4 The CReW

Read about the masterminds

behind Gaia Online Magazine

6 The CommuniTy

Read about users, moderat-

ors, and even admins!

18 The FoRums

Haven’t had time to visit all of

the forums? Here’s a summary

on a few of them!

20 Gaia iTems

Read about items & interviews

with Evolving Item artists!

22 FeaTuRed

We’ve captured lots of epic

avatars,p

rofiles&t

hreadsfo

r

you this time!

26 Gaian memoRies

Read about these Gaians best

memories

28 adveRTisinG PaGe

Looking for an art shop? Chek

out the ones featured here!

30 avi-aRT sPeCial

Read about artists & art-lovers

40 TuToRials

Learn how to dress up

your avatar properly

44 zomG CoRneR

Tips, tricks, and funny

zOMG images

46 PlayGRound

Crosswords, comics, and

much, much more!

50 ConTesT

Feeling lucky?

You could win a

Hermes’ Moon!

Welcome to the second issue of Gaia Online Mag-azine. This month is dedicated towards the madness of the month of March, not to be easily confused with the college basketball phenomenon that takes place this time each year.

It’s only half way through the month, and yet we’ve already seen so much development. Between the passing of both the late J. K. Gambino and Skittles World, the release of Tim Burton’s film ‘Alice in Won-derland’, and Timmy’s ascension to an almost god-like status as an E.I. - we’ve hardly had a chance to breathe.

With another ten days ahead of us, this reporter is left worrying over exactly what will be flung at us next. With just another few more days, what will be-come of the world of Gaia and its storyline? What big event will rock our little pixelated world next? Only time will tell.

For now, let us reflect back upon these aforemen-tioned events and attempt to recap. Let’s steady our-selves, find a footing, keep calm and carry on. Good night & good posting. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

~ Admiral Lord Cochrane

28 adveRTisinG PaGe

Looking for an art shop? Chek

out the ones featured here!

30 avi-aRT sPeCial

Read about artists & art-lovers

40 TuToRials

Learn how to dress up

your avatar properly

44 zomG CoRneR

Tips, tricks, and funny

zOMG images

46 PlayGRound

Crosswords, comics, and

much, much more!

50 ConTesT

Feeling lucky?

You could win a

Hermes’ Moon!

4 5

THE CREW

theMejiCreator & Designer of Gaia Online Magazine.19, Male, Sweden.

Favorite Gaia item: Scar of Hero

The mastermind behind the project. Joined Gaia Online back in November 2004 & used to go under the name “Meijerem”. He’s totally devoted to Japan, games, music, design, his girlfriend & Gaia Online.

KeistCo-owner20, Female, Canada.

Favorite Gaia item: Gambino’s Friendship Fountain Pen

Joined Gaia in August 2003, went straight to the Chatterbox, and has been there ever since. Spends her time drink-ing heinous amounts of coffee and publishing Gaia Online modifications using her mad CSS-skills.

Lord i-dcWriter & Avatar SpecialistUnknown, Female, Unknown

Favorite Gaia item: SDPlus #99 Kanoko

Joined Gaia around ‘05. You can find her posting on late night chatterbox, trying to meet as many people as she can. If you need advice on any situation she’s always open to help. Just try to catch her after she’s had her coffee.

Has been a Gaian since December 2003 & is notorious for smuggling gaians into closed door DJ Helsing panels at SakuraCon. He also just lost the Game...

Admiral Lord CochraneEditor & Columnist24, Male, Seattle

Favorite Gaia item: Unsightly Body Hair

LEAD CREW

CREW

SPECIAL THANKS

Send PM Send PM

Send PM

And many, many thanks to everyone posting feedbackin the Guild! We love you all!

Nymph of SpringImage Hoarder19, Female, East Coast Canada.

Favorite Gaia item: SDPlus #85 Adriana Doll

She’s a short French-Speaking, “Fire-Cracker” personality girl living on the East Coast of Canada. She’s a true Gaia/zOMG! addict and have been a member since 2004.

ChibiLadyLurker & Assistant18, Female, USA

Favorite Gaia item: Chain Wallet

She has been on Gaia for 6 years, she’s a bit of an internet addict. She loves to read and play video games.

Joined Gaia in 2009. He’s the zOMG! expert for the GOM. He lives somewhere on the east coast of America, and he enjoys helping others progress through the game.

Waldo McFishzOMG Specialist16, Male, East Coast

Favorite Gaia item: Hidden Ace

Sir ShayChief Editor21, Female, USA

Favorite Gaia item: Unknown

Real life Mommy. Joined Gaia Online back in 2004. Became a moderator in December 2009.

QYPGuild Moderator & Writer21, Male, New Zealand

Favorite Gaia item: OMG Hat

Been a member of Gaia Online since early 2006. - ”I have a straight forward opinion...”

AllerisseWriter & Forum Specialist23, Female, Philippines

Favorite Gaia item: Kiki Kitty Plushie

Joined Gaia in 2004. Owner of the City of the Damned. Enjoys zombie apocalypse-themed movies and anime.An extreme advocate of animal rights and recycling. Wants to be an environmental/criminal lawyer someday.

4 5

THE CREW

CReW membeR inFoRmaTionMember of the month: theMeji

BIOGRAPHY• First Name: Emil• Last Name: Meijer• Age: 19• Birth date: May 31st 1990• Gender: Male• Location: Sweden• Height: 6’1• Weight: 170 lbs• Eye Color: Blue• Blood Type: A-• Zodiac: Gemini• Occupation: Conscripted• Relationship Status: Taken

INTErEsTs• Games• Japan• Design• Gaia Online• Music• Photography

FAVORITE• Game: Phantasy Star Online• Musician: Livetune• Food: Anything with pasta• Website: Gaia Online• Anime: Clannad• Movie: Avatar• Color: Orange• Pokémon: Vaporeon

MEJI’S HISTORYBorn and raised in Sweden, Västerås. Loved LEGO as a kid, so he would often lock himself up in his room, building, designing & constructing various things for hours. He received his first gam-ing console, a Mega Drive II with the game Sonic 2, by his father when he was at the age of 5. This caused him to get quite hooked with gaming already as a kid. Having his mother work a lot with com-puters, he often sat down next to her an-alyzing how they worked. Soon enough he could play around with them himself, and it didn’t take long before his skills surpassed the others in his family. At the age of 10 (4th grade), he went to an Independent school specializing in music. Mainly singing. Got in touch with Japan and its awe-someness at the age of 13 thanks to J-Pop. Due to this, he started researching more and more about Japan, finding out about manga, anime, and all the other things Japan has to offer. During his search, he found Gaia Online back in 2004 and joined in an instant. On Gaia, he met a lot of new Swedish friends who told him about anime conventions, yearning for him to follow them to one.

At the conventions, he used to run around in bright-pink raving pants, play-ing DDR like a maniac. He later became the head arranger of a famous Swedish convention association called J-CuLT.He met his girlfriend, Chuu, at the age of 16, and they’ve been together since.His plans for the future is to start a video game company with his friends. Hope-fully, you will buy his games if they’re ever released. ;D

SKILLSMusic Composing SAMPLE SAMPLE SAMPLE

Game Programming SAMPLE

DesignPhotography SAMPLE

Photoshoping SAMPLE

Arranging Anime Conventions

Which CREW member would you like to read about next?Visit the Guild and vote in the Poll! Click the link above and it will take you right there!

6 7

THE COMMUNITY

ask The CommuniTyFor this issue, we’ve asked several people among Gaia Online 3 new questions. These are:

#1.HowdidyoufindoutaboutGaiaOnlinebackwhenyoufirstjoined?# 2. What is your favorite item on Gaia Online, and why?# 3. If you were given 5 millions of Gaia Gold, how would you spend them?

Here are the answers

Dawtie

D i t t o u

Malomy

isillie

swimchik27

atw4l

1 Back when I joined in 2004, I heard about Gaia Online from a friend on Neopets. With all the cool,

interactive things you could do on Gaia versus Neopets, I quickly made the switch!

2 My favorite item would have to be Nitemare Head-band. It just radiates cool.

3 5 million gold, wow.. I’d say I’d probably either spend it all on art, buy Horns of the Demon and

then spend the rest on art, or share it with my friends!

1 My cousin, who was a dirt poor ‘noob’ you could say, showed me... I think in LATE, late 2005, or early

2006. And I’ve clinged to this website ever since! :333

2 Probably Merlin’s hat, because of all the sparkles, and the height of it... It just makes me happy when-

ever I see somebody wearing the gorgeous hat!

3 Hehe, Merlin’s hat. And then probably vend with the remains... Until I have 5 mil again, really it

would be ecstatic. Because I have NEVER had anything close to 5 mil! <333

1 I was at college in the computer lab watching my friend. She was on Gaia, I liked what I saw and de-

cided to sign up.

2 The Hermes Moon is my favorite. Rabbits are one of my favorite animals and I like the colors.

3 I’d buy a North Star Kitten. I was not lucky enough to get one from the Superprize.

1 I joined around ‘05 because my friend said it was cool. Then I quit for a year, joined back up in ‘06 and

have been hooked ever since.

2 My favorite item is the Kiki Kitty Plushie. It is the first item I ever quested and the first I quest I ever

achieved.

3 If I were to be given 5 million gold, I would add it to my 10 million gold quest! I’ve got big dreams.

1 A friend of mine that I met on spring break a few years ago actually. XD

2 DJ headphones, they just make everyone look so cool.

3 Totally investing so I can eventually turn that gold... into even MORE gold. xD

1 My best friend told me about it and she wouldn’t stop talking about GaiaOnline. So, I gave in and

joined.

2 Opal Borealis because it is really pretty.

3 If I had 5 million gold, I would buy all the items on my wishlist and then give the rest to my friends.

6 7

THE COMMUNITY

Firelightpixie

DB Imp

Akitakeshi

Ardai6uy

Aurion Maverick

1 I saw an ad on Mangafox.com, thought it looked cool, and I’ve been here ever since.

2 That changes constantly, but for now it’s the Pale Marionette because I just love the shirt!

3 First I’d buy that Pale Marionette and then... I prob-ably go on a shopping spree. Maybe buy a few

wishlist items for my friends!

