Characters can put on rings that they find in the world in order to gain special powers. The characters can then explore the world or engage in combat against creatures in the world, which is populated with inanimate objects such as mushrooms or lawn-ornament gnomes that have come to life.

The world has a number of towns where players can peacefully explore and interact. They can, for instance, gather around a fountain and listen to a melody and then try to replay it as a group, as in the old "Simon" game. The further they get away from the towns, the more they engage in combat. Players can take the items they win after successful combat and then sell them in the towns or use them to build virtual goods. (Virtual goods sales are one way that the company makes money on the free online hangout).

The characters can engage in deeper adventures and follow a storyline from beginning to end with groups of friends. But Georgeson views it as a "light MMO," or one that is casual enough in its game play for people to play a little bit at a time and not all-consuming like fantasy role-playing games such as Blizzard's "World of Warcraft." Over time, Georgeson's team will release more and more environments, goods and other content for the world.

Gaia Online started in 2003 as a place where kids could go to enjoy comics. The community has blossomed into a virtual community, with a dozen stores, 37 Adobe Flash-based games, and an eBay-like market for virtual goods. There are a half million new posts daily in the site's community forums. And Sherman said gaia online gold is the No. 2 art community on the web with 100,000 virtual goods auctioned daily. On a dollar basis, about ?1 million in virtual goods transactions take place each month. Sherman said those stats show that it is a more active place than many of the biggest social networks.

After the MMO launches this summer, Sherman said the company will move on to the next thing that its users want: virtual pets.