Ask the Staff - 26 Jan 2015 - CLOSED

[Nenanah]

Features/Items

Many of us would like to be able to anonymously gift things like game items, such as charms. Could you consider making this possible?

Question is originally by Furbish Lousewort

[Yuekazehime]

Items

Just noticed this in another thread, but since ears can't be removed from human avatars, could an upcoming hair RIG have some short side bangs to cover the ear area?
The range of colors would let people use the wigs they liked, rather than having to design around wigs that worked. (Also love all the bangs/braids/ponytails/twintails/etc add-ons in general, so please more and thanks for the range we have heart )

[Fibonacci To Infinity]

Items/Features
Snowflake Charms: Can we please get an option to trash them? I don't want to use them with GOFusion anymore as items used for them are all too pricey for me in Charms.

[Odd Cinderella]

Question Category Events

Question Thank you for this event! I am so glad you added Rina up there! emotion_yatta

[Pie]

Items / Features

I've noticed there's been no sign of the Staff taking the common suggesting of capping the number of Tickets any one user can redeem. And I have no intent of arguing that silent decision, personally.

However, we all know the queue is moving extremely slowly. And for those of us who have to quest our butts off just to get a single Ticket, then wait for weeks just for a first response, it's disheartening to see other users getting handfuls of Tickets approved at a time.

Is the Gaia Staff considering taking any action on this, such as putting a 'throttling' system in place, where a person can only have a certain number of Custom Tickets in the Custom work queue at a time, and must wait for those to be released before more of their Tickets can be approved? Or does Gaia have a reason for sticking so hard to the rule of "first come, first serve"?

[Zero Omega]

Nenanah

Items

Why were the Gold and Silver Medals removed form the Arenas as prizes?
I never understood why they were taken out.

Question is originally by ( Nenanah )

I believe this was because we had stopped supporting it, or there was a bug with the prize grants. It was very long ago though, probably around... 2004?

[Glitched Cannibal]

items
So, as a goat/sheep enthusiast.
My question is....
Might there be more related items made/released?
Maybe even for [animal] type...
Causes I've notice the number in such items are very low and even for animals avatar there isn't any beside the ram item ;3 ;

[milkbun]

Flint Jakobs

misc.

Is there ever a time when Finni isn't awesome? emotion_kirakira

Only between the hours of 2:47am and 2:48am every night.

[Varjokani]

Are you going to fix Zomg or bring us any new RPG? I really loved it and I think it was one of best ways to spend day when I got fever. So could we please have some rpg? :3

[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 eleventh 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 (2,560+ votes*) and here (1,730+ 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.) At one point there was a poll here with people predicting Gaia’s imminent downfall (82.5% 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 ~172 pages of signatures). And, honestly, you can't go 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.)

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.

[TiffanyBlueSprinkles]

Items

Will you ever plan to do something about the inflation in the Marketplace?

[Mistress Overdone]

Events

Some of us are wondering whether it might be feasible to have recordings of the "auditions" for the current "Without a Doubt" event.


Features
On a sidenote, I would totally support whoever said that maybe tipping should be more like a "+1" or a "like" than an actual tip...

[ElegantlyLuminous]

Items

I’m ignoring the Snowflake glitch for this question and posing it for the future, when it has been resolved.

Would you please consider putting Ifrit the Adolescent Dragon or any Fafnir the Adolescent Dragon recolors into GoFusion? It would be a nice way to use up large sums of Snowflake charms. A lot of us were collecting in hopes of selling or trading... and just having items that cost 1 charm doesn't always help us to get rid of them now. (Personally, I just want the item and I wasn’t willing to shell out the cash for it. But others might find it a handy way to get rid of a lot of those pesky charms at one time in one lump sum of charms*.)

Small amount of support here (at least for Fafnir the Adolescent Dragon recolors).

*Props if you caught the J.G. Wentworth reference.

[St V-Starr]

Misc/NPCs

I have been a fan of the Dark Elves ever since the 2012 Halloween event. So due to them playing a major role in the manga, any chance we can see more of a presence of Franco, Nyx, Cordell, and the rest of the Kuro Gang (or other dark elves) in the site whether they are the focus of a RIG or starring an event?

[Darc Nightgale]

Just wanted to say thank you for the achievements for this event. It's nice that we are able to get all of them. whee