I was tired out like a year ago xD
It helps that I'm picky to an extent
like you said I've noticed the trends and for the most part they bore me
Unless it caters to me (monsters, objectheads, cosplay, white arm mods, ect) I won't bite
A little variety won't hurt you though Gaia; color binging is very boring for those
who don't like the color and very stressful for those who do :/
I think the increase of price on re-release rigs also has alot to do with item death on the MP. The price increase makes it more risky and now people would rather spend the money to get new items/recolors.
Remember when 100packs were like 12 bucks? Holy s**t man that's unfathomable nowadays. And that was like a little bit over a year ago, maybe two years
I don't find I have buyers fatigue, since mostly I find that I don't especially want new items often? I can see why people might if there was a lot of items in each update that was desired. The volume has actually decreased in recent months, it seems a bit less on the volume front than before to me!
I spend about the same as previously... which isn't much since I live on free GC videos. I don't usually want many items direct from the cash shop, so I don't feel a need to increase spending too much. Though it still happens sometimes!
I normally just buy items when they're cheap whenever possible, and I tend to flucnk out for a cheaper re-colour if one exists. Since I have a limit on what I'd spend on an item, it limits my purchasing power, and reduces buyer fatigue. Just buy want I can, when I want to really.
I don't mind the release rate at the moment... I feel like the previous rate of 3-4 updates per month was a bit lacking for keeping users on the site... but I don't want a RIG everyday sweatdrop I suppose I'd combat the release rate... with more re-releases rather than new ones to intersperse the new releases... I'd also space out recolours of LQIs a bit more, rather than several days straight of one item, maybe?
I think the lack of LQI sales is mainly due to the same pool of users being tapped for money... If a user has $100 a month to spend and they've spent it already, they aren't going to overspend, so I'd anticipate a lack of sales... especially right after the 4th July sales weekend....
TL;DR:
I dunno, I don't feel the fatigue myself. Probably because I don't have to have too many items too often.... just buy what I can when it drops. If not, I can live without it.
Buyers fatigue definitely hit me. I used to spend a minimum $50 a month here, more if it was a special occasion. But now we have daily updates, multiple chance items (from 1, to 2, to so many mini-CIs that I don't even know why anyone gives a damn about the two "big" ones anymore), crazy rare drop rates, limited items that come out daily, increased prices in general... I can't keep up and don't even bother trying anymore. I go months in between cash shop purchases now. It's like the more they released, the less desire I have to keep track of it all and the less I want to spend at all.
I've said in the past but I think my issue isn't only the amount of items released but that because they concentrate on type of items released people who like these items are going to feel the fatigue much faster.
Ideally to me I'd rather have them stagger out the kind of items released so that people with different personal tastes can see items that are to their liking but in a way where they're not having several dumped on them so closely together. That can also apply to colors and recolors released as well. Stagger them out so that people don't tire out. That said I think a good discussion would be to see why kind of "personal tastes" (I'm talking about in general i.e. types of fashion--various types out there, fantasy--types within, science fiction, monsters, horror, inspired by anime, kpop, etc and then releasing these items with a bit more time in between). It would then allow some areas to get more items than they've seen recently...
That way they're more likely to get sales because if people who still use GC don't tire out or get fatigue they're more likely to keep buying.
(Sorry for the first phantom quote, I'm on my phone and hit submit too early by accident)
I actually don't think there's enough tanktop items, or at least the ones they are spamming have the same style consistently: cropped-top, implied boobage, cutesy prints on the front. I like tanks for my male avi, but so far I've only been able to find two tanks that actually look good on the male avi. The ragnarok item did a good job of making a decent unisex top, but everything else in the item is boring and unuseable to me, which makes me not even want to get it in the first place );
So, I don't mind if they spam us with the same basic pose item (tank tops, arm mod, boots-jeans legs) but it would help if there was more variety to it. Sometimes I think Gaia looks at their most successful items and instead of thinking "lets try that again but with a different spin" they say "lets do the same thing a million times over and then recolor them a billion times over"
That's actually what I meant, I do agree we don't have enough tank tops too! I meant we need more in a variety of styles! Tank tops are a simple concept and all look very similar, however these new items seem to look like identical carbon copies.
Ragnarok had a lot of poses we've seen before. Like I swear we just had some hair that looked like "his" and that jacket is a carbon copy several LQI coats in the past.
I'm all for basic stuff too! But it either ends up looking all the same or super cheap ( goldshopcoughcough
They try to add unique spins to many of the items, but it all looks the same. Look at Planchette and Ragnarok, two completely different themes yet they look so similar. I don't know if the same artist made both items or what.
Sospel
There's also this pattern:
1. BIIIG or TIIINY hair bow.
2. Huge sweater, usually with arm mods instead of being a jacket-type item.
3. Super modern fashion dress! SO MANY LACE!
4. Weird face mod. What is going on with that thing?
5. Armmod with some sort of weird handheld and no pose without that handheld.
6. GLASSES! BD ON YOUR HEAD! ON YOUR FACE!
7. SUPER AWESOME BACKGROUND!
8. Floor item! Aw yeah, stuff at your feet!
When the items get to a point that we users can literally start predicting them, and therefore start mocking them, shouldn't that say something? I'm sure the top dogs at the HQ are sitting there laughing like "yeah they're still gonna buy it tho" which is true, people will. But I don't think it should stop artists from making something unique. Give us something new and make us want more of it instead of pandering to what they know people already like. It's like staple foods. I like chicken, but I don't want my whole meal to be different types of chicken every single day.
omfg this
I get that the artists are swamped with work and such and respect them so much because of their amazing work. I just wish they'd sometimes go out of their comfort zones, just a little bit, enough to see something brand new.
