....and yet I STAY. (why do you stay?)

[AKB0048]

There's still items I want to buy and avatars I want to make.

[Baja]

My obsession with my inventory.

[VKiera]

"Though the brightness of the sun has drifted far away...

What makes you stay?

Time and love and money invested I guess, and it's almost just a habit to get home and log on. There are also the handful of friends I've made, I'd miss them and their silly games and jokes.

What are your fond memories of this site?

I was a lurker for the first year or so I was on Gaia until I found zOMG and I joined a guild for it and we played almost everyday, I made so many friends and it made me so happy to get online and just do a run every night, sometimes staying up extra late just to finish. I miss that so much now, but sadly that had already started to fade even before Gaia's currently GC push started and the inflation problems. Guild's pretty dead now, some of my friends remain and we sorta have 'reunions' on occasion, but it's never the same anymore. People change, time marches on, can't really hold onto something like that I guess, sure makes me wish we could though.

Do you find yourself drawn to other similar sites as a refugee?

Not really, the demographic on Gaia is pretty diverse and many other sites are just..sub par or have a different attitude or feel to them, I'm usually not too fond of the styles either, even Gaia's new site the avatars aren't very stellar.

Have you experienced friends quitting this site? Why did they leave?

Yea, for multiple reasons. Some get too busy with work, family, school ect, others leave because of personal problems or they've become unhappy with the direction Gaia's taken

Have you considered quitting? Why?

Not really, I've been here for a many years now and I still like crating nice avatars, I suppose I'm here until the ship sinks, though I'd be the first to admit it's gotten a lot lonelier on here in the last year or so for me. Haven't really found a new 'home' where I've made any friends to support the loss of my zOMG buddies.

Tomorrow holds the sunlight of a brand new day for me..."

[Emm-Kaye]

I joined in 2011...I've logged on daily since (except for a span of about 3 total weeks over a couple of years, when I had no internet access).

My daughter introduced me to Gaia - she was in her fish tank one day as I was walking past, and I stopped to stare at how attractive it looked.
It intrigued me to the point that I made my own account, with her help.
She no longer logs in, which is sad.

I remember earning my first million - I sweated over not buying some really great items I wanted, because I wanted that Millionaire achievement more!
It took me a few months, and when it finally happened I was so happy!
Now, a million isn't enough to do anything with, really.

The Easter 2011 event was the first time I stayed up all night playing a GAME - I still remember it fondly! (I caught all those bunnies!)

I've made some really great friends here, one of whom became my roommate, irl.

I stay because I can't imagine what I'd do first thing in the morning without having to feed my Hermit Cats, and the rest of the fish.
Strangely, I am really bad at Booty Grab, so I don't play it, but I pride myself on having all my tanks at 100% health & happiness. (Yes, tanks plural! - I have several accounts, none of whom are mules).

I really hope Gaia can pull out of the downward spiral it seems to be in - I would miss being here daily.

[PK Flash]

❤ 目をキラキラさせて　僕に語った君の将来図は

i stay because i genuinely enjoy dressing up
and also because a lot of my friends are on here but not on tumblr where i usually am

ただ聞いてるだけで　胸が熱くなり　泣きそうになった ❤

[Hogie]

i think the main reason why gaia is ailing is its age.
its older then youtube, it comes from when the net was much younger and professionalism in a site was really new and fresh.
now every site looks awesome.. all these new fourms exist and the oldbies are grown up and moved on.
theres no one to take the place because the kids just use other fourms.
and gaia has nothing new or noteworthy anymore... and i think the know this, so, why not get the most out of it before it dies.

