Ask the admin (06/13/2011)

[Lanzer]

Hello everyone, welcome to this weeks's ATA!

Summer is finally here! New movies, conventions, and warm sunny days. Anyone made plans for the holidays?

Friends chat had just been released, did everyone got to play with it yet?

[Panagrammic]

Woot! First! I mean -- lurking, will snipe questions.

[Existential Existence]

Hi Lanzer!

A while ago you guys were talking about the <3/</3 system and mentioned re-evaluating the system. Are there any updates on that item?

Recently I found a user on Gaia who made a lot of cool game-content out of some pre-existing programs. With gold I was able to commission a shooting game from them featuring Agatha and Logan. There are a ton of other small games that they could customize and make and I thought that this was really neat. It also got me thinking of all the really cool content other users around Gaia make for other Gaians out of the goodness of their hearts. Do you think it is possible to hold a contest looking for (and featuring) some of the best user-made content on/around Gaia (with group entries and individual entries)? This was a suggestion made by another user. Also in general are there any plans over the summer for more user-centered contests on Gaia, such as the cosplay contest from last year or item making contests?

Also recently today people have been unable to get their music to autoplay on their profile anymore. Do you (or Pan if he's lurking) know if this is permanent or just a temporary glitch?



Add: Great job on the friend space update! And the MoGa update. And the CI. And a lot of other things razz

[CleoSombra]

Hi, Lanzer and friends.

You know the <3/</3 rating system? Have you considered making it an optional for thread creators to choose from? Some users, myself included, feel that the voting system is inappropriate in some circumstances and easily abused in others. Some people feel like the rating system shouldn’t be in forums like Life Issues or the art shop forums. In LI, some very mean people will down-vote threads for no apparent reason, which only further hurts people who are going through rough times. Some art shops are attacked by a series of down-voters, even before they officially open their shop. The more </3 hearts a person has, the worse it is for their business.

There are times when people downvote for an arbitrary reason or no reason at all. I’ve posted thread before that were rather long, taking 6+ minutes to read . . . and in less than 90 seconds of posting them, they’d have five negative votes, indicative of people who are voting, but not reading.

If votes “didn’t matter” or could just be brushed off, we wouldn’t have the system in the first place.

The nice thing about polls was that it gave thread owners the chance to ask questions to the people in the thread in an anonymous, easy fashion. Now this is a feature forced upon them, and the options to choose from are nothing short of vague.

It appears that this ability is already possessed by admins. I, and more than 500 Gaians are requesting that this ability be extended to all users or that some change be made to reduce the abuse that goes on. It’s frustrating to put your heart or mind into the creation of a thread only to have it crushed for any reason by anyone.

[One and Nineteen More]

I have just a few questions today!

1. When will zOMG! get the love it deserves? neutral

2. Is it possible to get a salon update that takes RIG/EI/MC hair and chops it up?
I made a thread about it with examples, and people seem to like it. On a side note, can we please, please get some facial hair for the gold shops?

3. Instead of rapidly bringing out new features, why don't you guys work on the old ones?
Lots of your old features are broken. Please stop ignoring them for the new features you want to create?
And even of the old features AREN'T broken, update them. D:

4. Any thought on recycling usernames from accounts abandoned for 5+ years/banned/never activated email after 5 years? You could send out a standard email saying "If you don't log on/activate your account soon, you could lose your username!". If they don't log on, their username would be changed to a random number code sent in the email.

5. Where are my Jet Set Radio Future items!? scream

[ROMVLVS]

Hey Lanzer, we're limited to three questions, right? That doesn't count as one.

Anyway, my questions are:

1) Why don't you take towns down and remake it from the beginning? You can update the engine it's on and make money by selling plots of land for GC. Make it so you can buy a special 'permit' to live in certain areas. You can also buy a 'permit' to make your house bigger. These permits should be buyable only with cash and be able to be sold on the marketplace so no one's left out. One of the permits will let you put your house in Durem.

2) Why don't you make a space invaders game? Only Gaia-like. The first two rows are vampire bats for 1 gold. The next two rows are Zurg UFOs for 2 gold. The last two rows are Zurg mothershils or something. Every once in a while [NPC] Flynn will float over the top to give you between 5-30 gold. Each level gives you a free life.

3) Can you give out any new info on a summer event?

[SuperSailorStarlightKiss]

Will the winner of the 2008 winter poetry contest in the gaia writing arena ever be announced? It’s still open for voting, and it’s already 2011. It isn’t fair to the people who participated in earnest to be kept waiting for so long. sad

edit: I'm really not trying to come off as rude, but I've been trying to post in AtA for seriously 3 months, and every time I am able to be at my compy on monday, it seemed like there was never one, and conversely when I wasn't able to be at my computer, there WOULD be one. I developed a little bit of a complex over that.

