Gaia Online: A Popular Gaming Community

Gaia Online is a popular online community portal, it is also a gaming site. Over seven million people around the world play it on a monthly basis. Founded in 2003 under the name Go-Gaia, the name was later changed to GaiaOnline by Gaia Interactive Inc., the creator of the game.

Once someone is signed up for the site, they are known as Gaian, and become a part of this virtual environment. They have access to the games, forums and profiles and can interact with other players.

Each person who signs up for the website gets a free profile to share with others in the site. Player profiles are fully customizable, and allow for videos to be uploaded, random avatars, members can also add pictures, plus custom backgrounds.

Players receive an avatar after signing up. The avatars are created to appear as amine-theme icons. This avatar is fully customizable and new players get a set of clothes to pick from when they start. These avatars are then used to play the various games or in the virtual world.

Although all players get gold when they begin the game to purchase necessary items, there is little leftover for the cool items. Earning gold is simple with games on the website ranging from jigsaw puzzles, to pinball, and even its very own MMO RPG ZOMG.

Players also sell stuff to other players in the marketplace. This is basically like a way for players to earn decent gold when they have enough items to sell.

Items that are not sold in the NPC shops can also be found in the marketplace. The Non-Player Character shops have items which are usually crafted items, along with from current or past events.

Other than fun competitive games, Gaia also has virtual hangouts. In these places, players can take their avatars and meet friends, and hangout to chat.

In addition, an achievement system, grants achievements to players who complete certain goals. Achievement points are tracked, and are comparable to your friend's scores. This way you can boast about your ranking or go ahead and help your friends if they are struggling within the game.