Gaia Guide:QUICK TIPS:Main Gaia Browser PageThe browser window that you open when you first log into Gaia, is like a webpage. You should keep this window open as your main window. Other windows may pop up, and that's fine, but keep this main window open. You can receive messages here (My Gaia -> Mail), view your profile (My Gaia -> Profile), play other games, shop, etc.
HousesIf you want to buy a house go to My Gaia -> House. Here you can place your home down -- either choose to let Gaia's Housing Commission place it for you, or if you can find a place yourself from the directory you can choose that option. It doesn't really matter where you place your house (our VMK rooms were not all next to each other either). But you should know that once you place your house, if you want to move it, will cost 1000 gold.
See more below under "HOUSES."NamesYou can change your Gaia name 3 times at no charge. Hover your mouse over My Gaia, then click on Account. There will be a paragraph at the top that says, "Change options related to your account. Other options which haven't been migrated to the new profile system are also available." Click on the word "available," (it should be a URL link) -- this will bring you to a page where you can edit your username (can change it 3 times at no charge. After 3 times I believe it will cost something like 10,000 gold). You can also change your gender from here (2 times free), and your birthday.
ACCOUNT INFO:You should look in your account -- there are many preferences that you can change there. (MY GAIA -> ACCOUNT) For example...you can choose to make your house viewable only to friends, and/or leave your profile viewable to everyone.
FRIENDS:Friends ListTo view your friends list and see who's online -- click MY GAIA --> FRIENDS. Above the search box on the right side there is a link "ONLINE." If you click that, you will be able to see who's online at that moment. You can send a PM to a friend here and view their profiles as well (click on "PrivateMsg" or the little chat bubble on the line next to their name to send a pm, and click on each person's name to view their profile.
You can also block out anyone who you do not wish to communicate with: Use the search box to find the name of someone you wish to ignore. When you've located them, click the box under the select colum and scroll down to the bottom and click ignore. They will be added to your "Enemies" list.
To Send a Friend Request:You can find "Add user" link on many profiles, but if there isn't one, you can hover your mouse over MY GAIA --> FRIENDS AND ENEMIES --> In the box that says "Search for User," put in the title of your friend. When their name comes up, click the box under "Select," then scroll down to the bottom and click "Add Friend." You've just sent a friend request.
Finding Friends & Other People:There are many places to find other people (if you're looking for strangers as well lol):
- MY GAIA --> MY HOUSE --> Once you're inside your own house, click on Directory. This will show you a map, and your house lot will be blinking. If you click on ZOOM OUT on the top left, you can search for other areas in Gaia Towns. You can also look for an empty lot if you haven't placed your house yet, or view population in each area -- if you click on VIEW POPULATION and hover your cursor over the boxes, you will see how many ppl are in each instance. Red areas have more ppl. If you want to stay in your house after viewing the Directory, just click close on the bottom right.
Once inside your house or anyone else's, you can click EXIT and meet up just outside the house you were just in. From there, you can walk around town together.

When you are in a friend's house, click on Directory and hover your cursor over the map area where your friend's house is. Click on your friend's house and click ADD TO FAVORITES. You can add up to 5 friend's houses in your favorite places on the right side of your Directory.
- WORLD --> WORLD MAP. Here you can view all of Gaia towns.
- WORLD --> TOWNS. This will bring you right into the towns. There are NPCs here as well that provide information. You can search around by clicking on the arrows at the end of each town area. In towns, don't forget to pick up various items such as trash, flowers, and other garbage. Click on trees, rocks and bushes too -- for gold.
- WORLD --> TOWNS --> CINEMAS. Here you can watch various movies and old television shows with friends. Scroll down once you're in the cinema, and find the movie you want to watch. There may be more than 1 page listed. Once you find the movie you want to watch, click on DETAILS then SHOW TIMES. Click on the showing you want to watch and you're in. Send your friend the details of the movie you're planning on watching and the time, and you can be in the same room.

- WORLD --> VJ. Here you can watch youtube videos/movies and earn gold with friends. If you choose to make a private room, it will cost you gold.
- WORLD --> SPONSORED WORLDS -- VIRTUAL HOLLYWOOD. Then click on CHECK OUT MTV’s VIRTUAL HOLLYWOOD ON GAIA, choose a game server and tell your friends where you are.
- GAMES --> JIGSAW. You can play puzzles and chat with friends. Make a private room by choosing a server --> join --> create --> and then the lock icon for a private room. Enter a password for your room, click PLAY and tell friends the server and pw so they can join you.
- RALLY --> Choose server (turn pike, freeway or highway) --> then either join or create a public room. Tell your friends in a pm where you are so you can meet up.
- SLOTS --> Follow same instructions for above, except there are no server names...you go straight to choosing or creating a room.
- CARDS --> Follow same instructions for SLOTS.
- FISHING --> Follow same instructions for RALLY.
- PINBALL --> Choose a SERVER or PLAY ALONE --> If you choose a server, you then have the option of creating a room and making a password so you can meet only with friends who you give the password to.
- Misc. Games --> Visit the main Games page to find more new games that have been added.
EARNING GOLD & OTHER FREE ITEMS:You can earn gold by posting in profiles as well. Every bit of surfing the site gives you gold. Don't forget to click on the Daily Chance cart that pops up each day you log in (click on every subhead each day to receive a daily reward. (HOME, MY GAIA, WORLD...etc.)
In Towns:Trash can be turned into little Peyo at Gambino Hat Rack where it might be turned into special clothing for your avatar to wear!
You can collect more trash by fishing or by picking it up around Town.
HOUSES:Everyone has a link to their house address -- if you're in the HOUSE area, click on the link below "Share my home." Just PM the address to all your friends. The bad thing is, you can only have 5 links to your friends' homes in your Directory. What I did, is paste my friends' house URLs into a txt file and saved it on my computer. This way you can save as many as you like, then just cut and paste it into your browser. Woot!
By the way, you can also make your house open only to friends if you want (highly suggestible). In your HOUSE window, there are preferences listed at the bottom. You can also go into your ACCOUNT area from MY GAIA.
If you know someone's profile and if their house is unlocked, you can always get into their house. If someone has their house set to "friends only," then you can only get in if you're a friend. If someone's house is locked, you cannot get in.
For example, my house is set to "friends only." If you know someone's profile, you can get into their house. My profile link is
http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/10113922 My house link is
http://www.gaiaonline.com/homes/?user=10113922 (I'm currently relocating so you won't be able to view my house at the moment.) All you have to do is change the number that comes after "user=" to the same number that is in the profile of the person's house you wish to visit. Then put that link into your browser location bar.

