Ask the admin (02/22/2011)

[IMANOOT]

Have some questions/concerns/plain curiosity.

Quote:

1. Do you plan on updating the Current template profile to remove the option to add the panel for the no longer existent VJ feature?
   
   
2. I've noticed some issues with the CSS that can't be used with at least the Current profile template because of the filter you use.
   • Some things that can't use the first level select ">", the double quote "
     
     --The current filter is a serious hindrance to creating an effective less code is more layout, will this be changed and when can we expect to see that change?
   
   
   
3. Why is there no report option for profiles? I have seen many profiles with flashing images, remove navigation parts (if not the whole nav bar), offers of cybering, users stating they're under age, sexually explicit images. I see these all the time, and its not very effective to PM a moderator with the profile in violation as PMs can easily get overlooked. I even started a thread in the SC forum, which I don't see why it wouldn't, from a logical standpoint, be there to begin with.
   
   
4. Once in a while in a rare glitch, on the Current profile tamplate, the page will grab the beginning content from a custom or media panel and try to use it as a background for the root HTML element in the default "/* User-chosen Profile Theme */" part of the embedded CSS.
   
   
5. Do you actually plan on updating the social networking side of Gaia?
   • Have the ability to add friends to self-created user groups.
     
     --This would go great with this proposal Friend Arranger
     
     
   • That we have the ability to hide/lock content from the general public, from the public, specific users, user groups, or everybody.
     
     --e.g. the about section from the public, friends of friends, etc. While displaying interests to them, friends lists, etc. Sure you can use CSS to "hide" it. But, its still in the HTML, and disabling the CSS on Classic profiles would reveal the content. But this method also hides it from everybody.
     
     
   • Have the ability to allow your status visible on your profile, like if you set a status that you'll be away from Gaia for a while as a status, it can be set on your profile based on account settings of who can see what type of content based on who they are and what group their in (same as stated above)
     
     
   • The ignore system is broken. There's a whole SC thread about this check it out
     
     -- The whole social side feels like it needs a serious overhaul on privacy and organization. I hate to reference it but, Facebook has better settings and so does Google+. I do understand the time and resources going into this would be a downside, but without progress how could you expect the site to keep going in the long run?
     
     
   • Do you plan on re-organizing the account settings pages? I see notification settings for stories, gold, Aquarium, etc on the front page of the account settings, but there's a notices page already. As well why not use AJAX to load data to a single page when a link is clicked?
     
   
   
6. And speaking of "friends list", on the friends page it use to be that we would only see 15 of our friends, that number was increased to fifty. However, now if you have less than 50 friends the page stretches. The table row elements are static in the page, why? This means that you have to scroll down to the bottom to use the remove button or move to top buttons, and I have seen in the Q&A forum where new users and even some older users who weren't aware of this. So why are the elements static to the page instead of generated on the fly, on a per-friend basis?
   
   
7. Why is Backyard Monsters out of date? If you go to FaceBook or G+ you can see they have a couple of additional things. Such as having a backyard in hell, and having a champion chamber, other monsters get additional abilities. Here's my biggest concern about it, we spend all that time leveling up the champion and if we want to switch it we have to juice it and start all over, which can be a serious issue if you're a high level because then your near defenseless to other high levels. So its a lot of time wasted if you want to change champions. As well what about users that happen to buy their champion levels, that's money wasted.
   
   
8. Can we expect to see an "outfits" arranger? I know I'm not the only one who has done this, create a more favored avatar outfit later, and want to move it towards the front. But to do so you must delete outfits before it.
   
   
9. This would be a rather small update, but can we get a link to send a new message on the mail tab? Either before the "inbox" link or after the "saved" link.
   
   
10. Something that should definitely be pointed out is that the staff, (you guys), keep asking for feedback for events. For instance, the Halloween event. You said you took past events and combined them to make the best event by far. But anybody that was around for Halloween of '09 knows that, that the Halloween event for that year was the best event by far, and the most interactive while being fun. Yes, Gaia is a forum based site, and I'm not saying to not have forum based events with it, but the events need more interactivity like with the Overseer and S.I.N battle, where it was a constant power struggle. That event, for anybody that was around when it happened, pretty much set the bar for how events should be. And it just feels the events since then have been a bit of a let down with user interactivity on things you can do.
    
    
11. In the forums, some threads get scrollbars if for instance the ending text has a smaller than average font size, example. There are also other parts of a post that will get a scrollbar for instance floating something to the right and having a small font-size. Will this be fixed?
    

Sorry for the long post sweatdrop

[Yeata Zi]

Am I the only person who is ridiculously excited to see other people use E-Corp tactics?

*wiggles*

[Hi-Potion]

I would really like these questions answered. The first is rather important.

