Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first thing that attracted me to TinierMe was the immediate obvious Orange/White website color scheme. I love orange. I love orange on white.

I've always enjoyed the avatars of both sites. I prefer vector-based art over pixels, since vector can carry out so much more detail, but the quality of the pixel art here on Gaia compared to other avatar sites I've been to is really decent.
I will miss certain outfits from TM, which caters more to that anime-esque adorable style. That Wicked cat suit....I just love that item so much = u=

The forums on TM always bugged me. I've always loved Gaia for how elaborate their system is. At the same time though, it felt hard to keep up with the main forums with so many people on at once. It always seemed easier to keep up with topics on TM.

I never had a problem with the staff on either site. Of course, I felt that we could have had great use of having actual moderators taking care of the forums and chat rooms/town, but I felt that for the most part, till the end, things ran smoothly.

I love both aquariums and chibipets, but I did a whole lot more with the aquariums here on Gaia than I ever did with my poor, adorable and neglected chibipets. They did earn me some nice old CC items, but the aquariums earned me much in gold. I did used to invest a good amount of gold into buying good high-trigger-and-gold-dropping fish, but it paid itself off pretty well while I was very active in the aquarium forums.
There was never much else to do with a chibi pet, with the exception of taking it to town or room once a day to collect coins or a possible item.
I used to enjoy playing Booty Grab with other people, and I enjoyed posting comments saying "thanks for earning me 2k gold!" and stuff like that on their aquariums. It was much more interactive, and much less needy than a chibi pet = u=

I do want to complain about Gaia's Journals. I reaaally loved the Diary Feed that shows up on MyPage. I wish Gaia had something specific to Journals like that. I always felt that journals were always very neglected.

Gaia homes I feel are superior to Rooms. It's nice that when you make a chat in TM, it uses your room, but I looove the idea of picking out a house in Gaia Towns that even has it's own unique address. I love the integration of Homes with the Town. I love that you can upgrade the size here too. Much less lag as well. I also love that on Halloween, you can go trick-or-treating and gather candy by going to houses in Gaia Town, and clicking on their mailboxes.
I need to check out what Town 2 is. That's kind of new to me.

Organization of items on Gaia is sooo much better = u=
But, I love that you can have folders on TM. One of my friends closet here is soooo big, that his computer can't handle loading it. So for the longest time, he just wore the same outfit! He upgraded his computer though, so now he's changed it.
Folders here could be useful.

I've enjoyed the games on both sides. I used to play Old Maid and Doki Doki a lot - almost as much as I used to play Jigsaw on here. By far though, I played zOMG! the most. I became addicted to it in fact. I loved the fact that I could play as my own avatar. I also love the idea of the rings, and leveling them up. Wearing them is what determines your current level, and dumbing them down, allows you to play with anyone lower than you so you can help out o3o
I used to make good gold playing that! Especially when I got to the end boss, the Shallow Sea area spits out a lot of gold!

I also like the NPCs here on Gaia. I love that they have stories, and how they change in appearance (in the case of Peyo, grow older). I don't read the comics very often, but I enjoy having them.

The fact that artists and developers actually talk to us here on Gaia is really cool! I love following some of their artists over on Tumblr.

;3; I think I'll stop there. I've said so much!

TL;DR? - I don't blame you = u=
I love both very much.

Layout: I can't decide which site design I like better because I'm so used to both. confused I have bits and pieces I like and dislike about each, e.g. I like Gaia's header and notification bubble and TM's latest diary/group updates on the main page.

Management: Gaia at least has a relationship with its users which is more than I can say for TM. I really hated how TM never listened to us. I appreciate that Gaia makes an effort and even if they don't do everything perfectly, they're tons better than TM. This reason alone makes me like Gaia more than TM.