[CleoSombra]

As an administrator, go order someone to make this happen:





Edit: Edit fail. sweatdrop

[Damien_The_Omen]

Due to the arrogant & unwarranted complaints seen from certain zOMG players who became butthurt about things like gold nerfing & mini-boss augmenting, the game has been warped to the point where it's next to impossible to find a crew who actually wants to play the game as it was designed to BE played.

My question is, is it entirely possible to make zOMG significantly less accommodating, or hopefully completely unappealing for people who play for no other purpose than to find new ways to abuse it, other players, or even the site's economy in general?

Developers, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but......zOMG was designed as a community game, and WASN'T made for people to do these things, right? >_>

[BrilliantBlueStar_0]

Hello Everyone,

A few questions:

1> How much will Google have to do with Gaia from this point forward? Any word on that?

2> Panagrammic, you mentioned something about bonuses dropping - What are your plans on that? Gradually, all at once, or maybe have you changed your mind?

3> Panagrammic, you said something about a meeting or thread we could discuss FB interaction with Gaia, would you mind to please post that here - again?

5> DJ Helsing, when did you say Frontier Skies would most likely come out - about July?

6> I have placed an order with Gaia Online Store (Pactful) but have not heard back from them - is this normal? It's been at least a week and not sure who to contact - Thanks!

Lanzer - Hope you had some good Chinese Food in China - When we have visited CA on a number of occassions due to hubby's training in the Bay area, we had the best Chinese food compared to TN - they would bring a new white table set-up and new dishes after each person's meal - fancy ^-^

Wanted to say, if original developers are gone, and you guys are fixing things, I can appreciate what you are going through and a HUGE THANKS to all of your hard work and one day, I hope to see you at a Convention!! Thanks for your Time!!!

EDIT: I'm sorry, I didn't know we had a 3 question limit - it won't happen again... Sorry (hangs head....)

[BrilliantBlueStar_0]

CleoSombra

Hi, Lanzer and friends.

You know the <3/</3 rating system? Have you considered making it an optional for thread creators to choose from? Some users, myself included, feel that the voting system is inappropriate in some circumstances and easily abused in others. Some people feel like the rating system shouldn’t be in forums like Life Issues or the art shop forums. In LI, some very mean people will down-vote threads for no apparent reason, which only further hurts people who are going through rough times. Some art shops are attacked by a series of down-voters, even before they officially open their shop. The more </3 hearts a person has, the worse it is for their business.

There are times when people downvote for an arbitrary reason or no reason at all. I’ve posted thread before that were rather long, taking 6+ minutes to read . . . and in less than 90 seconds of posting them, they’d have five negative votes, indicative of people who are voting, but not reading.

If votes “didn’t matter” or could just be brushed off, we wouldn’t have the system in the first place.

The nice thing about polls was that it gave thread owners the chance to ask questions to the people in the thread in an anonymous, easy fashion. Now this is a feature forced upon them, and the options to choose from are nothing short of vague.

It appears that this ability is already possessed by admins. I, and more than 500 Gaians are requesting that this ability be extended to all users or that some change be made to reduce the abuse that goes on. It’s frustrating to put your heart or mind into the creation of a thread only to have it crushed for any reason by anyone.

This is a good question, because I too believe they can down vote on purpose with their friends - kinda like in the Arenas (getting their friends to vote for them)... Can't be controlled there but I like having the Poll idea myself

[Platonix]

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[Siefren]

I have a question concerning the Evolving Item, Forteanagoria.

Forteanagoria was on a 3 week evolution pattern, and for the past 8 or so weeks, it has not evolved even once. I think it last evolved back in April. But the latter generations of this item particularly 7-9 are the ones that have not evolved, but 7 and 8 were suppose to have fully evolved by now, and 9 would finish evolving this week.

I want to know what is wrong with this item, and the reasons why Forteanagoria's Generations 7 - 9 have not evolved like they should have. I have these items so this is very important to me.

Can you please give me some reasoning behind why generations 7 - 9 have not evolved, and if they will ever evolve?

[Anaella]

Just a couple things to ask today.

-We were told quite some time ago that stellarite would re-purposed for something else. Any news on what that will be and when it will be implemented?

-I've heard that in the 2nd portion of the Summer events there will be a large amount of NPCs to choose from. Will the Holiday trio be included?

[ubermegAtrOn]

BrilliantBlueStar

Hello Everyone,
5> DJ Helsing, when did you say Frontier Skies would most likely come out - about July?

Frontier Skies is currently being beta tested, and should be ready for re-release in the very near future. We'll post an announcement upon launch.