Ask the admin (10/17/2011)

[Lanzer]

Hello everyone!

Halloween is coming up, how many of you already have your costume planned out? It's a quiet week here as we gear up for the event plus the housing and zOMG updates. So let's get started with this week's ATA.

Oh by the way, how many of you have seen Real Steel? It's such an anime movie, I love it!

[Crystal Sparda]

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀

I saw Real Steel and thought it was total badassery!
Having Hugh Jackman in it didn't hurt. ;D

Can't wait for the event to begin!
Speaking of which, when is the event expected to begin?
Very soon, considering towns will be changing soon?

Will the true purpose behind the alchemy keys be released soon?
Any semi-vague estimate of time frame for when?

Any estimate as to how long Spring Cleaning will last this year?
Like, when is the proposals forum going to close and proposals be accepted?

Question for any/all devs/admins out there:
If you could combine three costumes for Halloween, what would you be?
Ex: Zombie Pirate Superman, devil banana ballerina, etc.

How are sponsor items created?
Does the brand tell you to make X item, or do they just
hire you to advertise and you guys just do everything else?

▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

[Fractale]

1: I can't help but feel a little disturbed at your comment to my question two weeks ago: “what does Jack do year round, when it's not Halloween?” You commented with “he bakes delicious pumpkin pies”. Since Jack is a pumpkin-head...creature...thing, wouldn't his baking pies of pumpkin be like killing off his own kind? And Jack is ok with this? (or does he just use chunks off his own head? Which is still pretty disturbing) O_o

2: Are there any NPC's who are secretly Moga Tamers? Before the removal of some Moga in the Mogadex in its early stages, I noticed there was a Moga Twinkle. Could Hatsya possibly be a Moga tamer, since she has a Twinkle?

3: There was a post where Fleep once said

“fleep”

and remember, Site Feedback is NOT where the majority of the feedback we consider comes from

“fleep”

This is a much better way to get quality feedback from a broader range of users -- including those who don't use forums at all. We definitely always check Site Feedback to get a pulse on what people feel, but we have tons of different ways in which we get feedback from users.

- so I'm wondering- where do the staff take the majority of their feedback from? Focus groups? Email queues? Polls? Market research? How regularly do the staff actually check Site Feedback for user suggestions and feedback?

4: Can you dish the dirt on the Ringmaster's invisibility? Is he invisible by choice, and can control whether he's visible or invisible at will? Or did he have an unfortunate run-in with a whole lotta invisible ink at some point in his life?

[Mademoiselle Kit]

Dear Lanzer,

Several of the zomg forumers are becoming concerned with the direction Gaia is taking on zomg. Namely: no direction. Yes, we know about DMS and the eventual completion of BB Full. But after that, then what? The zomg gaians are getting a bit fed up with Gaia's policies and treatment of the zomg community, such as:

1. laying off most of our developers
2. threatening to delete/have no more new content in zomg unless we spend gaia cash
3. and the most severe of offenses: After the zomg community goes out of our way to go above and beyond the demands set, still nothing is being done to save zomg.

The zomg community has done many things to help save this game;

1. we have made the forums an active place to ask for help and organize events--its now become a very active forum in the past few months.
2. we have brought many new users to zomg through word of mouth
3. our proposal was the second to get to 5000 cookies
4. we sold out of Bloodstone Amulets in DAYS.

And yet, despite all this, we are still told that the future of zomg is grim. Two weeks ago, we were very upset when we were told that the forums would be moved into the GGD, a place where many game forums die. After all that work, after all that effort we've put in, after supporting zomg with our hearts and wallets, it seems to us like HQ is determined to kill off zomg.

Go into the zomg forum, Lanzer. Go into zomg itself. See how much support and love we have for this game. We don't want to see it become a dead feature with no more updates.

Please don't give us a half-formed, wishy-washy answer. We want to know why HQ is ignoring us after all the effort we've put in.

[Platonix]

USEFUL LINKS

The home of past Ask The Admin topics: Ask the Admin Archives subforum

AskED the Admin: Answer Compilation (built and maintained by yours truly)

[Kain-Senpai]

Greetings!

I was able to attend the Gaia Panel at New York Comic Con, and I am disappointed that half of the entire Panel featured contests for the people attending. While I do understand and appreciate the attempts at making the panel “fun” and ”exciting” for the users, but I would appreciate more content about the site to be featured. This was why I came to the Panel, to know about future updates to the site. This includes discussing more new and upcoming features and information for the site, not to discuss old features (this includes making fail features such as BidBlast and Alchemy sound incredibly awesome).

Alright. Now with my questions:

1. zOMG! is an important part of the site. It is the game many users have wanted since the famed phrase “Battle System” has been said. It hasn’t received the most love on this site, and I find that appalling. My question is, would the Staff Members be willing to discuss adding zOMG! to Facebook and bring more users to the game? This may include creating a “generic” style user for the FB-Only users to play the game. My reason for asking this is, because of the popularity of Monster Galaxy on Facebook. ( I understand this question may not be a satisfying question to the zOMG! Community.)