Events: I really enjoy Gaia events more than TM's because it's more interactive and fun. TM made events more frequently, but they were always monotonous and I really hated those 'collect x item every 3 hours!' ones. sweatdrop

NPCs: Everyone loves Kokoro, and Agent X and Lord Kujak were sometimes entertaining, but I love Gaia's NPCs and how they actually have a story/manga behind them. I remember when I first joined, I really loved how the NPCs were shopkeepers, and I still think it's cute especially when they dress up for Halloween. whee P.S. I love Louie and Liam and Franco. rofl emotion_sweatdrop

Currency: It is so much easier to earn GCash through videos on Gaia, especially lately! I have so much saved up! I could never do offers on TM so I always ended up just buying GC. stressed I thought the gacha prices were expensive to begin with, so I don't even want to get into the twin/little star gachas. I also appreciate how Gaia updates the gold shops once a month and even has contests for users to create items themselves, though maybe I should talk about this under Items.

Items: TM items are definitely more beautiful and I love the fact that they're animated as .swf files. It's hard for Gaia to compete with their small .png bases, but they're getting better with artists like reapersun and PRISM. I kind of liked how TM items only had one simple pose even if it's not as customizable as Gaia items' multiple poses. (Gaia items' secret/hidden poses are fun, though!)
I like Gaia's closet better because it lists more items on a page AND you can organize your items in your closet. I like selling items in the marketplace because it's much easier than trading items. Gachas are a cute idea to get items from and I had fun the first time I played them, but I think we can all agree that after the initial play we hated getting screwed over by the gacha's ridiculous probability rates. classified_fu RIGs are not as cute as the gacha concept, but they're just as or even more fun. But in the end, I always prefer buying items I know I like from the shop rather than paying for a chance at an item I want.

Games: Oh godd, I love Sevens. crying Just something about that game in that musty tent room with the creepy Kokoro twin watching over us and turning into motherflies. Gaia's games are fun too, but sometimes I don't feel like playing them and that was never the case with Sevens. I suppose it's how the game layout is designed that I feel so comfortable? As for fishing, I like the feel and atmosphere of both places but I also suck at it on both sites. xd zOMG is definitely awesome because it's an MMORPG with our avis, but I have times when I really want to play and times when I don't feel like it.

Forums: Gaia's forums are definitely better than TM's, even though it's easy to get lost in its vast ocean of subforums. But then, I love how there are so many different subjects to post about. First off, I love the notifications on topic replies and quotes. I hated how TM never notified me if someone replied to me in forums, groups, or diaries. Second, BBCODE. That's all I have to say. Third, I like all the extra displayed features like signatures, achievements, custom titles, etc. The post actions are super fun and useful, as well! And I love tipping posts. 3nodding

Blogs: As mentioned above, TM HTML sucks! emotion_donotwant But I love how TM notified me of my friends' diaries on the main page because it helped me to interact with my friends more. I don't think anyone really uses journals in Gaia because it's difficult to check if your friends have posted new entries. But it was also annoying in TM if you had friends that made new entries 5 times a day. stressed I used to delete friends who did that, so that I could have a chance to read my other friends' entries. Did anyone notice that TM added emoticons to diaries around the time they announced they were closing? xd

Groups: Like blogs, I also liked how TM notified you on group threads because it was easily seen. I'm sure I'll get used to guilds though, the more I participate in them.

Pets: ChibiPets definitely beats a boring Gaian aquarium.

Honestly, I'm fonder of Gaia than I am/was of TinierMe, but I think that may have had something to do with my long tenure on Gaia: It feels more familiar to me, as well as more user-friendly when it comes to layout. The forums have BBCode! And you can edit your posts! And even though I don't always use the additional forum options, like different post-frames or dice-rolling, they can come in handy when setting up a roleplay or running games, so it's better to have them than to not have them.

