Quote Transmitted Disease (kwoht trans-mit dih-zeez)
- Also known as QTD for short.
- The result of an image being temporarily layered over an avatar.
- The action is done by quoting or participating in the current event.
Usage
This term is made up by Gaians as the result of an event that happened when two Gaia developers were playing a prank on one another, it escalated to a point that even the community was soon involved.
Although the term is referring to the event of being quoted and having an image placed over the avatar, it is now applied to events which a similar result occurs regardless of no quoting being involved.
History
It began on February 15, 2011 when developer Panagrammic posted a message in the Dev Notices thread stating that a fellow developer, DARKNRGY, was feeling unappreciated because his DARKNRGY dolls on the marketplace were priced so low. Panagrammic encouraged Gaians to Booty Grab and buy the dolls or post on DARKNRGY's profile to show their appreciation for his work on the site [1]. The dolls were quickly bought and comments followed, the developers feelings were expressed by the profile message: "I WILL GET YOU PANAGRAMMIC *SHAKES FIST*". Although done in a joking manner the reaction from Gaians was mixed, some finding it amusing that the request was fulfilled and that staff were showing their humors side, others finding the Dev Notice being used for a non-site related update to be poor work ethic.
The two developers went back and forth with their antics and at one point Panagrammic (or perhaps another developer using his account) dressed up as DARKNRGY and even posed as him. While praise and criticism continued among Gaians between Gaia Community Discussion (GCD) and Site Feedback (SF) forum, DARKNRGY soon one upped Panagrammic by creating a red text overlay that read "I love Justin Bieber", this text covered his avatar while visible in forums. After three hours Panagrammic created another post wherein he apologized for the light-hearted prank and that it wasn't an attempt to manipulate the marketplace, he made it a point to return to the previous information-dense, non-humorous format in dev notices [2].
However by the 16th the developers humor was more apparent when [NPC] Bildeau, a robot character, made a cameo appearance in the thread stating the latest legitimate site update along with his humor-module being turned off [3]. This was due to Gaians who debated that Gaia Staff were human and not robots and they should be allowed to express their humor without harsh criticism. By the 17th the red text that once plagued Panagrammic had spread to Gaians, showing that the prank among the developers was not yet finished. The red text would overlay on avatars when the avatar that had the text was quoted, the text prank spread quickly through the GCD and SF, making its way to the Chatterbox (CB). This was also met with mixed reaction though largely positive as Gaians tried to figure out how it functioned, their curiosity was answered when [NPC] Cindy Donovinh made a cameo in the thread to report that there was an outbreak of Bieber Fever [4], and that it would be over in a few hours. However, a cure was made to speed up to process when Gaians were given inoculations which functioned the opposite of the red text, upon quoting an (Inoculated) Gaian the red text would be removed. The whole event ended around midnight.
Other QTD Events
Panagrammic as a robot
- March 10, 2011
Gaia jumped on to the Charlie Sheen bandwagon and created a forum called: Sheen! Winning! Bring It! An [NPC] Chorlie Shane appeared and upon being quoted would turn Gaians into a crazed tiger riding in a jet. When asked on how to get tiger blood, Chorlie Shane replied that: "Tiger blood isn't something you get, dude. You're born with it. If you're not born with it, then you grow it, by wanting with all your heart to be totally awesome. Protip: watch what I do, and emulate." [5]
- March 16, 2011
During the St. Patrick's Day 2k11 event, the [NPC] Odanodan would go around to various threads and quote Gaians and upon being quoted Gaians would receive an item from him as well as turning entirely green. For the St. Patrick's Day event the Astra-XI: Lucky Clover was the first free animated item.
- April 01, 2011
During the April Fools 2k11 event, upon signing onto the site Gaians were given realistic cat heads. As the site had been turned into Meowbook. For the April Fools event there was a total of 48 cat heads, it eventually became an item "Cat Faces" and was only obtainable by using Gaia Dumpster Dive. [6]
- April 18, 2011
During the Easter 2k11 event, which involved doing various task to collect little bunnies, these bunnies would then accumulate around the avatar. For the Easter event, the accumulated bunnies would shift positions every time the page was refreshed.
