Newbies - What made you join?

[KendoGurl]

So I've been on Gaia since 2004, taking many Hiatus's both long and short. I see tons of threads here about old users complaining about the state of the site, how it's different, etc. Which it is, the teenage/nostalgic me is upset because of the major changes from it's roots, the logical me understands these reasons after Flynns Plunder and Goldemort...nothing good happens when you go Corporate.

I agree on some points, this place is dear to me and I won't leave it forever until it's dead forever. Outdated links, broken games, and so on HOWEVER most of these issues are being fixed by Lanzer, I wish they would take a break from focusing on just new items though. I guess as long as Gaia doesn't turn into another Social Media platform I don't mind to much.

~~~

Moving on, with the question though. How'd you learn about the site and what made you decide to join? I really am interested to know. Was it the Avi design? Someone you know introduced you to it? Forums? zOMG? No matter what it's good to know there are people who are new to Gaia which will help bring new life into the forums other than the cursed CB

Really it's plain curiosity and interest and also of course
Welcome to Gaia! 3nodding

[Akkekokan]

It's a bit funny, I've been a longtime user of Gaia Online but I had a HUUUUUGE hiatus in regards to it. Forgot why, but I hopped back into this site in recent years due to sorta coming back to my internet roots in a sense?

I used to enjoy the uniqueness of the internet. And as I got into my adult years, I realized that the magic of that internet age was sorta pushed far into the background. A lot of people in my age range are stuck on social media, and sites that pretty much hold ZERO personality. Along with sites with a lot of weird restrictions and stuff.

All of this to say, I wanted to return to the old web. So I've been chipping away at my own personal website and started to reconnect to the old communities I loved to hang out in and it helped so much with my mental health. Gaia online is an example of a place that provides that kind of comfort 3nodding

Been getting back into old MMORPGs like Mabinogi as well lol.

[KendoGurl]

Akkekokan

It's a bit funny, I've been a longtime user of Gaia Online but I had a HUUUUUGE hiatus in regards to it. Forgot why, but I hopped back into this site in recent years due to sorta coming back to my internet roots in a sense?

I used to enjoy the uniqueness of the internet. And as I got into my adult years, I realized that the magic of that internet age was sorta pushed far into the background. A lot of people in my age range are stuck on social media, and sites that pretty much hold ZERO personality. Along with sites with a lot of weird restrictions and stuff.

All of this to say, I wanted to return to the old web. So I've been chipping away at my own personal website and started to reconnect to the old communities I loved to hang out in and it helped so much with my mental health. Gaia online is an example of a place that provides that kind of comfort 3nodding

Been getting back into old MMORPGs like Mabinogi as well lol.

That's actually a really good way of putting it.

My first hiatus was because I was staring at the computer so much because I was in so many Forums and staying up late (school? Yeah right, I have an anime site to be on!) Got a rude awakening when my 20/20 dropped in Senior Year XD

Gaia def has the unique feel to it still, perhaps its because it's stood the test of time.

[Akkekokan]

KendoGurl

Akkekokan

It's a bit funny, I've been a longtime user of Gaia Online but I had a HUUUUUGE hiatus in regards to it. Forgot why, but I hopped back into this site in recent years due to sorta coming back to my internet roots in a sense?

I used to enjoy the uniqueness of the internet. And as I got into my adult years, I realized that the magic of that internet age was sorta pushed far into the background. A lot of people in my age range are stuck on social media, and sites that pretty much hold ZERO personality. Along with sites with a lot of weird restrictions and stuff.

All of this to say, I wanted to return to the old web. So I've been chipping away at my own personal website and started to reconnect to the old communities I loved to hang out in and it helped so much with my mental health. Gaia online is an example of a place that provides that kind of comfort 3nodding

Been getting back into old MMORPGs like Mabinogi as well lol.

That's actually a really good way of putting it.

My first hiatus was because I was staring at the computer so much because I was in so many Forums and staying up late (school? Yeah right, I have an anime site to be on!) Got a rude awakening when my 20/20 dropped in Senior Year XD

Gaia def has the unique feel to it still, perhaps its because it's stood the test of time.

Yeah, there's something very distinct about early internet communities and their staying power that doesn't really exist in modern web communities. Of course discord servers could be an exception due to how it's set up. But nice forums like this and many others just have some quality to them. I'm sure there's someone out there that can better describe it. But I think it has something to do with how the unique cultures of these subcommunities operate.

[loserlori]

back in 2011 i played gaia for a year and then totally just stopped playing one day.

joined again in 2023 because i really missed virtual world stuffs

i think back in the day i was spoiled for choice with virtual world games and now gaia seems to be the only good one left.

and im older now and i know gaia mainly has older people playing so thats always a good thing lol

[KendoGurl]

loserlori

back in 2011 i played gaia for a year and then totally just stopped playing one day.

