Interview: Craig Sherman, Gaia Online CEO, on Growing Socially

Gaia Online, named recently as one of Time.com's 50 best Fun and Game websites of 2008, is a success in the youth market, bringing in 5 million users, and it's only getting bigger. Late last year, the site added content from Sony and Warner Bros.' film and TV libraries, and right now it's getting ready to launch a casual MMO on top of the existing social world. While the virtual world continues to add content, it all comes back to its social roots.

"From my point of view, we took a virtual world and online hangout with the society and self-expression tools, the core of Gaia, and added in an MMOG experience," explained CEO Craig Sherman. "In that context it’s richer and more sophisticated than traditional MMOGs. It’s less so than the hardcore games in some ways—it’s not in 3D—but still more social. Using the game is an excuse to hangout with your friends, but with a point. "

MMO

The MMO project was begun after a virtual world-wide survey of Gaia users 2 years ago about the next feature they wanted in their space. The top choice was an MMOG. The second was pets, which may be coming down the line.

"That’s not a promise," said Sherman, "but that would be the next natural step."

Part of the motivation, Sherman guesses, is simply that there's not much out there for teens wanting to play MMOs, in spite of the fact that his users, like most teens and young adults, are gamers. And they're incredibly active, too. Even before the MMO has launched publicly, users are forming guilds and rallying in support of the game. [Both this guild logo (right) and the image above the jump were designed by users/]

"There are very few teen, great, casual, beautiful, non-violent games in the MMO space," he explained. "There’s a hole they saw and wanted filled. I think the people that build the games are, in their hearts, hardcore. They build something that works for them, that’s extremely violent or high fantasy, men-in-tights stuff. Gaia is an alternate reality with a very reverent style and voice. That’s something that I think is more appealing to the younger group."

There are options, like MapleStory, that provide a casual MMO experience directed at youth, but Sherman argues that's one of the only examples out there compared to other fields--and still one that doesn't quite fill the gap Gaia is aiming at.

"If I picked something else and asked, 'Do sports fans have a range of options? Or kids? Or dance fans?' The answer is, 'Of course,'" he explained. "Our game, though, is much more social. MapleStory is a game where they’ve added social tools. We’re a social site that has a game. We think that’s a different direction."

A Hangout Space Instead of a Virtual World

The different direction comes, at least in part, to the perspective Sherman brings to Gaia Online. It's a creature unto itself. No matter what other features the company adds, Gaia is an essentially social experience.

"Gaia is not an MMO," said Sherman. "Gaia is evolving as an active platform for teens. It took us 5 years o build 7 games, and over the next months, we’ll add 30 Flash games. To do that we had the users vote for their favorites [in a competition through partner Mochi Media], and we got 1 million votes [compared to the cited 5 million users]. We’re wrapping our social tools around them. You earn Gaia Gold playing, there’s integrated chat, and you have your avatar as a way to bring your identity in."

That growth is near exponential. Working with third parties, from Mochi to Virtual Greats to Christian Siriano, Sherman hopes to continue to evolve past just the virtual world genre.

"We have huge ambitions," he said. "I think we can become the dominant online hangout for teens. To do that we need the best content available. We’re not a game title. We want to evolve with our users. Our site has actually grown a little older over the last few years. 30% of the users are now over 18 and the site’s, accordingly, grown a little edgier."

To me that sounds like Sherman wants to compete not just with MapleStory, Whirled, Habbo, and the horde of other youth-oriented worlds hitting the market, but even mammoth youth sites like Facebook or Myspace. But rather than compete with them, Sherman wants to cooperate, forming a unifying space for his users regardless of their other content choices.

"That’s why I call it an online hangout, like the mall or downtown," Sherman said. "It becomes your activity hub with like-minded friends. The mall and downtown are richer and more entertaining than a social network and last longer and are more accessible than a traditional game or MMOG. Just like at the real-world mall, kids are texting their friends and calling out. Our users are also on Myspace and Bebo. That’s not an either/or situation. The ‘or’ is TV. I’m convinced of that."

And Gaia is competing with TV--and Web video. Users can embed YouTube videos in the virtual world, make playlists, save them to feeders, and then most them back out to MySpace.

"We’ve transformed an individual experience on YouTube into a social experience, and we’ve transformed MySpace from a flat 2D space into a movie theatre," said Sherman. "It's one of the cool things on the site. I don't know why YouTube hasn't copied it. Maybe it's because you start with an avatar, and it's an embodiment thing that leads you there."

For all the content Sherman wants to add, it makes sense to actually go the Facebook and MySpace route and simply open a Gaia API up to any developer that wants to participate, letting others do the work to populate the site. It may not be soon, but that seems like the social hangout space will be taking a cue from the social networks.

"Yes," said Sherman. "Absolutely. It's in our long-term plan."

Comments

[Gaia member]

WE HATE YOU Craig

[Casual Reader]

Craig, please help the users you have now, before jumping the gun and trying to get more people to join.

[One who has played on Gaia for 4 years.]

Craig Sherman is ruining Gaia. He only cares about gaining more members and more money. He cares not for the opinions of his current members and forgets that there are many adults on gaia as well as teens. Gaia is not a teen hangout, it is a hangout for everyone who is over the age of 13, including teens and adults. :/

Craig, YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE THE CEO OF GAIA!

<3

[Sweet pinkiey]

i.....................................................love.....................................gaia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my name is sweet pinkiey if anyone wants to talk