- October 24, 2011
During the Halloween 2k11 event, werewolves who bit humans with an infected bite, would result in the human becoming a werewolf as well. For the Halloween event, the infected bite had a 20% chance of turning an opponent into a werewolf.
- January 18, 2012
Gaia acknowledged the SOPA / PIPA issue; Gaians who clicked on the links to a mocked censored event page had their avatar censored. For the SOPA event, the avatar censorship only lasted for one day, though during that time it couldn't be uncensored once obtained. [7] After the event was over, Gaians were granted a censored avatar skin to equip as they please.
- February 17, 2012
Gaians quoting one another would result in them being placed in a House Town. For the Quikkitch event, the names of the House Town was done in reference to the four main Gaia Towns and the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[8]
- March 13, 2012
Gaia acknowledged Pi Day. Posting 3.14159265 or even just quoting a post with the number granted the animation of getting hit with a large pie and a Pizza pie item.[9]
- May 4, 2012
In reference to the Summer blockbusters, Gaia asked "Star Wars vs. The Avengers: which is cooler?".[10][11] By using 'trigger words' that related to each movie and being quoted, resulted in a label being placed below the avatar. Along with the event, two items were released.
- September 7, 2012
In relation to the previous college events through the summer and Quikkitch, this event involved the House Town mascots. Gaians could be changed into a mascot by using the "Change User" button. By changing another user, the changer eventually earned a mascot skin.
Trivia
- Before the the dolls were bought by various Gaians the SDPlus Real S09 DARKNRGY lowest buy price was in the 20k range.
- Some took the message from Gaia Staff as a form of Artificial Inflation, something that is largely frowned upon.
- Panarammic explained that there is an inside joke at the office about the marketplace value of various SD dolls.
- Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop-R&B singer.
- The disease was given various nicknames by Gaians; B-Virus and Bieber Fever being the most common. The term B-Virus was meant to parody the G-Virus, a disease that is largely responsible for the creation of zombies on Gaia.
- Before a cure was created, it was thought that quoting someone without the red text would remove the text, this was false. Another theory was that equipping an Animated Item would remove the text, this was also false as it only rendered it invisible, however this lead to some Gaians to trick others into quoting them, thus infecting an unsuspected Gaian.
Gallery
![[NPC] Chorlie Shane](/wiki/File:2k11_Miscavatar_ChorlieShane.png "2k11 Miscavatar ChorlieShane.png (13 KB)"){kind=avatar}
![[NPC] Tigerblood](/wiki/File:2k11_Miscavatar_Tigerblood.png "2k11 Miscavatar Tigerblood.png (27 KB)"){kind=avatar}
See also
- Gaia Staff post: Quote Transmitted Disease
References
- ↑ Dev Notices: DARKNRGY Dolls
- ↑ Dev Notices: DARKNRGY Recap
- ↑ Dev Notices: Guild Modifications
- ↑ Dev Notices: Breaking News! - Bieber Fever
- ↑ Gaia Thread: Wait, how do I get Tiger blood?
- ↑ Gaia Thread: The Catheads Gallery
- ↑ Dev Notices: SOPA & Censorship
- ↑ Dev Notices: Quikkitch
- ↑ Dev Notices: Pi Day 2012
- ↑ Announcement: Star Wars vs. The Avengers: which is cooler?
- ↑ YouTube: May the Fourth Be With You
External link
Considered praise
- Gaia Thread (GCD): The B-Virus and QTDs
- Gaia Thread (SF): More Office Humor Please~ Support DEV WARS!!!
- Gaia Thread (SF): BIEBERVIRUS. Amusing - Could this influence future events?
Considered criticism
- Gaia Thread (GCD): Dev Alert Butt-Hurt?
- Gaia Thread (SF): I preferred more serious Dev Alerts.
- Gaia Thread (SF): The Justin Bieber Virus event offended me
Quote Transmitted Disease