I got an OMG for christmas.
My mom says she can't take me seriously when I talk to her and wear that thing.
Anyway, this got me wondering. How do they make these OMG hats? I figured I'd take a walk on down to AniHQ to see where and how they are made.
First of all, if you go to AniHQ don't expect to just get ushered in and then be free to do as you please. They won't let you do that. They give you tours down there.
So, here I am, in a group of about me plus seven other people. Eight in all, well, nine if you count our tour guide. She welcomes us to AniHQ, asks which of us are users on Gaia (Listen lady, if I wasn't from Gaia why would I be here?) and then she commences to tell us about what Gaia is. Hello? We're all from Gaia, we already know what it is.
I figure she's just delaying us from finding out how all the OMG's are made. Just giving those admins a chance to clean up after themselves. So, the tour guide lady says that we need these little name tag with both our real names and our user names. So I write down "Cid High-Wind" and slap the thing on my chest, arms crossed. The lady comes up to me an tells me I need to write my real name down.
Why? It's not like I'll ever see her again. So I just scribble some random mark down and say that is my name
Finally, when we're all set to go the tour lady asks us "Are there any questions before we begin?"
My hand shoots up.
Her: Yes?
Me: How are OMG's made?
Her: *hesitantly* I....I wouldn't know...I've only been working here a few days.
Psssh, yeah right. She's probably been working here for a year. I know I saw some shifty eye action back there. So she takes us on the tour. I guess I'll just have to figure it out the hard way. By myself!
Anyway, she takes on a tour of the building, showing us where Gaian item creation is. It's a place where a bunch of people sit around and draw pictures of what upcoming donation items and other store items should look like. We weren't allowed to see upcoming donation items, but we did see how the angelic scarf was created. The guy who did it, pretty much just came up with the idea on paper, drew it and then the admins approved it. Way simple. I want this job. I happened to notice that a lot of people there weren't even working. They were just standing around talking a lot.
The next area was where the items came alive. A bunch of people on computers coloring pixels. The tour guide went into a lengthy discussion on how it all works, but I was too busy looking for anything on OMG production. So far, I was empty handed.
And so the tour went on, and I kept on coming up with nothing. Well, I wasn't going to leave without knowing how OMG's where made. Finally, the tour guide announced the "biggest" part of the tour.
Meeting the admins.
If I couldn't get an answer from anywhere else, it would have to be found out here.
We entered the room, and there were not a lot of computers, nut just enough for each admin. A table in the center of the room filled with various food stuffs. Stuff to drink ranging from juice to beer. Of course, we were told we couldn't eat or drink any of it.
The tour guide walked up to one guy and said, "This is someone you might recognize from Gaia. His name is Derek, or as you might know him, Lanzer."
Immediately, the other seven people surged forward and began asking questions. Lanzer was patient enough to answer most of them. But I had one burning question that had yet to be answered. I slowly came forward and looked at Lanzer. Square in the eye, I asked him...
"How are OMG's made?"
He hesitated.
"And why would you want to know that?"
I looked at him. "I dunno...I was just curious."
He looked at me for a few seconds more, some silent exchange going between us.
"Alright...if you want to know, come with me."
So we followed him into the next room over. Then he pointed to a table and said...
"See, Ling and L0cke make them."
At the table, there sat L0cke and Ling, both with sewing machines in front of them, a pile of OMG's already at their sides.
"But...isn't L0cke supposed to do art?" I asked.
Lanzer looked at me.
"Yes, but we have no need for art at this moment. So he helps Ling with OMG hat making."
This didn't satisfy me.
"But what about AFK's? Kiki's? Grunny's? Surly the two of them don't make them all."
"My...you sure are curious. "Lanzer stated. He suddenly picked up a two way radio that was on his belt.
"Get security." he stated.
I looked up in shock.
"Security? What for? I'm a member of Gaia, I have a right to know these things!"
Lanzer looked over at the tour guide.
"Take the others back in the other room. I'll be with them in a second."
The tour guide nodded and I watched everyone else leave.
Suddenly, another man made his appearance in the room, running in quickly, holding a small pile of paper.
Lanzer walked over to him. Although he was speaking in hushed tones, I could still make out what he was saying.
"Long, we got one that's onto us. I called security so he shouldn't be around much longer." Lanzer glanced back my way for a second, then looked back at the man, who I now knew was VO. "And tell them to shut-up!"
VO looked over at me, then he looked at my name tag.
"Cid High-Wind?" he asked.
I looked at him curiously.
"Didn't you PM me once?" he asked.
"Yeah," I began, "Thanking you for the site. I was also one of the many people who signed your thank you card for giving up your Christmas to make sure we had a caroling event."
VO nodded. "I see your name around in the GCD sometimes." He looked back at Lanzer. "Let's just show him, he already knows."
"Guys, I'm not-" I began, but VO cut me off.
"It's alright, I'll show you. Lanzer, tell security to take off, and get back to the tour. Cid, follow me."
And so I did. This was better then I expected. I followed him through a few hallways and some other rooms before we came to a door labeled, "OMG Hat Production". He opened the door and I followed in. I noticed that we stood on a platform over looking a large room, with many, many sewing machines. Each sewing machine had a worker, furiously sticking black thread and fabric through the machines.
"Thirty cents an hour, and they never complain." VO told me.
"Sweat shop factory workers?" I asked.
"Yeah," he stated. "We give them food and water sometimes, but they mostly fend for themselves."
I couldn't believe it. Sweat shop factory workers in AniHQ...in America!
"Isn't minimum wage 7 dollars and 25 cents an hour or something like that?" I questioned.
"Shut up!" Vo exclaimed, "They might hear you!"
With all the sewing, I didn't think they would be able too.
"But..." Vo said, and it was obvious that he had something in mind. "I can't let you leave knowing about this."
And so now...here I work. For thirty cents an hour I make AFK's, OMG's and other shirts and things. We get some computer time, so I'm still around. But, hey, at least the thirty cents is coming out of VO's pocket. :D