Welcome to Gaia! ::

What's Gaiaonline?

Gaia Online (also known informally as Go-Gaia, or simply "Gaia") is a roleplaying site founded on February 18, 2003 by Derek Liu (Gaia username Lanzer), Josh Gainsbrugh (username L0cke), Long Vo (username VO) and a team of their friends, Studio XD artists, and programmers/web designers. The site currently revolves around its forum, avatars, and in-game currency, but is expanding to include features such as games, like fishing, gambling, and an upcoming user-versus-user dueling. Gaia's forum, the largest English forum-based community on the internet, has over 440 million posts (plus over 350 million in storage), nearly 3 million registered users, and usually has 20,000 or more people online at any given time during the day. The most users ever online numbered approximately 41,319 on Tues, Nov.1, 2005 5:08 pm PST, during the Halloween 2005 Trick or Treat event.

On Gaia Online, each user can create their own virtual character and customize it through clothing and accessories located in virtual shops throughout the site. The customizations begin with choosing gender, skin tone, eyes, mouth, and hair style and color. From there, the user tries to earn "Gaia gold" by doing everything from chatting on the plethora of forums to choose from, rating art in the art gallery, answering polls, and more. In fact, almost everything one does on the site can earn a user gold. Once gold is earned, the user can buy clothing and accessory items from the site-run shops as well as from individual users. With the use of these items, the user's avatar can be further customized, reflecting the personality of the user. As with many forums, there is a clear subculture for Gaia Online.

Gaia Online is free to play and is currently in the Alpha Testing stage. The release date of the Beta stage is currently unknown, but was previously planned for November 2004.

Gaia gold is the currency of Gaia Online forums site. It is earned in several different ways.

Making new threads: 7-10 gold
Replying to current threads: 5-7 gold
Voting on polls: about 10 gold
Clicking around the site, also known as "lurking": 0-2 gold (each new page)
Submitting one's art to the Art Arena: Same amount as lurking
Voting or commenting on art in the Arena: 7 gold
Selling art or services in the "Mini-Shops" forum: price the vender wants
Donations from other users: Variable
Selling fish caught in the Fishing mini-game to other users or the fishing store: Variable; 1-25 gold per fish on average
Selling Tickets obtained by gambling at the Casino: Variable; 2-5 gold per ticket on average
Selling unwanted items to other users: Variable
Selling unwanted items back to the stores: Half of the original store price (if available)
Buying items then selling them for more making a profit (known as "exchange whoring"): Variable

The option of donating to Gaia is also available. For every $2.50 one donates, one receives a "donation letter". Around the 25th of every month the letter will open, revealing a choice of two new items available only to those who donated. Users can sell these "donation items" for gold to other players or keep them for wearing if they prefer. Some rare donation items that have been released in the past include a Halo, DJ/portable headphones, a devil tail/angelic sash (a white scarf that defies gravity and floats around one's avatar), and the OMG/AFK hats (fuzzy little hats that look like creatures). The administrators of the site have promised that these items will never be rereleased on Gaia. Due to the limited amount of them and the increase in users, these items tend to rise in value rather quickly. However, through recent conventions, Administrators give users who show up a chance to spin a wheel which offers a small chance of receiving an old donation, rares, uncommons or a store item.

In addition, Gaia also holds events for Easter, April Fool's Day, Halloween and Christmas. Sometimes, an item is won, and it becomes super-rare a few years later and is worth a lot more than it was in the past. These items, as well as the rare donation items, have become somewhat of a status symbol in recent years. Other user-run events are often run during the year, such as a Summer carnival that was held on June 19 and the ball that is being held in October. Events like these have no administrator interaction, and are completely run by a user.

Special events NPC

Holidays and Gaia events

Cindy Donovinh - Gaia's No. 1 (and only) news reporter, working for GAIA 9 Action News.
Jack - The Halloween Spirit.
Chick - Appearing in the Gaia Olympics 2k4.
The Sniper - The person who shot Gambino on April 1, 2005.
Easter Rab-bot - The cyborg rabbit who gives out Easter Baskets, at Easter.
Santa Claus - The old man who gives us Gifts, at Christmas.
Mrs. Claus - Owner of the S CORP Guild.
Masked Hero - Gaia's Zorro-like super hero. Presumed to be Gino back from the dead.



