The Importance of the Annual Ball, F.A.Q. and Suggestions

[Annual Ball]

The Importance of the Annual Ball

The Annual Ball is an important event in the history of Gaia Online. Without it Gaia wouldn't be what it is today. From the first event to receive the first ever non-store items to being the only user-run event ever to use Gambino's mansion to hold its event in. Though we haven't always been lucky, with the fourth annual ball having to be held in a guild. And even though it was on the verge of dying then it didn't! It kept on going, but what makes our event more special than any other event on Gaia?

Pritchard

What about the Gaian Annual Ball is so important?

Gaia Online is a Community Run Site. Yes, the administration may make all the big site decisions, but they do so as users and as people who are interested in our community. Imagine, if Gaia Online wasn't created by the original administration, do you think they'd be users of the site right now if someone else created it? I think so, but then again, who could have done it better than they did? I think a better question is if they could have done it without us!

As the site began to sprout, the community came together for one event. The Annual Ball. Completely user-run. It wasn't planned by the administration nor known to users the wonderful event that was to come. This is the essence of the Gaian Community. Whether it be a single thread, or a single piece of art, it comes from the user. Gaia Online may have grown tremendously over the years it's been online, but I think a large part of its tradition remains the same, even as a larger amount of the original users and the original community begin to fade (not necessarily a bad thing, as this is a result of change). Users continue to work hard towards making the site better, and most of the input comes from us. How often are events run by administration anyways? They wouldn't be worth announcing if they were all so common now would they!

The Annual Ball's goal is not to be elitist or talk about how long you've been on Gaia. I think people who use it just for this are truly mistaken, and have lost their Gaian Spirit. Think about it, what did they talk about during the first Annual Ball? It couldn't possibly been about how long people have been on Gaia, but perhaps it could have been about how amazing it was to see such a tightly knitted community come together and work towards a single goal, even though Gaia had not even been around as long! The Gaian Annual Ball takes a lot of work and effort to set up. You have to worry about prizes, themes, getting advertisements across Gaia and other forms of support. Simply having your own forum or area to hang out isn't enough.

Besides being a place to hang out and talk to people on Gaia that you wouldn't normally have been able to talk to, I think the Annual Ball is proof that Gaia is still here. Gaia is still a site for the community. The day the Annual Ball fades away is the day that Gaia no longer has a community that cares and supports it, as the Annual Ball takes strong will and community togetherness to make happen.

Why stop with a forum, though? Why simply be happy about the fact that you were able to get a few people together and chat? Gaia Online has grown to epic proportions. We need to think about the future of our community. We need to take our new member groups and backgrounds into consideration. Gaia still has a lot of the role players and story tellers, but Gaia's audience has traveled abroad, and has come back with ships full of people from all over the world.

We need to begin thinking about the future of the Annual Ball, and we need to begin taking advantage of the new user base! From the new artists and musicians to hobbyist flash developers, our new community has a lot to offer. I think that because of this, the Annual Ball will only become stronger. This is why it's so important. It is *the* ultimate representation of the Gaian Community. Without it, we have nothing. Gaia Online would just be another internet site with a "community", but one that doesn't give a darn about each other.

We need to begin thinking of the future of Gaia. What do you see in Gaia's future? What is the ultimate form of Community Input? I think creation. Can you see the day when a new type of Annual Ball occurs, or a new type of user input comes flowing through the site, where users are actually creating areas of its content? We already do through forum posts and profiles, but what about flash and other areas of output that we can give? If it's going to happen, we need to show we're capable of it. We need to come together and work towards making the user run events the greatest of all.

Will you collaborate with the rest of Gaia and share your talents and abilities with it? You can make it a better place. You already do every day when you give feedback to the site. Let's take it a step further. Let's keep the Annual Ball going on forever, and continually growing in size and diversity. Live on.


Thanks for your Time,
I wish I used a prompt before I wrote this but I was in a hurry,
Consider this a rough draft...,
Pritchard

Please note: Both the Annual Ball Importance and the FAQ will be eventually moved to the wiki. For right now they are being condensed into one topic along with suggestions for improvement that we need to keep in mind this year.  

[Annual Ball]

Annual Ball F.A.Q.

Q)Who is running the ball this year?

Dolly14 has finally passed the torch onto Valiae. She will be the host of the 8th Annual Ball.

Q)What is the Annual Gaian Ball?
The Annual Gaian Ball is an event made by and for the users of Gaia Online. It's about hanging out and having fun, RPing a bit and getting to know the other users in this huge community we call Gaia.

In 2003, Misao made the first ever Annual Ball. The admins were so impressed with what she'd done that they released the red rose corsage and black bow tie for her ball. Note that these were the first non-store items on Gaia ever!

In 2004, Misao refused to make the next annual ball convinced that the greed on Gaia was far too much to yield it. In light of that challenge, Setzer appeared. He made a topic in QnF calling for people to help out and make the 2nd Annual Ball. This year, instead of one host there were many each with their own distinct rooms. It gained so much popularity amongst the users that Setzer decided to ask for our own forum to party in. As some of you know, the answer was yes. This was the first time Gaia had ever opened a Forum up for a user run event. Really this ball is extraordinary. Not only that, but again the admins seemed to be impressed and decided to release the G-pins (much to everyone's surprise since we (the hosts) didn't think there would be ANY items involved.