joined again in 2023 because i really missed virtual world stuffs

i think back in the day i was spoiled for choice with virtual world games and now gaia seems to be the only good one left.

and im older now and i know gaia mainly has older people playing so thats always a good thing lol

Man there used to be so many Virtual Worlds back in the day, its so depressing they all tanked :<

[ZimmyChannnn]

I think the old web was beautiful, and I want it back

[loserlori]

KendoGurl

loserlori

back in 2011 i played gaia for a year and then totally just stopped playing one day.

joined again in 2023 because i really missed virtual world stuffs

i think back in the day i was spoiled for choice with virtual world games and now gaia seems to be the only good one left.

and im older now and i know gaia mainly has older people playing so thats always a good thing lol

Man there used to be so many Virtual Worlds back in the day, its so depressing they all tanked :<

i was OBSESSED with one called Ameba Pico but it sadly shut down in its peak

still sad about it to this day

[KendoGurl]

loserlori

KendoGurl

loserlori

back in 2011 i played gaia for a year and then totally just stopped playing one day.

joined again in 2023 because i really missed virtual world stuffs

i think back in the day i was spoiled for choice with virtual world games and now gaia seems to be the only good one left.

and im older now and i know gaia mainly has older people playing so thats always a good thing lol

Man there used to be so many Virtual Worlds back in the day, its so depressing they all tanked :<

i was OBSESSED with one called Ameba Pico but it sadly shut down in its peak

still sad about it to this day

I don't remember that one, maybe since it died in it's peak?
What was it?

[esterhazy]

Whew well I probably heard about Gaia around 2013-2014 for the first time, visited the site, and didn't understand anything about it because I wasn't fluent in English, so I didn't get into it. I used the Avatar Maker a few times to design a character but still didn't really get how anything works. I didn't have anyone in my circle who played this game somehow.

I finally registered an account and then abandoned it again because I still had no idea what to actually do on here. I guess it was in 2018.
And finally last year I was at a mental hospital (LOL) and while in the ward for a few months, I started getting into HTML/CSS as a hobby. There's been a resurgence of nostalgia for the "old web", the early and mid 2000s web, and intentionally styling a website to look like it's from that era is called "webcore". So small pixel art, anime, blinkies, marquee, all that stuff reminded me of Gaia again. So I logged into my account again and started playing and this time I finally started understanding some stuff.

[KendoGurl]

esterhazy

Whew well I probably heard about Gaia around 2013-2014 for the first time, visited the site, and didn't understand anything about it because I wasn't fluent in English, so I didn't get into it. I used the Avatar Maker a few times to design a character but still didn't really get how anything works. I didn't have anyone in my circle who played this game somehow.

I finally registered an account and then abandoned it again because I still had no idea what to actually do on here. I guess it was in 2018.
And finally last year I was at a mental hospital (LOL) and while in the ward for a few months, I started getting into HTML/CSS as a hobby. There's been a resurgence of nostalgia for the "old web", the early and mid 2000s web, and intentionally styling a website to look like it's from that era is called "webcore". So small pixel art, anime, blinkies, marquee, all that stuff reminded me of Gaia again. So I logged into my account again and started playing and this time I finally started understanding some stuff.

Oh wow I had no idea people were styling back to the old web, shows how great it was 4laugh

Sorry you didn’t have anyone to play with, those were some good event years. What’s your first language if you don’t mind my asking.

[Eris Loona]

I just joined Gaia about a week ago. I saw it mentioned in a reddit thread, looked it up and was immediately enchanted by the looks. I'd never heard before, probably because of when and where I grew up.

I love forums, and I love dress-up, so this is just a great combo for me. The entire site is a treasure trove of old trends, clearly loved by the community and generally just fun to be on. The way the items are(n't) categorized sucks, but that's a challenge in and of itself that I'm okay with attempting. The website being broken in various ways doesn't bother me at all since none of them are major. The games mostly work and seem nice and the forums are generally quite interesting, if also a bit mis-categorized.

The one thing I don't get is the economy, really. I don't understand yet what makes some items so much more desirable than others. I'm currently sitting on ~500k plat, which judging by the price of most items is a decent? amount, but seeing how everything in the official NPC shops is 1-10p and then the Marketplace mostly doesn't bother with anything under 1k, the effects of the catastrophic inflation I keep seeing mentioned clearly created some strange trends money-wise. I think the move to plat from gold helped visually, but yeah the prices and price trends are weird and make no sense. There is also no clear correlation between how much GCash something costs to how much plat it goes for on the market, which is confusing to me.