[milknectar]

i joined gaia about 7 years ago and made several accounts. i never really 'got the hang of it', i just rped and ran around with my rather unappealing avatars, rejoicing about being able to buy a super-cheap wristwatch from the gold shops. even though they weren't, threads like 'bump for money' felt somehow viable. if i had known then (i was very, very young, too young to be using this site) that things would be this way now, i definitely would've saved up more and tried to build myself up on here both socially and in terms of inventory, items, gold, etc. instead, i saw gaia as a diversion or a rping locale that i would check into briefly and then neglect for months on end.

gaia is still very unique to me- the forums are enormous, there is so much lovely artwork, the community is equal parts fascinating and terrifying. i do long to function as a member of this sitre, to have some kind of purpose, but it is difficult to achieve any goals. i just removed a questbar from my signature because it was 525,000,000 the other day and rose to nearly 800,000,000 now- i certainly can't afford things like that. my best bet is to draw for pay but that makes me super anxious

the items i have now are in part because of just selling only 2 pieces of art, then purchasing gold generators with that revenue (shudders) to increase the amount. it was really just luck. the rest of the items i have are due to generosity.

i guess the reason i stay is because i hope that i can make friends and have some kind of role on this site that makes me look forward to logging on each day, as achieving goals is pretty much a chimera for many users

[Spoggly]

Ohh, one year since I've made this thread. I stayed!! I'm still active in Word Games and in the Art Requests forum. I also am trying out the brand new Adoptables subforum, we'll see how that goes.

[Rinioa]

~ ● ● ● ● ~ ❀ ~ ● ● ● ● ~

I've been a member of Gaia since 2004. It's part of my soul, my internet life force. I've stuck by them through thick and thin. Loyal to the end. <3

I've joined a couple similar sites in the past but none of them appealed to me the way that Gaia has. I couldn't see myself being a part of them for more than a month or so. Gaia, is life. At least internet life. <3

[Dalia Royce]

If I leave Gaia, my room will explode.

[YourAzureGoddess]

I like dressing an avatar. I like chillaxing on the forums. I like posting. I like making gold and spending it without having to worry about spending it all or paying Gaian bills. I like events.

It's mindless, entertaining fun for me.

[xcrimsonlegendx]

Nostalgia and hope of improvement.

Nearly everything that kept me here is gone, that is all that remains.

[Some Old Blue Pimpernels]

It's funny - for me there isn't really a feeling of "why do I stay on this site". I enjoy Gaia now more than I've enjoyed Gaia since around 2006, my old hey day.

I think paws are fun, I like the small paws community a good deal. The item quality is higher, and the focus on dressup means that in general the items we do get are of much higher quality. The old games I used to love are still here, and without the drive to get gold I play them casually and have a good time.

The smaller community overall means that I have more of a chance of making meaningful connections with people. The artists have all improved, and there are much more of them in general - and everyone, practically, wants art, so I see more of it everywhere. Also, adoptables are becoming much more important than b/c pets. B/C had its benefits - it really was the reason we now have adoptables as a concept - but nowadays making a shop is a massive investment. Adopts are an easier way of getting practically the same thing across. I look forward to seeing more "adopt shops" with rp elements, a bastardized version of a b/c shop, in the future.

Gaia used to be a place where I'd sweat it out every post. Then it used to be a place where we mocked goldimort frequently. Now there is still a lot of imbalance in the gaian economy, but in the niche I exist in that imbalance isn't terribly significant. Beautiful paw items are released in human RIGS and human-based tiers, which drives down their prices to what amounts to pennies nowadays. It's easy and fun to collect them. heart

[Toward Eternity]

I'm one who didn't stay, I joined in 2004 and pretty much quit except for occasional lurking around 2010. Basically, I went to college and got crazy busy.

I recently logged on after several years of inactivity and I'm surprised by how much has stayed the same and how much as changed.

The inflation is absolutely crazy. When did that become a real problem?

[Bellecoso]

When you've spent 10+ years on a site, there are only two ways you're leaving.

1. Banned for something stupid/you didn't do.

2. The site dies.

As much as I side-eye a lot of Gaia's current marketing practices and little effort to fix the economy, I stay.

I hate the "If you don't like it, leave" attitude when it comes to disapproval of how the site is currently functioning. Everyone has the right to be upset when something isn't going quite right, voice it, and hope things do get better if their voices get heard.

I have considered up and leaving once the manga arc is done, but return to the first line and there you go.

I'm in the current situation with Neopets too, which I had been a part of before Gaia. It's under new ownership, just laid off almost all of its creative staff, runs like s**t, is super late on a lot of their own updates, and is becoming increasingly worrysome for the future of the site itself.

I stay. And hope it improves. Or closes down. Whichever comes first.

Maybe when I'm less pessimistic, I'll start being more active here, despite everything.