Gaia Online is an English-language, anime-themed social networking and forums-based website. Gaiaonline was founded in 2003.[1][2] but the name was changed to GaiaOnline.com in 2003 from go-gaia by its owner, Gaia Interactive. Gaia originally began as an anime linklist and eventually developed a small community,[2] but, following a statement by founder Derek Liu (username "Lanzer"), the website moved towards social gaming, and[3] eventually became a forum-based website.[4][5] Today, over a million posts are made daily[4] and it is visited by 7 million unique users each month[6] (with over 23 million total registered users). Gaia also won the 2007 Webware 100 award in the Community category.[7] In November, 2010, Gaia laid off 15-20 of their 110 staff members.[8] As suggested by VentureBeat, this could be due in part to the decline in ad sales since the recession. 40% of Gaia's revenue stems from advertising geared toward Gaia's target audience; 13-25 year olds.[9] In January 2011, the company won the Mashable Best User experience Award for 2010
Sunday 20 February 2011
Avatars
Members of Gaia Online, known as Gaians, receive a customizable avatar when they sign up. Users have the ability to customize their avatar in many ways, including skin tone, eye style and color, hair style and color, gender and attire. Numerous clothing items and accessories for avatars can be purchased from a range of NPC-run stores using the site currencies, Gaia Gold and Gaia Cash. Avatars appear next to posts in the forums and profile comments (the post itself encapsulated in a "speech bubble"), and in Gaia Towns and other environments the avatar appears as a movable character that can travel from place to place, interacting with the environment (catching bugs, shaking trees and rocks for gold, digging for buried treasure, collecting trash and flowers etc.) and other users.
Forums
Forums are the public message boards. There is a large variety of different forums in which a user can post, such as forums discussing topics regarding the Gaia community and NPC story lines, forums for casual conversation and lifestyle discussions, various types of role play, general entertainment, featured games on Gaia, and artist discussions. There are also forums for users to buy and sell items, as well as a forum for user-run businesses, e.g. art commissions, and thread-bumping services. Users may make threads in almost every forum, as long as they follow each forum's guidelines.
Economy
Currency
The currency used in Gaia is known as "Gaia Gold", commonly referred to as gold. Gold is regularly distributed to users as they browse around the website, post in the forums, play games, and participate in other various events and contests; the site also rewards users every day with random gold or items from the Daily Chance. In July 2007, Gaia released another virtual currency called Gaia Cash, which can be purchased with real money; $1 USD is equivalent to 100 Gaia cash. Gaia Cash cards can be bought at Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Target stores, 7-11, Speedway SuperAmerica, and GameStop. Gaia Cash cards are offered in $10 and $25 amounts. On June 21, 2010 7-11 stopped stocking the $10 Gaia Cash cards.[11] Gaia Cash Cards include a PIN that can be used at the website to redeem the card's Gaia Cash value. Gaia Cash can also be bought through cell phone payments, or directly from Gaia itself.[12]
Paying Gaia users generally spend about $30 USD per month to purchase Gaia Cash which is then used to buy things such as virtual gifts and limited edition items.[13]
AutoCash
On September 13, 2010, Gaia announced the introduction of AutoCash.[14] AutoCash is an optional feature where GaiaOnline members can sign up to buy Gaia Cash on a reoccurring monthly schedule. The current cost per month for the feature is $10, users are given a generous amount of content for the monthly fee. AutoCash can be charged to a credit or debit card and members may also pay for the feature using a PayPal account. The service can be canceled at anytime, staying past 3 months offers users the bonues of receiving items specifically designed and made for those that continue to use the AutoCash feature. The benefits of using AutoCash include:
* 1000 Gaia Cash every month
* 200 Bonus Gaia Cash every month
* An exclusive item for every 3 months of concurrent participation in the feature
* 10% off all Cash Shop purchases until October 31st
Users can still purchase Gaia Cash via GaiaOnline and do not have to purchase Gaia Cash via the AutoCash feature. Users that sign up for the AutoCash feature will notice that any items they purchase using Gaia Cash will be frozen for 7 days. The item(s) purchased are usable but cannot be sold or gifted to other members. Currently the system that is in place is not able to determine the source of the Gaia Cash so if a user signed up for the monthly feature and also purchased Gaia Cash via another source (i.e. cash card, PayPal, on site purchase) any items bought with Gaia Cash will be frozen for 7 days.
Market
Sales within the Gaian market can be divided into four areas - Gold Shops, Cash Shops, Trade, and Marketplace.
* Gold Shops: Items from these stores can be bought with Gold or Gaia Cash (most users purchase with Gold), and can range from regular store items to upmarket items. These are various NPC-run stores which sell a variety of items, such as avatar clothing and accessories, furniture for Gaia Houses, and parts for Gaia Cars. Items found in the shops can also be sold back to the shop for 50% of the shop price.
* Cash Shops: Items from these stores can be purchased with Gaia Cash only. The majority of Gaia Cash sales are from La Victoire, an NPC-run store that only accepts Gaia Cash. It specializes in high-end items, including "Evolving Items" and "Random Item Generators". "Monthly Collectibles" can also be purchased from La Victoire. As the name suggests, Monthly Collectibles are only available for one month before being replaced with the next month's Monthly Collectible. Most items from La Victoire are continuously rotated in and out of the store. Other Cash-Only stores include "Phin Phang" (Gaia Aquarium items), and "Back Alley Bargains" (power-up items for Gaia's MMORPG, "zOMG!").