1 I found Gaia via my ex boyfriend. We used to play a lot of browser based games, and Gaia was adver-

tised on some of them. It took me a while to figure out it’s something, much, much more different and cooler than just a browser game c:

2 That’s a tough question. There are just so many items on Gaia, and it’s hard to choose just one. One

of my favourites would probably have to be The Night-mare.

3 First, I’d probably stare at the screen in disbelief. I’m not the richest type, so I’ve never had such an

amount before (and probably never will). But I believe I’d definitely go browsing the art shops first. They’re my guilty pleasure. Perhaps, grab an item or two that I’ve craved for a while. And give back to the community, by sending gifts to my friends and some lucky strangers. c:

1 My friend recommended it to me. I’ve been loving the site ever since!

2 Probably Hidden Ace. It is a fantastic item with a nice royalty/red/black theme. I love it!

3 I would buy a North Kitten Star! It is just so ador-able!

1 I saw GaiaOnline on Newgrounds in 2004, I believe. I thought I’d check it out, and here I am... I’ve been

a member for 6 years now. :3

2 Oh, gosh, there’s just so many items to choose from. I don’t really have a favorite - I just mix and

match whenever suits my mood.

3 I would just keep the 5 million for the future if there’s anything I want. There’s just nothing I want

right now.

1 I was playing games from different sites, I saw the ad and a cool avatar on the ad which made me

want to make one myself.

2 Horns of demon, yet I’ll never have them.

3 In the excitement I would get horns of demon then I’d probably make alot of quick contest for 100k till

I run out.

1 I first heard about Gaia from a friend back in middle school at the beginning of 2004. He was wearing

a hat with his avatar on it and it looked interesting, so I asked him about it and my adventures with Gaia began.

2 My favorite item is the fox ears. Foxes have always been a favorite animal of mine and so when I found

out I could have these I worked hard back within the first months of my time in gaia to get myself a pair.

3 If I were given 5 million in Gaia Gold, I would prob-ably invest a lot of it in items, buy a couple things

on my wish list, and donate a good part of it to charities.

What questions should we ask next time?Visit the Gaia Online Magazine Guild and share all of your ideas with us!

8 9

THE COMMUNITY

Behind the screens BEHIND THE SCREENS

8 9

What does your real life desk look like? Check out these users as they feature their desks to the world.

THE COMMUNITY

Nathaniel Mea theChuu

theMeji “This is where all the magazines are spawned. I like to keep my room clean, but I usually end up throwing everything all over the place. xD”

“I spend far too much time here, as this is also my work area. I’ve made it as comfortable and as homy as one can become behind a desk all day.”

“It’s actually my moms desk but because of various events I now use it. I don’t clean it very often as you can see, and the rest of the room doesn’t look much better. *Runs off to clean* I live like a pro artist. ;D”

Want to show off your own desk?Is your desk the most crazy one ever? Visit the Gaia Online Maga-zine Guild and submit your pictures, and they might get featured!

10

THE COMMUNITY

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.Well...My Screen name here is Kenji Rowan. I’m a 20 years old male. I live in California, but not nearly as close to the ocean as I’d like to. I’ve been a member on Gaia for about 4 years now. I like writing & reading (mostly Manga). I also play guitar and want to learn other in-struments too, like the piano and violin.

Oh, manga? Have you got any favorite ones? Oh yes! Samurai X and Rurouni Kenshin are my abso-lute favorites! I’m also a fan of DNAngel, Vampire Knight, Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist and many more.

What do you usually do here on Gaia? I usually go around towns, meeting new people. I’ve also recently started the guild Sol Umbra, which has been tak-ing up a lot of my time. I also play a bit of zOMG! here and there.

This Guild that you’re talking about... Tell me more about it! What kind of Guild is it?Sol Umbra is just a few people trying to find our paths. Like it’s descriptions says, I’m just a leader with no cause, leading followers to find a goal.

If you were given the powers would change something with Gaia Online, what would it be?Hmm...It’s a hard question to answer really. If it were pos-sible though, I’d make it impossible for hackers to steal accounts and items from other players. I’ve been hacked for an Ancient Katana that was given to me by my friend on my first day and had to quest for another one. Other than the hackers, the only real problem I ever see with Gaia is the rude members that pop up here and there, but we now have that lovely little fireball that ignores em! ^.^

If you woke up one morning and found yourself in the world of Gaia, which is the first place you’d visit? I would have to visit zOMG! ^.^ Got to save the world you know?

Thank you so much for the interview. Any final words for the readers?I’d like to thank them all for keeping Gaia Online a growing community! ^^

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.I’m Mother Fluff. 21 and from a tiny little town in Pennsylvania (represent!) I’m a Vocal Perfor-mance major at a tiny little college about five minutes away from my tiny little house. Singing is pretty much my life. I’m also into music in gen-eral, especially obscure and indie stuff. I’m cur-rently job hunting, and having no luck! ...I like

cats, especially tiny little ones.

So you like singing? Have you made any songs?Well, I’ve written down lyrics, and I’ve written some music, but I haven’t quite put the two together yet. I’m too much of a perfectionist to try. I’d be going crazy about the theory of the music and then I’d probably just give up trying to put the two together. I prefer singing things that other people have written and putting my own twist on them. I’m also part of a Virtual Choir, which is really awesome. (I know that has nothing to do with the question, I’m just really really excited about it. xP)

How did you become a moderator? Tell us your story. I applied on a whim, actually! Last year, I helped run the Ga-ian’s Gone Wild Softball Team fan thread with a couple other awesome people. One of them told me that mod-app’s were open, and she had applied. I was all “Oh, that sounds fun! Lemme try!” So I applied and a few weeks later I got the noti-fication that I was accepted. I wasn’t expecting to be accept-ed honestly, but I’m very glad that I was.

If you had the chance to design a Gaia Online item, what would it look like? Hm...if I could design an item...I’d probably design something Victorian Era-esque. Lots of ruffles and stuff. Pretty things. Dresses, hats, shoes, gloves and things. Something really el-egant.

Barton, Durem, Isle de Gambino or Aekea?Durem. Durem all the way. I’m not exactly sure why, to be honest. I’ve just felt a connection with that place ever since I joined Gaia. I’ve always been on Durem’s side during the town fights, and I always will be.

Thank you for the interview. Any final words for the readers?“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Henry David Thoreau

User of the Month This months lucky user is none other than...

Mod of the Month New issue, new mod. This time we threw a random interview with...

Kenji_RowanMother Fluffsite Moderator

10

12 13

THE COMMUNITY

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.I’m Noraboo! The question is a little broad, so maybe if I had a better idea of what you’re interested in knowing. I’m 27 years old and I’m a native new yorker. On Gaia, I’m an ad-ministrator, or Admin, and my responsibilities

include account related issues and working closely with moderators. If you’re curious about either my work here or just about me as a person I’d be glad to give more info. (:

I’m sure the readers would like to know more about you as a person! Are you willing to give us some hints? :3Hmm, there’s a few tidbits already in my profile about some of my interests and hobbies, like my love of cooking and cosmetics, and a laundry list of all my pets. But I’ll see what other random little things I can throw out.

As I mentioned before I’m a PhD candidate, so I think it goes without saying that I’m a giant nerd. Neu-roscience and psychology are my big passions, but I also indulge in some fun nerd things and play boardgames and videogames with my friends.

I’ve been told that I can come across as very seri-ous and intense, but then people are shocked when they meet me in person to find that I’m actually very friendly and very outgoing. I am most definitely an extrovert!

I take pride in my appearance and I’m pretty girly. I love to dress up, wear cute things, do my makeup... I have no tattoos but I do have 12 piercings. I’ll let the readers try to guess where they all are. (: However, some of the mods have told me that I “look really normal”, and while I’m not entirely sure what that means I think it’s probably a good thing!

You told us you handle the account related problems. Approximately how many problems are you able to solve within a day of work?That’s a little difficult to estimate. Sometimes to consider a problem ‘solved’ it requires getting responses from one or several members, so that I can get information from them, hear their side of the story, or just have them con-firm that they’ve done something I’ve asked them to do (like follow through on a commission they made with someone, that sort of thing). I would say that on average I probably solve cases into the hundreds in a given week, a little less if the situations are particularly difficult and require extra attention.

How did you get in touch with Gaia Online? I actually joined Gaia in the summer of 2003 as a user. A friend of mine, an artist, was posting in the art arena and encouraged me to join. I joined, voted in the art arena (earned gold to buy my first item, emo glasses!), posted in extended discussion, and then became really involved in helping out the forum.

This led to me being made a mod in, umm, January of 2004, I believe. I don’t think I’m being immodest in say-ing that I really worked my butt off to help Gaia as a mod, and then along with two of my wonderful and equally dedicated colleagues, Desna and WhiteJoker, I was asked if I would become an admin and work for Gaia. So I grew into this job in a very organic way, rather than applying because I was job seeking. I didn’t set out to get it, it just wound up that way!

What does a normal day at the Gaia HQ look like? From sunrise till sunset. Well, it’s not a secret, but a lot of people don’t realize that I actually work for Gaia remotely. This means that al-though I do the same tasks as Admins who are in office, my ‘office’ can be anywhere I want it to be (although most often just my living room). I actually live allllll the way over on the east (better!) coast, although I do travel to Califor-nia several times a year and when I do spend time in the office and catch up with folks there.

I do miss out on some of the fun things (like being able to at-tend Gambino’s funeral in person) but it certainly has advantages, the biggest being that my time is flex-ible, which is why I’m often avail-able and working on weekends and evenings, and this also explains how I’m managing to work for Gaia while working on my PhD full time. Needless to say, working from

home definitely does not mean slacking off!

Out of all the Gaia Staff working at the HQ, which one do you find most crazy?Hmm, I’m not too sure, but I’d definitely say that you have to watch out for BigLanky, because you never know what he might be up to.

Thank you so much for the interview. Do you have any last words you’d like to share with the readers of GOM?I hope that your interviews will help humanize the staff. Sometimes I think it’s forgotten that we’re people to! xD

Admin of the Month We were lucky this month. We managed to catch an interview with one of the admins! Here it is!

NorabooAdmin

12 13

THE COMMUNITY

Gaia & My LifeGaia Online have played an important role in several users lives. That’s for sure. But what would these peoples lives look like today if Gaia never existed? Here, we’ve thrown an inter-view with a user who owes a lot of her daily life to Gaia Online.

