ElegantlyLuminous
Items
Yes, I'm back to wreak havoc with the same totally insane, long-winded question. You're probably not even surprised anymore. I'd ask if you have this post memorized, but I know it's only one question per post and I'm not that curious. (Attempting for the nineteenth consecutive week! I will also be hitting below the emotional belt towards the end, as usual. Fair warning.) Sorry! It's only because I care about the community and love the site. (That means I love you, too, even it doesn't seem like it.)
In response to my question at the ATS on 10/27/14 (Why can’t you remove gold generators?), you said that the major reason for not removing them was that gold generators are popular (read: people like them!) and that they help to fund your site. I have no quarrel with the second portion of this argument. I like this site and I would like for it to be here for many years to come.
I do, however, have to heartily disagree with the idea that people like gold generators. As I mentioned previously, the current statistic is that 90-92% of those polled (by Gaians) hate gold generators. (Many of these polls are linked here but I'm sure there are more recent ones that can be found quite easily.) That means that only 8-10% of your population likes them. There are multiple petitions begging for the removal of gold generators, here (2,600+ votes*) and here (1,760+ votes*) to list two of the larger ones. There are even two that I've seen asking for Gaia itself to be deleted or reset entirely. (I believe these threads were deleted.) In the past, there was also a poll here with people predicting Gaia’s imminent downfall (82.1% believe the outcome is either grim or destined for failure). Likewise, many users have vowed not to purchase GC until things change (though the OP isn’t editing her first post to reflect the numbers, there are ~175 pages of signatures). And, honestly, you can't go more than a day in the Gaia Community Discussion without seeing a post that essentially says "Hey, I've just returned from hiatus. What's going on with this ridiculous inflation?"
If you get a moment, please also check out the results of this related survey. Many of the comments reflect that we want gold generators to stop. (Other common points include hope for a greater focus on the community, less emphasis on the cash shop, and honest, more transparent communication with the user-base.) There was also recently a poll here in Site Feedback rating trust and our willingness to spend money on this website. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest, 88% rate you as being untrustworthy to some degree (adding up 1, 2, 3, and 4).
So I don’t buy the premise that “people like them.” It could well be that people are buying them because they feel they have no other choice. Not everyone understands vending and not everyone has the patience for fishing. And, let’s face it: the output from the other games is worthless nowadays. (With the sole exception being Booty Grab.) Gold generators are pretty much the only way that some people have to get the items that they want on this site (if they want to pay with gold) and that’s not right, considering that they’re what wrecked the economy in the first place.
The actual question is this: Have you considered having a neutral third party conduct a survey requesting feedback on gold generators and feelings about the state of the site in general or hosting a poll of your own (without any cop-out neutral answers) and then sharing the results of that survey with us?
Your sales might reflect that these items are popular- but that might be for the reason I mentioned above. Or, worse, it could be because the item descriptions in the cash shop are vague and some people don’t know what they’re buying until after they open the item. It could be because they are usually on sale or have some sort of increased chance at the bonus prize. There are tons of conspiracy theories out there- I won't list them all. (I've wasted enough of your time.) Hosting a poll and having solid proof that you’re willing to share with the community could not only help to weaken one side’s argument (I don’t even care if it’s my side), it could also show the community that you care about our opinions and are genuinely willing to listen to us about matters other than recolors… something that some of us feel isn’t present at this particular moment. (If you frequent Site Feedback, that is, or if you take a look at that off-site poll.)
I understand that you're going to continue to sell these things regardless of whether or not we like them -- what I'm begging for here is for you to give us some sort of table-scrap, some little tidbit, to show us that you've heard and considered our feedback on this important matter. I do sincerely apologize if this comes across poorly but, as I said, I care about us, about this community, and this is one of those issues that a good many of us are deeply concerned about. We want to be heard, listened to. We want to know that you care about us. Your lack of response, of acknowledgement regarding this glaring issue, hurts everyone who wants to know that we still matter to you as more than a dollar sign.
Thanks in advance for any answer!
*Note that these signatures are not regularly counted and so I cannot account for the accuracy of these numbers, although I do check frequently.
Hi Elegant!
This is a very long question, and I must be briefer than I would like to give everyone at ATS a fair share of time. First, the gold economy is of great concern to us- I realize that a lot of gold was sold in the past year, and we are working on incrementally decreasing the overall amount in the general economy. This is currently being achieved through a variety of methods, but we will probably continue to release limited amounts of gold (we are currently using an LQI method) to curb their effects on inflation. We are releasing surveys in the near future, hopefully by the end of this week, for Gaians to respond to, but I'm not opposed to having 3rd party surveys done as well. Feel free to PM if you have a service in mind.
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