G CORP
Grunny - A green rabbit.
LabTech013 - One of the early G-CORP LabTechs. He was killed before Halloween because he knew too much.
LabTech062 - One of the early LabTechs.
LabTech101 - One of the early LabTechs. He had a somewhat upbeat personality, despite being a relentless worker. Most famous for randomly shouting "I LOVE working in a SECRET UNDERGROUND TEST FACILITY!!!"
LabTech123 (Doctor123) - One of the two surviving Labtechs after the mansion incident. He is absent-mindedly cheerful, and it is speculated that he worked a desk job, perhaps as a filing assistant. He's also the man who re-created the G-Virus.
LabTech126 - One of the early LabTechs.
LabTech137 - One of the early LabTechs.
LabTech138 - One of the early LabTechs.
LabTech247 - One of the early LabTechs.
LabTech722 - A big Gambler at Gambino's Casino.
LabTech909 - He's addicted to coffee.
LabTech912 - The only LabTech who bought a Vial of Unknown Liquid. Unlucky her, she thought it was a combo perfume & lotion that would make her skin perfect forever.
LabTech957 - He held a Home Internet Theatre, but no one showed up.
LabTechX - Original supplier of the Vials of Unknown Liquids that cured Zombieism. Later he realesed all the Grunnies from the lab in the Gambino Mansion.

S CORP
ElfTech003 - A very sensitive elf who collects rubber bands.
ElfTech013 - He was killed before Christmas because he knew too much.
ElfTech062 - Overseeing manufacturing; it's his last Christmas before retiring.
ElfTech101 - A new employee of S CORP, very gullible and bad at keeping secrets. Also screams "I LOVE WORKING IN A SECRET ARCTIC TEST FACILITY" (Much like the LabTech with the same number)
ElfTech123 - Not an internet-savvy elf - he orders lunch for his fellow employees.
ElfTech126 - A new employee of S CORP, he seems to have a crush on ElfTech912 and doesn't like the cold.
ElfTech137 - Recently moved into S CORP's R&D department. Can't keep the ladies off him because of his red eyes.
ElfTech138 - Has built a shrine to ElfTech137.
ElfTech247 - He seems to know more about what's going on than the other elves.
ElfTech319 - Business as usual. An elf with a solid routine.
ElfTech369 - She tries to make sure her fellow elves maintain a healthy diet.
ElfTech403 - Elf who is very in tune with astrology. Loves bananas.
ElfTech404 - He is the inventor of various poorly-conceived foods, and an avid Larry Pottar fan.
ElfTech571 - He's worried about the current goings-on, but hopeful that things will turn out fine.
ElfTech722 - He was the The Amazing Elf, until the police started searching for him. Then he changed the name to The Amusing Elf so he could continue his Magic shows in secret.
ElfTech909 - Spends most of his time putting toys together.
ElfTech912 - A new S CORP employee, she's very excited about her job and loves snow.
ElfTech957 - Recently transferred to the night shift and has been cleaning a lot lately. Has a crush on ElfTech369.
ElfTech977 - A very introspective elf.

NPCs yet to come
Reinhart - The NPC of a Mining Game which was never realesed.
Natasha - One of the NPCs in the Tattoo Parlor.
Devin - One of the NPCs in the Tattoo Parlor.

Gaia Storyline (2/2)

The Second Gaian Anniversary Ball - The Von Helson Sisters, Anna Corinne and Marie, made their first appearance. The "Two Most Powerful Women in Gaia" hosted the party at their Durem mansion. Various NPCs showed up, and Gaia Anniversary Balloons and Hats were handed out. The sisters also handed out two-part V Pins, but rarely. More often than not, guests running into the Von Helson sisters would be insulted for their lack of fashion or for not being rich enough to talk to eitehr of them. Gambino, who had crashed the party by arriving before the sisters with the amnesic Gino, garnered support by handing out G Pins again. The NPCs also dropped various bits of information, and Liam of the then-unreleased town, Aekea, made his first appearance. LabTechX and LabTech123 both appeared as well, having not been turned into zombies. LebTechX had some shady dealings with the sisters. Guests that ran into LabTech123 found out that was sound asleep at home during the events that happened during the previous Halloween. Then, while Cindy Donovinh continued to report, the Von Helsons kidnapped Gino and forced Johnny K. Gambino into a confrontation. In return for Gino, Gambino had to promise to leave Durem and never return.
Gambino VS Von Helsons - Gambino appeared at the base of his blown-up mansion, asking for donations to bring it back. Then the "mansion" became a tower, and the tower grew and grew until it had three maps to itself, not including the base on island. The finishing touch was the old Gambino mansion and G CORP logo on top of the extremely tall tower. Cindy Donovinh reported on its construction. In response, the Von Helson sisters began to sell Anti-Gambino Picket Signs for 500 gold outside their Durem mansion. Gambino reappeared at the top of his mansion, more egotistical than ever and somewhat insane. Those who donated during the Donation Drive received one free Anti-Von Helson Picket Sign. Those who had not donated could buy one for 1000 gold.

