can then be used to purchase online items, which can be equipped onto the user's avatar, stored in the user's inventory, or placed in the user's Gaia Home, a virtual, furnishable house.
[9]
Users may also purchase special, month-specific items called Monthly Collectibles with real currency.
Avatar system
When registering an account on Gaia Online, users choose the appearance of their avatar's hair, skin tone, and eyes, as well as the gender. Shown with a speech bubble is a female Gaia avatar.
The
avatar system on Gaia Online is one of the major features that sets Gaia apart from many 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'').
Users may select the following properties of their avatar:
★ Hair style and color
★ Eye style and color
★ Mouth style and size
★ Skin tone
★ Gender
During some Gaia events, different skins are made available, which alter the appearance of the avatar's base. Avatars have been turned into
zombies,
grombies (an alteration of the zombie skin in which a green rabbit grows out of the back of your head), and
aliens.
Virtual economy
Like many multiplayer online games, Gaia features a user economy. Gaia's virtual currency is
gold, which users are granted by any form of participation on the site, such as posting in the
forums, playing
games, writing
journals or browsing the site.
The amount of gold granted varies from the different actions and how often the action has been performed.
9
The gold earned can be spent on clothes and items for the avatars. Gaia users can also buy furniture for their Gaia houses or parts for the Gaia cars.
Forums
A post on the Gaia Online forums system
Gaia Online's
forums system is a modified
phpBB-based
[10] collection of message boards, containing many main forums, which are further divided into subforums. Users' posts usually appear in a
speech bubble next to the poster's avatar. Gaia claims that its forums are the largest on the Internet, an assertion supported by Big-Boards.com.
67 The forums generate the most site activity of all Gaia's attractions, comprising 25%
[11] to 30% of site activity.
5 Gaia Online's forum system also includes a
private messaging system.
Donation Items/Monthly Collectibles
Sealed envelopes throughout the years
Monthly Collectibles (formerly called ''Donation Items'') are limited-edition online items purchased with real currency. In June 2003, users of Gaia Online petitioned for a "donation system" in an attempt to increase site revenue, Gaia Online released its donation system, in which for every US $2.50 a user pays to the site,
5 the user receives an item known as a "Sealed Envelope" in his or her inventory. On the 15th of every month,
[12] 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" if the payment was made in that month of that year). Users are then able to "open" these virtual letters to choose one of two or three monthly collectibles to be granted to their inventory from each letter. These items were known as Donation Items until potential legal problems prompted the name change.
[13] Monthly Collectible items and the Thank You Letter items they are found in are specific 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.
Letters can be purchased over the phone or via
Paypal, credit card, traditional mail, or
text message.
Games
Inside a Gaia House
Gaia Towns
Gaia Online currently offers eight
Flash games: GAIA Fishing, GAIA Towns, Word Bump, Jigsaw, Slots, Cinemas, Cards, and most recently, Gaia Rally (which is sponsored by
Scion). These games comprise of 10% to 15% of total site activity
5.
In most games, users can win different items or online currency that can be exchanged 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.
Towns
Gaia Towns (often simply called Towns) is an online world on Gaia where users' avatars may move and interact with each other and collect gold and small items.
5 Users' homes are placed in Towns.
Rally
On June 18, 2007
[14], Gaia Online and
Scion announced their partnership, allowing users to create virtual Scions that they can customize with options like wheels, decals, fog lights, tail lights, and spoilers
[15] and race and display them to other users in a Flash game called Gaia Rally. To race, other gaians challenge you or you can challenge them. You can either choose a parking lot or a carshow for your room if you choose to make one. To race, you have to accelerate by pressing a certain red button on the screen. You have to avoid cows or alien UFOs by slowing down and stop pressing the acceleration button. If you hit a zombie, it slows your component down. Other people can watch you race your way to the finish. When someone claims their victory, you return back to the parking lot or carshow and challenge someone else.
Cinemas
Gaia Cinemas was released in April 2007, and allows users to sit in a virtual theater, and watch anime, education shorts, cartoons etc. with other Gaians. Users have the ability to throw tomatoes, fireballs, popcorn, as well as other things during a cinema session. The programs shown in Gaia Cinema are anime or cartoons shown with permission from Gaia Online's sponsors, films in the public domain, or films made by Gaia or by Gaians. During the wait time, you can chat with others and become friends OR you can watch the movie alone if you prefer.
Quests
The Gaia Quest system grants users items for performing certain tasks. Most quests on the site are for promotional purposes, granting items related to the featured movie or anime series for watching
trailers. Movies promoted by the Gaia Quest system include
''Gracie'',
''Nancy Drew'', and ''
The Last Mimzy''.
Three anime promoted Gaia Quests include the series Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 that rewarded anime based items.
Depending on the promotion, the quest may only be available to specific regions. For example, the first two Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle quests were exclusive to North America and United Kingdom and the third was exclusive to North America. This exclusivity has been criticised by the community.
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 plot line 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''. 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.
Notes and references
1. "Gaia Online"
2. "Kids and teens have pushed at least 6 immersive online worlds to over 2m UU/mth in the US"
3. Interview: Derek Liu, Gaia Online Anime Community
4. Announcement of Link List removal
5. Move over MySpace, Gaia Online is here
6. The largest Message Boards and Forums on the Web
7. Big-Boards.com only lists forums that contain accessible members and post counts.[1] According to other sources, 2channel is the largest in the world.[2] [3]
8. Gaia Online: Webware 100
9. About Gaia Gold
10. "Interview: Derek from Gaia Online-Largest Online Forum"
11. "Ypulse Interview: Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online"
12. Monthly collectibles were originally released on the 25th day of the month; now, this occurs on the 15th.
13. Donation items name change to monthly collectibles
14. "Gaia Online announcement of Gaia Rally release"
15. "Gaia Online and Scion Allow Teens to Pimp their Virtual Rides"
External links
★
Media PSFK, and innovations company website, comment on business model
★
Report on Gaia's apparent $9 Million investment
★
Comment on Gaia Interactive Inc. 2007 finances
★
Comment on rise of Gaia's popularity
Creator Interviews
★
Interview with Derek Liu, Big-boards.com
★
Follow-up interview with Derek Liu, Big-boards.com
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