Gaia Interactive has announced that its online community Gaia Online has been expanded with the launch of a closed beta for a casual MMO, and has announced that the upcoming title's official name is to be zOMG!.

10,000 community members will be able to participate in the beta program, selected from 120,000 applications received since April.

zOMG! has been in development since 2006, and is a flash-based environment that is to be released for free and require no downloads. Players are to interact in zOMG! by engaging in quests, battling monsters, exploring the world and socializing with friends. zOMG! also serves as an extension of the Gaia Online virtual world, extending current Gaia Online offerings such as mini games, customizable avatars and forums.

“Our Gaian community is loyal, vocal and not afraid to ask for what they want,” said David Georgeson, senior developer of zOMG! at Gaia Online. “It only makes sense for online worlds to place a huge emphasis on community involvement. In our case, they aren’t just the people who will play the game; they’re the ones who asked for it.”