Halloween 2k7: Humans vs. Vampires

The **Halloween 2k7** event started on October 29, 2007 and ended on November 7th.

## **Overview**

Vladimir Von Helson makes his return and declares war on humans and encourages his fellow Vampires to follow suit. Though Humans could also succumb to vampirism if bitten and by their own choice.
## **Event Beginning**

 File:H2k7 MainPage.jpg
* Oct 29

Without seeing an official announcement, many Gaians stumbled upon the event by clicking on the Home page tab. They were introduced to the Halloween event:

> **The Battle for Gaia is underway. Vampires fight against humankind in a battle royale across the Gaia world. Which side are you on?**
>
>

All Gaians except the Administrators began the event as humans, making both vampire slaying and vampire conversion extremely difficult. Additionally, Gaians were given the opportunity to collect candy from shops and Towns to obtain grab bags.

**A new manga entitled "Convergence"** was released on the first day of the event. It is shown that Ian has not returned to work at Barton Boutique; Since the Sniper is still at large. A ton of gossip circulates surrounding the possible connection between Ian and the shootings.

Meanwhile, Edmund at his residence, notices a figure through the window and is suddenly shot at by an unknown assailant.

Ian is woken up by Rufus. After Rufus and Ian share a short 'Dancy-Dancy', Rufus asks if hes been keeping up with his 'treatments'. Ian states that they are taking less and less effect, and hes due the following day. He admits his fears of being found again by the sniper, but Rufus tells him that he can't stay hidden forever. Ian responds with the hope that Edmund and Gambino will figure it out.

Edmund then barges into the Gambino residence, where he confronts Johnny about the identity of the assassin. Edmund drills Johnny for the details on the number of people that knew about 'the serum'. But as Johnny confirms that no one else other than Ian should know; A loud music tears through the mansion at Johnny's annoyance.

They burst into Ian's room where Ian and Rufus are having a Dancy-Dancy party. Johnny smashes the music player, and demands to know how Rufus managed to get into his mansion. Edmund also scolds Rufus for sneaking in, as an arm suddenly crashes through an open window to grab Ian; Revealing that Rufus had been followed. Edmund is able to fend of the assailant, but this provides little comfort.

Johnny asks if the unknown party is dead; but Edmund disagrees. Edmund fears that the assailant was likely stunned at best, and that they should leave immediately to administer Ian's treatments. It was agreed that Rufus wasn't fit for the danger ahead; so Ian and Rufus say their goodbyes.

Edmund, Johnny and Ian then leave the residence; as the assailant watches them through clenched teeth.

## **Build-Up**

The first installment of the event was on July 10th, where Edmund and Marie and Anna Corinne Von Helson sent out Private Messagess to Gaians; as part of The Secret Message. It was unknown what the result of contributions given by Gaians(From the two parties) would be. The event page gave three wallpapers, one with Ian, one with Louie Von Helson and one with Vladimir Von Helson. Gaians would remember Vladimir from Johnny K. Gambino mentioning him, but Louie at the time was new.

During the Summer Festival 2k7, **the manga "Damian"** was released. Liam and Gino Gambino were kidnapped by the newly Vampiric Von Helson sisters. Ian has flashbacks in the underground testing facility about his past. This reveals that Louie was his brother and his mother had been shot by his father, Vladimir. In the past; Zhivago had chased after the brothers, but only managed to catch Louie.

   The first part of the MMVII trilogy, *White Eclipse*, was also released during the festival, in which Louie is sent to kill Ian but runs into Moira on the way.

**With the manga "Unveiled"** released September 27th, Liam and Gino are shown to be imprisoned in the Von Helson Manor's dungeon. Edmund finds Louie outside the G-Corp secret facility, and brings him to Ian. The brothers are reunited, with Ian revealing what transpired on the night they were separated. Zhivago had attempted to capture Ian, but Edmund managed to fight him off. This fight would give both Edmund and Zhivago their iconic scars.

