For my virtual world I chose Gaia Online. This community is very casual and does not require as much commitment as a game like World of War Craft does. I will explore the many things you can do in Gaia and just what your avatar is capable of.
I started an account on Gaia Online and created an avatar. Unlike other games I feel that the avatars on Gaia feel a bit limited in some ways. First of all you have to be human, at least in the beginning. I made a character who does not really resemble me much. His skin color is like mine, but his hair color, hair style, and eye color are completely different than myself. He has a wide grin and now I am not sure how to change his facial expression. The features I just mentioned are the only way you can change the body of your avatar. Everything else has to do with the clothes you wear and accessories.
The closest thing that comes to an introductory sequence in Gaia Online is a small tutorial area. Sadly it is easily missed if you go directly to your house. Gaia is a browser game so you will be doing a lot of web site navigation. You have to choose to go to a town in order to experience this tutorial area. If you go to your house you will not get the tutorial. Navigation is a simple as clicking your mouse on the area you want to move to. The Non player characters explain how to move and how to stay safe on the web. They also advise you to go all out with your avatar and come up with an interesting style. The bulk of the game play of Gaia has to do with making money to buy lots of items for your avatar. Until recently there was not a battle system so everything revolved around mini games which include puzzles, card games, pinball, and several others. I felt that my avatar was very lame in comparison to everyone else. Just go into a town and you’ll see an angel walking around with dozens of radiant items.
Though money is important players can get items through other means. You can gather bugs, junk, and flowers on ground in towns and turn them in. Junk can become clothing while bugs become ink which can be used for tattoos. Flowers can become decorations. Also every day the daily chance cart appears on the top of the website. Clicking on it gives players free money and free items.
There are other features that make Gaia Feel like your own personalized world. Unlike other games any player can get big things for free. You always start the game with a house. You can buy lots of furniture to fill your house. Sadly I’m still pretty poor so my house is very empty at this point.
Another really cool feature is that at any time you can go get a car for free. The car you get looks like a mess but you can buy all kinds of parts and paint jobs for it. Then after you take a short and easy driver’s quiz you can go out to a track and race your friends in your own custom car. It’s cool, but I think it would feel even more fun if you could go between towns by driving.
One of the new features added is the aquarium. This is a highly realistic, as you can change the temperature in the tank, feed the fish, and just make sure all the fish are healthy. Like in real life the fish will eventually die but it is all about taking care of them and making sure they last as long as you can. I don’t think other MMO games have had an aquarium in them. This is one of the reasons Gaia is so accessible to everyone.
I really feel that my avatar has a noob beach bum feel. He wears shorts, a tattered red vest, sandals, a straw hat, and there is an octopus sitting on his head. All these items were either free or dirt cheap. Still even if he does not possess the glimmering wings, armor, or style of the other avatars I still like him. He is based on an anime character I like who is actually dressed in the same shabby manner.
Before the announcement of a MMORPG mode in which you fight monsters Gaia has largely been a more casual realistic experience. The only thing really fantastic about the game are the many ways you can make your avatar look. The world around you felt like an ordinary town. It was the incredible avatars who made the game so interesting to look at.
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