Hi-Potion

Ello! Three things!
So, yeah, I just was wondering what happened with the Homestuck fiasco? I was taking with Rachel today (she's Andrew Hussie's girlfriend, she also handles his copyrights) and she informed me that she was approached by a Gaia artist, who said that they could not talk about legal matters and was never heard from again, nor was she forwarded to anyone who could talk about legal matters. And, honestly Gaia higher-ups, this seems kinda dodgey. Why hasnt anyone talked to her? I mean, the items are clearly Homestuck inspiried, and even though clip-art cannot be copyrighted, they were still clearly borrowed from Andrew Hussie's work andif the artists wishes to adress you about the matter, they still have a right to be contacted and not brushed aside. I mean, you guys even contacted that Bento Bunny lady, who obviously stole those designs from other places since they were not her original idea, but you still avoid talking with Hussie? I mean, it's been months and no progress has been made as of yet. So, could someone, not some dinky artist, but someone who can talk legal issues or whatever talk with Rachel, please? Anyways, her email is: [e-mail]
I would appreciate if someone would just talk things over with her, she's been really patient with this, even if her co-worker hasnt been. I've been a Gaia fan and benefactor much longer then I have been a Homestuck fan and really hope that the right thing will be done.

Also, when will we see Crosstitch open up? All of the designs looked so cool! Plus its such an amazing idea! Who will the NPC running it be?

And, lastly, will we ever see a RIG with an international clothing theme? Ive seen alot of Gaians requesting this, in the GCD atleast, plus itd be a cool way to release stuff that wouldnt go into Josie's shop.


OH! One more thing! Im involved with alot of local, small cons in the bay area, and I was wondering how we could get some fliers and price cards to hand out to those events?

[siskataya]

scullylam

siskataya

*lurking too* Just letting you know I'm following along! biggrin

hi sisky! biggrin want some popcorn?

Hiya scully - sure, popcorn sounds great! Hope you are doing well by the way biggrin *munches on popcorn8

[scullylam]

Yeata Zi

Am I the only person who is ridiculously excited to see other people use E-Corp tactics?

*wiggles*

*munches popcorn* i'm enjoying just reading along..... xd

[Yeata Zi]

xcrimsonlegendx

Existential Existence

xcrimsonlegendx

Oh and at some point please roll the gluttonous mass known as Diedrich off a cliff.
heart

Problem?
;D

Naw, I'd just love to see that ball of disturbance explode. Not unlike a water balloon full of mayonnaise striking the side of a delivery truck.
emotion_awesome

This mental image? Yeah... It made me a little sick to my stomach.

High five?

[Darkaznstargoddess]

1. What have Ling, L0cke, VO and Lanzer been up to? I remember the days when they did the announcements instead of the admin npc. As a 04 user, I felt more connected when the announcements were personalized and yeah fill us in, what have they been up to?? Also heard that Ling and L0cke got married a few years ago [Late congrats to them! whee ]

2. I've been curious about this for awhile but is Gaia a public or private company??

3. I noticed several vampire and werewolf items, do some of the artists have a Twilight-fedish?

4. At Gaia HQ, are cats more popular than dogs?
-points to Kiki and all of kiki's feline friends-

5. And some zOMG related questions.

5A. I've been hearing different messages about zOmgs from different people, so I am hoping you will clarify this by providing me the stats. How many users on average logon to Gaiaonline daily? And how many play zooms daily for 2012? I've been hearing too many users cry, "gaiaa is dying" just because zOMG is on hiatus but I disagree with them Gaia= Avatar and Forumsite. Yes I am well aware that zOMG has a strong and vocal following, but I wonder how big is the following.

5B. And I noticed there is even more conflicting information about the finical status of zOMG, from not breaking even or meeting quota or profiting. Can you provide an estimated cost to run it and revenue generated by it? If numbers are not possible, can you provide an official statement on the fiances? At least make an official statement. ^^; I'm a bit confused at the moment. [Feel free to pinch both swarf and jk ]

Swarf: " Second, money. I don't think anyone disagrees that if we spent more time on zOMG we could make more money. Enough to pay for the resources necessary? Depends how you look at it. To the best of my knowledge zOMG made more in 2011 than the salary and server costs involved in the work done for zOMG. Enough right? But resources at a company are not valued based on their costs; rather they're valued by the investment potential. If Gaia sees a chance to strike it big with a facebook or iphone game that requires my programming or JK's art, the benefit from zOMG revenue has to be weighed against potential growth in the other project. The difficulty is that zOMG may be a reliable way to get a relatively small amount of money, but how much can we ever expect from it? What if we double our income? Or triple? It makes a very humble amount now, far less than RIGs or other Gaia virtual items. Can we double what we made in 2011? I'm hopeful that we could. But is that enough to justify doing that instead of something else? Monster Galaxy got into the top 10 games on facebook and I'm sure that Gaia's investors are hoping for an even bigger success from our next games."
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/zomg-gaia-s-mmo/if-only-gaia-hq-had-some-sense-swarf-does/t.78017099_37/#37


