Ah yes, I remember the good times....*cues the nostalgic harp flash back music*
I found this site a few weeks after I obtained my very own computer! I was playing random flash games on Crazy Monkey when the advertisement popped up, I must of been...13? 12? It was the summer of 2k7, and everyone was throwing water balloons at each other! Because of the chaos the forums became during that event I stayed away and fished for most of my day's...such a trivial activity brought me so much joy. I remember falling in love with the first body mods item...I remember finally entering the GCD, where I stumbled into a thread discussing the truth about Timmy, and having my first roleplaying experience there with a girl named Rei. I learned the term "god modding", and decided to make my character revolve around the concept!
I eventually became a member of the TaT orginization, i went by Twilight BLAST during those day's. I met all my friends their and we became family. I remember joining Team Sprocket too back when it was first starting up, and when it was fun. When both the TaT, Team Sprocket and other threads in the GCD were completely off-topic and filled with roleplaying. Eventually the mods decided to change that and both of them were abolished to the chatterbox. Dark times were those, but my friends and I pulled through, and found our ways into a new era of the zOMG beta testing!
I had become so infatuated with the website by now, it was taking up most of my time. Eventually I pushed off my school work just to play the MMO and hang out with my friends on the forums. I was born into a broken family, with an abusive mother, and this did not please her one bit. It was an important time, i was transitioning into the 8th grade and soon highschool! But I did not care, as long as I had a realm to my own to escape to.
As I entered highschool reality began to creep up on me, and my constant trouble ignoring it spawned many mental disorders. My life entered an even darker time, I went by the name Midnight Trickster during this time. It was the year of 2009 I was constantly hanging out in the GCD, We had begun receiving mysterious letters from Sentinel and the Overseer, and I took this as an opportunity to achieve fame and fortune by opening a fan guild of the Sentinel. It was small at first, but as the letters started being sent to more and more people, our numbers grew rapidly. We were receiving about 10 invite request per second! I was now in charge of my own organization, and it was both exciting and scary.
S.I.N. won that event. I still believe I played a major role in that victory. The happiness that gave me only lasted a small amount of time, because I realized that now there were
thousands of people looking up to me, wondering what would become of our team now that the event was over. Not to mention I was failing my first semester of highschool because I spent so much time on the website!
I tried to make sense of it all for a little while, but I cracked under the pressure. I ran from it all, cut my ties with everyone I knew from S.I.N. and made a new account, taking the new name "LoRthePuppeteer". I casted shame upon myself, shame that grew into evil hate, my mental disorders worsened. Not only was I dealing with thoughts of suicide but with hallucinations, the Midnight Trickster continued to haunt me.
Through all of this though I still had the support of my loyal friends, the members of the TaT. There was Rei_Yami_Hikari, Dash, Amusedandconfused, Lunarshinobi, and so many others. The TaT was finally allowed to rejoin the TaT, and even though our leader Alaric was long gone we continued to strive. I became best friends with Sabel_Katze, another member. She was the first person i admitted my problems too and if it wasn't for her I don't think I'd be hear today.
Eventually the TaT became inactive, but it didn't matter. We all still kept in touch through email, and besides, Gaia was entering it's golden age! Soon we all took to the sky in our own personal airships~ Gods that was the best. But it didn't last long. Gaia itself was collapsing, either I had outgrown it or it outgrew itself. zOMG was cancelled, airships stopped flying in the sky, RIGs were all the flare, mother ******** facebook games were created. We left Gaia, escaping "THE SUCK" and retreated to tumblr....
*reverse harp music plays, ending the flashback*
And now? In a few months from now I'll be moving away from my home-city of chicago to become room mates with Sabel! Hopefully along the line more members of the TaT will join us.
TL;DR? Point is joining Gaia Online was the most influence thing I've ever done in my entire life. I cannot imagine what kind of person i would of become if I never joined to begin with. I might not even be alive right now if it wasn't for this website.
It's a shame this website sucks now. Hell, this is my first time logging in for months, it's 2am and I was bored enough to check out what was going on.