* Trade: Users can trade items and gold with other users. A majority of these trades are settled in the "Gaia Exchange" forum (and its sub-forums).
* Marketplace: The Marketplace is a separate area of the site for users to buy and sell items. Rather than self-auctioning an item through a thread in the Exchange forum, users can either put their item up for immediate sale with a "Buy Now" price, or leave their item for auction with a starting "Bid" price. Users can have up to 10 items for sale at once, and each item can be listed for a maximum of 14 days. The cost of this convenience is a 2% tax on all gold earned from sales.
Notable Items
Monthly Collectibles
Monthly Collectibles (previously known as Donation Items, also referred to as MCs) are special items that can be bought with real money meant to support Gaia's maintenance and costs. Established in June 2003 after users of Gaia Online petitioned for a "donation system" in an attempt to increase site revenue, for every US $2.50 a user gives to the site,[4] he or she receives an item known as a "Sealed Envelope" in his or her inventory.
Sealed Envelopes go on sale the first day of every month and are released on the 15th of each month. During August & September 2008 the envelopes were unsealed on the 8th, but on October 2, 2008 it was decided that the release date should be returned to the fifteenth. The Sealed Envelope disappears from the user's inventory and is replaced by a "Thank You Letter" for the current paid month (for example, a "Thank You Letter for August 2004" represents a payment made in that month of that year). Users are then able to open these virtual letters to choose one of two or three limited-edition items to be granted into their inventory from each letter. These items were known as Donation Items until potential legal problems prompted the name change.[15] 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, and one could only purchase that letter in April 2006. Letters can be purchased over the phone, with a text message from a mobile phone, via PayPal, credit card, traditional mail or with Gaia Cash through the Cash Shop, "La Victoire". Envelopes and letters can be later bought and sold through user trades or through Marketplace.
Evolving Items
Evolving Items, commonly abbreviated to EIs, are items which change or evolve over time. Items begin with one set of item poses, but with each new evolution, a different set of poses become available instead. Additionally, with each subsequent evolution a re-release of the item becomes available at the Cash Shop as a "next generation" release. When the item has fully evolved all previous poses become available for the item. Times between evolutions are different for each EI, and can be anywhere between a few weeks to a few months. Recent additions of "Rapid Evolving Items" evolve twice a week. New evolution updates are noted in regular site announcements as "Evolving Item Reports" present by the NPC, Dr. Singh. EIs are available from the Cash Shop "La Victoire", and can be later sold through trading or in the Marketplace. EIs are removed from the Cash Shop sometime after their final evolution becomes available.
Chance Items/Random Item Generators
With Chance Items , commonly referred to as CIs (previously know as Random Item Generators, or RIGs), users play a chance mini-game and the item they are granted depends on their success with completing the game, when they decide to stop playing and collect an item, or their failure to complete the game. Games will vary depending on the RIG - some may require users to choose a "correct" response, while some are simply a choice between continuing the game or stopping and collecting an item. RIGs are available from the Cash Shop "La Victoire" and are eventually rotated out of the shop.
Random Event Items
Occasionally, random gift items can be found floating across web pages while browsing the site. Each random gift grants users a rare or uncommon clothing and accessory items that cannot be bought from any store. There are 6 different types of random items:
* Brown Magical Giftbox: Contains uncommon items
* Pink Magical Giftbox: Contains rare items
* Blue Magical Giftbox: Contains items from both the Pink and Brown boxes, as well as a few items found only in the Blue Giftbox
* Enchanted Wooden Trunk: Contains uncommon Gaia Housing items
* Enchanted Golden Trunk: Contains rare Gaia Housing items
* Fat Cat Alert: Contains various cat-related items, some which can be bought from normal NPC-run shops
The currency used in Gaia is known as "Gaia Gold", commonly referred to as gold. Gold is regularly distributed to users as they browse around the website, post in the forums, play games, and participate in other various events and contests; the site also rewards users every day with random gold or items from the Daily Chance. In July 2007, Gaia released another virtual currency called Gaia Cash, which can be purchased with real money; $1 USD is equivalent to 100 Gaia cash. Gaia Cash cards can be bought at Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Target stores, 7-11, Speedway SuperAmerica, and GameStop. Gaia Cash cards are offered in $10 and $25 amounts. On June 21, 2010 7-11 stopped stocking the $10 Gaia Cash cards.[11] Gaia Cash Cards include a PIN that can be used at the website to redeem the card's Gaia Cash value. Gaia Cash can also be bought through cell phone payments, or directly from Gaia itself.[12]
Paying Gaia users generally spend about $30 USD per month to purchase Gaia Cash which is then used to buy things such as virtual gifts and limited edition items.[13]
AutoCash
On September 13, 2010, Gaia announced the introduction of AutoCash.[14] AutoCash is an optional feature where GaiaOnline members can sign up to buy Gaia Cash on a reoccurring monthly schedule. The current cost per month for the feature is $10, users are given a generous amount of content for the monthly fee. AutoCash can be charged to a credit or debit card and members may also pay for the feature using a PayPal account. The service can be canceled at anytime, staying past 3 months offers users the bonues of receiving items specifically designed and made for those that continue to use the AutoCash feature. The benefits of using AutoCash include:
* 1000 Gaia Cash every month
* 200 Bonus Gaia Cash every month
* An exclusive item for every 3 months of concurrent participation in the feature
* 10% off all Cash Shop purchases until October 31st
Users can still purchase Gaia Cash via GaiaOnline and do not have to purchase Gaia Cash via the AutoCash feature. Users that sign up for the AutoCash feature will notice that any items they purchase using Gaia Cash will be frozen for 7 days. The item(s) purchased are usable but cannot be sold or gifted to other members. Currently the system that is in place is not able to determine the source of the Gaia Cash so if a user signed up for the monthly feature and also purchased Gaia Cash via another source (i.e. cash card, PayPal, on site purchase) any items bought with Gaia Cash will be frozen for 7 days.