JK: "Why did this development happen? It's pretty much a mix between the fact that creating new content for zOMG requires a lot of resources (we were only able to release DMS with our tiny team because most of the assets and a lot of the game balancing were already finished) and Gaia doesn't have these resources to spare currently, and the fact that the zOMG in general hasn't met Gaia HQ's expectations in terms of revenue and popularity. You have to remember that it took a team of nearly 20 people 3 years to develop this game and similar features that took a much smaller team only a few months to develop have more users and generate more revenue for the company. Please keep in mind that I am explaining the reasoning of the company to halt production on zOMG for now... my personal opinion is that zOMG has the potential to be amazing and has an amazing passionate community, and I would really have liked to continue working on it."
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/zomg-gaia-s-mmo/current-situation-with-zomg/t.78006895_1/#1

5C. Who should we trouble to cycle the servers? sweatdrop

[Uncle Kenny]

*looms*

[DARKNRGY]

Mademoiselle Kit

Dear Admins;

I am going to be frank with you; we of the Zomg community are angry. We feel we have not been treated fairly. We put work and effort into promoting our game through word of mouth and with our wallets, and yet time and time and again our favorite game is shunted into a corner.

Now with the removal of all our devs, it is clear that our game will be left to rot unless we do something.

Need I remind you guys the contributions we made to promote our game:

- Getting our request to hire a new Zomg dev in the spring cleaning forum to 5000 cookies; the second thread to do so
- Supporting zomg with our wallets; may I remind you of the time we sold out the 5000 bloodstone amulets in DAYS, earning $20k for zomg? Where did all that money go if it didn't go to saving our game?
- Getting new people to play zomg all the time; according to swarf, there is a steady trickle of new players each week. So why isn't Gaia supporting them by fixing glitches/giving us hope of new content?
- With the release of DMS, zomg traffic increased as well as revenue. If this revenue hasn't been going to zomg, then WHERE HAS IT BEEN GOING? We were told all zomg money went to development of zomg. It is clear we have been lied to.

According to swarf, it would not be difficult to keep up development on zomg, inclding development of new areas, with only a few devs. Yet despite this, Gaia has pulled ALL OF OUR DEVS, giving us no hope at all for an update to the game. Zomg is not like fishing or other Gaia games. Zomg is a MMO, and MMOs NEED updates to survive.

I am beginning to suspect that all this time, despite what we did, despite the suggestions we gave, the HQ seems to want zomg to fail. That is the biggest slap in the face after this whole thing. We were given some hope after the success of DMS, after selling the amulets and the increase in traffic. And yet after all we've done, to have our last devs taken away? It's like we are being told they don't care.

This is a fair warning: the zomg community is FURIOUS about this new development. Step inside the forums and see for yourself. We are a passionate community, willing to give money and support to our favorite game, and we WILL NOT stand for this. You have been warned.

Do you remember five years ago, Gaia? Back in 07 when it was annouced that zomg was in development? The "battle system" was Gaia's baby. It was the first game where you could step into the Gaia world. After having been on Gaia since 2005, the first time I stepped into Barton and saw that town, virtually animated where I could walk around...I cried. I cried because it finally made Gaia real.

Why are you abandoning what was once your baby, Gaia? Why must you constantly make new features, then let them lay into waste and never update or fix them? Why must you whore yourself out for facebook games, when the majority of people on this site don't care about the facebook games?

Yeah, I know it's frustrating. We wanted zOMG to be more successful and that's why the challenges were laid out. There is a trickle of new users, but the number of users leaving is larger and the total daily users continues to drop. DMS had some effect, but not what we were hoping for. We are not seeing growth or even steady state.

Any money purchased through Gaia goes to Gaia. While we compartmentalize projects in terms of revenues, etc, money from one area is not systematically directed to any particular project.

Development for zOMG is complex from a technical and creative standpoint. Development is just one aspect of production and even that requires specialized knowledge, special tools which are difficult to revive, etc. There are some things that are easy, however, and I'd like to explore those options with the team.

[Lanzer]

Teh Savior

Why are oni sets still soulbound?

The item is still available from the Fortune egg and from other CI, though it was originally a soul bound item and we're at a spot where if we change it now it'll also upset those who expect the item to continue being soul bound.

[Roderich Edelstein]

I read in an old post that the empty slots in the Towns housing neighborhoods were kept empty on purpose with the hint that something special might happen there.

I assume this idea has been scratched, but I'm still curious... What was going to be put there? Does anyone remember?

((Also the topic of this ATA says 2011 not 2012 ;w; ))

[Sakura Latte]

siskataya

*lurking too* Just letting you know I'm following along! biggrin

So out of curiosity, when will a Health and Fitness forum be made? whee

[Teh Savior]

Lanzer

Teh Savior

Why are oni sets still soulbound?

The item is still available from the Fortune egg and from other CI, though it was originally a soul bound item and we're at a spot where if we change it now it'll also upset those who expect the item to continue being soul bound.

Personally, I got most of mine from the snow apple, that thing was popping em out like no tomorrow.
It might upset people at first if you make it tradable, but then again, you'd really only be annoying elitists. Is that really such a bad thing?

[Anne Packrat]

Can we please get rabid elk offspring for our Antlered Lord? Carl would make an incredible (if insane) father!

[Fractale]

emo I miss slow-paced ATA. Too many outside communities moving in on GCD's turf.