Easter 2005 - The Von Helson sisters hosted the Easter party at their mansion. Inside the mansion were hidden Easter Eggs, eight of which could be traded in for a basket from a cybernetic Easter Bunny (called the Easter Rab-BOT by some) holding either a Bunny Mask or a Chick Mask.

April Fools 2005 - As Gambino continued his maniacal power trip on top of his tower, Gino connected the crazed evil exhibited by Gambino with the father he had known, regaining his memory. Gino's recognition snapped Gambino back to reality, and the two ran to each other, arms outstretched. Just before they hugged, a shot rang out. Gambino had been shot by a sniper in Durem, who is still of unknown origin. In shock, Gambino fell off of his tower and into the sea, bouncing off of the side of the tower on the way down. Gambino's tower fell with him, revealing new maps (Barton Coast, Great Wall of Gambino, and Durem Reclamation Hub), but many of the maps from Durem to the Isle were clouded with dust. The top of the tower also smashed directly into the Von Helson mansion. The dust took a week to clear. When it did, it was revealed that the fall of the tower was likely planned, as there was a new Gambino mansion on the Isle and a second one took the place of the Von Helson mansion.

Gino Returns - Part 1 - Sasha and Ian's store speechbubbles changed to include references to each other a short while before the event, and a manga was released in sections that detailed the beginning stages of this plot update. Sasha and Ian were walking on the Gambino beach, enjoying the sun, and Ian wandered off to find Sasha some pretty seashells. While Ian was absent, Sasha discovered Gino Gambino washed up on the beach. He wasn't breathing, so she gave him mouth to mouth rescue breathing, presumably causing him to breathe on his own again. Ian returned during Sasha's rescue attempt and was shocked, perceiving the rescue breathing as a kiss and becoming jealous. Sasha berated him for this and then took Gino back to her house. Later that day, a shadowy figure with a strong resemblance to Ian came to Sasha's house, wielding a kitchen knife. (August 5 2005)

Gino Returns - Part 2 - Recent story events included a manga with it, this happened again on October 11. The story takes place immediatally after the last manga on August 5, just as Ian walks in where Gino is sleeping, holding a kitchen knife. "In everyone's lives, there comes a time when one needs to act. Some acts can cause much pain and suffering-- Some acts-- --Are just blown out of proportion in our minds." Ian is shown slicing a piece of bread with Sasha making complaints on the bread size. Sasha brings Gino in lunch while he is in bed, talking to Doctor123, formally LabTech123, on his bedside. Doctor123 is now working for the local free clinic, helping people who are in need for no charge. He said that Gambino understood that power the most, those with great power have the ability to help those who are less fortunate. In the morning Bucho came to get Gino, just as soon as he heard it was 'OK' to get him. Gino says goodbye to Sasha and Ian, thanking them for saving his life. Sasha gives Gino his father's pocket watch which she found on the beach. Of course in the background, Ian jealous. Gino then returns home in Isle De Gambino, the mansion empty of any life. He stands at the balcony, looking out to the island Gambino, wondering how he will ever fill his father's shoes. Later in Barton pub Ian, Sasha, Moira, Liam, and Vanessa all were sitting at a table chitchatting about the recent events between Sasha and Gino. After Sasha told everybody about the 'mouth-to-mouth' with Gino, Moira pops in with a 'you're not getting the only action' and tells everybody about someone she's seeing, then points out Vanessa is also seeing someone new. At around 6:30 Ian somehow, by himself, walks into Sasha's bedroom, and find pills near the bed where Gino was sleeping, then saying the words. "I knew it. I've got you now Gino!" (October 11 2005)