Market
Sales within the Gaian market can be divided into four areas - Gold Shops, Cash Shops, Trade, and Marketplace.
* Gold Shops: Items from these stores can be bought with Gold or Gaia Cash (most users purchase with Gold), and can range from regular store items to upmarket items. These are various NPC-run stores which sell a variety of items, such as avatar clothing and accessories, furniture for Gaia Houses, and parts for Gaia Cars. Items found in the shops can also be sold back to the shop for 50% of the shop price.
* Cash Shops: Items from these stores can be purchased with Gaia Cash only. The majority of Gaia Cash sales are from La Victoire, an NPC-run store that only accepts Gaia Cash. It specializes in high-end items, including "Evolving Items" and "Random Item Generators". "Monthly Collectibles" can also be purchased from La Victoire. As the name suggests, Monthly Collectibles are only available for one month before being replaced with the next month's Monthly Collectible. Most items from La Victoire are continuously rotated in and out of the store. Other Cash-Only stores include "Phin Phang" (Gaia Aquarium items), and "Back Alley Bargains" (power-up items for Gaia's MMORPG, "zOMG!").
* Trade: Users can trade items and gold with other users. A majority of these trades are settled in the "Gaia Exchange" forum (and its sub-forums).
* Marketplace: The Marketplace is a separate area of the site for users to buy and sell items. Rather than self-auctioning an item through a thread in the Exchange forum, users can either put their item up for immediate sale with a "Buy Now" price, or leave their item for auction with a starting "Bid" price. Users can have up to 10 items for sale at once, and each item can be listed for a maximum of 14 days. The cost of this convenience is a 2% tax on all gold earned from sales.
Notable Items
Monthly Collectibles
Monthly Collectibles (previously known as Donation Items, also referred to as MCs) are special items that can be bought with real money meant to support Gaia's maintenance and costs. Established in June 2003 after users of Gaia Online petitioned for a "donation system" in an attempt to increase site revenue, for every US $2.50 a user gives to the site,[4] he or she receives an item known as a "Sealed Envelope" in his or her inventory.
Sealed Envelopes go on sale the first day of every month and are released on the 15th of each month. During August & September 2008 the envelopes were unsealed on the 8th, but on October 2, 2008 it was decided that the release date should be returned to the fifteenth. The Sealed Envelope disappears from the user's inventory and is replaced by a "Thank You Letter" for the current paid month (for example, a "Thank You Letter for August 2004" represents a payment made in that month of that year). Users are then able to open these virtual letters to choose one of two or three limited-edition items to be granted into their inventory from each letter. These items were known as Donation Items until potential legal problems prompted the name change.[15] 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, and one could only purchase that letter in April 2006. Letters can be purchased over the phone, with a text message from a mobile phone, via PayPal, credit card, traditional mail or with Gaia Cash through the Cash Shop, "La Victoire". Envelopes and letters can be later bought and sold through user trades or through Marketplace.
Evolving Items
Evolving Items, commonly abbreviated to EIs, are items which change or evolve over time. Items begin with one set of item poses, but with each new evolution, a different set of poses become available instead. Additionally, with each subsequent evolution a re-release of the item becomes available at the Cash Shop as a "next generation" release. When the item has fully evolved all previous poses become available for the item. Times between evolutions are different for each EI, and can be anywhere between a few weeks to a few months. Recent additions of "Rapid Evolving Items" evolve twice a week. New evolution updates are noted in regular site announcements as "Evolving Item Reports" present by the NPC, Dr. Singh. EIs are available from the Cash Shop "La Victoire", and can be later sold through trading or in the Marketplace. EIs are removed from the Cash Shop sometime after their final evolution becomes available.
Chance Items/Random Item Generators
With Chance Items , commonly referred to as CIs (previously know as Random Item Generators, or RIGs), users play a chance mini-game and the item they are granted depends on their success with completing the game, when they decide to stop playing and collect an item, or their failure to complete the game. Games will vary depending on the RIG - some may require users to choose a "correct" response, while some are simply a choice between continuing the game or stopping and collecting an item. RIGs are available from the Cash Shop "La Victoire" and are eventually rotated out of the shop.
Random Event Items
Occasionally, random gift items can be found floating across web pages while browsing the site. Each random gift grants users a rare or uncommon clothing and accessory items that cannot be bought from any store. There are 6 different types of random items:
* Brown Magical Giftbox: Contains uncommon items
* Pink Magical Giftbox: Contains rare items
* Blue Magical Giftbox: Contains items from both the Pink and Brown boxes, as well as a few items found only in the Blue Giftbox
* Enchanted Wooden Trunk: Contains uncommon Gaia Housing items
* Enchanted Golden Trunk: Contains rare Gaia Housing items
* Fat Cat Alert: Contains various cat-related items, some which can be bought from normal NPC-run shops
Other Site Features
Site-wide Events
Gaia holds various special events throughout the year - some are yearly, regular holiday events, while some are and Gaia-specific events which may or may not be run yearly. In the past, these have included: April Fools, Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentine's Day, GaiaOnline's Site Anniversary, yearly Summer festivities, and the Gaian Prom. During the majority of events, users take part in site-wide mini-games and tasks, such as carol-singing during Christmas events by visiting NPC-owned stores to eventually collect commemorative Christmas items. The 2009 Halloween event saw the introduction of the Aquarium Overseer in his human form along with his nemesis, Sentinel. During the event, users were to ally themselves with either The Overseer or Sentinel, and perform certain tasks in order combat the opposing side. Events such as these can determine storyline outcomes.