Sir Shay Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself?I’m Shay, or Sir Shay, I’m 21, and I’ve been a member of Gaia since late ‘03/early ‘04, when my best friend, may she rest in peace, intro-

duced me to the site. I’m also a wife and stay-at-home mother of one. I’m a site moderator here on Gaia (though I’m current-ly on a break from modding), and a Q&A junkie. I write poetry and stories, and I love to help people when I can.

How has Gaia affected your life? Gaia has brought me out of my shell. I’m actually quite shy, and a bit of a homebody, but Gaia, and the people on it, have made me much more outgoing. I met my husband on Gaia, and I’ve made a lot of amazing friends all over the world, some

of whom I am penpals with. I also enjoy talking to other moth-ers on Gaia, and getting advice and ideas about raising my baby.

What do you think your life would look like if Gaia never existed?I think my life would be a lot more lonely. I suffer from bipo-lar disorder, and before meeting my husband it was poorly controlled. He, and the child we have together, have made my day-to-day existence much brighter. I also would prob-ably be in a friendless place, as I have trouble ‘going out’ and meeting people, and Gaia has enabled me to meet people all over the world from the comfort of my own home.

How has Gaia Online affected your life?Share all of your stories and emotions, tell everyone how has affected your everyday life. Click the link seen above and post it all on Gaia Online Magazines official Guild.

14 15

Hey there, Gaians! I’m Admiral Lord Cochrane, and this is ‘Reality Check’. This is the first installment of what will soon become a long running segment here at Gaia Online Magazine.

Here’s how it works:I’ve begun a personal campaign to ensure the Gaian community of the fact that, contrary to popular be-lief, Admin, Artists, Designers, Mods & everyone else at Gaia HQ, are real people with lives beyond Gaia! That being said, I will contact HQ & other Gaians once a month, and ask them the one question that they don’t usually hear while at work:

Admiral: First off, I’m here speaking with Jenn, but you may better know her by Jenniferelaine from the Art Freebies Forum. So, Miss Elaine, recently we at GOM want-ed to ask around and see what most Gaians are up to in everyday life. So, I guess my first question is, “How’s life treating you?”

Jenniferelaine: Well, I am super busy..haha. I am a university student at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. I am in my last year as an Elementary Education major, and I will be graduating next fall. I can’t wait to graduate. I hon-estly believe with all my heart that teaching is the greatest profession in the entire world, and it is never boring.

I also like to sing in the choir at school whenever I get the chance. Other than school I have to work so I don’t fall into the “poor college kid” category. I work at an art supply store (not good...I love art...they get most of my paycheck back. lol.) What time I have that is not spent at school or work I spend with my family and friends.

I’m from the country so I like to be outside. My friends and I like to do what I’m sure most of you do, go to the movies, play video games, harass the comic book store guy (sorry comic book store guy..heh) My life at the moment may seem boring to some, but I am pretty content with it. And if I ever feel stressed Gaia is always there for me. I usually get rid of my stress by sketching you lovely people in the AF.

Well I guess that is about it for now. Any more questions?

Admiral: Wow! No, there are no more questions, though I will say that I had assumed that it would take some nudging to get some answers on your daily routine, but I guess not. Thanks Jenn, for letting us in on your day to day. Best of luck in your future career!

Now, to continue our segment, I’ve miraculously contacted one of the busiest people here on Gaia, Mr. DJHelsing! You may know him better as the guy who is constantly on the road, hosting the Gaia Online panels at your local anime/gaming convention. I first met him at SakuraCon the first year that Seattle hosted the, then small, Gaia Online group panel. Since then, I’ve watched as the lines into these pan-els grow more and more every year. Sometimes, people are turned away in droves because there is simply not enough room for more Gaians!

Since we’ve now ascertained your popularity, why don’t I get this interview started? DJHelsing, we know what you do for Gaia, but what’s going on in your own world? How is life treating you?

DJHelsing: Nice to meet you again Admiral! Actu-ally my role at Gaia has changed a bit over the last year or so. Not only am I in charge of putting together, hosting and running Gaia’s events and activities at the larger conven-tions but I’m also point on communication with all smaller conventions that request prizing and support as well as the new Gaia Meet Up events which should be announced in more detail in the next few weeks. In addition to that I’m also in charge of all the social networking site updates and

Reality Check

“So, how’s life treating you?”

14 15

THE COMMUNITY

contests etc, etc. So yeah, I’m really busy but never busy enough to not respond to PM’s and post in threads.My life’s been great! I’ve been working a lot, which I love, I hate having nothing to do. :) I’m getting really involved with a few board gaming groups here in the San Jose area as well as hitting up a few cool Goth Industrial and Trance clubs in the San Jose and San Francisco area! Oooh, I’ve also been watching a lot of TV or DVD’s. I’m a huge fan of Legend of the Seeker, one of the best shows on TV right now, as well as Lost, Smallville, Vampire Diaries, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Supernatural. So yea a lot of board gam-ing, TV, work and clubbing

Admiral: Oh wow, so your constantly on the go! Sounds like a lot of fun. It leaves me wondering what your home life is like. How does DJHelsing relax after a long, ex-citing day? Pipe & Smoking Jacket while reading a classic novel, perhaps?

DJHelsing: Hehe, no not really. Like I said before, I like playing board games, watching movies and television with friends. I also enjoy going on a hike late at night with swords, playing video games, reading books, cooking ran-dom stuff to eat, and lots of other cool things! I love hang-ing out with people, and doing random stuff. So, in short, I’m a really active person, but definitely like relaxing and playing a MMO or watching a movie.

Admiral: Well, there it is, folks! Straight from the man, himself. He may be more active than the normal hu-man being, but behind those pixelated gray tones, red tie, and headphones, there lies the heart of a club loving, game

playing, sword swinging, anime loving Gaian!That being said, is there anything you’d like to tell the peo-ple of Gaia before we sign off? Any message of hope? Any infinite words of wisdom?

DJHelsing: Just that I really look forward to seeing everyone on the road again this year both at Gaia Conven-tion Tour stops as well as at Gaia Meet Ups! Be sure to keep in touch and drop me a PM or post in my fan thread. I check my PM’s and the fan thread daily and respond to messages that warrant a response. So feel free to send me ideas and opinions or just drop by to say hi!

Admiral: How could anyone not like this guy, right? He’s overflowing with pure awesomeness! Well, that’s all the time we have for today. I’d like to thank both Jennife-relaine and one of our favorite Admin, DJHelsing, for their time and willingness to be the first within the community to be interviewed. Let it never be said that Gaians aren’t generally friendly people. March’s segment leaves this reporter filled with the hope that the next installment of ‘Reality Check’ will be even more full of interesting tidbits. Good night, and good posting.

To Be Continued

16 17

THE COMMUNITY

Since you askedEverybody needs a little advice now and again. Whether you’ve got an issue with your mother, your best friend, or your significant other, we’re here to help. If we haven’t been there, and chances are we have, then we’ll put our heads together and find a way to help you out. Just ask! Since You Asked is here to aid you.

Starring Sir Shay & God of ForeverGaia Online Magazine’s Advice Column

Dear SYA,I have a thread and it could use a little help. It is called Old Folks Gathering. It’s a place for people of the age 18 and over to go so they don’t feel like a minority in Gaia. We have regulars who are some of the most amazing people I’ve met, but due to real-life issues, they aren’t showing up as much as I’d hope. I would do a give-away, but I don’t have much gold, and I would think up some cool events, but the last time I did that it failed be-cause I got caught up in real life. I would like to make a banner for my thread so I can advertise, but do you think that would be help enough, or is there more that you think I could do?

Yours truly,Hanging by a Thread

Events and such only work if you have people to participate in them so don’t be afraid to try something new when it comes to attracting people. The key is to get out there, be friend-ly and talk to people! Make yourself known and people will come. People do have lives and not everyone will come back after one visit but don’t be discouraged. Just keep at it and eventually you’ll have so many visitors that you won’t know what to do.Cheers, God

Dear SYA,I have something to confess to you. I’m a thread killer. And I have been for some time now. For those who don’t know, thread killers are unintentional slayers of any topic they post in, no matter how popular it is. It happens often, and it’s starting to discourage me from posting at all. Any thread I touch goes silent, and I know I’m not the only one out there who feels like this. Can you give me some advice on how not to kill threads? I need help, or I fear I may kill again.

Sincerely,Butcher Pete

Let me start off with the simple fact that everyone feels odd about jumping into the middle of a conversation. That said, don’t be. You have a greater chance of being the last one to post before people lose interest in threads with low response counts than in popular threads. Come to think of it you have a higher chance of being over looked if you post in popular threads as well. In any case, your best bet is to just keep going. Talk to yourself if you have to! I do. :DCheers, God

Dear SYA,I live in Canada but I often live in Beijing, China. I’m in no way Chinese though. I’m Caucasian so I really stand out. I’m only 21 and my boyfriend is 22. He is Chinese, with a low income and can’t afford to come to Canada. I love living in Beijing, but I haven’t had university yet, and my parents are starting to get worried/mad about my future. They think I should just ditch China and my BF and get on with life. I try to tell them that living in China has been the best experience of my life and I actually dread coming back to Canada for a long period of time.What do you think I should do?Sincerely,Canadian in China

There’s only one piece of advice I can give you in this kind of situation. Don’t live for anyone but YOU. At the end of the day, you’ll be the one that decides how you live and what you choose to do. That said, you also need to look at what the consciences would be for those choices. Good or bad. The hard part is going to be accepting them. But then again, any-thing worth having is worth fighting for.Cheers, God

16 17

THE COMMUNITY

Dear SYA,Drama is not fun. Someone I trusted-- loved, even-- has been gossiping about me. I can’t even stand up for myself because she knows my deepest secret -- my affair with... someone. If I called her out, she’d spill, and my reputation would be mur-dered. If I don’t, the rumors will just get worse.Help!Caught in a Web