Johnny is outraged to find Louie in his mansion, but Edmund intervenes by stating Johnny owed it to his late wife, Rosalie.

On October 11, the second part of MMVII, *Flower of the Night*, was released. In the G CORP testing facility, Edmund managed to create a cure for Vampirism. Somewhere else; Zhivago launches an attack on Ian and Louie, this was the trigger that awakens Ian as a vampire. Zhivago would eventually fall off the side of the building when Ian attacks him in self defense.

Louie later goes on a date with Moira. While a colony of Vampire bats is sent out to attack the Gaian populace by Vladimir.

*It was around this time that the first Halloween Costume Contest on Gaia started(October 12), which challenged Gaians to dress up in the best Gaia costumes or original costumes.*

## **The Rest of the event**

Vladimir announced the following day that it was now possible to go to the enemy base to change into a human or vampire every six hours. The number of vampires and humans became markedly more balanced, and all-out warfare began.

**A new manga entitled "Gun Show"** was released which showed Vladimir Von Helson standing at the fairground, talking of his revenge. Meanwhile, in the Von Helson Manor dungeon, Zhivago reveals to Gino Gambino that his mother was the same as Ian and Louie Von Helson's. Zhivago ordered Marie and Anna Corinne to kill Liam, but Liam manages to stop them via seduction.

Nov 1, The final part of MMVII, *Fight or Flight*, was released, in which Vampires wreaked havoc in the fairground. One manages to unhinge the Ferris wheel; and Moira is killed by the fall. Louie bites Moira to resurrect her, turning her into a vampire. Louie, Moira and Ian rush to Von Helson Manor to put a stop to Vladimir, and after some fighting; Edmund shoots Vladimir with the Vampire cure. Vladimir then drops Louie, and Zhivago accidentally shoots Vladimir in the process; killing him.

### **The Rest of the event: Dialogue**

* Oct 29

*Entering the battlegrounds, there were stylized banners, and occasionally an NPC would appear on them to say something as the battling went on.*

File:Avatar VladimirVH.png**Vladimir Von Helson**

-Fight hard, my children, Gaia will soon be ours
-How are the humans turning vampires back into mortals!!
-The humans have found some way to harm us...if you begin to turn, return here to be restored!
-Zhivago has failed to eliminate Damian twice. We must bring the full force of our kind against him

File:Avatar VonHelson Twins2.png**Marie & Anna Corinne Von Helson**

-We tried to take Gaia once with our wealth...now it's time for force
-When we find the human base of operations, I'm going to tear Gambino's heart from his chest
-Show no mercy! Don't forget - those wretches tired to kill my sister and me
-Be careful...experienced Vampire Hunters have more abilities with which to defend themselves
-Focus your attacks on a single post...your enemy only loses a hit point when it's hit 3 times
-I wonder what Rufus taste like...

File:Avatar Zhivago.png**Zhivago**

-So, Louie has turned traitor? I'll use his corpse as a footstool...
-Damian has slipped from my grasp twice now. This time, he won't be so lucky
-As much as I despise him, It warmed my blood to encounter Damian in his true form
-Vladimir is kind to those who serve him. You'll earn rewards by slaying humans
-Rage Abilities can be used to make attacks deadlier and restores more powerful...

File:Avatar JohnnyGambino.gif**Johnny K. Gambino**

-Edmund and I have been working on this cure for years now. I hope it's worth the time and expense
-The Von Helson's and I have a bitter past. I never thought our rivalry would come to this!
-All this fuss over Ian! Such a waste
-Don't underestimate those vamps...the stronger the vampire, the more dark abilities they can employ!
-I'll kill Vladimir myself, if I have to

File:Avatar Edmund2.png**Edmund**

-You should be proud to fight beside Johnny Gambino
-It took ages, but we were finally able to synthesize a vampire cure from Black Orchids and Garlic!
-With this cure, our victory is inevitable
-Ian is safe here for the time being. We must drive those foul beast out of Gaia!
-Focus your attacks on a single post...your enemy only loses a hit point when it's hit 3 times

File:Avatar Ian blkhair.png**Damian Von Helson**

-I had to hide my secret for so long...now it's time to redeem myself!
-Taking Edmund's treatments is painful, but necessary
-We have a cure for Vampirism! If your allies are turning, administer the cure to their post in our home base!
-I can't believe I'm related to those awful Twins
-There is no time for Dancey!