Guilds
Users can form guilds, which are clubs specially devoted to certain topics. These include hangout guilds, role playing guilds and guilds for various discussion topics. In previous years, guilds were simply run using a thread in the Guilds forum, however Gaia later expanded on this, allowing users to create private forums for guilds. Joining a guild can depend on the guidelines set by a guild leader and their crew - some may require a payment to join, others are completely free, while some may be invitation-only. The guild leader and crew are also responsible for moderating threads within their guild. Guilds cost 20,000 gold to create, and additional sub-forums may be purchased.
Gaia Houses
Users are able to own their own Gaia House situated in Gaia Towns. Houses are available in 3 different styles: Round, Square, or Long. To purchase a house is free, however future changes to the style of the house costs 500 gold. Users are also able to relocate their home to a different Town postcode at a cost of 1000 gold. A range of decorative furniture items can be bought from the NPC-run store, "The Faktori", such as include floor and wall tiles, tables, chairs, lamps, among others. Rare housing items can be found in Enchanted Wooden Trunks and Enchanted Golden Trunks randomly found floating across site pages.
Gaia Cars
On June 18, 2007,[16] Gaia Online and Scion announced a partnership that allowed users to create a virtual Scion with customizable wheels, decals, fog lights, tail lights, and spoilers.[17][18] Other car choices available were the fictional Possum and Musculero. The Scion tC, Scion xD, UFO and Kiki Car (which is available only with Cash)[19] were later released, bringing the total to seven possible cars to choose from. Users can own up to 3 cars, which are stored in their Garage. Parts and decals for cars (such as paint color and antenna ornaments), as well as car bases, can be purchased from the NPC-run store, "Sam's Body and Parts". Cars are used as part of the Rally game available on the website.
Gaia Aquarium
Users can maintain fish and other creatures in Gaia Aquariums. Fish and tank accessories can be purchased only with Gaia Cash from the NPC-run store, "Phin Phang". At certain times, the fish inside a tank will "glow", enabling the Booty Grab mini-game. Aquarium item bundles (which include various fish and tank items) can be purchased from the main Cash shop, "La Victoire".
Arenas
There are four main arenas on Gaia Online: Housing, Art, Avatar and Writing - with some of these arenas have subcategories. Members can vote in the arenas and comment on art, avatars, houses or written works which have been submitted by other users. Entering the Avatar Arena costs 1,000 Gold and rewards up to 50,000 gold for winners. Entries to the Writing Arena costs 100 Gold. Entering the Art and Housing Arena is free, and no prizes are awarded.
Sponsor Quests
The Gaia Quest system grants users items for performing certain tasks. Although previously quests for doing tasks around the website (similar to Gaia's current Achievement system), quests on the site are now for promotional purposes, granting items related to a featured movie, video game, or series for watching trailers or advertisements. Movies, video games, and other products that are promoted by the Gaia Quest system include Gracie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Golden Compass, Nancy Drew,[18] The Last Mimzy,[20] The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kung Fu Panda, Bee Movie, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Sims 3, Sonic and the Black Knight, Harry Potter, August Underground's Mordum, PopStar Guitar, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, among many others. Anime series and TV shows have also been promoted, such as Naruto, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and The Hills. There are a few for games such as "Dragon Quest Swords" and the "Naruto: Ultimate Ninja". There are also some quests for advertisement such as the new Crazy Cores Skittles.
Achievements
Achievements are tasks that can be performed around the site. Completion of Achievements grants users Achievement Points, some which additionally grant users gold. There are a variety of different Achievements that can be obtained - tasks to gain these can include posting in a thread, changing one's equipped avatar items (or equipping specific items), selling an item in Marketplace, among many others.
Games
Gaia Online currently offers a number of Flash games, and users can win different items or gold from these games. These games comprise of 10% to 15% of total site activity.[4]
zOMG!!
zOMG!! is a browser-based MMORPG on Gaia where users are able to battle monsters and participate in RPG-style quests. The game utilizes special rings to activate abilities, such as throwing fireballs or conjuring up a defense. zOMG! was made public and open to beta testing in November 2008, and since then a number of updates have been made to the rings and flow of the game.[21][22]
Monster Galaxy
Monster Galaxy is a Facebook application located in the Game category created by Gaia Online. Appearing November 13th 2010, the app is inspired by the popular franchise Pokémon and various other creature catching series. The creatures in the game are Gaia World related, seen from various item releases such as Chance Items, Evolving Items, and creatures original to the game or have yet not seen on Gaia Online. As of now its in the Beta, and is free to test by anyone willing to give it a try.