I’ll try to word this as delicately as possible. I’m sure you’re old enough to make your own choices and it appears that you’ve made a bad one. You chose to do that and it came back to bite you. You have three options open to you. You can stand up for yourself and quell the rumors, admit your wrong doing and just get it over with or keep the charade going and try to weather the proverbial storm. Whatever choice you decide to make, your ‘reputation’ doesn’t matter. The only opinions you should take to heart are those of people you love and who love you. Not some media driven mob of sheep. Anyone who lives for what everybody else thinks of them either has no self-respect or is a brain-dead moron.In short, you made your bed. Now you have to sleep in it. The only thing to do now is to try to walk away with your head held high.Cheers, God

Dear SYA,About two years ago, I had to pack up my life and move across the country due to the fact that my husband is in the military. I was pretty lonely given the fact that I didn’t have any friends or family around, so I turned to Gaia and it certainly made my days a little bit brighter. I was still a bit lonely...so when my hus-band’s best friend was stationed right near us, I was ecstatic! I was really looking forward to befriending his wife and maybe having a friend to hang out with, get to know, etc. I made every effort possible to make a connection to her, but I failed again and again. I kept getting shot down so I gave up. All four of us hung out despite that, and it was still pretty fun...until she began making underhanded comments toward my husband and myself. She’d throw tantrums, treat her own husband hor-ribly right in front of us, complain constantly, and then one day decided to slap my husband on the butt. (That was such an awkward moment.) Her horrible behavior has continued, more directed at me as time went on. I grew tired of her insults and behavior, and snapped at her on occasion. I’m expected to just “deal with her” being in my own home, and get over it. I get no support from my own husband and he also tells me I’m “wrong” when I point out something that she’s done that was either wrong or just plain rude. I really don’t know what to do, would you want someone like that in your own home? She calls me ugly, insults us both outright, and no one but me says any-thing about it. I feel like I’m the only one who’s not a doormat! What should I do? I’m expected to “deal with it”, but I don’t feel

like that’s right especially after I’ve given her so many chances to be nice. And yes, she is a member here on Gaia, and has ruined Gaia for me on more than one occasion. I just...don’t know what to do.Sincerely,Army Wife at War

There comes a point in life that we are all put through the emotional wringer. Be it Friends, family, bosses or even a complete stranger bent on ruining our day. Let’s face it. The world is full of idiots and we can’t avoid them forever. You’re in a tough spot. You seem to be besieged by them! In defense of your husband, he’s afraid to lose his friendship if he sup-ports you and thus he waffles. He should support you in any endeavor however, friend or no.Three ideas come to mind as how to handle your plight. The first involves asking her in private to knock off the crap or hav-ing your husband grow some balls and talk to his friend about your feelings on the issue. Personally, I don’t see that going well. The second has the two couples sitting down and dis-cussing her behavior and its effect on you and your husband. Not quite what I see getting through. The third and what I think will have at least some effect, if not the one you wanted, is to put your foot down. Or up someone’s ass as the case may be. I’m not saying to punch her out, but to refuse to be trampled on. Violence only begets violence.The most important thing to remember is that no matter what, you CAN NOT let this woman ruin your marriage. She isn’t worth losing love for. If your husband truly is friends with the other man, he won’t lose his friend by bringing it up. Just don’t let things come to blows.Cheers, God

Submit your questions!Need some advice? Need tips on how to save up for that expensive item? Shay & God will be glad to help you! Click the link above to learn how!

18 19

Written by: Allerisse

We received lots of feedback saying we should try to add up a monthly sum-mary of the forums of Gaia Online. And so we did. For this issue, we’ve summed up this months happenings in the GCD, Aquarium, Petitions, and Mini shops forums. Are you ready? Here they come!

There was some cause for concern in the Gaia Com-munity Discussion this month, mainly due to the mass hackings occurring. Several incidents of hackings had been reported by exchangers, and lots of new threads talked about this new cause for concern. A hacking, as most of us already know, differs from a scamming in a variety of ways. On Gaia Online, hacking is defined as the unauthorized access of another user’s account re-gardless of how their password was obtained. Scam-ming is defined as cheating a user out of gold/items by promising items/gold/services and then never fol-lowing through on their end (or attempting to trick someone by, for example, attempting to trade them a marital pendant while telling the person they’re receiving an Angelic Pendant). For a more detailed discussion and more information on the matter, you can visit The Vomiting Cupcake’s Massive Hacked Ac-counts in Exchange thread.

Also, we need to mention about the death of one of the most prominent Gaia NPC’s in history. The late Mr. Johnny Gambino’s death has been met with an outpouring of sadness. Numerous topics, ranging from trib-utes, to discussions of the leftover fortune, to the inheritance and other

NPC death plots surfaced. One of the most detailed among such threads is Lenore Rose’s Making Money Off Gambino’s Memory Morally Wrong? discussion, and A Moonlight Affair’s Gambino Jewels thread, which discusses the new items available in the Cash Shop in honor of the special jewels helping fun the Gambino memorial.

For this month, we take a look at some custom art.User Depletion’s custom request art shop, NeVeRlLAND has lovely, original art for reasonable prices. The style is quite similar to art deco, which makes it stand out from other custom shops. It is rather modern and futuristic, stressing the unique combi-nation of shape and color, instead of featuring the old-school styling found in most anime and comic draw-ings. The coloring used is vibrant and vivid, utilizing the proper shades for each piece. Right now slots are full, but with the wait will definitely be worth it, if one decided to get some of this art. The prices vary. There is a base price, which is the lowest to be accepted for a particular type or piece of art. The more an order costs, the nicer the piece will generally be. There are three art styles to choose from: DARK ART, MINIMAL and EXPERIMENTAL. Each are stylistically different.Dark Arts focus on the use of darker shades and tones for the avatar. The samples for this portion showed a preference for a drearier, gloomy look. Colors like black and gray are stressed in each work. Minimal uses a more basic approach. Clean lines and a minimalist approach is used. Experimental, meanwhile, uses a free unique approach, with the samples expressing a fun and enthusiastic feel to it.Dark Arts cost 50,000 to 300,000 gold, depending on the complexity of the avatar and the background. Minimal cost 10,000 gold. Experimental singles cost 350,000+ gold, while couples cost 700,000+ gold. In case a background is requested along with the art, a simple background would cost 100,000 gold, while a more complex one will cost more, depending on how intricate the background will be.

18 19

THE FORUMs

Written by: Allerisse

What would you like to read about next?Which forums would you like to read about in the next issue? Visit the Gaia Online Magazine Guild and vote in our poll!

There was an obvious preference for dolphin tanks this month in Aquariums. Most glow threads had pure or dolphin-mix tanks. Pure dolphin booty-grab threads were also formed. Aside from the dolphins, the aquarium cathulu also had a very warm reception. A very cute fish with bulbous overseer-red eyes, and funny little tentacles, the cathulu drops green coins, and has already become a favorite for most tank owners because of its adorable appearance.Among the discussion threads in the Aquariums Fo-rum, the most informative one for this month was The Potential of Aquarium Fish by The Infamous Manny-kun. It lists all the fish and monsters available, and gives the cost per fish, the amount of gold each fish gives out per game, the lifespan of the fish, and the amount of gold it can earn the tank owner for its en-tire life. The guide is very useful for new tank owners deciding which fish to get, and old tank owners who wish to make an even bigger profit off their tanks.Also equally noteworthy this month was Fish Mafia II by Chemical Cafeteria. The mafia, as stated by the thread mule, is a loose association of groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each of the members who sign up is honor-bound to check the thread frequently, to bump the threads of their glowing comrades. Therefore, each tank owner has an estimate of 80 other users check-ing their tank for glows, aside from the random thread visitors. The system of Fish Mafia is founded on the ideals of people working together and combining ef-forts for the benefit of all.

For this month, there were many interesting petitions, but most noticeable and noteworthy among them were the Fish-Egg petition and the Gaia Padlocks Peti-tion. The Fish-Egg Petition, created by Darkly Wishful (originally thought of by Hippocrite) asks that the fish be able to reproduce first in our tanks, before dying. Instead of being totally dependent on Phin-Phang for more fish, users can just take good care of the fish they already have, in the hopes that they may lay eggs before dying. This way, rather than constantly saving up for gold to replace fish when they die, users can have a chance to get an offspring, along with the usual number of items that the fish drops give. The petition, when last checked, has reached past 700 signatures.Another interesting petition is from user Live to But-terfly. The Gaia Padlocks Petition seeks to implement a padlocking device in our inventories, to make the items in scammed and hacked accounts easier to remove. It works by allowing users to put specific items from their inventories on “padlock” status. A padlocked item cannot, for a specific amount of time, be traded, sold, gifted or re-moved from the inventory. So, assuming that an ac-count does get hacked or scammed, the infiltrator would have a more difficult time stealing the items, because of the non-removable status that the pad-locks bring. Since the potential hacker or scammer will have to wait for the padlock status to expire, the account owner can momentarily report the matter, and a moderator can take appropriate measures with dealing with the hacked or scammed account. The petition has reached over 2000 signatures, when last checked.

FrogI do not know about you, but I think Gaia is just having a big joke about the whole “running out of ideas” thing. Or it could be that it is based of the “Princess and the Frog” movie? Anyway, onto the item & its design. The item has a good variety of lily pads poses. You got to commend them for their creativity. Although I have a feeling they should have focused on making it a “lily pads only” item, instead of throwing that frog in there. The greens and yellows are well picked, they make each other stand out nicely. Overall it is a fine item, that green color is defiantly the one people have been wanting for some time now. But, like I said, they should have ditched the frog.

Sapphire PlumeIn theory, this item is based off the movie James Cameron’s Avatar. I would have to agree that it does look quite like something out of that world. I really love the coloring of this item, the blues match well with the gold-brown colors, and the detail is very well done. The Collectible was made by someone who really wanted it to look good. That’s for sure. Too bad it only comes with a few poses, though. That’s most likely what caused it to fall in value.

To be honest, I feel a little sorry for the ones investing in this months MC items. The price dropped from 100k to 70k on the day of the release. That’s almost a 1/3 loss. Better luck next time. One surely doesn’t play the MP without taking risks. //theMeji

What do the users think of this months collectables?We’ve asked 100 Gaians. Here are the results.

20 21

GAIA ITEMs

FREE ITEMSGOM have lured out a few free items here on Gaia. Just simply click the link, and you’ll receive a copy of it! Keep in mind that you can only receive the item once per account. So if it gives you an error as you open the link, you’ve most likely already acquired the item.