In 2005, it was that time again. Setzer passed the torch onto Razumi Yazura to host the 3rd Annual Ball since Setz thought that it would be best to change the main hosts every year (a very wise decision). That year we developed a theme which was planetary. All the rooms were based off of planets, but they each had their own underlying themes. Again the ball gained popularity and of course we asked for a forum. But this time we were getting the mansion! This of course was the first and last time the mansion was going to be opened for a User event. No items this year, but it was still a HUGE success!

In 2006, the fourth annual ball was hosted in a guild since the admins didn't want to open up the mansion any more for the ball. Needless to say it was a quiet year that year, but it was the first ball that had a plot totally made by the users! Quiet but still a success and fun!

In 2007, Leyna hosted this year's ball and the moderators allowed the ball the have it's own forum for the 5th Annual Ball for the public to join in on the fun. The Ball's theme this year was Elements and it was quite exciting being able to make it public once more to a new generation of Gaians. It was a huge success and helped to open up the Ball to more people to help.

In 2008, with the Ball so successful as the year before everyone wanted to make this year's the biggest and best of them all. This year's host was chosen to be Freaksrus! Again for the 2nd time in a row the Ball was able to successfully gain a forum for the6th Annual Ball. The ball was able to gain new ideas with the publicity of the last year and the ball's theme was chosen to be Time Periods after a quick change. Despite being a previous theme chosen for the 2ndd Annual Ball all that participated had a ton of fun especially with a fun twist on the plot and the Ball's first time have it drawn out Manga style!

In this wonderful year of 2009 we plan to make the ball bigger than it has ever been! With more new people and more new ideas the ball has gotten off to a great start! The theme has been picked this year to be Fairytales and so many can't wait to see how everything with unfold! (To be written up.)

Q) Is this an official event?
This isn't an official event from Gaia as it is user-run. We are merely supported by the admins (ie. the forums).

And for the LAST time. This is not the anniversary ball, that's in February and is an actual Gaia Online admin-run event.

Q) Will I get a free item?
That is a tricky question to answer since the first two years yielded items, yet the last few years didn't.

BUT it is safe to say that NO you will most likely not be getting items. The choice to give out items for this ball is purely up to the administration and we have no say in that (as far as anyone knows).

The Ball has plenty of games with a ton of neat prizes though, so don't worry you will still have a chance at some prizes.

Q)What have the past Balls been like?
The first annual ball, at the time were the Gaia population was tiny compared to what it is now, was held in Barton town and treated like a typical role playing ball thread. Then there was the surprised of the red rose corsage and the black bow ties!

The second year was much different, not only did we have our own forum, but multiple threads/rooms to hang out in each with a different atmosphere. This ensured that EVERYONE had at least one room they felt at home in. And then Gino decided to pass around G-pins, another huge surprise!

The third year was much like the second, multiple rooms and such. But this year had a theme that was planetary, but each of the rooms still had their own type of atmosphere.

The fourth year was held in a Guild, so it wasn't quite as busy and hectic as it is with the balls that had their own forums. It also had a story line that had you on the edge of your seat the whole way through!

The fifth year the ball had a chance to go public even though there were some troubles finding out who was host. Though the generations of Gaians had changed there were still many of the older generations that remembered the ball. The ball withstood many changes and continued to withstand the test of time.

The sixth annual ball was a chance for the user-run event to really shine with all the new members giving their ideas and helping out. Again a forum was open and this year instead of just a regular written plot the plot was drawn out Manga style giving a new spin to the ball.

Q)What is this years theme?

We aren't sure who knows! We'll be starting the selection process very soon.

 

[Annual Ball]

Likes, Dislikes, and Suggestions for Improvement

In order to improve the ball each year, we need to ask ourselves: "What did the guests and hosts like and dislike about last year's ball?"

Like:
~Giveaways
~ Well planned and executed plots (especially in the castle!)
~ Use of mules
~ Meebo chatroom
~ How the plot adapted to guests
~ Great room (plot) improv
~ Perserverence

Dislike:
~ Confusion for the guests about the updates, newsroom not used to full potential.
~ Rush to get things done at the end
~ No concrete schedule
~ Bad communication with mods
~ Not enough structure
~ No fall back plans
~ Relied too heavily on individuals
~ Miscommunication
~ Last minute planning
~ Under-staffed
~ Insufficent time to develop key plot points
~ How last minute everything was, especially the closing ceremony

Suggestions for Improvement:
~ Stay on topic in chatrooms, use gaia screen names
~ Have bi-weekly meebo meetings for each team, bi-monthly meetings for team leaders, and monthly meetings for everyone to share ideas, give input and coordinate schedules
~ Use mules to guide the storyline like a GM or narrator of a story
~ Have a schedule for each individual team, and a schedule for all teams to follow
~ Work together to solve problems
~ Each "team leader" should send out a weekly newsletter notifying their team what they expect to get done that week
~ Get art finished early, exchange links of good art, layout and graphic shops
~Making a simple, not very long announcement thread explaining what the event is, and how to participate/Give an announcement, or have a How To sticky.
~Make a ball room in towns/virtual hollywood/rally  

[Psycho Sabs]

>>I hate the way you talk to me,
and the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car,
I hate it when you stare.
I hate your big dumb combat boots
and the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick,
it even makes me rhyme.<<

I was poking through some old balls and found this:

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/third-annual-gaia-ball/notice-there-are-no-items/t.6420833/

It'd be worth a shot, right? XD

>>I hate the way you're always right,
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh,
even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it when you're not around,
and the fact that you didn't call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you,
not even close,
not even a little bit
not even at all.<<