The unofficial I MISS GAIA thread

[galaxystar]

i'm sleepy it's 5.02am. i can't sleep. sorry if this is lame. probably will delete this later. my social anxiety can't deal with this lmao.

I really do.

I feel like it's long forgotten.

Gaia was great for a few reasons.
The forums were just so much more fun.
creative & active.
The monthly purchases were just better.

But most of all?
The graphics/art community.

I feel Neopets really lost out on this demographic & it would have kept the site alive for longer. a big draw card for neopets back in the day was the fact you could code + design a lookup, guild, shop, pet page, et site etc. etc. HUGE draw card.

Gaia capitalised on this.. And did it better.


I loved it for the art threads, specifically. Such as art commissions for gold/items & userlookups & graphics. I always wished neopets would allow for such things because that would create another market. A niche market for nerds lol. but no it was illegal to trade like so on neopets. BIG MISTAkE. HUGE.
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Creating art for pets with their customs.
Getting items/NC/NP in return etc. I don't know.

-sigh- it was great. Better than neopets at one point. At some point i feel it almost overtook neo. then somehow gaia went to crap. what the hell happened?!

i heard inflation yada yada. really thought something new would come along but it seems not :c



Just lurking Gaia now holy their avatars really improved with time. How adorable & creative. Still art auctions going on but couldn't see anyone selling graphics for coding/profile designs etc.
Some gorgeous highlights include this persons thread. - How gorgeous are the floral headers? :D

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[Ice]

galaxystar *gives you a hug* I totally understand and I am with you there! Back in maybe like 2007-2010 I was extremely active on Gaia and it really was the place to be. I agree with you so much about the art and creativity - the B&C subforum was like the coolest fucking thing ever to me, because each shop was basically like a little mini Neopets where people created their own gorgeous species and you could roleplay and customize them and there were always events going on. Each different shop/guild felt like "home" and I had some really good friendships and times during those days, even though I was young and stupid and inevitably got my account broken into for having a guessable password and having the few donation items I owned (that I BEGGGGGED on my hands and knees for my mom to buy for me) stolen which was the big reason why I stopped playing. It is really heartbreaking to those who spent literally their formative years as part of a community like that to see it waste away into the shell it currently is. :( Actually not long ago (ok now it's been over a year) I tried to do some account recovery and filed a ticket and well, they ACTUALLY got back to me over a year later and it wasn't even a resolution to my initial ticket, so now I'm waiting again in perpetuity to see if they'll respond before another year rolls by. :p

also I was never actually a horse girl but s/o to Soquili (Soquilli?) for doing it harder and better than literally anyone else out there. also the artist for Raevans (I think they were called, something like that) was the ultimate goals when I was younger. I hope you people are in a good place now.

[Serebii]

Gaia was one of my biggest online obsessions growing up, just like Neopets. They both filled different niches of course, and looking back I'm not really sure which of the two I preferred more. Then again nostalgia is a hell of a thing so I don't think I'd have it in me to pick a favorite anyway.

But! Halloween on Gaia was the absolute best time of year. Visiting the shops to do trick or treating, posting (more like spamming, really) all over the event forum for event credit towards whatever silly thing was happening that year, getting really cool themed items. It was so insane and fun. My favorite year was the one some "virus" was going around infecting random people on the forums and you could bite people to spread the infection or try to cure people instead.

[Lyrichord]

There was a point where I spent way more of everything on Gaia. Time, $, . It's where I learned how to make customizations and use lots of items to fill in a scene artistically. Those duo and trio chromatic outifts were goals, and I loved making my own. What was that Gaia version of DTI?

Sadly that point was short-lived, but I'm still blown away that I did have a few art commissions back in the day. I don't think the Neopets team felt then and especially feels now like it has the structure for dealing with all the interpersonal payments, site security, preventing scams and bad actors, and everything else that opens up with the world of commissions. They could take a page from cK in that regard!

[Ice]

There was a point where I spent way more of everything on Gaia. Time, $, . It's where I learned how to make customizations and use lots of items to fill in a scene artistically. Those duo and trio chromatic outifts were goals, and I loved making my own. What was that Gaia version of DTI?

Sadly that point was short-lived, but I'm still blown away that I did have a few art commissions back in the day. I don't think the Neopets team felt then and especially feels now like it has the structure for dealing with all the interpersonal payments, site security, preventing scams and bad actors, and everything else that opens up with the world of commissions. They could take a page from cK in that regard!

