PLEASE READ AND RESPOND
Hi, when I saw the club verge thing pop up, I was a little more than peeved.
There are several more things on gaia that needed to be worked on (things that are brought up every ATA), such as the inventory editor, guild updates, and zOMG. Instead of seeing one of those updating, which have been in the queue for updates since the dawn of civilization, we instead see what can only be percieved as a money grab attempt. I will applaud you on the ideology behind it. Target a specific group of gaians who are known to spend gold and creating a guild just for them, making them feel special and whatnot. And then giving them their own store with ridiculous prices. As much as you say this wasn't the reason behind it, I would have to disagree. "They have benefits over other gaians and birthday items and whatnot". And you still have a targeted group with access to a never-ending black friday sale.
Instead of recognizing those who have been on gaia since it's inception, or just older gaians in general.... you give these people recognition for often having deep pockets.
You no longer focus on the people anymore. It is all about maximizing Gaiaonline's profit gain. While we community has been asking you for specific work or specific parts of gaia, you blow them off and give them more ways to spend money. Since when have we had a rapid EI every two weeks?? You completely have most of us worried that Gaia is tanking fiscally and this is a last stitch effort to get back where you are supposed to be money-wise to run the company.
The reason why zOMG was profitable was that it was rarely updated. Playing the same limited game over and over with a small community will obviously get boring and you would lose player base just due to that alone. It is almost as if you half-do a project, and just ignore it thinking that "well my baby is out in the world, and no matter what, it will bring us money".
Basically, this Club Verge thing annoyed me since:
1) Gaians who play on here, chat with everyone, are helpful to the rest of the users, and who were dedicated also deserve the same recognition.
2) We have been asking for updates for zOMG, the Inventory Editor, the Guilds, and several other parts of gaia and it's always been pushed on the back burner.
3) Recently you released the Angelic Halo making claims that not only did it release more to the public, but that the halo was just an elitist symbol. And yet, you just made an "elitist" club.
My two requests are that you update those parts of gaia that NEED to be updated....and if Gaia is tanking....please give us some warning. Not weeks, but months. Fiscal projections ftw.
If you have any questions or clarifications, I am sure the rest of the ATA would like to know, or you can feel free to PM me anytime.
-Niccolo