Mini-Games
There are various mini games which can be played to earn gold and items. Gold is the most common pay out for playing these games, but occasionally, players can earn an item by reaching a high score or completing a special condition. Puzzles have at times yielded items, but very rarely. Other games offer tickets with can be used to purchase items in the shop called Prize & Joy. The items purchased in Prize & Joy can only be bought with tickets, though the same items can be found in the market place for a significantly higher gold price. Tickets are often sold on the market place for a low to high gold price making the cost with tickets for ticket only items almost the same as for gold.
Gold Lotto
Gold Lotto, like the name suggests is a lottery ran on Gaia that offers players the change to win a gold jackpot by purchasing lottery tickets with gold. Tickets cost 100 Gold each and require the selection of 5 numbers. Matching all of the numbers gives players the majority of the jackpot where matching 3 or 4 will give players a smaller payout. Players can purchase Power Picks with Gaia Cash from the Cash Shop. Power Picks guarantee two winning numbers for each ticket. If the numbers are not guessed the Jackpot rolls over to the next day.
Gaia Fishing
In Gaia Fishing, users fish on the banks of various lakes in the Gaian world and may catch anything from different species of fish to garbage. The fish and trash can be sold on the Marketplace or back to the fishing store, or alternatively be exchanged for fish-shaped hats and other accessories. The gold received is based on the rarity of the fish or item.
Rally
Users are able to create their own Gaia Cars which can be used to race with other users in Gaia Rally. When racing, users are able to "drive" their cars on a simple track in which numerous obstacles appear.
Cards & Slots
Gaia Cards and Gaia Slots are two Casino-themed games. In essence, Cards is a game of Blackjack while Slots is simply a slot machine game. To play these games, users must first purchase Tokens from the Ticket Booth at Gold Mountain Casino. Tokens are also a regular prize from the Daily Chance, and can also be bought and sold on Marketplace. Users receive Tickets from playing Cards or Slots, which can be traded for exclusive prizes at the Ticket store, "Prize and Joy".
Booty Grab
Booty Grab is a mini-game available when a user's Aquarium fish are "glowing". In the game, the glowing fish swim around at the top of the screen dropping coins, while the user holds a Overseer shell at the bottom of the screen and moves left and right to catch as many coins as possible. Various power-ups and power-downs can be collected during the game, such as time extension/deduction, increase/decrease speed, increase/decrease coin value (coin multiplier), and increase/decrease shell size. The value of coins dropped vary depending on the fish, as some fish drop coins that are worth more than normal coins. Coins of a higher value appear with a red, green, or blue glowing outline.
Tiles
Tiles is a mini game in which players must clear out a board of tiles by making tile chains, clearing out tiles yields a payout of tickets. In order to make a chain players much connect card that have a similar background or foreground character, tiles can be mixed in various ways as long as at either the foreground or background match. The in game side bar will show how long the chains must be in order to count as a completed chain, as well as how many chains are needed to complete the level. If the chain is too short a fire tile will be dropped, for every move after that the fire card will burn through another card until the burning card reaches the bottom, at which point the game is over. Once players have completed the level, the players will have the option to continue to the next level by putting their tickets won on the line or they can leave, keeping their current winnings.
Word Bump
In Word Bump players win gold by matching various tiles. The tiles have letters in them and can be chained together to make words. The object is to get the golden tiles to the top of the board, before the reach the bottom and disappear. If the tiles fall too low the game will end. Besides the main gold tiles that spell the object word, the other tiles are red, blue and yellow. The game is won by successfully “bumping” the golden tiles to the top of the board. Another row of tiles is added after a small amount of time, giving players only a few seconds to make words. By completing words in yellow, red or blue, players are awarded with power for the power up gauge. The power up gauge consists of 3 clear orbs which fill with color as a word is completed in either red, blue, or yellow. If players successfully fill an orb, they are given on of the following power ups:
Jigsaw
Players choose from various Gaia related images, once an image has been selected it is broken up into various pieces. The number of pieces the images is broken up into is dependent upon which difficulty has been selected (Easy has 30, Normal 70, Hard 120 and insane has 300 tiny pieces). The harder difficulties yield more gold and a higher chance of obtaining items. Other factors in the reward ammout are the number of times played in a day and the longer the time to complete a puzzle.
Electric Love Faktori
The object of the game is to connect similar colored ends to complete circuit section, the circuit sections have to connect to circuit ends (which look like blue volts in random placement at the edges of the circuit board). In order to gain power ups from within the game players must complete a circuit with the at least part of the complete circuit passing through a “?” (Power ups can also be obtained via the market place). Power ups can be any one of the following:
* Removing red volts that obstruct the path.
* Freezing the power meter for several seconds.
* Doubling the score of the next completed circuit.
The game has three difficulty options: Easy, Medium, and Hard. Depending on the difficulty chosen red volts appear more often and make the completion of circuits more difficult. Also added to other difficulties is a more mixed up color selection for the colored ends making connections much more difficult to make. It is important to note that higher difficulties yield more gold. There is an option to "reset circuits" if a puzzle is to difficult, doing so removes 10 percent of the power meter. Once the power meter reaches zero the game is over, the power meter can be replenished by small amounts upon completion of circuits. Bigger circuit completion yields a bigger replenishment to the meter.
Pinball
In this game players play pinball that is themed after various events and characters in the Gaia world. Barton town is the main focus of the game, but many other areas and characters are present. Among the items on the pinball table are:
Grunnies: hit these to increase the field multiplier. Players must knock all three Grunnies out in order to move the multiplier up.
