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Hey everyone,

Some exciting stuff going on these past two weeks! Things are super busy for me as I wrap up some projects before I head off to vacation for a couple weeks.

Ink Addiction
Haters beware! The long-awaited (and long-promised) tattoo system went out this week. It was hailed for a long time as a mythical feature by some users, since it was announced at AX last year, and then didn't end up coming out when we said it would. Some more cynical users considered it "Battle System Lite" -- a feature that was promised but we were never actually going to deliver on.

Well, to you I say "Nyah!". It came out and it's great (as you can see from my belly tat).


War is coming
Also this week we saw the opening of a new Battle Forum and new Battle Info Page.

I have no involvement in the Battle Team, so I was just as excited as any of you to find out some of the secrets about the gameplay etc. One of the biggest tricks they had to pull of was "How can we give people items that they can battle with that won't affect the way they express themselves with their avatars?"

If you've read over the info page, you can see they've come up with some very clever and fun ways to do it. I really envy the people on the Battle Team, because it definitely sounds like one of the more creative and exciting projects on Gaia -- and at the same time, I'm glad I'm not one of the people who has to deal with the pressure of creating a feature that EVERYONE has been waiting ages for, and from which they expect quite a bit.

Question Time!
So the questionnaire experiment was a moderate success in my book, but then, you guys seemed to like it and kept asking questions (and it also happens to be a really good way for me to not have to think about what to write!) so here we go!

z-bandit asked: "I gotta question, whats your favorite color!?!"

I used to always say "blue" -- but like jazz, wine, and reality TV, as your mind gets more sophisticated, so do your tastes razz So now I'm inclined to say I'm more stimulated by combinations of colors used in interesting ways. And I can't choose just one!

bartimaeus92 asked: "Fleep, what happened to the random links? It made your journal more entertaining I am not saying it isnt any more but... "

Finding those random links takes a buttload of time (Firefox just corrected me, by the way. It's not "buttload" -- it's "butt load" rofl ). Considering that I have problems finding time to write these every Friday, I figured it's better to get a journal down than to find a ton of links. But for old time's sake, here's a funny link!

Skine99 asked: "Do you have any idea when you'll be able to get the rest of the art up?"

I have exactly 20 arts on my home computer that I still need to put up. This happens when I get a PM and I'm checking from home. I have to put it in my "Gaia Art" folder right away, otherwise newer PMs will push it off-my-radar pretty quickly.

Hopefully I'll get them all up before I leave on vacation!

LokiLB asked: "i'm curious...how are those quests you mentioned coming along?"

I'm working with someone on them now, which is good, because between sponsorships, events, and other things that I'm working on, I have hardly any time smile So right now someone is working on some basic framework enhancements that will enable us to make some of the types of quests that we've wanted to make for some time.

No word on when that'll be though - but we are working on it!

Pritchard asked: "What is the course of action to be taken if a random user happens to walk up to the building?"

Turn invisible.

Deluziional asked: "Did the Sharks deserve the Stanley cup?"

Of course they did! :: chomp chomp chomp ::

ladywolf asked: "Are ya ticklish Fleep?Yes or no? If so where?"

I can't reveal my only weakness!

The Last Lord of Time asked: "Now, would you ever try and convince the plot-makers to make a Doctor Who themed quest?"

I would LOVE that -- but with licensed properties, it's not entirely up to us what we do and don't work on.

Zen Gentleman Lifeguard asked: "Why doesn't James Bond have a mullet?"

For the same reason superheroes shouldn't wear capes: it's a liability (both in his personal, and professional life!)

Bria_Teragram asked: "Would you care to elaborate on why fishing "doesn't count [as a multiplayer, competitive game]?"

I got a few questions about some comments I made about Cars being our first competitive game on Gaia.

I was talking more in terms of technologies -- when you're fishing, you're fishing ALONE. There are other people fishing around you, sure, but they don't affect your gameplay. But when you're racing cars, you're not only trying to beat someone in real time, but their actions affect your ability to win while you're racing. No other game we have has that kind of inter-player communication of gameplay.

The Sexy G asked: "If you had to choose between working for gaia and getting paid little, or working for Neopets and getting paid lots.. which would you choose?

It's hard to say, since I don't know what it's like working at NeoPets. But I'm extremely happy working here, so you don't have to worry about me jumping ship just yet.

Euonym asks/comments: "Earthbound, huh? Heh, you and tasha really are siblings with that one."

Yes. I truly do love that game. It's hilarious and emotionally deep and it boggles my mind how much originality it exhibits at every turn. If you've never played Earthbound and you happen to have an SNES, try and find a used copy of it. You won't regret it.

Also, the music is phenomenal.



XDmaster4 asked: "what do you prefer keeping information (about gaia new things etc) a secret or telling it to everyone?"

There are certain things which are more fun kept a secret. Like plot for example. A lot of users have lots of ideas about which direction the plot should go in, and some have started threads about them, but there are a trillion good reasons why we should/would never use those plots. Imagine sitting there and saying:

"I want Moira to be Rina's estranged mother."

And then we make Moira Rina's estranged mother. What's the fun in that, if you already know what's going to happen?

Some things, like knowing that bugs are being worked on, seeing progress on Battle System, etc. I think users should know about, for sure.

Gaiaversary #1 (#2!)
So yesterday was my official 1 year of working at Gaia. Crazy nuts, huh?