We certainly need more re-release RIGs and less LQRs (the limited quantity recolors)
I don't mind new LQIs, but more recolors that are limited quantity should have been released via RIG imo
and are part of my personal "unpurchasable" category
I've completely altered my GC spending habits in the last few months, and now hardly spend GC on LQIs
of any kind, at all.
It really feels like there's this small group of a few hundred users or less making big GC purchases in the CS,
and then the rest of the userbase either rarely spends/uses GC or actually never does at all.
That being said, a customer base that tiny can catch on to certain selling tactics faster than it would for a
company that has, say, a customer base constantly in rotation & regeneration.
If they balance out the cash-grabs with more opportunities for deflation, I feel like sales would rise again.
We need the kind of re-release RIGs filled with items in desperate need of deflation/increase in circulation,
and not items that are already cheap and flooding the market.
The amount of new items being released wouldn't be such an issue if they weren't always so unattainable cat_emo
I only have bought GC once but have no interest in the new items. I'll wait out and purchase them once the price drops (like I just got the pokemon items!) but I always do want to participate in the marches the passes like march and this month. The lqi's and recolors haven't been too appealing as of yet. I like the release rate right now cause it diminishes the value after the trend dies down.
I stood there watching her as if she had not a care in the world....
~Are you tired of the volume in which Gaia releases new items?
Honestly I am. It's mainly because all the items feel like they're in the same category...overly adorable. Personally I feel like we have a lot of items like that, I was honestly upset that the Ragnorok U item that came out wasn't some hard core warrior item with a name like that. I guess I'm just tired of seeing the same style.
Have you been spending less on the site if you're a regular cash user? Why?
Yes, which is sad because I used to spend cash on here often. I'm just waiting for something to catch my eye. I really really want some old school noir or old school Godfather like mobster items to come out. Something sultry in contrast to all the warm fluff items that we have.
How would you combat the problems with such a high release rate?
I honestly have no idea. I guess keep the rate the same but cater to the other parts of the crowd. They seem to be catering to one demogaphic instead of mixing it up so everyone gets something.
Do you think the lack of sales of LQIs have to do with the repetitive themes many of them?
Yes. Very much so yes. But I also think that it could be the season. It's the season for vacations and getting ready to move out and go to college. At work the other day I had this girl panicking about affording all of her dorm room things as well as text books. That reminded me of how I had to save up for months just to afford the amount of text books I needed.
The overwhelmingly huge issue I run into literally every time I go to buy a new avatar I've made is that at LEAST one item, usually more, has no listings.
As you said, the item is not uncommon or rare.
Items are just released so frequently that the item barely exists.
People cannot afford to buy items EVERY DAY, and so these items are almost nonexistent.
I also suspect the lack of listings in older items may be due to people being driven away from the site.
I know a lot of people have quit.
I've had to trim my friend's list pretty regularly of people I use to talk to daily.
Activity is definitely down on this site, and that's been clear for a while.
But that lack of activity seems to be cutting into the userbase's ability to even find items because they're on accounts people have left.
All of it makes creating and buying avatars overwhelmingly frustrating.
• Are you tired of the volume in which Gaia releases new items?
- I'll be honest. I am. I thought at first this was great when they started to shell out more items for us to have, but as of late, I feel like I'm always creating a new avatar or always looking for some way to afford that one item that looks awesome. And it's getting exhausting to look through my inventory and actively having to look for items that I don't want and to sell just to get the one.
And don't get me started on Gaia Cash. As much as I do enjoy supporting Gaia, my god, do they think I own Trump Towers? I'm only 24 and I just got my own apartment so I don't have money to shell out every day. xD
• Have you been spending less on the site if you're a regular cash user? Why?
-This month was the most I've spent Gaia Cash because they kept coming out with things I like. But I'm thinking about starting to budget myself and to pretty much play the waiting game because I just finished the budget I put myself at for this month and already this week there's more items I would like! It's pretty...damn. xD
• How would you combat the problems with such a high release rate?
- I have no idea. I really don't. lol
• Do you think the lack of sales of LQIs have to do with the repetitive themes many of them?
- It could be. I mean, we have lots of recolors of the same items and then the repetitive themes...oh man. I mean, look at the stroll items! We have more than 5 of those. xDD Do we really need more stroll items? I mean, this one is adorable, but sheesh.
I've been ignoring announcements for years by this point I think. Mostly because I don't really make gold on here anymore, and I've never used cash. So everything is far out of my price range. Mostly I find items through the inexpensive thread, and hope they don't inflate while I sell trash to get them.
« ‹ It really does. I have so many I can't finish because the item is either stupidly inflated because there's only one on the market, or it's not there at all. And going to friends to ask them if they have something I could buy is frustrating (though slightly less frustrating than the exchange.)
I wish there was something to revitalize the site, like how it was when I joined.
omfg this
I get that the artists are swamped with work and such and respect them so much because of their amazing work. I just wish they'd sometimes go out of their comfort zones, just a little bit, enough to see something brand new.
« ‹ I've thought that for a while. I'm hoping with this opportunity for users to become artists that we get some new people with new and amazing ideas. I really want to see items that aren't the same thing over and over.
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