I prefer the TM bases and the clean look of their items, even if they only have one pose; they're all high quality, and the licensed items were more frequent and more varied than Gaia's. It took me a while to get used to Gaia's avatars when I started, since they seem more 'doll-like' than the TM avatars, and I really liked the fact that TM avatars are gender-neutral, so that all the items fit both 'genders' and you can make your avatar 'male' or 'female.' It simplifies the restricted-to-gender aspect of some of the older Gaia items, and you don't have to bother with gender potions. And the BGs/frames, especially the animated ones, are gorgeous... even if I never had any of them. orz On the other hand, I feel like Gaia has a wider variety of more original items, and the multiple poses add a lot of versatility. I also like the fact that you can layer items in the same 'slot,' compared to TM, where you wear one Jacket/Coat or one Hairstyle at a time, and that's it.

I like Gaia's currency/item-acquisition more: You can make gold by posting, which really builds up if you're the type who likes posting in forums (discussion, roleplaying, etc), and if you're willing to spend time on it, you can have a nice avatar without spending real money. Contrast that with TM, where your only free source of items was Chibi Coins, and items that you could get from CC were only a small portion of the items available; if you wanted almost anything, you had to pay, and a lot of the CC items were bland compared to what you could win at the GC gachas. I've complained a lot about the odds on some of the RIGs, but at least a lot of the common/fail prizes are still pretty good, especially in the more recent RIGs.

And of course, the Gaia Marketplace. Sometimes it's ridiculously inflated, but it's so much easier to buy and sell, and it's another potential source of gold if you can play the market. It also feels like Gaia has a lot more to do in general, though they don't have events as often as TM did; on the other hand, Gaia events feel more participatory than TM events, at least to me?

Overall, aside from the people I got to know on TM, the items were the major draw. Having been on Gaia for a long time, I really like the way that the staff keeps the userbase informed on things, even doing Q&A and Ask the Devs! sessions. The TM shutdown email came out of nowhere for me, but at the same time, I didn't feel too surprised because TM always felt like a side-project/spin-off that didn't get much attention from the guys in charge. Hopefully Gaia never follows suit, but if it did, I feel like it would be more personal, with addresses from the staff and all, then an impersonal "Welp, we're closing doors!" notice.

I agree with everything you said! 3nodding

As for gender/unisex items, I stand both ways. On one hand, it is simpler to have unisex items and I feel bad that Gaia artists have to make 2 versions of each item and pose, but then I do like how you can actually distinguish what gender the avi is by its body shape and not just its style of clothes. It makes for more flexibility and funny crossdressing. xd


lol, I never thought about how chubby our avis were. xd But now that you mention it, I do hate how chubby my legs look so I'm always trying to wear leg mods. And I noticed the new elf potions make my whole body look slimmer which is part of the reason I'm keeping this skin after the Halloween event ended. emotion_dowant

You make some good points about TM's pros!

Personally I always thought that the TM staffers were more distant and impersonal than Gaia. This was always my main gripe with the site.

I'm a TMer die-hard fan, I can ignore the lack of new features, the smaller scaled events, the excessive push for GC users, the almost excessively strict bannings on simple infringements such as swearing... but the lack of visible moderators and staff always irked me.

I know a few Gaia mods personally and they're always ready and willing to help (unpaid help even). I've even met some Gaia admins IRL at the cons... and they're pretty open and visible even in mini-comics or events. It is also easy to contact any of the moderators since they are listed in each forum with an online/offline icon.

Whereas TM won't even let users help moderate forums or groups. In fact users are explicitly told NOT to go around repeating rules, advice, or quote ticket replies in case other users mistakenly think those are real moderators. IMHO that is absolutely silly. If you cannot harness the free workforce of your users and encourage a positive and visible relationship with your members... you are missing out on a lot of free help.

Gaia does have the option of no ads, but you need to spend at least $2.50 a month to have the ability to shut it off.

Or the free option is ad blocking everything.

=D Yea! I think it was Alice who used to take care of all of my tickets in the beginning. Then after a while, it was like a switch off between Emma and Helen. I never had problems with the behind the scenes staff. Never spoke with them personally, but just to say thanks, or give feedback, etc.

I did know a moderator or 2 here. One of them was in fact a crew member of this guild for a while. I also did artwork for him, cause he won my art auction a couple years ago. That was when we first met.