So overall, this site feels like a whole MMO/hidden society that I'm very interested in, I love the avatar styles and the execution of a combination of living on this website through forums and virtual get-together spaces. Everywhere I look there's something new to learn about and play with. It's fun ^-^

[KendoGurl]

Eris Loona

I just joined Gaia about a week ago. I saw it mentioned in a reddit thread, looked it up and was immediately enchanted by the looks. I'd never heard before, probably because of when and where I grew up.

I love forums, and I love dress-up, so this is just a great combo for me. The entire site is a treasure trove of old trends, clearly loved by the community and generally just fun to be on. The way the items are(n't) categorized sucks, but that's a challenge in and of itself that I'm okay with attempting. The website being broken in various ways doesn't bother me at all since none of them are major. The games mostly work and seem nice and the forums are generally quite interesting, if also a bit mis-categorized.

The one thing I don't get is the economy, really. I don't understand yet what makes some items so much more desirable than others. I'm currently sitting on ~500k plat, which judging by the price of most items is a decent? amount, but seeing how everything in the official NPC shops is 1-10p and then the Marketplace mostly doesn't bother with anything under 1k, the effects of the catastrophic inflation I keep seeing mentioned clearly created some strange trends money-wise. I think the move to plat from gold helped visually, but yeah the prices and price trends are weird and make no sense. There is also no clear correlation between how much GCash something costs to how much plat it goes for on the market, which is confusing to me.

So overall, this site feels like a whole MMO/hidden society that I'm very interested in, I love the avatar styles and the execution of a combination of living on this website through forums and virtual get-together spaces. Everywhere I look there's something new to learn about and play with. It's fun ^-^

Welcome to Gaia

I'm glad the broken links aren't a turn off for you because as you discovered, the forums are still a fun place to be and are the main attraction of Gaia. Alot of games on Gaia didn't even exist at first...I do want pinball back though.

Yeah the introduction of the item Flynn's Booty really messed up the economy, and now you also have people in the marketplace that have high prices just to drive up the price of a previously super cheap item. There are a few items that are actually worth alot such as the Angelic Halo which was Gaia's first ever MC and a few Sponsor items but for the most part, yeah.. The admins are can only do so much but it really is a kill joy that people are trolling the MP, makes questing nearly impossible for some items gonk
I myself have been here since '04 and the MP mess up thanks to Flynn's Booty, I have no expensive items anymore rofl

Maybe some day Gaia will have the categorization down. Yup, Gaia is simple times and I love every minute of it. What kind of forums do you hang out the most in?

[Ashenflame]

esterhazy

There's been a resurgence of nostalgia for the "old web", the early and mid 2000s web, and intentionally styling a website to look like it's from that era is called "webcore". So small pixel art, anime, blinkies, marquee, all that stuff reminded me of Gaia again. So I logged into my account again and started playing and this time I finally started understanding some stuff.

Best news I have heard in webdesign in years! I hate, hate, HATE "carousels", the obnoxious amount of deadspace, and the unreadable 4+ em font sizes! You have to scroll through multiple pagelengths just to piece together enough content to maybe make one paragraph. There isn't any real text on websites anymore. Until you get to the food blogs and they post the whole frickin' Silmarillion before the recipes.

[Eris Loona]

KendoGurl

Welcome to Gaia

I'm glad the broken links aren't a turn off for you because as you discovered, the forums are still a fun place to be and are the main attraction of Gaia.  Alot of games on Gaia didn't even exist at first...I do want pinball back though.

Yeah the introduction of the item Flynn's Booty really messed up the economy, and now you also have people in the marketplace that have high prices just to drive up the price of a previously super cheap item.  There are a few items that are actually worth alot such as the Angelic Halo which was Gaia's first ever MC and a few Sponsor items but for the most part, yeah..  The admins are can only do so much but it really is a kill joy that people are trolling the MP, makes questing nearly impossible for some items gonk
I myself have been here since '04 and the MP mess up thanks to Flynn's Booty, I have no expensive items anymore rofl

Maybe some day Gaia will have the categorization down.  Yup, Gaia is simple times and I love every minute of it.  What kind of forums do you hang out the most in?

Thank you ^-^
Honestly there aren't even that many broken links, there definitely are.. uhh, quirks, like Spinami not working for a couple days but then fixing itself, AviChat not working on Firefox (which I use) atm, clothes interacting in weird ways with each other. Few things are outright broken as far as I can see.

Is Flynn's Booty still a thing? And what was it? if you don't mind explaining. Seen it mentioned a couple times but never in any detail. But yeah spending time on Gaia is a nice breather.

As for what forums I hang around in.. Reddit of course remains my most active because of its large user base, but it's a far cry from a "proper" forum. Most of those died a long time ago, some completely and some are only around as sad shells. So I'm mostly on Discord, haunting several servers and sometimes popping in. I don't really know other good forums outside say Lemmy servers.