Gaia Towns

Released to the Gaian public on October 26, 2005, Gaia Towns is an online, flash-based chat game that enables real-time conversation between multiple people. What makes it unique is the visual representation of each user's avatar, which can be moved about the screen by the simple expedient of clicking one's desired destination. Throughout the world of Gaia Towns are houses, each owned by an individual Gaian. Users can enter these houses and utilize it as a variation of a private chat room.

When Gaia Towns is opened (through either Community > Towns or Games > Towns), the user appears in the Barton Railroad Station, where several NPCs are walking around. A user can then click on each NPC to explain a different aspect of the game. Ian introduces the rest of the NPCs walking around, in addition to explaining basic navigation. Of the other NPCs, Rina explains how to change your avatar from standing to sitting (simply click the silhouette of an avatar in the bottom right corner of the screen), Moira outlines the use of emotes (click the desired emote in the top right corner), and Leon warns the user of attempted password grabs and how to use the chat interface and chat history.

The Gaia Towns layout is relatively simple. To move from map to map, one can either click on the edge of the screen near the white arrow, or click the 'Navigate' button at the top of the screen, beneath the blue globe. From the Navigation menu, a neighborhood can be selected at will. Each neighborhood contains four screens with houses, two without, and a central gathering place. Each housing screen has six houses. Clicking the desired screen will bring the user's avatar to it.

Each central screen is dominated by a large fountain with four lions facing to each cardinal direction rimming a center structure that has a small bird perched on top. This is typically where users congregate, the most popular central screen being at 001000, the first neighborhood in Towns.

Houses
see also Gaia Homes

One of the original allures of Gaia Towns was the housing aspect, where a user could visit the Housing Commission in Aekea and obtain the rights to a house, choosing amongst three variations of a floor layout.

The houses themselves serve as another extension for Gaian expression, as one can visit The Faktori in Aekea and purchase furniture, wallpaper and carpeting for one's home. Additional, rarer housing items can be found through the reception of a rare event.

Users can then enter their houses in the Art Arena and compete for the most aesthetically pleasing layout for a prize in gold. Over 50,000 is given out each week.

At the moment, there are no free houses available, however there are plans in place for the release of more housing space to accomodate the entire Gaian populace.

Addresses
The Town Directory, accessed by clicking the Navigation button marked by a blue globe, represents all of Gaia Towns. It is split up using a grid fashion, with each square, or neighborhood, recieving a number that starts at 001000. Each neighborhood contains nine screens, with a number designation of 1-9, starting at the top left and proceeding in a left to right fashion. Each housing screen contains six houses, which are also numerically designated from 1-6, in the same fashion.

Item Collecting
Scattered throughout Gaia Towns is a plethora of flowers, insects, and trash. Previously, these were collected through means of buying a Shovel from Barton Flowershoppe for flowers, and a Bug Catching Net from The Ole Fishing Hole for insects. After a recent update, though, users were not required to possess those items and could simply collect items by clicking on them.

Also in the past, collected items had to be deposited to one's inventory through the use of three Bots that stood every central screen of a neighborhood.

Cybering
Unfortunately, due to the near-impossibility of moderating the thousands of houses that are currently in place, cybering is rampant amongst the houses. Two users can simply pick a house at random and enter at will, indulging themselves with little to no fear of being caught. There are no current proposals to prevent this from happening.

Conflicts
There are conflicts in towns, often between, as the each side calls the other, "Grammar Nazis" and "n00bs". The fights can lead to stalking, where the n00b, offended by said 'nazi', will follow him/her around exclaiming how the nazi has wronged him/her. This could lead to the stalk-ee being ignored and leaving, or calling similar minded friends to protect their own. On the other hand the Grammar Nazi could follow the n00b mocking his/her inablity to type effectively. Screencaps are often used as a threat in order to stop said insults, but it is most often ignored.