New to Gaia and need some pointers? Well this is the thread for you!
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First and foremost, what is Gaia Online?
Gaia is effectively a browser based dress up game with robust forums and some fun games attached!
What is Gold? What is Platinum? What is Gcash?
These are all currencies you'll come across on the site. Gold is the old currency, and something some users still use. If you've been here for a long time, you might still be using gold if you haven't converted to platinum yet!
Platinum is the currency that was created to consolidate and replace gold after previous owners of the site caused hyperinflation and made the currency pretty much worthless. Now, most users use platinum but there's a few older ones who still use gold. Pretty much everything you do on the site will earn you some plat. First post, poll vote, profile comment, and journal entry of the day earn you the most!
Gcash is the premium currency for the site. You can buy it directly, or if you have a monthly sub to the site, you get some every month as part of your plan. There are a few shops that deal specifically in Gcash. It is by far not a required purchase, there is a truly massive catalog of items on the site and a lot of former real-money purchasable items are available through the daily gifts. Though, if you end up liking it here and stick around for a while, maybe consider supporting the site! They've been working hard to modernize it for us and fix the things the previous owners broke.
Okay, that's cool and all, but what do I actually do with it?
You can spend it in the shops and/or marketplace! The shops are NPC run and have a ton of items in them. They're a great place to start looking for items when you're new to the site.
The Marketplace is, naturally, the player run marketboard. You can search and find every item in the game if you feel like trawling it. I recommend hanging out in the forums and chatting with people, and if you see an avie or item you like, you can usually view their equipped list and search up the items in the marketplace.
If you look through the forums, you can also find some gaians who have made art shops for platinum too. There are a lot of incredibly skilled people here! However, please keep in mind that art that you get from people here is assumed to be for personal use unless otherwise stated. If you wanna get/use art for stream things or to put on merch, please make sure you talk to the artist about that first.
What are all these things that keep popping up next to my avie?
Great question! There are a number of things that can appear in the header, let's start with the ones that pop up in the thought bubble.
Announcements are exactly what they sound like, site announcements. Honestly, for the most part you can ignore these unless you're really into the Gcash items. They're mostly announcements of new GC bundles/items.
Staff Notices are ones to pay attention to. If there's an outage or an event like Ask The Staff, then they'll show up as a Staff Notice. If you see one, make sure you read it.
Other things also show up here, like Private Message notifications, thread replies, post quotes, profile comments, etc. Make sure you pay attention to those! This is a social site after all, be social with people heart
The little group of colorful silhouettes is AviChat! It's a newer feature they introduced, where you can join rooms with your avie and chat with other active users in the room. Site supporters are able to create their own private rooms in the chat, otherwise you get the two main chat rooms.
Sometimes small characters or symbols can show up on the banner too. Usually these represent whatever GC bundle is active, but there are holiday events too! As of writing this, the Valentine's Day event is up, and you can access it by clicking the animated heart in the banner. There's no danger to clicking on these things, so if you're curious you can just click 'em and see what they're about.
Cool. Now where do I go to actually chat with people?
The forums of course! They're not as active as they once were, but there are still plenty of people around and more coming back every day. The Welcome to Gaia page is a great place to introduce yourself, or re-introduce yourself if you've been away for a long time. The Chatterbox is always active with hangout threads, giveaways, polls, etc. You'll also find people being particularly unhinged in there. It can be a great time, though if anyone makes you uncomfortable for any reason, remember the block button. And, of course, hang out and chat with your fellow Vtubers here in the guild!
You might see people in the forums roleplaying or semi-roleplaying in hangout threads. That's just part of the culture here, and is a lot of fun. This is Gaia Online, we are cringe and we are free.
I have a question that isn't answered here?
Cool! Ask it here and we'll do our best to answer it for you!
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Useful Links!
Quick Links for Dailies
These are some useful links for a variety of things! Avie customization, finding items, the staff thread for Vtubers, etc! Will be updated over time as more interesting and useful threads are found.
Staff Vtuber Thread
Unlisted/Wanted Items Thread
What's That Item? [A community item-finding thread]
Background Items Catalog
Taking the Scenic Route: A Scenic Guide & Catalog
The Color Scheme Guide Compilation Thread
Bewere/Cheshire/SurgicalScissors Cutter Mod Item Guide
Be Kind to Your Behind: Avatar Seating Guide
Avatar Tricks: Foreground + Midground Cutting
Unexpectedly Inexpensive!
