2013 Gold Sink - Reward Analysis, Clarification, Suggestions

[Errodu]

Quote:

Updates as posts goes on!
U004: Added reward tier clarification.
U003: Added SDplus Halloween Blind Box suggestion in the 10m "could have been" section.
U002: This Gold Sink has a deep relation to the Halloween Event, as such I will alter my discussion suggestions so they fit the theme.
U001: There are 5 winning slots in the 100-million Manga-Feature reward.

So two months of over 10 billion gold entered in the system on Gaia. Some of you took advantage of these payouts, others just sat back and watched the world burn burning_eyes But now comes a question that SHOULD be obvious, but isn't.

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Are you going to participate in the Gold Sink Event?

Let's take a look at this question veeeeery carefully from a materialistic point of view.

First, let's go over the announced features of this Gold Sink Event and their rewards.

Gold Sink Rewards

Gold Sink Reward Tiers

10,000g - An exclusive item! (probably a badge or something unequippable to the average avatar)
100,000g - A unique achievement! (achievement whores rejoice!)
1,000,000g - WHO KNOWS (judging by the wording of the announcement, you're buying an advantage in the upcoming halloween forum game)
10,000,000g - One entry in a raffle for a poster signed by unknown admins! (We're going to talk about this.)
100,000,000g - One entry in a raffle to have their current avatar appear in the manga! (We're going to talk about this too.)

Higher gold tiers spent include cheaper gold tiers with the reward. Spending 1,000,000 gold will net you not only the "unknown-if-real-or-not forum game advantage" but the unique achievement AND the exclusive item as well.

Let's not forget the "Global Reward Tiers" that would probably pressure people to burn their hard-earned gold anyways for the sake of "the greater good" and "finding out what the next prize would be."

We can safely assume that rewards will be given out at the million, ten-million, hundred-million, billion, ten-billion, hundred-billion, and trillion marks, and maybe every 5er in-between. Will the rewards be worth it?

With all of that in mind, now take a look of the state of Gaia - the mentalities behind users who worked hard to get gold or took advantage of the events and Flynn's Booty bundles to get where they are. Will they be willing to digitally destroy their own gold for the chance of... well, let's talk about it.

A Signed Poster from the Admins

What it is...

10 million gold for a real-life-loot of a printed out poster signed by (some?) admins. It's safe to assume that Lanzer himself will sign this, but who else? Maybe your choice? In addition, what do you think this poster will look like? Will it be of an old-gaia logo with unknown characters blasting powers in every direction? Will it be NPC's doing a little salute to the fourth wall? Will it be anything we could already download and put on our desktop?

The Truth...

Would you rather have a signed poster, or enough gold to purchase anything from a ten-million-gold ceiling? Remember - you can resell the item(s) you purchase as vending fodder and get even more gold.

What it could have been...

What would be enough to warrant the destruction of 10 million gold?

Ladies and Gentlemen - SDplus Halloween Blind Box.

This could work two ways - the easy way where this box would be programmed to give you one of a few EXISTING Halloween-themed SDplus Dolls, like NPC's involved with the plot or RIG NPC's dressed up in extravagant costumes.

If there was more time and preparation, the SDplus Halloween Blind Box could've featured our favorite shop NPC's dressed up in their choice of costumes. Ian as Willy Wonka, Rufus as BMO, Sasha as Mikasa from Attack on Titan... And you could grab these cute little costumed dollies and add them to your collection.

Totally worth 10m gold.

A Full-Avatar Feature in the Upcoming Manga

What it is...

Do you remember the 06 alien event? The old-old Halloween events? Do you remember seeing weirdo characters that didn't make much sense? Those were actual, real Gaians! biggrin What this prize is, is that you will be featured in this year's Halloween Event Manga!

Up to 5 people will be randomly chosen to appear in the Manga.

However...

The Truth...

It is unknown whether you'll be an important character to the Manga... Or you'll be a background character that gets one panel.

It's an if/or kind of prize, and if you win the 100,000,000 gold raffle, you might be important or you might be a decoration. Surely they will clarify upon this, right?

What it could have been...

100 million gold is huge. Very few talented and persistent people are able to accumulate such an amazing amount of gold - even with all the inflation that has been happening lately. What is worth 100 million gold to you? Something solid, like a 03er item or legendary artwork that people could find in art books by complete accident?

This question has many answers, but somehow an unknown presence in the manga plot just doesn't feel enough to justify it.

Why not avatar art drawn by the artists of Gaia Online? Why not become the first item supermodel for Gaia in that future items released will feature your avatar holding them in poses? Why not a package that includes a Manga spot, but also a free friend-request by an NPC of your choice and a doll of your choice?

The worth of 100m is a lot, but how does one measure it other than Gold?

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All in all, are these current announced Gold Sink rewards worth what Gold you have left?

The answer is obvious, but this wouldn't be a discussion if I answered my own questions. When the Gold Sink comes out, it will be up to you to decide whether to bust open your banks and delete your gold from the system for an item, an achievement, a feature, and two chances to intangible rewards or not.

How much are you planning on deleting? emotion_awesome Do you think many people will be deleting their gold for this event? From what you've just read, do you feel the rewards are even enough to justify their high rates? Do you think this event can deflate the market?

There are SOOOOO many more fun ways to make a gold sink emotion_awesome My favorite one was where I gave Ruby all my gold so that she would bang me not close down from the Shop Remodeling Gold Sink Event.

She didn't though. Instead she just posted on my profile. Ilu Ruby crying

[Madanka]

100m for a chance to be in a manga. Gaia, just stop.