File:Avatar LouieVH.png**Louis Von Helson**

-I haven't seen Damian in so long, I never dreamed he was till alive!
-It's so good to see Damian again, even under these terrible circumstances
-The rest of my family has gone mad! I'll help Damian out however I can!
-I hope Moira's OK
-The more experience you get, the stronger you are. With each rank increase, you get a new Rage Ability!

## **Event Conclusion and Confusion**

The developers stated that the Halloween event would end at midnight on November 7. While it ended at approximately 1 in the afternoon on November 7, mild controversy erupted over the fact that Gaians had construed midnight to mean the conclusion of November 7.

#### **ToTing Phrases**

*What NPCs say when Gaians clicked to their shop to collect candy. Alphabetical, but starting with the most used phrase first.*

* **ToTing:**

**Everyone:** That's a lot of candy!! Here's a gift for your efforts. Check your inventory to open the gift!
**Agatha:** What a delightful costume! Here's a treat. Don't eat it all at once!
**Edmund:** So it's candy you want, is it? Fine! Take it!
**Liam:** Hey, nice costume! Not as good as mine, but here's some candy anyway.
**Moira:** Ooh, you've looking good! Here's something sweet for ya.
**Old Man Logan:** Want some candy, bub? Sure, lemme just reach into this fish here...
**Rina:** Ooh, nice costume! Take some of this candy before I eat it all!
**Ruby:** Hi, sweetie! Care for a treat?
**Rufus the Cat:** \*Purrrrrr\* Candy for you!
**Sam:** Hey, nice costume! Here's some candy
**Sasha:** I'm going to get sooooooo fat...you'd better take some of this candy!
**Vanessa:** Oh! You want some candy! Let me just reach in here...
* **ToTing too Quickly:**

**Agatha:** Now, now! Save some candy for the other kids!
**Bildeau:** Not so fast, greedy, I've already given you candy!
**Edmund:** I gave you candy already, you greedy little monster!
**Liam:** Didn't I already give you candy? Scram!
**Moira:** Sorry darling, I already gave you candy.
**Old Man Logan:** I already gave you candy! The only thing I got left is fish guts. Want some?
**Peyo:** You're bad! I gaved you some!
**Rina:** Hey! I gave you candy already! If I give you mine, I won't have any left over for meeeee!
**Ruby:** Shoo! You got your candy already!
**Rufus the Cat:** \*Hissss\* I gave you candy already, mrrrow!
**Sasha:** Hey, didn't I already give you some candy? It's okay, you can hang out and talk! So anyway, I saw tina at the salon yesterday and I was like "Tiiiiiiaaaaaaaa!" and she was like "oh my goooooosh Sasha you look so good" and i was like "now waaaaay you look soooooo goooood today" and she was like...
**Vanessa:** I already gave you candy, so you must be here for some other reason...
#### Toting Phrases: Jack

* **0/100 Candies**

muuhuuuhuuuuu... Gimme your candy, prankster!
Trick or Treating requires actually going to people's houses...
* **half/100 Candies**

muuhuuuhuuuuu... Gimme your candy, prankster!
muuhuuuhuuuuu... I see ye've found me. WHAT IS THIS!? Don't insult me with such a paltry of an offering.
Come back when ye gots enough candies to appease me!
* **100/100 Candies**

muuhuuuhuuuuu... Gimme your candy, prankster!
muuhhuuuhuuu haahaaaahaaa... I see ye brings me candies and so shall ye be repaid with something for free.
Take me bag for inside ye shall find something that will make yer heart freeze!

