Gaia Online - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Gaia Online is an English-language, anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

-themed social networking

Social network service

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...

and forums-based website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

. Gaiaonline was founded in 2003. 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

Hyperlink

In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...

and eventually developed a small community, but, following a statement by founder Derek Liu (username "Lanzer"), the website moved towards social gaming, and eventually became a forum-based website. Today, over a million posts are made daily and it is visited by 7 million unique user

Unique user

According to IFABC Global Web Standards, a unique user is "An IP address plus a further identifier. The term "unique visitor" may be used instead of "unique user" but both terms have essentially the same meaning...

s each month (with over 23 million total registered user

Registered user

A registered user is one who uses a program or a website and provides his/her credentials, effectively proving his/her identity.-Technical differences:...

s). Gaia also won the 2007 Webware 100 award in the Community category.
In January 2011, the company won the Mashable Best User experience Award for 2010.

Avatars

Members of Gaia Online, known as Gaians, receive a customizable avatar

Avatar (computing)

In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...

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, race ( i.e. human, vampire, elf) and attire. Numerous clothing items and accessories for avatars can be purchased from a range of NPC

Non-player character

A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...

-run stores using the site currencies

Virtual currency

Virtual currency is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities; which include social networking websites, virtual worlds and online gaming sites....

, 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 forums in which a user can post, such as forums discussing topics regarding the Gaia community and NPC

Non-player character

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. Users also have the option to add polls to their thread. Posting and replying to threads, as well as voting in polls yields gold.

Currency

The currency

Virtual currency

Virtual currency is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities; which include social networking websites, virtual worlds and online gaming sites....

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

Rite Aid

Rite Aid is a drugstore chain in the United States and a Fortune 500 company headquartered in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, near Camp Hill. Rite Aid is the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and the third largest drugstore chain in the U.S....

, Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

stores, 7-11, Speedway SuperAmerica

Speedway SuperAmerica

Speedway LLC is the operator of a chain of combination gas stations and convenience stores in the Midwest and South of the United States operating under the Speedway brand name. Speedway LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Marathon Petroleum Company...

, Blockbuster, and GameStop

GameStop

GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...

. Gaia Cash cards are offered in $10 and $25 amounts. On June 21, 2010 7-11 stopped stocking the $10 Gaia Cash cards. 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.

Paying Gaia users generally spend about $30 USD per month to purchase Gaia Cash which is then used to buy virtual things such as evolving, chance, collectible, and limited edition items.

AutoCash

On September 13, 2010, Gaia announced the introduction of AutoCash.
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

PayPal

PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....

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 31

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 such as "Evolving Items", "Random Item Generators", and "Monthly Collectibles". 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
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

, "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.

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, 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. 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

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 known 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
Golden Magical Giftbox: Contains Alchemy Formulas, Alchemy Components, and a handful rare items.
Enchanted Wooden Trunk: Contains uncommon Gaia Housing items
Enchanted Golden Trunk: Contains rare Gaia Housing items

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 captain and their crew - some may require a payment to join, others are completely free, while some may be invitation-only. Some guilds are public (viewable by everyone and anyone can post in it), private (viewable by everyone, but only members can post), and some are hidden (only viewable by members). The guild captain, vice captain(s), and crew are responsible for moderating threads within their guilds. Guilds cost 20,000 gold to create, and additional sub-forums may be purchased for 2,500 gold.

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, 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. Other car choices available were the fictional Possum and Musculero. The Scion tC, Scion xD, UFO

Unidentified flying object

A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...

and Kiki Car (which is available only with Cash) 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 with both Gaia Cash and Gold from the NPC-run store, "Phin Phang". At certain times, the fish inside a tank (from a different owner, commonly as a signature under a post in the forums) 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". Items can also be bought at the marketplace.

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

Trailer (film)

A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...

or advertisements. Movies, video games, and other products that are promoted by the Gaia Quest system include Gracie

Gracie (film)

Gracie is a 2007 American historical sports drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim. It stars Carly Schroeder as Gracie Bowen, Dermot Mulroney as Bryan Bowen, Elisabeth Shue as Lindsay Bowen, Jesse Lee Soffer as Johnny Bowen, and Andrew Shue as Coach Owen Clark.Gracie takes place in New Jersey,...

, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, The Golden Compass, Nancy Drew, The Last Mimzy
The Last Mimzy
The Last Mimzy is a 2007 science fiction family film directed by Bob Shaye and loosely adapted from the acclaimed 1943 science fiction short story "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett...

, The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Spiderwick Chronicles (film)
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 fantasy film adaptation of Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's bestselling series of the same name. Set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England, United States, it follows the adventures of Jared Grace and his family as they discover a field guide to faeries, battle...

, Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...

, Bee Movie
Bee Movie
Bee Movie is a 2007 computer animated family comedy film starring Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, and Patrick Warburton. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is directed by Simon J...

, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, originally released in Japan as , is a video game for the PlayStation Portable. It is based on Dynasty Warriors 6. It was released in Spring 2009 for North America and Europe. A console release of the game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was released in Japan on...

, You Don't Mess With The Zohan
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Carlito Cabardo, and produced by and starring Adam Sandler. This is the fourth film which has starred Sandler and has been directed by Dugan...

, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Sims 3
The Sims 3
The Sims 3 is a 2009 strategic life simulation computer game developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims 2. It was first released on June 2, 2009 simultaneously for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows...

, Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic and the Black Knight
is a title within the Sonic the Hedgehog series, released exclusively on Wii as the second entry in the Sonic Storybook series, following on from Sonic and the Secret Rings. The game is directed by Tetsu Katano, who was the lead programmer of the Sonic Adventure titles and Sonic Heroes...

, Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

, August Underground's Mordum
August Underground's Mordum
August Underground's Mordum is an independent exploitation film released by the Pittsburgh-based film production/special effects/design company Toetag Pictures in 2003...

, PopStar Guitar
PopStar Guitar
-Gameplay:In PopStar Guitar, players embark on a journey as a budding guitarist with aspirations of becoming the ultimate pop music sensation. Throughout the game, players develop skills to help them achieve their goal of success on the main stage of a worldwide Battle of the Bands competition,...

, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast , return to star in the movie, which was directed by Sanaa Hamri...

, among many others. Anime series and TV shows have also been promoted, such as Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...

, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably xxxHolic. The plot follows how Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loses her soul and how Syaoran, a young...

, and The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...

. There are a few for games such as "Dragon Quest Swords" and the "Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

The Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, known in Japan as the , is a series of fighting games, based on the popular manga and anime series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, for the PlayStation 2. They were developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Namco Bandai...

". There are also some quests for advertisement such as the new Crazy Cores Skittles

Skittles (confectionery)

Skittles is a brand of fruit-flavoured sweets, currently produced and marketed by the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a division of Mars, Inc. They have hard sugar shells which carry the letter S. The inside is mainly sugar, corn syrup, and hydrogenated palm kernel oil along with fruit juice, citric acid,...

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

Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

games, and users can win different items or gold from these games. These games comprise of 10% to 15% of total site activity.

zOMG

zOMG is a browser-based MMORPG

MMORPG

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

on Gaia where users are able to battle monsters and participate in RPG

Role-playing game

A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...

-style quests. The game utilizes special rings to activate abilities, such as throwing fireballs or conjuring up a defense. Users do not level up the traditional way via experience points, but instead, through collecting Charge Orbs and empowering their rings with them. 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.

Monster Galaxy

Monster Galaxy is a Facebook application located in the Game category created by Gaia Online. Appearing November 13, 2010, the app is inspired by the popular franchise Pokémon

Pokémon

is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...

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. Monster Galaxy is now the 7th largest game on Facebook.

Mini-Games

There are various mini games which can be played to earn gold and items. Games can pay out gold, items or tickets-- which can convert into items. There are several games on gaia including:

•Gold Lotto--A game where a player buys tickets with a chance to win a jackpot

Jackpot

-Comics:* Jackpot , the name of several comic book characters* Jackpot Comics, a 1941 American comic book from MLJ Publications* Jackpot , a 1979–1982 British comic book-Film and television:* The Jackpot, a 1950 comedy...

.

•Gaia Fishing--Virtual fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

where the fish may be exchanged for items.

•Rally--Race cars against another user.

•Cards & Slots--Casino games including blackjack and slots.

•Booty Grab--Where a player tries to catch gold falling from fish.

•Tiles--A game involving matching tiles based on either color or another attribute.

•Word Bump--A player makes words out of given letters.

•Jigsaw--Players complete Jigsaw

Jigsaw

Jigsaw may refer to:* Jigsaw , a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves* Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces- Film and television :* Jigsaw , a 1949 film noir...

Puzzles for gold.

•Electric Love Faktori--A puzzle game involving making the longest chain by rotating tiles.

•Pinball--A Gaia themed Pinball

Pinball

Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...

game.

OMGPop!

A recent partnership with the OMGPop! website has allowed players to play 3 more mini games on the website:
Draw My Thing: Players join groups of other players in a game of charades. Each player takes turns drawing whatever word is chosen for you. You have 60 seconds to do so. As the player is drawing, the rest of the players must type in what they think it is. There is no penalty for random guessing. The first person to guess the picture correctly gets 3 points, and everyone after that gets 1 point. The artist gets 2 points for the first person that guesses correctly.
Round lengths depend on the amount of people playing in the group. A full 7 players take up 1 round. 3 - 6 players take up 2 rounds. 1 - 2 players take up 3 rounds.

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.

Gaia Interactive

In November 2010, Gaia Interactive laid off 15-20 of their 110 staff members. 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.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.