• starmony

• Gambino’s Friendship Fountain Pen

• Heroes Eclipse

• Dragon and Kai (in heaven)

• Mocha Lounge Jacket

• Omnidrink Personal Improvement Spray

• rhinestone Flip-Flops

• Facebook Team Jacket

• Vampire Skin

Monthly Collectible ReviewThis months Collectibles look like they are from some recent movies. Well, lets see what they are all about.

By: Qyp

Gaian do forgetten not store Dernier*Cri!New special items, popular yes! Gold very, very cheap! Girl and rabbit love! Takk fyrir!

20 21

GAIA ITEMs

The Compass of Seidh, one of Gaia’s fastest growing in prices Evolving Items. Within days of appearing on Gaia, it was instantly on the market place for around 600k. Now, with one full evolution, it’s already nearly the 1 mil line. How come? Our guesses are because the Compass was designed by the same person who designed the Gogh reed, one of Gaias most popular Evolving Items. That’s probably the reason why so many people rushed to get their first generation Compass. But how will the compass turn out? Nothing is sure, so we went directly to the designer of these beautiful items to ask.

EtheItems designed:

For those who don’t know much about you, tell me a little about yourself.I was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. I went to US to get my BFA in animation at Columbus College of Art and Design. After I graduated I went to work at Gaia for 1 year, then decided to go back to get my MFA in

illustration at San Francisco Academy of Art University. Cur-rently I’m back working as a full time employee for Gaia while being a part time student to finish my master. (I will...graduate one day! T ^ T) I have one older brother working in Hawaii right now, and my parents are both still in Indonesia. I visited them every other year, or they came to visit me.

So far what I do in Gaia changed over years, in 2006 I was first hired to be working for Zomg animator, then ended up working as concept artist for battle where I also managed to help with some gold shop and MC’s concepts sketches. After a while I also worked on illustrations for landing page/invitation, manga BG, then EI, RIG, sponsorship and Cash Shop. But in general most of Gaia artists are really versatile, so it’s quite common to have them at one point do most of this thing.

How did you become a designer?An artist who was interning at Gaia recommended my works and one day I got an email from Gaia saying they wanted to hire me. So that was a really nice surprise. I didn’t expect it at all that I though that email was a scam. LOL. So I flew to San Jose for the interview and got the job. C:

So you actually work in a Gaia office?Yes. I’m working in the office.

What’s the best part of being a designer?The best thing is definitely the part where I could make an item just for the sake of having my own avatar looking good. We usually have that luxury; but there’s also time where we have to make an item based on a theme.

What’s it like having such a reputation as an EI designer? It’s very rewarding to see when users like your works, and of course a tight reality checks happen when it goes the other way around. It also put you in the position where pressure and expectations keep building up, so it’s a great challenge, yes, it’s stressful, it’s fun, and it’s a lot of hard works defi-nitely.

Do you remember what your inspiration was behind your lat-est EI, the compass?Monster Hunter. C:

What inspires you to create the items you to create the items you do?Most of the time, an idea will strike just because I want to do a specific item and not really with so much thought put into it. So it was like “okay I’ll do this item! wait..it needs to have a theme.” Almost like a back-ward process. Some of my inspirations come from game, like Monster Hunter. :9

How much control do you get over an evolution and the creative process of an evolving item?Each artists presented their idea and theme ahead of time, so we wouldn’t interrupt other items on the site, but pretty much we have control our own items.

Do you make the descriptions to go along with the items, or does someone else?The sucky item descriptions were made by meeeeee D:

Can you tell me any hints or spoilers about the general theme of the Compass? What’s its color scheme?general theme is about journey~~ adventure!!! XD As for the color scheme, hehehe well, it’s a secret :9

Okay, I think that’s about it for this interview. Any last words for the readers of GOM? :3Let’s play monster hunter togethurrrrr D: the wii version is coming out soon!

Interview by: Lord i-dc

Concept art for the 1st gen-eration of Compass of Seidh.

Make sure to visit Ethe’s

DeviantART

Monthly Collectible Review

22 23

FEATURED

avaTaRs

PRoFiles

EdibIe

chibi sugerkoOkies

Moonr!se shireo

Mr-Puddin

Anabaena

Milk Kittea

myXchemicalXangel

Bowie-spawan

sleepingTigerXO

22 23

FEATURED

ThReadsA Highly Sarcastic Guide to Starting an Art ShopPricing, Assistance, and SuggestionsBy: Djubre

Learn how to start an Art Shop, the tough way. Careful, though. You might get offended by all these sarcastic words. But one thing is for sure, this guide is proven REAL useful by other users. Look into it!

★║▌ɢaιa’s ɢcc → Hangout.Chatterbox - HangoutBy: GCC Guardian

Join one of the bigger hangouts in the CB! Filled with awesome peo-ple, fun times, and contest! Make sure to pay it a visit. You’re bound to make some new friends in here!

[ Austin’s DTTPAY ]Chatterbox - Donation ThreadBy: Austin Farmer

One of the biggest “Donate To The Persone Above You” threads. One of the users in this thread even got donated 1 million gold by hanging around in here! Stay, and get rich! Just make sure to read the rules before posting!

Kitty’s Store of DOOOOOOOOOM!!!The Gaia ExchangeBy: Evil Kitty of DOOOM

Bid on items, join contests, read about the best items to invest in. This store has it all!

THE ORIGINAL rate your avatar!!!Avatar Talk - Avatar RatingBy: MrSwiss

This thread has been around since 25th of May 2003, and is still the most active “Rate my avatar” thread on Gaia. Rate various users ava-tars in a scale of 1 - 10.

Blackdog170’s Contest Thread!Avatar Talk - Avatar RatingBy: Blackdog170

This dude gives away a handsome sum of gold to the first poster on every 25th page. He also occasionally gives away random prizes! If you like to BUMP, this is the perfect place! You could win big!

Name Change NotificationsSite Feedback - PetitionsBy: t a i l e r r_2013

Have one of your friends once changed their username without telling you? And when you start searching for them, you’re unable to find them at all? Sign this petition to receive a PM as soon as one of your friends changes their username!

Hardcore Donaters Gift Giving ThreadSite Feedback - PetitionsBy: Isalace

Feeling like donating? Come to this thread, donate your heart out, and hope people do the same to you! Keep in mind, though, that there is no assurance you will get a donation.

★ BFF ART REQUEST ★Pricing, Assistance, and SuggestionsBy: Flosse

Two best friends in search for art. Huge variation of avatars to draw, nice page-layout and a lot of nice received artworks! Take a look, hang out, or simply draw them! They have over 7 millions in gold to spend on art!

★下一站，幸福 || profilebribeshopPersonalized Graphics - ProfilesBy: Moonr!se

A high quality bribe profile shop. Get inspired, or buy one yourself!

ЪЁЯЯY★ЪФUTiQUЁ【Priceyアート】Art Shops and Requests - Art ShopBy: STrAwBeRRie-ChiZCaKe

An awesome art shop with high quality art for a cheapk price! The thread layout is clean and superb, with a lot of previous art samples. Shop is also open for Real Life Commissions.

Gaian Brawl: The Princess and The DragonBarton TownBy: l2 A D I O P L A Y

A popular RP that has been around for over a year now. “The best of Anime, Fantasy and the unknown. The greatest locations, characters, monsters, and villains. No restrictions, no walls, no limits. This will be one hell of a fight. You are welcome to join and participate in the Gaian Brawl.”

24 25

FEATURED

Guilds

JouRnals

FallenDevil I was here. I was everywhere! FEAR ME!

shabam-ilovejamescallis I loved the magazine so much I almost crapped my pants when I clicked on the link. Sashakrispies WhatabeautifulfirstissueoftheGaiaOnline Magazine.Youguysdidanamazingjob!I look forward to another great issue and many more to come. Happy 2010 everyone! C:

Mary Williame Taranee I am QUESTING Items. Please Check My ProfilewhatItemsthatI’mQuesting.

perphella Hello friends! I love you all!!! P.S. Check out the guild, “All That AND a Bag of Sun Chips!”

~B.O.W.B.S. Official Manga!~Brought to you by Bent on Wonton Bubble Shading - Art Shop!By: Belladona Nightshade

A manga journal? Wow! So far this manga has made it to 158 pages! Make sure to subscribe to it, so you’ll be able to catch the new entries as soon as they come out.

Spotted something awesome?Do you have an awesome avatar? Have you spottedanepicprofile?Areyoukeepingacooljournal?Visitthisthreadandgiveushintsoftheawesomest things here on Gaia, and they might become featured! Want to be featured in the Shoutbox?

Click here and learn how!

8th Annual User Run BallTags: Creativity, User-Based, Annual, Artists, Ball Entry Fee: None

The Annual Ball is a long lasting Gaian tradition that is held by users, for users since 2003! Each year the theme of the celebrations may change-- but the ultimate goal remains the same: fun & merriment. Bringing the community together is the prime goal of the Annual Ball Planning Guild. Your involvement can make this year’s up and com-ing ball one to be remembered for years to come!

Gaia Job CenterTags:jobcenter,jobs,hiring,workers,goldEntry Fee: None

The GJC is the place to find or request a Gaian job. Such as bump-ing, TekTeking, profile layout, and much more. So quit slackin’ and start working! And of course you’ll get paid!

Insomniacs of GaiaTags: Insomniac, Awesome, Contests, Advice, GlompEntry Fee: None

Can’t seem to fall asleep? Insomniacs of Gaia is a guild for anyone and everyone. Just because you aren’t an insomniac, it doesn’t mean you can’t join! This guild was founded on the firm belief of Red Bull as medication and video games as a form of therapy.

Gimpi’s of GaiaTags: Gimpi, Roleplaying, Anime, Contests, Super fun >w< Entry Fee: None

This guild is for everyone who loves gimpis. Chill with friends, role-play with others, discuss random topics, you can do almost anything! So what are you waiting for? Why are you still reading this? Go hit the forums!(Note: Please do not actually hit the fourms, unless they are being mean.)