2. While the Alchemy Feature is something worth exploring, many users shun away from it for various reasons. For me, that reason is the rarity of Components on the site. Will the components rate drop increase any time soon? I am not talking about adding more to Bid Blast. I am talking about adding them into Dumpster Dive, so users would be able to grab them and use/sell them. I can understand this may hurt the Artist’s egos, but how can users enjoy the items they make when the rarity of the components are so low.

3. The Achievement System has been out for some time, and with that has the discussion about what the points will be used for. This includes Lanzer, at one point, saying the fabled backwings being released from it. My questions is, are there any plans to create some sort of “shop” or feature to use the Achievement Points to purchase items on the site?

4. Is there any way to have the Artist’s take a look at several suggestion threads that I’ve created (and many users have added suggestions to) in Site Feedback? Backgrounds suggestions, Evolution Items suggestions, and Animated Items suggestions

[rgjh8754]

- We got the proposal for hiring a new flash developer for zOMG! up to over 5k in cookies. When will a new flash developer be added to the team?

- When will summons receive passive buffs?

- Why don't you listen to the z! community's ideas on how to monetize the game?

- Why is it that gaia is focusing more attention on facebook when really zomg deserves more devs on the team.

- Also was the moving of the zomg forum to make room for more non-gaia games to take its place?

[JBKon]

Hi Lanzer, what are you going to dress up as for Halloween? (any devs lurking are welcome to answer too) whee

[Corinth Maxwell]

1. Ever consider creating more "were-beast" or "anthropomorphic" body alteration/skin items -- namely, for people who wish to be Minotaurs, Were-Lions, Were-Panthers, Were-Jaguars, and/or Were-Tigers? (And yes, I based this particular question mostly off of the more recent "Castlevania" games from the past 11 years.) whee

2. What's the first Apple/Mac game you ever played?

3. Would it be possible to get a "Plasma Gear" recolor? You KNOW people want their own purple lightsaber(s). twisted

[RiverMist20]

I do have a costume planned out to take my little brother trick or treating, actually. A member of the Gaia staff, I saw, has his same costume!

Anyway, these questions are for DJ Helsing:

First, for all of us single, eligible ladies out here floating around in the online community that is Gaia Online, are you single? smile On the forum where NYCC was being live streamed, somebody mentioned how that should have been asked and whether or not you would have answered the question. Therefore, because I find myself nursing an infatuation for you, and I shamelessly admit this for the world to see, I thought I would take it upon myself to ask on behalf of us all!

Now, on another note, I have another question for you: do you think Gaia is coming to Columbus, Ohio anytime in 2012? I'd love to be able to make it to an offline event one day. Or is it still too early to be able to tell?

This one is for Lanzer: do you think that you'll be able to leak any fun information on plans for GaiaOnline?

[In Shadows You Succumb]

What's the name of the werewolf boy shown with Kamila in zOMG!?

I will probably be Masky from "Marble Hornets".

[Sombra Mapache]

Good evening, guys! I hope you had a nice weekend. 3nodding

I only have a few questions this time around~

1.) As of right now, the highest NPC SDPlus doll number is #332 ChromatiChaos. This should mean that there are 331 other NPC dolls, but twenty-eight numbers don't have any corresponding dolls (043, 053, 055, 058-060, 073-079, 091, 093, 094, 108, 109, 129, 130, 177-183, and 198 ).

My questions here are: why haven't the dolls for these numbers been released and are there any plans to release them in the near future?

2.) Is there any chance that the 30-second timer reset in BidBlast will ever be removed (or that there will be 'special' auctions where it's disabled)?

3.) What's one feature you've never really taken the time to put together or that isn't currently on the drawing board that you wish you could implement on the site?

One last thing: if you haven't done so yet, play Solatorobo: Red the Hunter. It's quite fun. :3

[Panagrammic]

We read SF every day.

Of the others:

- email / letters from users
- random PMs to users
- random PMs from users
- polls / surveys
- focus groups (but infrequently)

While SF is really useful, there are really strong subgroups on Gaia that hardly ever venture into SF (i.e., RPers).

Fractale

- so I'm wondering- where do the staff take the majority of their feedback from? Focus groups? Email queues? Polls? Market research? How regularly do the staff actually check Site Feedback for user suggestions and feedback?

[Zealand_Aquarius]

Evening all

Quick question what IS going on with zOMG now days ?
Also what is the next plan for zOMG after deadmans shadow is released and Broadway is updated?
Will it be a new area or waht?

thank you and take care!

[Uncle Haijin]

With the recent dream-clone-shenanigans in the manga, does that mean we might see Labtech X in the plot anytime soon.