Gaia Olympics 2004/Gameplay

## Initial setbacks

August marked a major turning point for Gaia, seeing the site migrate to a new Internet service provider on the 13th which allowed for improved site capacity and performance. However, it would take some time for the dust to completely settle on these new changes.

Nearly two weeks later in the early hours of August 27th, VO announced that the First Gaia Olympics would be happening later that evening at 6pm PST in Gambino's Mansion, where The First Gaian Anniversary Ball previously took place. Users were encouraged to "show [their] town spirit by cheering on [their] favorite NPC's, watch them compete, and get cool prizes in the process". Unfortunately, continued trouble with the servers would force the event to be delayed to the following day on Saturday the 28th instead.

In a more immersive move, Johnny K. Gambino would make his own thoughts on the matter known later that same night.

## Soft launch

At around midnight on the 28th, the world map was updated to include three new areas: Bass'ken Lake, Port of Gambino, and Durem Reclamation Facility. In addition, all of the images on the world map were updated to include two paths of blue and red flags leading from Isle de Gambino where a "START" banner was hung across the roof of Gambino's Mansion, all the way to a "CHECKPOINT" banner in Durem strung over the Arc.

Later that morning, the event page was released. By clicking on Gambino's Mansion on Isle de Gambino, users could see the contestants in the race and vote for their favorites in an event poll. Additionally, they could "cheer" for their favorites by posting their support in the event forum which had also opened. After several hours of waiting without any updates, Gambino began to grant event items to users around noon. Then shortly thereafter at 1:55pm, he posted another announcement delaying the event once again to the following morning on the 29th.

Despite this setback, the event forum remained open.

## The First Olympic Race

The event officially started, unannounced, at 10:30am on August 29th, 2004. Users were encouraged to visit the event page by clicking on Gambino's Mansion where they could view the contestants and vote for their favorites. Gambino personally hand-picked two contestants from each major town in Gaia to represent their home. Each contestant had a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that would affect their odds at winning the race.

### The race begins

Ten minutes later at 10:40am, the six contestants began the race. Each was represented by their own sprite and they could be tracked by going to each of the maps and refreshing the page to view their progress.

The first lap of the course would see the contestants race along the red path from the starting point on Isle de Gambino, south through the Port of Gambino and Bass'ken Lake toward Barton Town, then west through Barton West to the checkpoint in Durem. The second and final lap was a race back along the blue path to the starting point.

Gambino MCed the event in real time on the event page.

### Finishing line

Moira crossed the finishing line at 6:45pm, followed by Sasha, Ian, and then Leon. Much later, Gino would reappear and cross the line. The event forum was locked shortly thereafter.

## Event items

> *Bwaahahaha, aren't we having a great time!?!? Here, have a T-shirt, courtesy of me, Johnny Gambino!*
> — **Johnny K. Gambino**
>
>

Starting from around noon on the 28th, Gambino would randomly appear to users presently active in the event forum and inform them that they had been granted a T-shirt. Upon checking their inventories, users would find an "Olympic Tshirt" in either white or black. There was no limit to how many shirts could be granted but the result was always random, prompting users to buy, sell, or trade unwanted T-shirts to help complete their collections. Gambino continued to grant T-shirts until the 29th after Gino crossed the finish line and the event forum was locked.

* Back
* Back

## Further notes

* The event items were added to the site on August 27th, the same day that the event was originally meant to take place.

## Sources

1. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "server migration complete". Archive (November 17th, 2023)
2. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "Regarding Banner ads on Gaia". Archive (November 17th, 2023)
3. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "First GAIA Olympic Event Coming Soon...". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 GaiaOnline.com, "Hold Yer Horses, GAIA OLYMPICS ARE COMING". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
5. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "Welcome to Barton". Archive (August 28th, 2004)
6. ↑ LiveJournal.com, Go Gaia Online Community Journal, "Gaian Olympics". Archive (November 15th, 2023)
7. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "it's saterday and it's past 8:00 so whats on ?????????????". Archive (October 19th, 2023)
8. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "if its 8am pst time wat time will it b in uk". Archive (November 15th, 2023)
9. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, First Gaia Olympics (Page 272). Image archive (November 15th, 2023)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 GaiaOnline.com, "First Gaia Olympics", Gambino item grant. Image Archive
11. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "1st Olympic Race - Stats". Archive (August 31st, 2004)
12. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, "1st Olympic Race - Stats", Final Results (Image).
13. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, Marketplace, "White Olympic Tshirt". Image Archive
14. ↑ GaiaOnline.com, Marketplace, "Black Olympic Tshirt". Image Archive

1. ↑ 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 1:55pm 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.