## **Criticism: Comparison to 2005**

When the event first began developers began biting random users at their request to be turned into a vampire. (The developers were apparently told to do so, in order for more vampires to be created, as they were the only vampires at the time) As the first day progressed into the night, many started comparing the event to 2k5 in the fact many users (particularly vampires or those wishing to become vampires) were said to be displaying elitism by paying high amounts of gold or offering art in exchange to being bitten and transformed to a vampire. Some users who created threads gave their own personal warnings that users who were not vampire or anyone that attacked vampires were going to be added to their ignore list, which would prevent others from viewing a thread.

Some vampire users were said to have been scammed and never received the gold/art they were promised, which led to form of retaliation by a few vampire users using their human mules to stalk and stake vampires to a point that they were returned to human form. To counter these surprise attacks, vampire users deleted their posts, which led to human users complaining that this action was unfair to them.

## **Glitches & Problems**

As no event on Gaia has ever gone on without glitches, the 2k7 Halloween event was no exception.

### Glitches: Site & Forum

* Due to the massive influx of users within a small amount of time, Gaia crashed numerous times, from seconds to minutes. During these crashes many users were logged out several times, which led to fear of being targeted by a fake-login page. Scammers took advantage of the consistent downtime for a few hours throughout the first day of the event, which led to Gaia later adding a new You're leaving Gaia Online!|leaving Gaia page. (Was added after the Halloween event had ended)

* Trick or treating in the shops had a glitch in which the NPCs would not reward users the seventh trick or treat bag. The user would be able to collect bags 1-6, but then would be given 8 without receiving 7. (Was later resolved the following day)

* Though not an actual glitch, signatures were removed from user posts in the event forum to prevent lag, which had greatly contributed to the consistent downtime.

* At the peak of the event more than 137,800 users had logged in, though three days later the 'most users online' feature was changed to just 108K users online. No explanation has been released as to why this was done, although it may have been related to the prevalence of mules.

### Glitches: Gaia Towns

* On the first night of the event, Jack in towns was not functioning properly, and when a user had collected 100 candies, Jack would take the candy but not give the user a trick or treat bag. (This was later fixed, though more than 24 hours later)

* On Halloween night Towns had crashed for about 30 minutes due to more than many users simultaneously trying to access acre 1000. (There were posts of more than 4,700 users being at that specific acre)

* Many acres were so over-populated that whenever anyone regardless of internet connection tried to enter the acre towns would lock up. (Many reported being kicked out of towns whenever an acre became too overpopulated) This was somewhat fixed on November 2 when acre 1053 became accessible to the point where more than 6,000 users checked in at acre 1053-03, particularly due to the fact there was said to be a User run giveaway happening.

## **Dev Alerts**

* Oct 30: [1]

Hey guys, a little Halloween update!

1. Trick or Treating in Towns is functional! We're sorry it was down for so long, but now you can get that grab-bag goodness again.

2. We decided we're going to allow users to choose a team by going to an enemy home forum and asking an NPC to change them. It will be **FREE**, but you should only be able to do it **once every 6 hours**.

We want everyone to be able to turn and enjoy the full scope of the event. Hopefully we'll have this change out by tomorrow. The event continues until November 7, so you should all have plenty of time to get your event items!

* Oct 30: [2]

Another update! You can now go to an enemy home base from the map on the event page to change teams for free. You can do this once every 6 hours!

We apologize to the users who put a lot of time (and some, gold) into becoming vampires during the first day of the event. We never intended it to be difficult to become vampires, especially since you have to be a vampire to earn some of the event prizes.

Have fun, everyone!

## **Trivia**

* Vampires developed strategies such as deleting all previous posts and staying in the vampire base to heal in order to remain vampires.
* This Event and Storyline marks Gaia's first attempt at bringing their NPCs life by animation.

1. ↑ [x] Thanks to Bunai for allowing us to use the page info on Gaiapedia!
2. ↑ Gaia Page: Description and Rules