Gambino’s Mansion: destroying and rebuilding the mansion gives players gold to spend in the Barton Boutique. The gold can only be used to buy power ups from within the game.
Von Helson Mansion: every time players rebuild the Gambino Mansion they will see that one of the letters to the word “GAIA”, in the center of the pinball machine, will turn green. When all letters are green the Von Helson Mansion will appear. Players must hit the ball into the form door of the Von Helson Mansion to play with in the mansion. Once inside the mansion players will need to try to spell the words VON HELSON, in order to spell the words, players must strike the individual letters with the pinball. Completing this task yields a high point pay out.
Gaia holds various special events throughout the year - some are yearly, regular holiday events, while some are and Gaia-specific events which may or may not be run yearly. In the past, these have included: April Fools, Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentine's Day, GaiaOnline's Site Anniversary, yearly Summer festivities, and the Gaian Prom. During the majority of events, users take part in site-wide mini-games and tasks, such as carol-singing during Christmas events by visiting NPC-owned stores to eventually collect commemorative Christmas items. The 2009 Halloween event saw the introduction of the Aquarium Overseer in his human form along with his nemesis, Sentinel. During the event, users were to ally themselves with either The Overseer or Sentinel, and perform certain tasks in order combat the opposing side. Events such as these can determine storyline outcomes.
Guilds
Users can form guilds, which are clubs specially devoted to certain topics. These include hangout guilds, role playing guilds and guilds for various discussion topics. In previous years, guilds were simply run using a thread in the Guilds forum, however Gaia later expanded on this, allowing users to create private forums for guilds. Joining a guild can depend on the guidelines set by a guild leader and their crew - some may require a payment to join, others are completely free, while some may be invitation-only. The guild leader and crew are also responsible for moderating threads within their guild. Guilds cost 20,000 gold to create, and additional sub-forums may be purchased.
Gaia Houses
Users are able to own their own Gaia House situated in Gaia Towns. Houses are available in 3 different styles: Round, Square, or Long. To purchase a house is free, however future changes to the style of the house costs 500 gold. Users are also able to relocate their home to a different Town postcode at a cost of 1000 gold. A range of decorative furniture items can be bought from the NPC-run store, "The Faktori", such as include floor and wall tiles, tables, chairs, lamps, among others. Rare housing items can be found in Enchanted Wooden Trunks and Enchanted Golden Trunks randomly found floating across site pages.
Gaia Cars
On June 18, 2007,[16] Gaia Online and Scion announced a partnership that allowed users to create a virtual Scion with customizable wheels, decals, fog lights, tail lights, and spoilers.[17][18] Other car choices available were the fictional Possum and Musculero. The Scion tC, Scion xD, UFO and Kiki Car (which is available only with Cash)[19] were later released, bringing the total to seven possible cars to choose from. Users can own up to 3 cars, which are stored in their Garage. Parts and decals for cars (such as paint color and antenna ornaments), as well as car bases, can be purchased from the NPC-run store, "Sam's Body and Parts". Cars are used as part of the Rally game available on the website.
Gaia Aquarium
Users can maintain fish and other creatures in Gaia Aquariums. Fish and tank accessories can be purchased only with Gaia Cash from the NPC-run store, "Phin Phang". At certain times, the fish inside a tank will "glow", enabling the Booty Grab mini-game. Aquarium item bundles (which include various fish and tank items) can be purchased from the main Cash shop, "La Victoire".
Arenas
There are four main arenas on Gaia Online: Housing, Art, Avatar and Writing - with some of these arenas have subcategories. Members can vote in the arenas and comment on art, avatars, houses or written works which have been submitted by other users. Entering the Avatar Arena costs 1,000 Gold and rewards up to 50,000 gold for winners. Entries to the Writing Arena costs 100 Gold. Entering the Art and Housing Arena is free, and no prizes are awarded.
Sponsor Quests
The Gaia Quest system grants users items for performing certain tasks. Although previously quests for doing tasks around the website (similar to Gaia's current Achievement system), quests on the site are now for promotional purposes, granting items related to a featured movie, video game, or series for watching trailers or advertisements. Movies, video games, and other products that are promoted by the Gaia Quest system include Gracie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Golden Compass, Nancy Drew,[18] The Last Mimzy,[20] The Spiderwick Chronicles, Kung Fu Panda, Bee Movie, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Sims 3, Sonic and the Black Knight, Harry Potter, August Underground's Mordum, PopStar Guitar, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, among many others. Anime series and TV shows have also been promoted, such as Naruto, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and The Hills. There are a few for games such as "Dragon Quest Swords" and the "Naruto: Ultimate Ninja". There are also some quests for advertisement such as the new Crazy Cores Skittles.
Achievements
Achievements are tasks that can be performed around the site. Completion of Achievements grants users Achievement Points, some which additionally grant users gold. There are a variety of different Achievements that can be obtained - tasks to gain these can include posting in a thread, changing one's equipped avatar items (or equipping specific items), selling an item in Marketplace, among many others.
Games
Gaia Online currently offers a number of Flash games, and users can win different items or gold from these games. These games comprise of 10% to 15% of total site activity.[4]
zOMG!!
zOMG!! is a browser-based MMORPG on Gaia where users are able to battle monsters and participate in RPG-style quests. The game utilizes special rings to activate abilities, such as throwing fireballs or conjuring up a defense. zOMG! was made public and open to beta testing in November 2008, and since then a number of updates have been made to the rings and flow of the game.[21][22]
Monster Galaxy
Monster Galaxy is a Facebook application located in the Game category created by Gaia Online. Appearing November 13th 2010, the app is inspired by the popular franchise Pokémon and various other creature catching series. The creatures in the game are Gaia World related, seen from various item releases such as Chance Items, Evolving Items, and creatures original to the game or have yet not seen on Gaia Online. As of now its in the Beta, and is free to test by anyone willing to give it a try.