Also...if you didn't know -- there is an awesome site with information on Gaia --
http://www.tektek.org. You can do all kinds of things there, as well as make your dream avatar, preview every item that has ever been out in Gaia and the price even if it's no longer available, find a design for your profile, get signature images, find information on Gaia quests, and more. :goodvibes
MONTHLY COLLECTIBLES:Each month they sell a Thank You Letter, but you can't find out what's inside it until the 15th of the month. Each letter costs $2.50. I usually wait until they open to see if I like the collectible inside. Each collectible comes with 2 different choices of items -- you can either choose 1 of those items (which usually comes with many different poses), or you can keep the collectible letter for a long time so you can one day sell it for a lot of gold in the marketplace.
CHANGING YOUR HAIRSTYLES:Hair...everyone needs a change every once in a while. Well, in Gaia, you have to purchase your hairstyles. First, you would visit the Salon Durem (Market --> Shops --> Salon Durem). The cheapest hairstyle costs 25 gold or 1 Gaia cash. You cannot keep hairstyles in your inventory, so make sure you just purchase one at a time until you are ready to change again. There are some very expensive hairstyles as well, costing up to 6120 gold or 102 Gaia cash.
GAIA CASH:If you want to, you can spend real money on Gaia for your virtual character. You can choose to purchase an actual physical cash card (which you can buy in stores such as Target), or you can purchase Gaia cash online via PayPal (credit card), home phone/DSL, or you can mail in a check or money order. Gaia cash purchased online will allow you to receive your cash immediately. Here's the breakdown:
$5 USD.........500 Gaia Cash
$10 USD.......1000 Gaia Cash
$25 USD.......2500 Gaia Cash
$50 USD.......5000 Gaia Cash
In the stores, you can either pay for an item with gold (which you make on the site playing games and doing various other things) or you can pay with Gaia cash. When an item says it costs (for i.e.) 1320 gold/22 Gaia cash, you can either purchase it with 1320 gold or 22 Gaia cash. You would need to have had to purchase cash in increments of either $5, $10, $25, or $50 (see above chart) prior to buying this item. So, if you have purchased $5 USD for Gaia cash, you now have 500 Gaia cash. That 22 Gaia cash would come out of the 500, which would leave you with a total 478 Gaia cash after your item purchase.
If you find it hard to make gold, and don't mind spending real money on virtual items, you can purchase Gaia cash, buy something expensive in the store, and sell it back for half price (gold). Now you have gold in your account and you can spend it in the stores or the marketplace (which only accepts gold).
YOUR PROFILE:You can click on people's names to view their profile when you are in your friend's list (My Gaia -> Friends and Enemies), or click on their avatar in the forums, other profiles or other rooms. Everyone gets to make a profile. To see your profile, hover your mouse over My Gaia and click on Profile. You can delete any comment left for you that you want. To edit your profile, hover your mouse over My Gaia and click on Account. From here you can do many things to personalize your account, including your profile. You can choose style of profile and whether you would like a public or private profile. To change your basic profile information, just click on the links to the right in your Edit Profile area. You have the options to change the following information: About Me, Details, Signature, and Theme, and here you can view your profile as well.
There is much you can do with your profile if you play around with it -- you can also visit
http://www.tektek.org to find a premade profile.
Multimedia in Your ProfileInfo donated by my dd, Monkey.You can fill your multimedia space with music or another video. Go to
http://www.tektek.org -> Gaia Profiles -> Youtube Video. Put in the link of the youtube song/video in "Original Link," then click Convert. If you want the song to Autoplay, click Autoplay & copy the link. If you don't want it to Autoplay, just click the link already given. Go to
http://www.gaiaonline.com - hover your mouse over My Gaia & click Account at the bottom. Click Multimedia on the right & insert the link you copied from TekTek.org. Then click Submit, or Preview to see what your video is going to look like.
Thanks for the above info, Monkey! Hugs!Wish Lists in Your ProfileYou can create a wish list of things that you would like, and it will show up in your profile. Browse the Marketplace or the stores, or other people's profiles to find items that you would like, and then click on Add to Wishlist. Then hover your mouse over My Gaia, then click on Account at the bottom of the list. Click on link on right -- Wish List. You can choose to show certain items to others on your wish list, or keep them private.
GIFTING OTHERS:My favorite part of Gaia -- to be able to surprise someone with something they were wishing for, or to send a gift, "just because." You can buy something in a shop, then click the left arrow in your inventory window just below the shop. The item you just purchased should show up there. Click on it, and choose to give as a gift. Another way you can send a gift, is to go to your inventory and view all items. Find the item you wish to gift, click on it and choose to send as a gift. You can also trade gifts, but the other person would need to be there to accept the gift.
See Post 4: "HOW TO COORDINATE A COMMUNITY MOVE"I hope this helps you!

Days~
This guide will be continuously updated.Don't forget: There is also a FAQ at the bottom of every Gaia page.