The Gaia Olympics 2004, also known as the 1st Gaia Olympic Race and the 1st Gaia Olympics, began on August 28th, 2004 and was officially held the following day on August 29th.[1][2] The event was sponsored and hosted by Johnny K. Gambino from his mansion.[1][3]
Behind the scenes[]
August was a major turning point for Gaia, seeing the site migrate to a new Internet service provider on the 13th which allowed for overall improved capacity and performance. However, it would take some time for the dust to completely settle on these new changes.[4][5]
Preparations and initial setbacks[]
Nearly two weeks later in the early hours of August 27th, VO made the announcement that the First Gaia Olympics event would be happening later that evening at 6pm PST in Gambino's Mansion, where The First Gaian Anniversary Ball previously took place. Despite the fanfare around the surprise announcement, trouble with the servers persisted ultimately leaving VO to update the original announcement with the news that the event would be delayed to the following day on Saturday the 28th instead.[1]
In a more immersive move, Gambino's account would follow up with his own announcement later that same night sharing his thoughts on the matter.[2]
Soft launch[]
At around midnight on the 28th, the world map was updated to include three new locations: Bass'ken Lake, Port of Gambino, and Durem Reclamation Facility. In addition, all seven maps were now marked with two paths of blue and red flags beginning from Isle de Gambino where a "START" banner was hung in front of Gambino's Mansion, all the way to a "CHECKPOINT" banner in Durem in front of the Arc.[6][7]
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Recreation of the event page where users would vote for their favorite NPC.
Later that morning, the event page went live. By visiting Gambino's Mansion on Isle de Gambino, users could see the contestants in the race and vote for their favorites in an event poll by clicking on them. Additionally they could share their support in the event forum which had also opened.[8][9]
Another delay[]
After several hours of waiting without any updates, Gambino began to grant event items to users around noon.[10][11][Note 3] Shortly thereafter at 1:55pm, he updated users with another announcement delaying the event once again to the following morning on the 29th.[2]
Despite this setback, the event page and forum remained open allowing users to continue posting and earning items.
The race begins[]
The event officially began, unannounced, at 10:30am on August 29th, 2004 (this was later resolved in another update by Gambino at 1:33pm). Ten minutes later at 10:40am, the six contestants started the race.[2][3]
Summary[]
See Gaia Olympics 2004/Summary
Gameplay[]
See Gaia Olympics 2004/Gameplay
Documents[]
See Gaia Olympics 2004/Documents
Gallery[]
See Gaia Olympics 2004/Gallery
Aftermath[]
Due to how quickly the event was announced and how short it lasted, many users were unaware that it had even happened. Others felt left out due to prior obligations such as school or work that didn't allow them the opportunity to participate whether they knew about it beforehand or not. With this in mind, the remaining events for the year would give users better advance notice and more time to play.
Legacy[]
This event would spawn a series of other events on the site related to both summer and the Olympics as a theme.
Further notes[]
- This event marked the introduction of the fishing spots Bass'ken Lake, Port of Gambino, and the Durem Reclamation Facility. The then-unknown shack on Bass'ken Lake was also referred to as a "bait shop" during the course of the event. These hints teased the release of Gaia Fishing which would launch later that year.[3][7][12][13][Note 4]
- Gaia's Olympics coincided with the real world 2004 Summer Olympics. Likewise, August's Donation Items were the Golden Laurels and Winged Anklets released on the 24th in celebration of the games and just in time to be worn during the event.[14]
- The event items were added to the site on August 27th, the same day that the event was originally scheduled to take place.[15][16]
- Due to the scripted nature of the contestants' performances, it's unclear how influential the polls actually were in determining the winners of the race.
Sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 GaiaOnline.com, "First GAIA Olympic Event Coming Soon...". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 GaiaOnline.com, "Hold Yer Horses, GAIA OLYMPICS ARE COMING". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 GaiaOnline.com, "1st Olympic Race". Archive (August 31st, 2004)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "server migration complete". Archive (November 17th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "Regarding Banner ads on Gaia". Archive (November 17th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "Welcome to Barton". Archive (August 28th, 2004)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 LiveJournal.com, Go Gaia Online Community Journal, "Gaian Olympics". Archive (November 15th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "it's saterday and it's past 8:00 so whats on ?????????????". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "if its 8am pst time wat time will it b in uk". Archive (November 15th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, First Gaia Olympics (Page 272). Image archive (November 15th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "First Gaia Olympics", Gambino item grant. Image Archive
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "Bass'ken Lake". Archive (August 29th, 2004)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "GAIA Fishing!!!". Archive (March 15th, 2024)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "August Donation Item Released!". Archive (November 17th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, Marketplace, "White Olympic Tshirt". Image Archive (November 17th, 2023)
- ↑ GaiaOnline.com, Marketplace, "Black Olympic Tshirt". Image Archive (November 17th, 2023)
- ↑ No record of any posts or dates from the event forum exist anymore, but early thread titles indicate that it was opened on Saturday the 28th and that the event was starting "tomorrow". Also mentioned are changes to the world map which is supported by the Barton Town map using the Olympics variant on the 28th.
- ↑ On August 29th, the Isle de Gambino map used the Olympics variant as expected. The following day on August 30th, the map in Durem was back to normal indicating that the event had officially come to an end.
- ↑ While no record of any posts or dates from the event forum exist anymore, the time in which T-shirts were granted can be deduced. At around page 300, a few threads make reference to the time being 8am PST on August 28th. On page 258, users report that Gambino had postponed the race which was officially announced at 1:33pm PST the same day. The very first mention of T-shirt grants happens earlier on page 267. At a rough average of 10 pages made per hour, it can be assumed that Gambino began appearing somewhere between 12 and 1pm PST.
- ↑ While no official announcement exists for these changes, the maps are not present prior to the event on August 26th but they are during the event on August 29th.