Recreation of the G-Virus - The halloween event essently brought the site to its knees with to many users accessing it at once. Bucho invited everybody to the mansion for a halloween party. In the update, Gino was wondering whether he would meet Gambino's fate, then showed Ian and Sahsa around the new mansion, where it is revealed he has rebuilt the Underground Research Facility, although he doesn't mean it to be secret. Gino invites Sasha to the mansion for dinner. Ian then tries to reveal what he found to Sasha to keep her from going, but he can't find the item, which is possibly the bottle of pills. The scene switches to the research facility, where LabTech 123 has recreated the G-virus using samples from Grunny's DNA. The power goes out and the cage release is pulled by a mysterious figure, who turns out to be LabTech X. This started a forum game where users posted to capture grunnies for items and eventual transformation.
The stages of the infection were as follows:
15 grunnies: Initial Symptoms. The user received a Grunny Shirt.
35 grunnies: Impaired Motor Functions. The user received a pair of Grunny Slippers.
176 grunnies: Total Incapacitation. The user's Avatar's skin turned a grayish color and gained reddish orange eyes.
350 grunnies: Initial Transformation. The Avatar's skin turned completely white and grew what appeared to be stubby rabbit ears.
500 grunnies: Complete Tansformation. A Grunny had been incubating inside of the user the whole time and it manifests itself gnawing on the avatar's head.
The event was ended 6 hours early so the Trick-or-Treating event could be fixed to handle the high number of users that would be on Gaia. (October 28 2005)

Ginos Sacrifice - After the Grunnies escaped from the laboratory in the basement of Gambino mansion, they began to run and wreck havoc throughout the mansion, infecting people and turning them into zombies (look above for more info). This new addition to the storyline starts off with Gino and Sasha enjoying a nice Halloween dinner by themselves in large, lavish dining room. Sasha picks up a piece of meatloaf and comments on how well it looks, but then sniffs and notes that it smells burnt. Gino looks abashed and apologizes. Then he smells the burning smell as well, and comments that it's not the meatloaf, while turning his head to look outside.... *GASP* The laboratory is on fire and the flames are spreading all over the mansion! Gino grabs Sasha and tells her that they must leave. As they fight to get out of the burning building, Ian is outside, holding the bottle of pills, grinning triumphantly, seemingly unaware of the flaming building behind him. He seems obsessed with denouncing Gino. Back to Sasha and Gino. They are still trying to get out of the house, Sasha begins to cry, saying that they'll never make it out alive. Suddenly, a large burnt piece of wood falls from the roof of the house, and is just about to crush Sasha... Gino pushes Sasha away just in time, but is crushed by the wood himself. Gino explains to Sasha that she saved him once, and that now it's his turn to save her. Ian steps in just in time, sees Sasha in danger. He immediately flings away the bottle of incriminating pills and grabs Sasha's arm. Gino instructs Ian to take Sasha and run. Ian grabs Sasha and the two run from the mansion, leaving Gino in the flaming wreckage by himself... After the fire, a mysterious figure with curled shoes and a curly hat (Much like an elf of sorts) searches through the wreckage of burnt wood. He finds the vial of unknown green liquid amist the debris and walks off. The Gambino legacy will continue... (October 31 2005)

Jack VS Santa Claus - Part 1 - Shortly after the events of what would be known as Halloween 2k5, it was announced that a "special someone" was going to make an announcement that would affect all of Gaia. That special someone was none other than Santa Claus. In an impressive display of how fast news travels, Santa uncharacteristicly expressed his anger towards the season of Halloween. He blamed Jack, the overlord of the holiday in Gaia, as the main source for what happened. Jack, however, was still within ear shot of these comments and confronted Santa in front of everyone who gathered to be verbally punished for their actions, which included Ian and Sasha. Upset at what Santa had to say, Jack interrupted his speech and demaned that Santa put up or shut up. Santa then made the mistake of giving Jack a free shot. Jack unleashed his anger on Santa with a punch that ultimately distroyed a near by building. The REAL Santa then climbs out of the damaged Robo-Santa suit and ends up keeling over. As he does, he remembers back to a time when he was small. Little Santa was being beaten up by the Easter Bunny and his gang, who consisted of the Chinese New Year Dragon, a leprechaun, a Thanksgiving turkey, and two Valentine's Day hearts. Little Jack then came out of nowhere and saved Santa by landing one of his trademark punches on the Easter Bunny, ultimately disforming the Easter Bunny's face. Jack and Santa soon after became freinds. Back to the present day, Santa has been rushed to an unknown hospital. The unseen doctors tried to revive him, but they were unsucessful. The news was delivered to Mrs. Claus that Santa had died... Or has he? (November 7 2005)