24 25

FEATURED

avi-aRT

!2ice Nathaniel Mea tenhou

26 27

GAIAN MEMORIEs

Dora The Exploded

I remember when I had been a mem-ber for about a week, back in 2003. My cousin had donated 500 gold to

me, and I felt like I was the richest newb on Gaia, and for this gold I was thinking about buying me some shoes. I couldn’t decide which ones, one pair was prettier but it also cost more, and the other pair was cheaper but not as pretty, so I asked my mother. Of course she didn’t care at all, but she told me to take the prettier ones, since they only cost about 50g more. That day I felt as pretty as ever in my new, shiny, black Gothic shoes. About a year later, when the August donation items were released I had scrambled together enough money to buy a letter, and when the day came I opened it. The letter only cost around 4k back then, but for me it felt like 1000k. I got the Golden Laurels, and when my brother offered himself to buy them from me I asked how much we wanted to pay. He said that he could spare me 6k, and this was like a dream for me. To sell an item for 6000g, that meant I could buy… A LOT of items!

Ina-bean

A

stressful day of work or school has come to an end. You jump on your computer to find yourself at the

login screen of, perhaps what you might call, a second home. A website where you have made friends that are close enough to call family. A website where you can be yourself while safely hidden behind a carefully planned avatar. A website where it is okay to not act quite your age. Gaia Online. A website full of merri-ment. With the good times, memories are sure to en-sue. I’ve been on Gaia for almost four years now. Lon-ger then some, shorter then others. With that being said - I have several memories that I can share. I could go on about the days of nonexistent cash shops and nonexistent aquariums. About how much of a struggle it was to gain gold. I could inform you that at one time, sealed letters only cost 10,000 gold a pop. However,

this is information I’m sure isn’t new to you. Therefore, I’d much rather share with you my very first day here on Gaia. As cliche as this may sound - I remember it like it was yesterday. I was confused to say the least. I was so unsure of where to post, so I took the most logical step forward. I introduced myself to the users of Gaia via the ‘Welcome to Gaia’ forum. I received several friendly responses, all of which basi-cally expressed the same thing... ”welcome aboard!” Having received so many warm responses - my self esteem was at an all time high which in return made me brave enough to venture into the world of Gaia. After reading descriptions of all the diverse fo-rums, I settled on the Chatterbox. It just seemed fit as I was unsure of what I wanted to say exactly, and the de-scription did state to “post whatever nonsense here”. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. At that time, I was excited over the prospect that I would be getting a new video game. I decided to share my excitement with the chatterbox. I posted a long thread explaining why I was excited for said game and asked if anyone else played it as well. Being a newbie in the chatterbox is bad enough. Being a newbie who just posted a misplaced thread in the chatterbox (as it belonged in the video game dis-cussion thread)? That was even worse! I was attacked. Some really hurtful things were said. I could not com-prehend why, instead of kindly explaining to me what I had done wrong - people felt the need to insult me. My feelings were hurt immensely. I logged off. The next day, I decided to give Gaia the benefit of the doubt and logged back on. I decided this time I would browse the forums more in depth before mak-ing a hasty post. While browsing, I found myself ogling over everyone’s avatar. I remember being absolutely stunned by how “rich” they all looked. I longed for my avatar to look just as brilliant. One girl’s avatar in particular stuck out to me because of an adorable little creature hanging onto her avatar’s leg. After searching shop, after shop, after shop for this item - I finally broke down and private messaged the girl asking what the item was called and where could I possibly get it from? The item was called the Sno Yeti Pillow Plush and she had bought it in the Gaia Exchange. The Gaia Exchange was full of chaos. Fellow Ga-ians were selling things left and right. With squinted eyes, a thread finally popped out at me. “FOR SALE - SNO YETI!” I clicked on the link excited, feeling rather eager. I wanted that Yeti! I made my offer to the seller. All of my gold. All 400 of it....

GAIANSShare their strongest memories from Gaia Online

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GAIAN MEMORIEs

Sno Yeti Pillow Plush’s at this time were going for about 20,000 gold. Far from my offer of 400 gold. The seller of the thread could have been very snide, but he wasn’t. He was very kind, very helpful. He explained to me ev-erything I needed to know about Monthly Collectibles (which at that time were known as Donation Items), gold, common items, and more. He gave me the link to a charity known as a “1k=1g” shop. A lot of you may not know what a 1k=1g shop is. It is a charity in which you stay to chat. The lon-ger you stay to chat the more likely the owner of the thread is to allow you to buy from their shop, which is essentially being donated to, because the items are so cheap. Every 1,000 gold equals 1 gold. If an item is worth 20,000 gold you would only have to pay 20 gold for it. Everyone in the 1k=1g shop was so kind. They made me feel welcome, they gave me pointers. They were my first true ‘Gaian family’. Months passed - and I visited the thread on a daily basis. One day, the own-er of the thread surprised me by choosing me to pur-chase something from the shop. I of course chose the Yeti that I had been longing for far to long. I continued to visit that thread everyday until it eventually closed. While the thread did eventually disappear along with most of the people who chatted in it, the memories did not. Do you know what else? I still have that very same Yeti. Almost four years later and I own my own 1k=1g charity/shop. I would like to think that I help others the way the owner (and members) of the old 1k=1g shop helped me. Gaia Online. The events are fun and memora-ble. The items are stylish. However, in the end - it’s the people you chat with on a daily basis - that you’re go-ing to remember forever.

sir shay

I

joined Gaia in 2003, though I’ve long forgotten the account, at the behest of my then best friend. A

few months later, she was lost in a drunk-driving acci-dent. I left Gaia for a period of time afterward, unwill-ing to face up to memories I couldn’t handle. After a year or two, though, I found myself drawn magnetically back to the site. I rejoined in 2004 as “shelayhill”. I did some account-hopping, before settling down in my Sir Shay account. In 2006 I met this guy, Mega-Boo (now God of Forever), in a guild that I had received a random invite to. He was funny, witty, and charming. After talk-ing regularly over Gaia, IMs, and telephone during the course of a year, we decided to meet in person. (Note:

Please be extremely cautions when meeting a person online for the first time in real-life. I cannot stress this enough.) We met up in Borders Bookstore on a very busy weekend, and I was on the phone with my mother and cousin. Safety first! However, he was exactly who he’d represented himself to be and so we went out and about the town on our first date. Three years later, we have a son together and we plan to be married this October. Gaia has become, for me, a home to which I can always return, filled with friends and memories. In 2009 I decided that I wanted to try to become a mod-erator to help keep the site running smoothly, and was accepted in December 2009. Gaia has, and always will be, a great deal of fun for me.

Bella Stella Nox

I

must say, I have met some incred-ible friends here on Gaia, and one of my best friends through zOMG!

So you’re looking for a story, eh? Pull up a chair kid, ‘cause here it comes! It was a bright and sunny day in the Zen Gar-dens, and I was killing off Taiko Drums with my head start ticket in hand. zOMG had just been released to those with the tickets that allowed early access, and I was on a mission to find a great crew! I was so proud of myself for making it that far... until I heard someone mention “farming”. I was totally lost, running around like a chicken with my head cut off (Such a lovely saying, is it not?). I had no clue what farming was, so I asked to join up with a crew so that they could show me the works. In between spawns we sat and talked, laughed, and joked around. I was having a great day, so when someone in our crew mentioned needing a Diagnose ring, I gifted mine over to him. I got and instant “Thank you!” comment, and we began talking from there only to find that we had a ton of things in common. From that day forward, The_Emperor_of_Darkness and I have been great friends. Whether we’re secretly gig-gling at newbies in zOMG or cheering each other up when things get rough, I know that I have Gaia to thank for one of my greatest friends.

share your own stories!Visit the Gaia Online Magazine Guild and submit your favorite memory. If you’re lucky, it will be fea-tured in the upcoming issue!

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ADVERTIsING PAGE

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Advertise with Gaia Online Magazine!Holding a contest? Requesting art? Need a big-ger audience? Advertise with us, and you’ll have your banner/image featured! All gold received through advertisers goes to contests!

NOTE: We do not accept links leading OUTSIDEof Gaia Online.

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ADVERTIsING PAGE

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Guilds

oTheR

April is cancer awareness month. Show your support by wearing a daffodil bou-quet,orjoinusforcontestsandfun!

The loving every thing guild is place to donate, get donations and hang out.

East Haven : The Pollution [A RP Guild]

This guild isn’t a normal guild, this guild is all about YOU!The Gaian Wedding Chapel Inc

JoinHeartsForGaiansCharitytoday!ManySpecialContest’s/EventsVisitUstoday!!!

Aquest for flowers!Donateall of yourun-wantedflowers!

With more than 350 tanks that will get YOU Rich in no time!

SELLING FROM ALL INVENTORY TABS!!Go here for some very cool items that you can get cheap-er than at the marketplace. You wont be unsatisfied. XD

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Amount of gold spent on art:837 million

- “Avi art to me means more than pixels. I think this because with ava-tar art you can actually create the avi that artists would then bring to life. Not only that but if you ever left gaia, or if gaia ever closed, you’d still have that piece of art. pixels are pixels but art is something real.”

ll son zack ll

This particular image means a lot to me because it took me SO long to commission the artist. The avatar of mine in this is one of my favorites because I took a lot of time creating this in tektek/my mind. I really wanted him to be an OC and you’ll see he’s one of my favorite as you see the other pieces.

AVI-ART SPECIALThere aren’t many souls out there who’s not in love with having their pixel avatars drawn into life by others. In this months issue, you’ll be able to read about artists & art-whores as they confess their love for art. We also went to the Gaia Art-Convention, a user-run online con-vention filled with lovely Gaia Artists & neat freebies.so keep on reading, and you’ll run across two users as they feature their absolute favorite avi-arts!

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

This is one my all time favorites. I LOVE the coloring that she imple-mented in this piece of work *A* She really captured my character.

Make sure to visit out sponsorsll son zack ll is our GOM’s main sponsor. It’s thanks to him we’re able to throw the contests in the magazines! Zack runs the Dreams To Come True Charity™. A perfect place for those in need of a little extra gold. Make sure to pay it a visit, and don’t miss out on their Easter Event!

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

Gaia Online Magazine GuildWant to share your own avi art with the world? Visit the Guild, and there’s a chance we’ll feature yours!

