Summer 2k7: Summer Festival



The Summer Festival of 2007 started August 27 and ran through until September 7. It was a last bash to bring the summer to a close before a bizarre blizzard that was forecast in a few short weeks.

Build-Up
On August 20, Johnny K. Gambino made an announcement telling Gaia of the impending festival, and how it would be the biggest virtual water balloon fight of all time. Water balloons were being given away in Daily Chance and to anyone inviting friends.

Four days later, Cindy Donovinh and Gaia 9 Action News reported of the towns' scramble to recruit water-war soldiers. Gaians were introduced to the four teams, each representing one of Gaia's towns, they would be given to option to join on the day of the Festival. Each town had created its own huge, water-slinging superweapon.

[[Image:Barton flag mini.gif]]Barton Town[[Image:Barton flag mini.gif]]
Leon promoted Barton Town's team.

All Hail Barton, the Heart of Gaia!

''Hello, citizens! Most of you know Barton as Gaia's cleanest, friendliest and most hospitable city. In fact, most of you are probably citizens of Barton, enjoying its lovely Towns neighborhoods and building your homes on its quaint, cobbled streets.''

''I love Barton, friends. I devote my life to protecting it, and I take great pleasure in greeting its fine citizens as they enter Towns. When I heard of the upcoming water balloon fight, I knew that the easygoing citizens of my fair city would make amusing targets for those Durem punks and rich Gambinoans.''

''Let them attack, I say! I've set about building the world's largest squirt gun, and its awe-inspiring nozzle shall unleash fearsome torrents of doom on all those who oppose us! Join with me, citizens, and we will defeat all those foolish enough to mess with Barton!''

[[Image:Durem flag mini.gif]]Durem[[Image:Durem flag mini.gif]]
Moira promoted Durem's team.

Durem: Be There or Be Square.

''So, how 'bout it, kids? You wanna join those Barton Town nerds with their kitties and sunshine and flowers? You want to hang out in Aekea with a bunch of rusty robots? Or are you ready to roll with the cool crowd?''

''Yeah, I thought so. I mean, think about who lives here: Devin and Natasha from Skin Tyte, who basically own the concept of coolness; Vanessa at the Salon, who has all the boys drooling and all the girls jealous ('cept me); and Edmund, Gaia's most sophisticated dude. This is a high-quality crowd, people.''

''Of course, that's not the only reason to join our team. We're also gonna win. Edmund's been pretty busy these days, but we managed to talk him into drawing up some blueprints for the ultimate water war superweapon: the Durem Megabow, which will unleash all kinds of watery horror on anyone who so much as blinks at us. Join Durem!''

[[Image:Isle de Gambino flag mini.gif]]Isle de Gambino[[Image:Isle de Gambino flag mini.gif]]
Sasha promoted Isle de Gambino's team.

Live the Good Life on the Isle de Gambino.

''So, like, a water fight? Please. We live on an island. We're surrounded by water all day long. You think a little bit of water is gonna bother us now? We practically eat water for breakfast. Or something.''

''Johnny Gambino didn't decide to live here just 'cause he likes sand, or whatever. He built his mansion here because it's the best place around: we've got fun and games at Gold Mountain, cool shops, nice beaches, and all that stuff. We like to live the fabulous life, and we're not gonna let a bunch of dorks from other towns come in and try to mess with our luxury.''

''That's why we built the Waterpult. This thing can hurl a five-ton ice cube at anybody who tries to cramp our style. You'd better think twice about joining one of those other towns, because we're gonna destroy them so hard it's not even funny.''

[[Image:Aekea flag mini.gif]]Aekea[[Image:Aekea flag mini.gif]]
Liam promoted Aekea's team.

Join Aekea or Be Crushed!

''Yo, Liam here! I'm gonna let you in on some important info, so listen up: I never lose. Yeah, that's right. I may look like a pretty handsome, stunning, attractive guy, but I've got a wicked mean streak, and I'm willing to back up my claim with force.''

''When I heard about this water fight, I was like, "no sweat." I figured I'd just build a big huge freakin' amazing robot that could throw water balloons hard enough to put a dent in a mountainside. And so I did. Sure, I had to put a few mortgages on the store to afford it, but no amount of Gold is too much to ensure my victory.''

''Meet DELUGEAU. He's the guy that's gonna kick your sorry butt unless you join my team. Does he look like the kind of guy you'd want to mess with? No? Then join Team Aekea!''

Gaian Reaction
The Gaia Community Discussion especially exploded with excitement following these announcements. There was a thread made for each town's team, where team members would discuss how great their town of choice was and what their battle plans would be. Guilds sprang up as well, and Gaians prepared as best they could for what they thought the event would be like. Most imagined it was a Gaia Towns event, with real-time balloon-throwing action. Team members tried to infiltrate other teams to discover their plans. Different squads were set up within the teams with hopes of a strategic action game.

Although Gaians were somewhat segregated, many would say it helped pull the community together and reignite the role-playing spirit of Gaia.

