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Vol 1 AURB, Gaia Online, Wednesday, August 4th, 2015 No. 13
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This Years User-Run Ball Takes Off At High Speed
- 'Tis an exciting day indeed here on Gaia Online, for once more the Annual User Run Ball, or the AURB, is swinging in at full force. Every year, dozens of Gaians work hard to plan, design, and present this fun User Run event for the entire Gaian Community. Every year, fun contests are held, prizes are given away, and, of course, the coveted King, Queen, Prince and Princess of the ball are named too!
Fundraising is held, themes are made and voted upon, and room storylines are carefully planned. Everyone then works hard to create a character in which to interact with the Gaia Community in order to roleplay out a fantastic adventure for everyone to participate in.
For those of you that are new, we will provide a brief history and overview of the work of past AURB's. For those of you who have been anxiously looking forward to this event, we will give you some sneak peaks in this year's fast approaching bonanza!
Let's cover some important details first, for those of you who may have missed the wonder of this epic event over the years. Before we begin however, I want to assure the loyal readers that this will be the only volume of the "AURBee" that is this long!
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What is the AURB?
Well, the AURB, otherwise known as the Annual User Run Ball, is a three to four day event where Gaia Community members pull together the giant body that is this forum-based website. They give the chance to become famous, earn prizes, or just participate loose, literate and planned (though often improvised) storylines for those days! Everyone has a chance to win. Everyone has a chance to play and most of all: it's fun, fun, FUN!
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Why we work so hard all year long...
Why we work so hard all year long...
This is a Gaian Tradition passed down to us by users who have or have not retired from this website. We strive to fill in the steps of this legacy to honor those that have come, gone, stuck around or faded into the background to watch with pride in an event that continues to dazzle the Gaian Community! Those of us involved are always so proud of our work. We stress, cry, laugh, and work together to create something extraordinary for everyone to enjoy. The AURB Legacy started with one, and now that Legacy has spread to many of us. And we are continuously welcoming new members to our community, and anyone who wants to help in the creation of a brand new, and unique ball every year.
Later in this volume of the AURBee is a special letter to one of the earlier hosts of the AURB, and it is so eloquently written, we must share it for everyone, so they might understand where our pride comes from.
"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,
Pritchard
-- 2007"
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,
Pritchard
-- 2007"
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How long has the AURB been running?
How long has the AURB been running?
Amazingly enough, this is our 13th ball! Meaning, this event has been running strong for going on thirteen years, and many of our AURB Planners have been dedicated to this event for several of them! We are proud to say that this is one of the longest running User-Run events that Gaia has ever had, and we hold fast in our dedication to bring new and wonderful themes every year.
And the great thing is, role-playing is not mandatory. Everyone can come and hang out with us, whether it be chatting, word-gaming, or just plain old lurking!
Every year has had a different over all theme for the ball, so that people may dance the days and nights away of summer vacation as something new each year. Let's briefly go over some of the history !
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. 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 , due to unforeseen complications, and the fact that the admins didn't want to open up the mansion for the ball. The slim staff of 16 worked day and night a mere two months before the official date of the ball, to keep this seemingly dying tradition alive. No official host was named this year, and command was shared between all those who were involved. 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 the 6th 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 2nd 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 2009 --
It was a library filled with magical books, each room being one fairy tale or another. As one of the largest balls in the history of the Annual Ball, there were eight role-playing room and a newsroom! A fun fact about the newsroom: this was back when the Annual Ball still had permission to use actually GaiaOnline NPCs and settings, hence the Gaia Action News reporting on all the action in each of the rooms.
In 2010 --
The Ball was, once again, a huge success. It was perhaps the biggest success that the Annual Ball had reached up to date. With its theme of Mt. Olympus and the Greek gods, it was a heavenly delight for everyone involved. This ball was a more educational ball as each of the hosts did their research and played an authentic figure from Greek Mythology. Everyone had a blast at this ball, setting a new standard to achieve for all the balls to come.
2011 --
This year featured a new theme: the 7 Deadly Sins. Princess Angelishia hosted as the princess of the pride palace, and each of the seven rooms featured a combination of sins and their opposites. It was a lot of rooms, but it was successfully pulled off thanks to all the hard work from everyone involved. It was concluded by a large after-party in towns for all the guests, hosts, and co-hosts to go nuts (and they pretty much did!). It was "sinfully" fun!
2012 --
This dreamy Ball presented a story about dreams. With Broken_Bleeding_Angel as the main host, playing the Dream King, and LilChibiUsa as her CO and the Dream Queen, all the rooms were tied together with one plot about the failing worlds of dreams. Each room's plot resolution was one more step towards saving all of the worlds from being lost. This was the 10th Annual Ball and a milestone for the AURB.
2013 --
2013 began the next decade of the AURB with Robayn and Spottedteddybears at the head of it. The story for this year's ball centered on prominent characters from Classic Literature like Dorian Gray, the Mad Hatter, Rose Red, Merlin, Don Quixote, and many, many more. This was one of our best staffed years, with many strong and able hosts and co-hosts. Though it featured fewer rooms than its predecessor, the 2014 ball had great attendance from Gaians who had lots of fun partying with their favorite characters from literature. Thank you so much to everyone who attended and donated to make 2013 a huge success!
2014 --
This one brought us a ball of astronomical proportions. Led by PinkieKitty and Violet the Maestro, this ball featured a Western Zodiac themed plot in which the Twelve Zodiac competed in teams of two, with help from some of their loyal constellations, to create the best party in order to see who would be the next leader of the Zodiac. Of course the ball was not without conflict and Ophiuchus, decided to create some chaos in each of the parties, which led to quite the angry mob before he explained that he just wanted everyone to work together. This year also brought us quite the surprise when Gaia decided to create a kick-starter for us. This was the first time this had happened for a user-run event! Because of it, we were able to open up many more games and contests to make this one of the best balls yet.
So there you have it! Now for those of you who have come to the Ball before and have been anxiously waiting for some theme spoilers, turn the page to find the information you've been looking for!
Written by: DJ Hope 1990
Special thanks to: Annual Ball Guild Mule for direct quotes and of course, Pretzer.
Special thanks to: Annual Ball Guild Mule for direct quotes and of course, Pretzer.
Pg AURB1
There was once a place in time long ago, when the world of Gaia was roamed supremely by humans. Creatures of other natures, especially those of the supernatural, lived in their own realms where they had their own rulers, kingdoms, laws, and traditions. 
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