Gaia Giving Away MMOG Beta Invites at Comic-Con; New Screens and Info

Gaia Online CEO Craig Sherman announced plans to launch an MMOG this summer that a company representative explained "won't be woven through the existing Gaia. It'll be like when Disneyland expands. It's part of Gaia, but it's not like you'll be able to walk out of your cottage and fight someone." According to an announcement today, the world has been in development since 2007, not the previously reported 2 years, and this summer will see a closed beta release of the MMOG instead of a full launch. Gaia is giving attendees of next week's New York Comic-Con a chance  to win golden tickets to the closed beta as well as other Gaia Online-themed prizes, though, in a contest at their booth.

"The idea for our casual MMO came from our five million active members,"  Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online, said in a statement. "In our community forums, they asked for a new way to play games and interact with their friends. The MMO is our answer to their request, and our community is the perfect platform for this type of game."

While details have been scarce so far, the announcement today confirmed that the MMOG will, like Gaia Online, live in a Flash-based environment and be free to access. In addition to Gaia's current mini-games, avatar customization, and chat and forum-based socialization, the MMOG will add "quests, monster battles and exploration."

In spite of the fact that Gaia is moving in a new direction with this add-on, Sherman said in February that he expects the existing Gaia community to help propel adoption of the MMOG, quickly becoming a top title. With an existing social framework ready to combine with a style and model that seems reminiscent of the booming MapleStory, Sherman could  be making a fairly safe bet.

Other new worlds, like ourWorld from FlowPlay or Dizzywood, are trying out the "casual MMO" approach, which blurs the line even more between traditional MMOGs and "virtual worlds." While it's too early to really look at the user numbers of many such projects, they've certainly been a hit with investors.

With recent investments from Sony and Time Warner, Gaia's not hurting for financing. But with its existing audience, it'll certainly provide an interesting benchmark for the  current trend.