Forum Water War
On August 27, the event page and forums were opened to the public. Gaians finally got the option to officially be a part of their chosen team, and each team had its own subforum in the main event forum. Water balloons were able to be bought from The Ole Fishing Hole.

Gameplay
Inside the team forum was the only place where team members could pump water with each other to power up their superweapon to fire at another team, earning their own team major points unaffected by team size. To pump water, team members were required to enter their team forum and find another teammate. Underneath their avatar would be which would be pressed to pump water. Alternatively, players could go in any forum and find someone not of their team, who would have a Throw Balloon button [image needed]. Clicking this would throw a balloon at the enemy, and would earn points towards the thrower's Drench-O-Meter. The balloons thrown in the forums were unlimited, and not the same ones given out by Daily Chance or bought from the store.

Scoring
Pumping water would earn 10 raw points, throwing a water balloon would earn 5 raw points, and getting hit by a water balloon would earn 1 raw point. These raw points would then be divided by how many active members were in the team to give the adjusted score. The more active members in a team, the more the water pressure in the town would drop, and so more pumps would be required to launch the superweapon. Each launch would gain 30 points towards the team's adjusted score.

Gaia Towns
Towns did have some action in it like Gaians speculated, but the water balloon items that could be thrown around did not count towards the player's team score in any way; it was just for fun. Pools also replaced the traditional fountains, and a vending stand beside them would sell squirt guns to spray other Gaians with. The guns were emoticons, however, and not real items. There were more summery emoticons added to the regular selection, which included a 'pee' emoticon that only worked in the pools. It soon became a favourite.

Results
The results were announced by Cindy Donovinh on September 5, the end of the water fight but not the whole festival.


 * ''Under the ultra-hip leadership of Moira, team Durem won the water war with a commanding lead. Durem wasn't the only team who fought fiercely, though: second-place winner Aekea gave Durem a real run for its money, nearly overpowering them with their great strategy. Though Barton may seem like a quaint little town, their fightin' spirit put them ahead of the much more populous Isle de Gambino.

The final scores were:


 * Durem: 945 points
 * Aekea: 863 points
 * Barton: 764 points
 * Isle de Gambino: 712 points

Event Items
Through hitting other players with balloons in the forum war and filling up their Drench-O-Meter, Gaians would receive prizes. These included gold and the following items (only one shirt per member, depending on which team they were in):
 * [[Image:Barton Water Festival Shirt.png]] Barton Water Festival Shirt: You're a proud member of the Summer Festival 2007 Barton Team!
 * [[Image:Durem Water Festival Shirt.png]] Durem Water Festival Shirt: You're a proud member of the Summer Festival 2007 Durem Team!
 * [[Image:Gambino Water Festival Shirt.png]] Gambino Water Festival Shirt: You're a proud member of the Summer Festival 2007 Gambino Team!
 * [[Image:Aekea Water Festival Shirt.png]] Aekea Water Festival Shirt: You're a proud member of the Summer Festival 2007 Aekea Team!
 * [[Image:Water Splash.png]] Water Splash: In yo face!!!
 * [[Image:Squirt Gun.png]] Squirt Gun

All team members later received trophies.


 * [[Image:Gold Water Balloon Trophy.png]] Gold Water Balloon Trophy: This golden trophy is engraved with the name "Team Durem", winners of the 2007 Summer Festival water balloon battle.
 * [[Image:Silver Water Balloon Trophy.png]] Silver Water Balloon Trophy: This silver trophy is awarded to the runners-up of the 2007 Summer Festival water balloon fight: Team Aekea, Barton Town, and Isle de Gambino.

There was also:


 * [[Image:Water Balloon.png]] Water Balloon: A perfectly filled and tied water balloon that would be perfect to throw at someones face! (10 Gold)

This is still purchasable from The Ole Fishing Hole and can still be used to throw in Gaia Towns.


 * [[Image:Watermelon Hat.png]] Watermelon Hat: A commemorative gift from Gaia to the community, in honor of reaching 100k simultaneous online users during Summer Festival 2007! Congrats everyone!!! :D

This was given to anyone who took part in 100k or Bust - the aim to break the 'Most Users Online' record and get 100,000 users online at once. It was given to anyone who logged in between August 29 (when Gaia announced the record attempt) and September 3 (when the record was broken).

Storyline Update
In the Damian manga, Cindy Donovinh announced:


 * With meteorologists predicting an unseasonable snowstorm, Gaians have united for one last bash to end the summer on a high note. With massive water fights planned in every city, this will surely be a summer--

She was then hit by a water balloon.


 * --to remember.

This announcement was shown on the television screens inside the pub in Barton Town, where Liam and Gino Gambino were talking, later to be kidnapped by the Von Helson Sisters.

The first part of MMVII was later released as well.

These were part of the build-up to Halloween 2k7.

Sushi Database Studios, a user-run project, also released their own Summer Festival manga entitled Serious Business.