Gaia Online
 |
| File:Gaia-logo-red.gif | |
| Company type | Website |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | February 18, 2003 |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California, USA |
Key people | Site Founders: Derek Liu Long Vo Josh Gainsbrugh Other: Craig Sherman (CEO)[1][2][3] |
Number of employees | Unknown |
| Website | www.GaiaOnline.com |
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,"[4] but it was openly stated by founder Derek Liu (username "Lanzer") that the website was moving towards that of a social gaming one.[5] It eventually became the forum-based website it is now.[1] Big-Boards.com reports Gaia has the largest on the Internet,[6][7] with over a million posts made daily,[1] over a billion posts total,[1] and over 2.5 million unique users each month.[1][3] 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
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).
Users may choose the style of their avatar's eyes, mouth, and hair. Users may also change the color of their hair, skin tone, eyes, and basic outfit. Users can also choose their 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, mutant bunnies, and aliens.
Virtual economy
Like most multiplayer online games, Gaia features a user economy. Gaia's virtual currency is gold. Users are granted gold by any form of participation on the site. Examples include posting in the forums, playing games, writing journals or browsing the site. The amount of gold granted vary from the different actions.[10]
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.[10]
The value of gold on Gaia has dropped over time. A number of factors have been affecting this change. For instance, the gold granting system gives more gold per post, and games add gold to the economy without anything to take it out.
Forums
Gaia Online's forums system is a phpBB2.xx -based collection of message boards. Gaia has 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.[6][7] The forums generate the most site activity of all Gaia's attractions, comprising 25%[11] to 30% of site activity.[1] Gaia Online's forum system also includes a private messaging system.
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 of future plot updates, helping new Gaians, role-playing, or hangouts for anyone who can afford to buy one. 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.
If a guild is found to be in violation of Gaia Online's terms of service by a moderator, the guild captain is informed that the guild must remove any TOS-violating content, or the guild will be deactivated. Deactivated guilds are no longer viewable to anybody, not even the guild members.
Donation items/monthly collectibles
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,[1] 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 led administrators to change their name to monthly collectibles.[13] 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.
Letters can be purchased over the phone or via Paypal, credit card, traditional mail, or text message.
Games
Gaia Online currently offers eight Flash games: GAIA Fishing, GAIA Towns, Word Bump, Jigsaw, Slots, Cinemas, Cards, and most recently, Gaia Cars (which is sponsored by Scion). In most games, 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. The top fishers on Gaia are displayed publicly.
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.[1] Users' homes are placed in towns.
Rally
Gaia Rally is the newest game sponsored by Scion in which players race their virtual cars against other players. Players can customize their virtual car and show off and race it in a car show.
Battle System
The Battle System is an MMO currently in development. According to development journals it should be completed by the end of 2007. The Battle System will be using 'rings' as the only customizable equipment, a player can equip up to eight. The rings will possess active skills, like throwing flames, and passive skills, like statistic boosts. Rings can only be equipped and unequipped in places called 'Moonfields.' They will be found as drops from killing the monsters, and upgraded using quests.
Cinema
Gaia Cinema was released in July 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 showed in Gaia Cinema are anime or cartoons shown with permission from Gaia Online's sponsors, films that have fallen into the public domain, or films made by Gaia or Gaians.
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 Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Volumes 1, 2, and 3 that rewarded anime based items.
Depending on the promotion, the quest may only be available to specific regions. For example, the first two Tsubassa Reservoir Chronicle quests were exclusive to America and United Kingdom and the third was exclusive to America. This exclusivity has been critisized by the community.
The World Map
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.
Events
Gaia often hosts several special events, on which it gives users special rewards available for only that event. For example, on St. Patrick's Day in 2007, Gaia randomly gave out four-leafed clovers, which could be exchanged for special four-leafed clover items. For the larger holidays, such as Christmas 2006, users could walk around Gaia Towns, going to houses, singing Christmas carols to earn special items from a robot Santa NPC.
Cheats
Gaiaonline has some cheats for you to use on an occasion. One cheat is called the money cheat. First, you start a message to gaianadmin@msn.com. Second,you tell us all the money you want, but it can't go over 5,000,000 only under. Third, tell us your username and password and then you send the message, and in 10 min., you'll have it.
The second kind of cheat is the item cheat. Just like the money cheat, but you have to say what items you want. Also, tell us your username and password. Gaiaonline's new look also has a way for new cheats.
Notes and references
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Move over MySpace, Gaia Online is here". GigaOmniMedia, Inc. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ ""Gaia Online"". PSFK. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
- ^ a b ""Kids and teens have pushed at least 6 immersive online worlds to over 2m UU/mth in the US"". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2007-06-14.
- ^ "Interview: Derek Liu, Gaia Online Anime Community". big-boards.com. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
- ^ Announcement of Link List removal
- ^ a b "The largest Message Boards and Forums on the Web". Big-Boards.com. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ^ a b It should be noted that Big-Boards.com only lists forums that contain accessible members and posts counts.[1] According to other sources, 2channel is thought to be the largest in the world.[2] [3]
- ^ "Gaia Online: Webware 100". CNET Networks, Inc. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
- ^ "About Gaia Gold". Gaia Interactive. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
aboutgoldwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Goodstein, Anastasia (1 May 2007). ""Ypulse Interview: Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online"". Ypulse. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
- ^ Monthly collectibles were originally released on the 25th day of the month; now, this occurs on the 15th.
- ^ Liu, Derek (2006-10-30). "Donation items name change to monthly collectibles". Gaia Interactive. Retrieved 2007-02-25.
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