[Porcelain Doll Lilith]

it definitely would be nice to have an NPC like Edmund post in my profile, but what you said makes a shitton of sense. 100 million... for a chance. And not as many people care or follow the story like they used to~

[FIavie]

Haha. I'm too poor to really participate in this, since I was one of those who just watched the world burn razz So nice that they have an event where we can donate the gold we just got with IRL money away! Yay Gaia thanks! Oh except if you didn't buy Flynn's a$$, well then you can just forget about it probably.
I don't get who'd ever want to donate that 10 mill or 100 mill though. The one who's going to be in the event comic, I'll probably think that person is bit stupid. razz

[Esdella Vie]

I think it's stupid that it's not guaranteed that whoever would spend 100mil would get a cameo appearance. In my mind, there was no question that that's all it would be. Maybe I'm just underestimating how many people have become hundred millionaires since Flynn started flaunting her booty.

[Uncle Kenny]

Your reward suggestions would work, if it were a generic goldsink. But every reward and aspect of this relates to the Halloween event. A custom item or avatar art doesn't really fit in line with that.

[x3rubiachica3x]

You raise some excellent points. I highly doubt that I will donate 1mil to the gold sink. I'm not really a fans of the admins, so I really don't think I'll enter the signed poster raffle, let alone the 100mil raffle(not that I have the gold to anyways.) They really could have came up with better prizes for the raffles. xp

[Meilkor]

If it isn't my favorite GCD-residing Rubyphile! emotion_kirakira

Thanks so much for the breakdown, Errodu. I was eyeing the announcement when it came out the other day but due to my overall lack of consumed caffeine that day I was just vaguely unwilling to puzzle out what all Cyndi was actually saying. It's hard to pay attention when you notice that her avatar apparently got a lovely facelift.

Personally I will likely only be participating up until the Achievement. Because I rarely have above a set amount of gold (and I have already blown my magical free booty bullshit gold on items I can use to pretty up my avatar here) I doubt I will ever be able to donate more than 100k to gaia's goldsinks.

Because I am unwilling to sell my items to get gold from other users and funnel it into the garbage chute.

For 100mil I can go to the Art Shops forum and purchase an entire five page manga of my avatar wining and dining my favorite NPC. Gueranteed art is better than a chance at being a poorly-drawn background character in a manga that I don't even read. OR I can lay out a massive chunk of that 100mil and get every item on my wishlist and then have money to dump into the garbage chute.

I could really care less about getting a chance to win a signed gaia poster. Pretty sure I could just hit up a convention where one of the artists I care about has a booth and purchase some signed art from them. rolleyes

The gold sink has a lot of potential. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who amass as much gold as possible if only to dump it all into the garbage chute. It's those people that deserve their own little achievement for being the sanitation workers of gaia's economy.

[Kahlan_BrightBlade]

I plan to participate, some may not like this but at least they are trying and every bit helps.

I know I will be donating enough for the item and for the achievements , perhaps the chance to get in the manga too. Some users like stuff like that and it’s nice they’re trying to give us stuff users would be interested in. The only prize I honestly don’t like is the poster. I would of changed it to an item recolor .

[Uncle Kenny]

Sebikaku

100m for a chance to be in a manga. Gaia, just stop.

I've asked this of several people so far and have yet to actually get an answer back. I was given the okay to have 5 users put in the comics. With that limitation, I have two choices. 1) First 5 people to donate get it, or 2) Everyone who donates it gets a fair shot at being in. One of those things is more fair in my opinion. That said, given the 5 user limitation, how would you have done it differently?

[Errodu]

Uncle Kenny

Your reward suggestions would work, if it were a generic goldsink. But every reward and aspect of this relates to the Halloween event. A custom item or avatar art doesn't really fit in line with that.

Lemme scratch my brain and I'll try to come up with something more in relation to the Halloween event.

I'm going to be very assuming, mind you.

emotion_donotwant Hmmmmmm.

Edit: I'm going to update the information you've just described, Kenny, so that there is less confusion and presumptions on my part.

[Lindpen]

Just for the sake of it, I want to get the item. I'm not huge on achievements, but they're still fun to get and I might like the title(s). The Halloween event possible advantage entices me because I'm event-crazy. The last two, though...even if I had the gold, I wouldn't go for them. You're right that there are more rewards/ chances potentially worthwhile, too.

[Meilkor]

Uncle Kenny

Your reward suggestions would work, if it were a generic goldsink. But every reward and aspect of this relates to the Halloween event. A custom item or avatar art doesn't really fit in line with that.

What I want to know is why there isn't a generic goldsink in the works after the Halloween event goldsink is over? Just one of these things isn't going to be enough to help get things back under control. :/

Also Kenny I know you are a wizard please make Halloween come faster!! xd I'm super excited for it this year, esp. since I know you've been working hard on it.

[Ants In Your Underpants]

Nope so not gonna join this shitty event. Join the revolution!

[Madanka]

Uncle Kenny

I've asked this of several people so far and have yet to actually get an answer back. I was given the okay to have 5 users put in the comics. With that limitation, I have two choices. 1) First 5 people to donate get it, or 2) Everyone who donates it gets a fair shot at being in. One of those things is more fair in my opinion. That said, given the 5 user limitation, how would you have done it differently?

Ooh. With that knowledge, it's understandable. Yeah, I'd go with the raffle, but maybe have some kind of consolation prize for those that still paid and didn't get chosen? I mean, 100m is still a hefty cost.