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

I created this avi because it was something I was trying to create in real life; it was meant to be an OC but turned into an avi and this is why you’ll see so much art of it. I wanted to create a story of an Angel who had lost his powers and was sent to earth. It’s pretty long but that’s the basic idea.

This is known as Classic Zack. It was one of the first avatars I ever wore. I wanted to try and use the Djs, DT and Horns together and I came up with that <3

Haha, this was me being silly but it soon turned into a favorite by artists. <3 So I kept it and wore it quite often.

This was sort of Zack 2.0. I wanted a new look but this time using the long version of the horns, and portable headphones instead of DJ Headphones.

AVATAR 4

AVATAR 3

AVATAR 2

AVATAR 1

And that’s all I had to offer. Hope you enjoyed it! If you’d like to view even more of my images, visit my Art Request thread.

//Zack

This here is one of my favorites c; This particular avi was known around as “classic/Original Zack”

WarningThe two following pages might contain images inappropriate for work environments. If you’re not that found of explicit images, we strongly recommend you skip the following two pages.

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

Spontaneous OrgiesAmount of gold spent on art:8 million

- “Avi art means a lot to me in that I owe a lot of the awesome times I’ve had on Gaia and with the community to it. It basically got me into my group of friends and where I hang around. As for the art itself, I’m not really sure how to describe the feeling, but it just gets to me. It’s like the feeling of satisfaction that you get by knowing you were part of something great, even if it was just a minor part.”

My first RL commission. Felt like a huuuge jump in gradu-ating from cyber gold to the real stuff. And from the looks of this piece, you can bet I never regretted it.

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

I lost my account somewhere in the first half of 2009, it was hard. I wasn’t intent on taking donations, but I ended up having a bunch of Fallen Wishes donated to me by some of my great friends. They were basically all I had, so I just threw ‘em all on and that was basically the base of it all. As time passed and new items came out, I just kept adding small things here and there that looked nice since I could never really find an actual “outfit” for, well, the body. Not to men-tion I’m not the greatest avatar designer. My avatar is pretty much my whole inventory.

THE AVATAR

And that would be all. And if you’d like to draw my avatar, make sure to pay my Art Request thread a visit and draw me together with my friends!

Another RL commission. I love love love looove curvy, voluptuous bodies, and this might just be the best representation I’ve had done yet.

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

theMejiCreator of Gaia Online Magazine

The Gaia Art-Convention, also called GA-Con, is a virtual online-conven-tion that took place during the week-end between 12th - 14th of March, and featured 22 different artists. I, myself, was there to take place of this

newly created event. So just keep on reading, and you’ll be able to read about interviews, the history behind the convention, among with my own thoughts about it.

I’ve always been found of conventions. But this was the first time I ever attended to an online-con. To be frank, I’d never heard of such a thing before I came across this. As soon as the banner popped up on my screen, it hooked my attention in an instant.

- “What’s this!? An Art-Convention? Filled with Ga-ians? This can’t be...?” those were the first thoughts that passed my mind. Having my eyes almost being glued to my computer screen, I kept on reading about this so called GA-Con, hungry for information. And as soon as I had read through the first pages of the advertisement thread, it didn’t take long before I bought myself an entry ticket for the con. Tickets were only 20k, and I thought that was quite a nice price for a weekend filled with epic. One can make that sum of gold by Booty-Grabbing for, like, 10 min-utes these days. It’s insane.

The wait for the convention was killing me. But then finaly the day of opening arrived, and I dashed into the Guild in an instant. Claiming the first post in almost every artists thread, I eagerly waited for their reply. As time went by, more and more of the users started to gather. Having only about 30 users attending to this new con, it took quite a while before they all had gathered. 30 might not sound like a lot, but imagine all those 30 being active at the same

time, at the same place. It does become quite crowded, indeed.

While stalking a few of the artists via Livestream Podcaster (a website that lets other users see what your monitor shows, live.), I suddenly took notice of one of the artist drawing something that recalled my Gaia Avatar. Heck, that WAS my Gaia avatar! They were drawing me a freebie, and I were sitting on the other side of the world, watching how they drew it for me, live. It was a feeling I had not discovered before, made me feel a little warm and fuzzy. :3

In the end, I managed to catch quite a few freebies from some artists, make tons of new friends, and had a real good time in general. Having this be the first GA-Con ever hosted, the users throwing this whole thing together did a real good job. As the convention ended, lots of people left feedback among with new ideas for future cons. So the odds of having the next GA-Con be even more successful than this one are quite high, if you ask me. Can’t wait until next time. Hope to see you there, fellow readers.

On the two following pages, you’ll be able to read a few interviews that I held with members and visitors of the convention. So keep on reading, as you always do. <3

Freebie received by buttdialed

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

Interview with jMoofCreator of GA-Con

What’s the plot behind this convention?Many good artists out there are overlooked between the sea of art shops, and people looking for something different than the regular anime art sometimeshave a real trouble finding them. GA-Con is a way to introduce good artists to poten-tial buyers in a way they can interact with them, ask them more about their source of inspiration, and get to know them. This benefits the art-ists and buyers in a way that art arena or arts hops can’t. Artists get recognition and buyers get quality art and some freebies, while chatting and participating in events.Its a win-win situation.

How did you find all the artists?I posted a thread in the Pricing, assistance and suggestions forum asking how would a convention-like event work out in gaia. After Bluebythe, Meurk and Jymei seemed very excited with the idea, we decided to go for it and see how many artists we could get apart from us. We got a few the first days, but then Meurk affiliated with a series of artshops, art auctions and forums, and we got most of the artists we have now.We did have to turn down a few, though. We wanted to stay away from the regular anime art (and chibis) you will easily find in the artshops.

Did you come up with the GA-Con idea yourself?I remember the idea came to me when I was looking into the artists corner in Gaia Online. I was turned down when I saw that it was just a gallery of the arts of the gaia staff, with no option of contacting them to get some feedback. This bummed me out since the feedback is what helps most artists grow.After that, I was trying to get some art for my OC’s, and found myself looking at pages and pages of overpriced chibis, when I wanted something different. I also tried the Art arena but it had the same communication problem, and most of the spotlight art was anime-styled.

So I came up with the idea to do an event in which the gaia artists could show-off their works and give critiques and tips, as well as offer art, and pro-posed it at the pricing, assistance and suggestions forum. As I said, Bluebythe, Meurk and Jymei loved the idea and helped me turn it into a guild based event. Other people helped in the making, like Degree-sama and BTS -BeyondThe-Stars- (that’s her mule though) who provided awesome graphics like the ani-mated banner.

If this GA-Con will turn out to be popular, will you be hosting a new one later?We are already planning the next GA-Con. Artists have pmed us to be consid-ered and Degree-sama already offered himself to help. So to those fellow gaians who wished they were here, don’t worry! This is the first of many to come!

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

Interview with HaikariGA-Con visitor

What’s the best thing about buying art? For me, the best part of buying art is seeing my characters come alive through each artists unique styles. Over the years that I have been commissioning artists, both on Gaia and through alternative means, I have seen them depicted in various different ways and it’s always exciting to see each indi-vidual artists take on my characters.

Tell us a little about your “Original Characters”.I… have a lot of OCs, so for the sake saving you the headache of having to listen through a long speech about each and every one of them, I’ll stick to the three that I get commissions of most often.The most common character I get commissions of is my Freya. It’s hard explaining her without going into all the nitty gritty details, but in essence she is a shape shifting animal spirit who has the mindset of a ten year old girl. Her colorful color scheme and interesting personality make her a very amus-ing draw, at least that’s what I have been told by the artists I have gotten commissions of her from. I actually recently received a commission by GA-Con’s artist Koru-neko. Here are a few of the pieces I have of her:

The second character who I seem to get a lot of commissions of is my Esune. All of his information, as well as all the pieces I have commissioned of him, can be found here.

The most recent of characters that I have been getting commissions of is Lucious, who is a B/C I re-ceived a few months ago from a shop by the name of Pokeboys. He is the stereotypical evil super villain with a mix of occult seasonings. In most cases, I like to get my commissions with him in the middle of insane moments or bouts of hysterical evil laughter. I unfortunately can’t tell you who did the pieces… I forgot the username of the artists. xD;

Who is your absolute favorite artist here on Gaia?Kyoupiruchi (Miaow on deviantART), though they don’t run a shop in the art requests forum but instead one in the B/C.

So far, what do you think of the Gaia Art-Convention?I think that it still needs a bit of work honestly, but aside from the basic kinks that come from any events first year, nothing is really overly noticeable. I have a feeling that it’s going to become a more and more interesting event as years go on. The artists at the current event are all lovely people, and I feel privileged that I managed to attend this event. <3

Art by Meago Art by porkbun

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AVI-ART sPECIAL

Artist of the Month ruiski

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.ho are you? Tell us a little about yourself.I’m Rui, also known as Ruru, and I’m 16, currently in junior year of high school.

For how long have you been drawing?I’ve seriously been drawing for around 2 years. It doesn’t seem like a lot but I draw around 2-3 hours a day, every day.

What programs are you using when drawing?I use Easy Paint Tool SAI. I’ve tried Photoshop, but have never gotten used to it.

What’s the best part with drawing avi-art for people?It helps you have a subject to practice on, and makes people happy. And when I see people happy it makes me happy too. <33

Approximately how long does it take for you to finish one piece of art?For a large piece of art - up to 6-7 hours. For sketches may-be around an hour. It really depends on how much I feel into drawing.

Do you have any artists here on Gaia that you adore?Yes. Heck YES! I have a ton!Prodigy Bombay, Tooaya and salice is an Idiot are like gods of art, yes? And so is the Zookeepers Boy and Zephuu and einthewonderdog. And really awesome chibi artists include the Tooth, Moorina and Teulsoon and much more, that I can’t really think off the top of my head right now. Haha. <33 I could go on and on and on.

Do you have any tips & tricks you’d like to share with the readers? How to become a better artist, perhaps?Seriously, to become a good artist, not a lot of talent is need-ed. I reeeeally sucked before I started seriously drawing. All it is, is practice. It really helps if you look into really good artist’s artwork, and tutorials + walkthroughs to see how they color, and how they lineart.

