How did Midorea begin?

[GypRosetti]

I was reading the history of gaiaonline and learned about the men behind it and how it got started, I then pretty much research any similar site like it, a few have the same art style but Midorea is completely different the art style is unique.

How difficult is it to build a website/forum/Avatar & have it stand out against the competition.

Would love to hear about the beginning and the building basically.

(yes I know some is in the FAQ but not very detailed)

[Chu]

I've been around since the beta of Mido, but I was just a normal member then, so I don't know about the full story.

I'm pretty sure that Catghost created Midorea after another avatar site (Eternal Nox?) died. Other than that, I don't know much about it. Maybe she'll post and share something.

[neomattlac]

Yes. If anyone knows the history of Mido, it's Catghost.

[Catghost]

I always found the story behind Gaia interesting. Still amazed it's been 10 years since they opened, and even more amazed that I join nearly 8 years ago. Doesn't seem that long ago.

As for the beginning, there were a lot of factors involved that sparked the making of Mido. Mainly it was other avatar sites that I worked for prior as an artist. They were poorly managed, and made me realize that if these people could run a site... Why can't I? So I pretty much ditched working for other people and started working on my own, which was probably around April/May of 2008. It was mainly just ideas and such. One of my friends from Eternal Nox joined me in working on it over the summer also, so that kinda boosted production. The main thing we were attempting with Mido was doing something unique, which sounds like we managed to accomplished, so I am glad to hear that.

We worked a lot on coming up with the story and world too, which is one direction I think not a lot of avatar sites seem to consider. Midorea is suppose to be this grand new world that you become a part of - not an extension of our current world/time, basically. It has it's own story and characters, but is shaped by the actions of the users.

As for the actual creation process, it was not that difficult in the beginning. A definite learning curve for sure, as I had no knowledge of PHP/mySQL, and very limited CSS+html skills. But at that time there were a lot more forums for phpbb help and development, and avatar sites were popping up left and right, which is something I credit for actually allowing Mido to become a reality. Over time though, as we grew, more things had to be fixed and added. We needed new content created, we started having events, and we also started releasing relics. Not only that, but the layout changed drastically during just the first year.
It was very hard figuring out how to do things at first, but over time we developed our own ways and it's gotten a lot easier. Mainly event planning. xD We kind of have "ways" in which we do things, you know?

But owning and running an avatar site is a full time commitment, especially if you don't have a very big team/or are the main person doing the coding/art. It's not something you do to make money, not at first anyway. And honestly, having a decent knowledge of art, programming, running a business and social networking are skills you NEED to run an avatar site. Unless you have plenty of spare cash that you can pay other people to do it for you. Which most avatar sites don't.

And yes, Eternal Nox is where we got a lot of out inspiration. xD including bigger avatars as well as our battle system game. (in fact we use the same one as they did) But Nox didn't close until august 08, though there was a definite decline in activity and updates during the months prior. :c Still makes me sad to think about.

if there's anything I didn't go over, let me know. xD there's a lot but i tried to cover the basics.
are you planning on starting an avatar site?