Mini-Games
There are various mini games which can be played to earn gold and items. Gold is the most common pay out for playing these games, but occasionally, players can earn an item by reaching a high score or completing a special condition. Puzzles have at times yielded items, but very rarely. Other games offer tickets with can be used to purchase items in the shop called Prize & Joy. The items purchased in Prize & Joy can only be bought with tickets, though the same items can be found in the market place for a significantly higher gold price. Tickets are often sold on the market place for a low to high gold price making the cost with tickets for ticket only items almost the same as for gold.
Gold Lotto
Gold Lotto, like the name suggests is a lottery ran on Gaia that offers players the change to win a gold jackpot by purchasing lottery tickets with gold. Tickets cost 100 Gold each and require the selection of 5 numbers. Matching all of the numbers gives players the majority of the jackpot where matching 3 or 4 will give players a smaller payout. Players can purchase Power Picks with Gaia Cash from the Cash Shop. Power Picks guarantee two winning numbers for each ticket. If the numbers are not guessed the Jackpot rolls over to the next day.
Gaia Fishing
In Gaia Fishing, users fish on the banks of various lakes in the Gaian world and may catch anything from different species of fish to garbage. The fish and trash can be sold on the Marketplace or back to the fishing store, or alternatively be exchanged for fish-shaped hats and other accessories. The gold received is based on the rarity of the fish or item.
Rally
Users are able to create their own Gaia Cars which can be used to race with other users in Gaia Rally. When racing, users are able to "drive" their cars on a simple track in which numerous obstacles appear.
Cards & Slots
Gaia Cards and Gaia Slots are two Casino-themed games. In essence, Cards is a game of Blackjack while Slots is simply a slot machine game. To play these games, users must first purchase Tokens from the Ticket Booth at Gold Mountain Casino. Tokens are also a regular prize from the Daily Chance, and can also be bought and sold on Marketplace. Users receive Tickets from playing Cards or Slots, which can be traded for exclusive prizes at the Ticket store, "Prize and Joy".
Booty Grab
Booty Grab is a mini-game available when a user's Aquarium fish are "glowing". In the game, the glowing fish swim around at the top of the screen dropping coins, while the user holds a Overseer shell at the bottom of the screen and moves left and right to catch as many coins as possible. Various power-ups and power-downs can be collected during the game, such as time extension/deduction, increase/decrease speed, increase/decrease coin value (coin multiplier), and increase/decrease shell size. The value of coins dropped vary depending on the fish, as some fish drop coins that are worth more than normal coins. Coins of a higher value appear with a red, green, or blue glowing outline.
Tiles
Tiles is a mini game in which players must clear out a board of tiles by making tile chains, clearing out tiles yields a payout of tickets. In order to make a chain players much connect card that have a similar background or foreground character, tiles can be mixed in various ways as long as at either the foreground or background match. The in game side bar will show how long the chains must be in order to count as a completed chain, as well as how many chains are needed to complete the level. If the chain is too short a fire tile will be dropped, for every move after that the fire card will burn through another card until the burning card reaches the bottom, at which point the game is over. Once players have completed the level, the players will have the option to continue to the next level by putting their tickets won on the line or they can leave, keeping their current winnings.
Word Bump
In Word Bump players win gold by matching various tiles. The tiles have letters in them and can be chained together to make words. The object is to get the golden tiles to the top of the board, before the reach the bottom and disappear. If the tiles fall too low the game will end. Besides the main gold tiles that spell the object word, the other tiles are red, blue and yellow. The game is won by successfully “bumping” the golden tiles to the top of the board. Another row of tiles is added after a small amount of time, giving players only a few seconds to make words. By completing words in yellow, red or blue, players are awarded with power for the power up gauge. The power up gauge consists of 3 clear orbs which fill with color as a word is completed in either red, blue, or yellow. If players successfully fill an orb, they are given on of the following power ups:
Jigsaw
Players choose from various Gaia related images, once an image has been selected it is broken up into various pieces. The number of pieces the images is broken up into is dependent upon which difficulty has been selected (Easy has 30, Normal 70, Hard 120 and insane has 300 tiny pieces). The harder difficulties yield more gold and a higher chance of obtaining items. Other factors in the reward ammout are the number of times played in a day and the longer the time to complete a puzzle.
Electric Love Faktori
The object of the game is to connect similar colored ends to complete circuit section, the circuit sections have to connect to circuit ends (which look like blue volts in random placement at the edges of the circuit board). In order to gain power ups from within the game players must complete a circuit with the at least part of the complete circuit passing through a “?” (Power ups can also be obtained via the market place). Power ups can be any one of the following:
* Removing red volts that obstruct the path.
* Freezing the power meter for several seconds.
* Doubling the score of the next completed circuit.
The game has three difficulty options: Easy, Medium, and Hard. Depending on the difficulty chosen red volts appear more often and make the completion of circuits more difficult. Also added to other difficulties is a more mixed up color selection for the colored ends making connections much more difficult to make. It is important to note that higher difficulties yield more gold. There is an option to "reset circuits" if a puzzle is to difficult, doing so removes 10 percent of the power meter. Once the power meter reaches zero the game is over, the power meter can be replenished by small amounts upon completion of circuits. Bigger circuit completion yields a bigger replenishment to the meter.