TekTek!!! God I could spend hours on there making avatars when I was younger. It sadly got taken down I think due to Gaia filing a copyright claim against it for using its assets... I'm fairly certain on site now there is an avatar creator where you can search through all existing items but the last time I tried to use it, it was extremely difficult just to find anything because tiny interface and how tf can anyone remember the names of all the fucking items + I think there were difficulties with searching for different forms of items/duplicates showing up etc. RIP TekTek you were the goat

[Lyrichord]

TekTek!!! God I could spend hours on there making avatars when I was younger. It sadly got taken down I think due to Gaia filing a copyright claim against it for using its assets... I'm fairly certain on site now there is an avatar creator where you can search through all existing items but the last time I tried to use it, it was extremely difficult just to find anything because tiny interface and how tf can anyone remember the names of all the fucking items + I think there were difficulties with searching for different forms of items/duplicates showing up etc. RIP TekTek you were the goat

THANK YOU yes that was it. A similar but unrelated RIP to avatar.starried.net. The closet tool on Gaia did improve with time, but with so many items to search through it was difficult to deal, as you mentioned, with that tiny box.

I wonder ... What if Tektek going out was the beginning of the end for Gaia? I get copyright necessities, 100%, but if they'd agreed to merge or have it be a supported fansite like JN is to Neo, maybe things would have stayed better for longer at least. IDK.

[Serebii]

I wonder ... What if Tektek going out was the beginning of the end for Gaia? I get copyright necessities, 100%, but if they'd agreed to merge or have it be a supported fansite like JN is to Neo, maybe things would have stayed better for longer at least. IDK.

That combined with the massive inflation caused by the gold/platinum you could guy in the cash shop via those tickets are what did it for the most part I think. People couldn't look up interesting items anymore without relying on the marketplace previews, or even find alternate items as easily (at least if they didn't know where to look in the forums for lists of similar items.) I know I lost a lot of interest in the site when it felt like unless you were dumping a few hundred dollars a month into it you wouldn't be able to get anything you wanted.

[galaxystar]

galaxystar *gives you a hug* I totally understand and I am with you there! Back in maybe like 2007-2010 I was extremely active on Gaia and it really was the place to be. I agree with you so much about the art and creativity - the B&C subforum was like the coolest fucking thing ever to me, because each shop was basically like a little mini Neopets where people created their own gorgeous species and you could roleplay and customize them and there were always events going on. Each different shop/guild felt like "home" and I had some really good friendships and times during those days, even though I was young and stupid and inevitably got my account broken into for having a guessable password and having the few donation items I owned (that I BEGGGGGED on my hands and knees for my mom to buy for me) stolen which was the big reason why I stopped playing. It is really heartbreaking to those who spent literally their formative years as part of a community like that to see it waste away into the shell it currently is. :( Actually not long ago (ok now it's been over a year) I tried to do some account recovery and filed a ticket and well, they ACTUALLY got back to me over a year later and it wasn't even a resolution to my initial ticket, so now I'm waiting again in perpetuity to see if they'll respond before another year rolls by. :p

also I was never actually a horse girl but s/o to Soquili (Soquilli?) for doing it harder and better than literally anyone else out there. also the artist for Raevans (I think they were called, something like that) was the ultimate goals when I was younger. I hope you people are in a good place now.


Hehe thank you so much *hugs back* ^_^ I love reading your thoughts. loved the roleplaying community, so much of it has been lost :'( Did everyone just grow up & leave? Where did everyone go? hehe Raevans that takes me back omg.

[Ice]

Hehe thank you so much *hugs back* ^_^ I love reading your thoughts. loved the roleplaying community, so much of it has been lost :'( Did everyone just grow up & leave? Where did everyone go? hehe Raevans that takes me back omg.

Honestly I think so :( a huge part of Gaia's downfall was when their economy collapsed due to the gold botting and the fact that I think you could just straight buy millions of gold with cash. I mean the very fact that they had to introduce a new currency to offset this is crazy in and of itself, but I feel like once that stuff went to shit the community really did just move elsewhere. u_u

I actually got into my favorite b/c shop at the time because the artist's personal one was colored after Neopets Faerie Kougra and my pupils expanded so hard lol! I was obsessed with her art back in the day man going through her DA again is a trip.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

It looks like she did just draw her personal Faerie Kougra Neopet xD

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

And she made a Maraquan Kougra for her co-owner

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[Kaguya]

Any chance anyone is still playing gaia? I didn't realize there was a dedicated section for it!

I love competing in runway although I usually have a Mercy (overwatch) cosplay that I use. I'm a HUUUUGE Mercy fan.. love her to death!

If anyone is still playin message me your name and I'll add ya! (not in this thread, wouldn't want ya to dox yourself accidentally)