Introduction of S Corp - A mysterious new guild popped up in the GGN, run by NPCs. It is a Christmas version of G Corp, with Gambino replaced by Mrs. Claus and The Labtechs replaced by ElfTechs. Also notable was that some of the NPCs replied to PMs. A few user PMs were mentioned in ElfTech404's Journal, but the rest were simply replied to. Shortly there after, they have stopped replying to PMs. Also in the guild's forum is evidance suggesting that Santa survived the assault by Jack, whom Mrs. Claus is currently seeking legal charges against. After all the ElfTechs got reassigned out of making toys and gifts for Christmas, a series of accidents kept happening at the shipping yard. No ElfTechs got hurt each time. In the first crate, there was a mysterious claw. The next day, another crate fell shipping what the elves believed to be a realistic-looking water gun (An alledged "Super Drencher 5000"). The following day after that, yet another accident happened with a crate contained some baby Yetis! Soon after, ElfTech 247 posted in his journal two strange, coded messages. When translated, the messages hinted towards a shipment of vials with a mysterious liquid in each. The next day, he reported that he was having the cameras removed. ElfTech 137 posted about the R&D's top secret project. After some modifications done on the claw and the "Super Drencher 5000", they were to be used with the Yetis, hopefully provide the missing link in the research of a mysterious substance in the Vial, which were found after Halloween 2k5. After a dry spell of only a few days without any accidents, alarms started to go off in a place known as Sublevel F. The elves started to panic, some running around and into users that were in Gaia Towns at the time the alarms sounded. Mrs. Claus took action immediately and ordered that nobody even think about visiting Sublevel F. ElfTech123 told that he had heard rumor that security guard Bob and Jim were killed! ElfTech101's journal entry on the matter suggests that they were probably killed by a Giant Yeti. Meanwhile, Elftech247 posted several journal entry concerning his day at S Corp, but to his annoyance, everything was encryted due the content being "sensitive" to the security. ElfTech722, who Mrs. Claus alittle earlier had punished for being lazy, had contacted several users to make them start petitions to help him, of which only two made it past 130 signatures. After getting the signatures, ElfTech722 made a genius plan to trick Mrs. Claus. The plan worked, but it caused him to get re-assigned to a top secret project. Short time after that, the S CORP security system started to block the ElfTech's Work Journals one by one. In the end, S CORP's selfdestruction mechanism was activated, and the facility exploded. No one knows what has happened to the ElfTechs, but there's a chance that some survived. (November 9 2005)

Jack VS Santa Claus - Part 2 - While S CORP was blowing up in various areas, Jack came back to Barton's Fountain to announce his plans for next year's Halloween. He was inturrupted by Santa, who apparantly was fused to the Gift Transport Mech Suit (GTMS) that was distroyed earlier in the month. Santa then unleashed a volly of bullets at Jack from a machine gun that was attached to the side of the GTMS Jack destroyed. A great battle then began between the two holiday icons causing much damage to the town of Barton. Edmund then called for the G-Team, a group of (supposive) defenders of Gaia consisting of Edmund himself, Logan, and Leon. They ultimately didn't stand a chance. As the battle reached its climax, Santa and Jack were about to lay the final blow on each other. However, Sasha was caught in the middle of the cross fire. That's when from out of the sky a masked hero with blonde hair appeared and defeated the two holiday icons in one blow, freeing Santa from the GTMS in the process. As Jack and Santa lay on the ground defeated, they remembered back to when they were little. They remembered when they first formed their friendship and built it on the same goal, to make a holiday better than Easter. Remembering this common bond, then and there the two made up and became best friends once more. However, one question still remains: Who was that man in the mask? Most likely Gino. (though some people are sceptical) (November 30 2005)

Credits

Thanks wikipedia for all this useful info

+reserved+