Avatar

Avatars are what some consider to be the basic foundation of Gaia, and they are made to express who exactly a Gaian is.

Customization
Avatars have the option to change their eyes, skin, hair, and clothing types. Late 2006 brought on more skin types, and a new avatar system which brought on expressions, where users could easily change the kind of mouth their avatar had.

With the release of the Staff of the Angels and the Demonic Pitchfork in October 2004 came the ability of Gaians to change what pose their avatar had, and the release of Towns made it possible for avatars to sit and turn so their back was facing forward.

As of February, 2007, the only way to change your eye and skin type is to delete your avatar and create a new one. Hair is considered by many to be a "gold sink," because it is an unsellable item that is a one time purchase, meaning you need to buy a whole new set of hair every single time you want a new hairstyle. There have been many petitions created that request a new "wig system" to compensate for this, however it is currently not known if the idea is being considered by administrators.

Event Specific Avatars

 * On April Fools 2K4, the Gaian staff made an April fools joke, where upon opening a random event box, the Gaians' avatars face was covered in soot in an explosion. Some users found what became known as the April Fools Glitch or more commonly the invisibob. It was the first event specific skin.
 * Halloween 2K4 marked the release of the zombie skins. Avatars with this skin were all deleted in early 2005, when the Gaia administration re-saved all avatars due to a glitch known as the invisibra glitch which caused some avatars appear naked. The Invisibobs were all deleted as well.


 * Halloween 2K5 created a system of leveled skins. Each of the three levels showed a different form of a human turning into a Grombie.  The final stage had a Grunny munching upon the Gaians head, which had no hair, and a sucked in face with red eyes.


 * Halloween 2K6 brought the alien skins, which happened when a user drank the Zurg Energy Drink. One could regain their human form by drinking Red Bino.


 * Once more on April Fools 2K7 a new soot face came out as a black gift box holding a platinum halo. To the users surprise a newer soot appeared. Soon a glitch was discovered causing only the soot and hair to appear on the head. (No skin.) They called it invisikin.

Avatar Arena
Opened in 2006, the avatar arena was created for users to boast their avatars in a voting event. The winners, who receive high votes on a 1-10 scale have their avatar featured on the log-in page of Gaia.

NPC Avatars
In order to be able to tell which Gaians are NPC and plot related, all NPC avatars have custom drawn clothing which isn't sold in any store, and personalized faces and hair. The only exception to this is the Island Girl Wig, which is sold at Durem Depot, and is clearly a replica of Sasha's hair, made for the New Years 2k6 event.