Pinball
In this game players play pinball that is themed after various events and characters in the Gaia world. Barton town is the main focus of the game, but many other areas and characters are present. Among the items on the pinball table are:
Grunnies: hit these to increase the field multiplier. Players must knock all three Grunnies out in order to move the multiplier up.
Gambino’s Mansion: destroying and rebuilding the mansion gives players gold to spend in the Barton Boutique. The gold can only be used to buy power ups from within the game.
Von Helson Mansion: every time players rebuild the Gambino Mansion they will see that one of the letters to the word “GAIA”, in the center of the pinball machine, will turn green. When all letters are green the Von Helson Mansion will appear. Players must hit the ball into the form door of the Von Helson Mansion to play with in the mansion. Once inside the mansion players will need to try to spell the words VON HELSON, in order to spell the words, players must strike the individual letters with the pinball. Completing this task yields a high point pay out.
Virtual Worlds
Towns
Gaia Towns (often simply called Towns) is a virtual world where avatars may move and interact with each other. While in Towns users can pick up various items. Bugs, litter, and flowers can be collected while in towns, these items can later be made into other items for a small cost. Shaking trees, rocks, and shrubs can yield small amounts of gold to be collected.. Users may use a virtual chat system while in the towns. Homes can be found throughout Towns and more than one user can visit someone else's home. The towns often host events such as snowball fights and trick-or-treating.
Sponsored Worlds
Recently, Gaia has been implementing virtual worlds, similar to Towns, for various site sponsors. These have included a rainbow-styled world for a Skittles sponsor, a castle for an Alice in Wonderland film promotion, a large forest tree for the Legend of the Guardians film, among many others. Users can interact with certain NPCs in these areas, and are often awarded prizes for visiting these areas.
Cinemas
Gaia Cinemas was released in April 2007, and allows users to sit in a virtual theater, and watch anime, education shorts, TV shows, cartoons, etc. with other users. Users have the ability to throw temporary virtual items such as tomatoes, fireballs, popcorn, as well as other things during a cinema session. Programs shown in Gaia Cinemas are anime or cartoons shown with permission from Gaia Online's sponsors, films in the public domain, or films made by Gaia or by users. Gaia has old classic films as well as new anime in their theaters like Suzuka and Moon Phase. In 2007, Gaia has created its own 3-D animated films, under the title of MMVII, that correlate with the Gaia storyline. Quest movies also take place in cinemas, when a user finishes watching a trailer for a movie they may receive a quest item. Gaia VJ is where users can make a virtual living room cinema with playlists composed of videos from video-hosting sites such as YouTube. In a recent announcement, Gaia announced a partnership with Sony and Time Warner, allowing Gaia to screen films from their libraries, either for free, a one time gold fee, or a Gaia Cash rental fee. New films are released in Gaia Cinemas every Monday.[23] Due to lack of interest and inactivity, Gaia Cinemas no longer open to users for regular viewings, and is now only used to display film trailers, game trailers, and advertisements from site sponsors. Users are often awarded with sponsor-themed items from viewing the trailer or advertisement.
Gaia Towns (often simply called Towns) is a virtual world where avatars may move and interact with each other. While in Towns users can pick up various items. Bugs, litter, and flowers can be collected while in towns, these items can later be made into other items for a small cost. Shaking trees, rocks, and shrubs can yield small amounts of gold to be collected.. Users may use a virtual chat system while in the towns. Homes can be found throughout Towns and more than one user can visit someone else's home. The towns often host events such as snowball fights and trick-or-treating.
Sponsored Worlds
Recently, Gaia has been implementing virtual worlds, similar to Towns, for various site sponsors. These have included a rainbow-styled world for a Skittles sponsor, a castle for an Alice in Wonderland film promotion, a large forest tree for the Legend of the Guardians film, among many others. Users can interact with certain NPCs in these areas, and are often awarded prizes for visiting these areas.
Cinemas
Gaia Cinemas was released in April 2007, and allows users to sit in a virtual theater, and watch anime, education shorts, TV shows, cartoons, etc. with other users. Users have the ability to throw temporary virtual items such as tomatoes, fireballs, popcorn, as well as other things during a cinema session. Programs shown in Gaia Cinemas are anime or cartoons shown with permission from Gaia Online's sponsors, films in the public domain, or films made by Gaia or by users. Gaia has old classic films as well as new anime in their theaters like Suzuka and Moon Phase. In 2007, Gaia has created its own 3-D animated films, under the title of MMVII, that correlate with the Gaia storyline. Quest movies also take place in cinemas, when a user finishes watching a trailer for a movie they may receive a quest item. Gaia VJ is where users can make a virtual living room cinema with playlists composed of videos from video-hosting sites such as YouTube. In a recent announcement, Gaia announced a partnership with Sony and Time Warner, allowing Gaia to screen films from their libraries, either for free, a one time gold fee, or a Gaia Cash rental fee. New films are released in Gaia Cinemas every Monday.[23] Due to lack of interest and inactivity, Gaia Cinemas no longer open to users for regular viewings, and is now only used to display film trailers, game trailers, and advertisements from site sponsors. Users are often awarded with sponsor-themed items from viewing the trailer or advertisement.
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