Thank you so much for the interview! Any last words for the readers?Ah no problem. <3Um, thank you for having me. ^.^

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TUTORIAL

Who hasn’t been there, you’re stuck with all these items, yet nothing is working. Or worse, you have few items and no more money! How will you ever get that good looking avatar that doesn’t scream newb? Just take a deep breath, it isn’t as com-plicated as people make it out to be.

Step 1 - An IdeaThe first thing you want to do when making a new avatar, is your theme. Themes can be from characters, colors, ani-mals, or centered around one item. Still don’t get the idea? Don’t worry. Here follows a few different examples to help you out. In this tutorial, we’re going to focus on the “Colors” theme.

Step 2 - Mingling With ItemsAfter you’ve picked your theme, you can get to work on what items you need, want, and have to work with.The easiest way to do this? I’d say Inventory TekTek; www.tektek.org was created in the summer of 2004 by Tekton to provide tools for users of Gaia Online, and the site has been growing in popularity ever since. At TekTek, you can dress up your “Dream Avatar”, and get the prices for each sepa-rate item immediately. However, Inventory TekTek is much more special than the original “Dream Avatar” creator. In this application, TekTek will copy your whole Gaia Online in-ventory, letting you easily scan through it, finding a suitable item in your inventory. Instead of wondering around your inventory tabs (Head, Top, Bottom, etc), you can easily sort all of your items through colors, evolving items, weapons, and many, many other options.

So, how does one use the Inventory TekTek? It’s simple!

Just follow the instructions shown on their website, and you’ll do just fine (Note: Internet Explorer users, click “View” - “Source” to get a hold of the inventory source).

TUTORIALHow to Dress Up yoUr AvAtAr properly

Character Colors Animal Item

Lord i-dc & theMejiGOM’s Avatar Specialists

Got a Tutorial up your sleeve?Want to share your knowledge with fellow Gaians? What would you like to learn next? Visit our Tutorial page and share your ideas!

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TUTORIAL

Step 3 - Let’s Talk About ColorsNow that you know how to use the Inventory Tektek, let’s try making a color-based avatar that “match”. As a lot of you readers surely are aware of, there are a few colors that just doesn’t mix that well together. So let me quickly teach you about which colors you should use when making a color-based avatar.Think back to the color wheel you learned in preschool. First, we have the Primary colors; red, yellow & blue. With those three colors, you can make any other color in the rainbow. Secondary colors, such as, green, orange & purple, are the “babies” of the primary colors. You get these if you mix one of the primary colors with its neighbor. Tertiary colors are colors made from mixing primary & secondary colors together. Blue-green, yellow-green, and so on. Most color-theme avatars are made withComplementary colours, a set of two colors facing each other directly opposite the color wheel. Such as:

But this doesn’t mean you have to use these colors. You can stick with any color you’d like, really. But you should keep this valuable information in mind, in case nothing works out.

Step 4 - Crate The BaseNow that you are aware of the basics, let us start making a matching avatar! Open up your Inventory TekTek page once again, and we’ll start right away!Let’s start out with giving your character the proper “base”. Surely, there are some items you always want to include when making your avatar, correct? I, for example, can’t live without the Scar of Hero. So I really need to include it in every single avatar I make. I really recommend adding items that means a lot to you in the beginning, so you’ll be able to make them look good with the rest of the avatar (it sucks when you make a neat avatar, then forget about that special item. And as soon as you put it in there, the whole layout of that new avatar falls).Once your base is finished, pick yourself a base color. Since my avatars eyes are blue, I decided to go with that color. So, what you do now is simply to add a few items with the de-cided color. Feel free to add a few black/white items in there as well, to give it a little more contrast.

Red - Green Yellow - Purple Blue - Orange

TUTORIALHow to Dress Up yoUr AvAtAr properly

step 1 step 2

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TUTORIAL

Step 5 - Needs More ColorsNice! You’ve gotten the hang of it! Now, let’s try to add in a 2nd color into your avatar. I am very found of the combina-tion of blue & yellow, so I will stick with yellow as my 2nd color. Continue to add items to your avatar with the decided color, but make sure the new color doesn’t overwhelm the 1st one. Once you feel done, it’s time for to add in the fi-nal details. Go through your whole inventory and scan for other items that might fit well with the avatars current look. If you’d like to add in a 3rd color for your avatar, you do it in this step. Keep in mind that this 3rd color should not surpass the 2nd.

If you’ve followed these steps thoroughly, you should have fully managed to make yourself a good matching ava-tar! Congratulations! ^^

Step 6 - FeedbackAfter you’ve made your avatar, you might want to ask for feedback on it. A good way to do this is ei-ther to ask your friends, or the folks in the Avatar Talk forum. They can sometimes suggest ways to make it better. Feedback is great for picking up tips and ideas for future avatars. You don’t always HAVE to listen to them, though, maybe you’re fine with what you have, but generally it doesn’t hurt to lis-ten to other peoples advises every now and then.

step 3

Avatars made by: Shattered Spectrum Avatars made by: Le Ronnie

step 4

Get inspired by other users

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YoruKurosawa

CL - 10.0

[Makata]

CL - 10.0

1 I’ve been playing zOMG! since before it came out (I’m one of the zETA testers). I don’t play it much

anymore because I’ve completed all of the quests, and defeated EB four times, but I used to play it for around 4 hours a day, when I could.

2 My favorite part of zOMG! is probably the fight with EB. The music is awesome, plus I enjoy the amount

of teamwork that it (should) take to win.

3 I love Zen Gardens. I love Japanese culture, and Zen Gardens just screams it with the cherry blossoms,

kokeshi dolls, taiko drums, and the shrine and shrine maiden!

4 I like EB and Stone Coatl. EB has great fight music and requires teamwork. The fight music for Stone

Coatl, though, is just plain awesome.

1 I started as a first-wave beta tester (a zETA) and have been playing on-and-off ever since...except

for the recent zOMG!-block by my campus’ wireless in-ternet. All the same, my typical time spent online was usually 1-3 hours at a time, with my first few open-beta sessions clocking in at over 5 hours.

2 My favorite part of zOMG! is the ring system and how it essentially lets you change your “class” on

the fly to fit your current objective. I’ve always been that guy who had massive amounts of low-leveled characters since no one class could hold my attention for any longer than a month, so being able to shake-up my playing style is an important aspect of zOMG! to me.

3 I always seem to find myself going back time and time again to the Village Greens. It has a high player

concentration and it’s fun to go back to my roots and experience the game from a fresh “newbie” perspective.

4 My favorite boss thus far is the OMGWTF, since his lair loosely mimics your typical “dungeon crawl”

rather than just “poofing” into an instanced arena.

The zOMG section is finally here! In here you can read about tips, tricks, clans, funny zOMG facts & images, and much, much more. For starters, we’ve interviewed a few zOMG players, asking them a few questions:

• #1 How long have you been playing zOMG and how long on average do you play per day?• #2 What is your favorite part of zOMG?• #3 What is your favorite world and why?• #4 Which of all the bosses is your favorite, and why?

zOMG tip of the monthsent in by: Waldo McFish

Hello Fellow zOMG!-ers,

Looking for something to do? Bored out of your mind? Earn easy gold and a few orbs by going into the Sewers! Kill Peelungers and Gramsters and turn all of the pipes to get around 200 gg and 5 orbs! And it’s not a once-a-day thing, do it as many times as you want! Just exit and re-enter for another reward!

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zOMG!

Gaia Online did not invent the OMGIt came to our attention that the all famil-iar OMG monster was not made by Gaia Online, but by Zelobando. The idea of the OMG was given to Gaia through their “Go-ing Postal” section, where users submit real drawings to Gaias postbox. The image was submitted somewhere around 2006.

What Gaia Online said about the image:

“This great pen drawing from Zelobando shows a startled living OMG hat being sworn at by a mouse. No, I can’t explain it, but great art is often enigmatic.”

Thanks to bloodysword4 for telling us this.

Sent in by: Nymph of Spring

Massive zOMG gold lag. Oh, how we wish it always looked like this!

Share your zOMG experiences!Visit the Gaia Online Magazine Guild and share your zOMG related images, stories, tips and tricks!

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PLAYGROUND

Find 5 diFFeRenCes

Gaia CRossWoRds

Having a hard time spotting them all? Answers can be found on the next page.

Can you reveal the hidden words? (Note: Make sure you don’t write ON your screen)

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PLAYGROUND

5 Differences Answers: Rufus’ head, Vanessa’s bust, Liam’s Hair, a missing stone, Zhivago’s cheek

Play Unicorn Attack and become as crazy as reapersun!

share your funny images!Visit the Gaia Online Magazine Guild and submit your favorite Gaia related images! They might get featured!

This image is about 10 years old now. It’s from back when the staff behind Gaia Online called themselves “Studio xD”. In this image, you can see VO, Lanzer, CP & L0cke.

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CONTESTWin a Hermes’ Moon

Question 1How many times does the sprite appear in this issue of Gaia Online Magazine? (excluding this one)

A) 5 times

B) 6 times

C) 7 times

Question 2The person who made Hermes’ Moon also made another Evolving Item. Which?

A) Fremere’s Guard

B) Fausto’s Bottle

C) Fallen Wish

Question 3Hermes’ Moon silver-looking Twin, Mercury’s Moon, was released from a Chance Item. Which one?

A) FAMESTAR 2000

B) Fortune Egg

C) Lonely Star

Question 4Why should you win the Hermes’ Moon? Write down a few sentences telling why just you should win the item (maximum limit is 60 words).

The Winner of the contest will be announced in Gaia Online Magazine Issue 3.

Follow the instructions, answer all the questions, and you’ll have a chance of winning a Hermes’ Moon

(worth around 400k)

Feeling lucky? Answer all of the questions shown bellow, and you could win a Hermes’ Moon 11th gen! Simply answer the 4 questions seen bellow, and send the correct answers in a PM to our mule, GaOnMa. Label the PM “CONTEST” before sendng it.

theMejiCreator of Gaia Online Magazine

EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE PM SHOULD LOOK LIKEEXAMPLE OF WHAT THE PM SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Help Gaia Online Magazine!Have any ideas for future contest we should arrange? Have a large sum of gold you’re willing to do-nate? In that case, click the link shown above!

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CONTEsT

By: theChuu

April 24thNext issue comes out

Until then, make sure you help out in the guilds HELPERS PLACE sub forum to make the next issue even better!