Gaia is Dying, I know there's other threads.

[Kitagawa Yusuke]

Gaia is still my home, though I do think it's slowly dying.

[Ghin - Aoiichi]

No it's not.

[Skaia Beltane]

I used to spend hours and hours here during events. The last one (something fluff xD) I missed. It just didn't seem interesting at all. I can't pinpoint the exact time when I started losing interest in the event's, it's been downhill for a while. But this summer was the first one I didn't try out at all, which I find a bit alarming.

[Erynne]

Iehonatane

I used to spend hours and hours here during events. The last one (something fluff xD) I missed. It just didn't seem interesting at all. I can't pinpoint the exact time when I started losing interest in the event's, it's been downhill for a while. But this summer was the first one I didn't try out at all, which I find a bit alarming.

I know how that feels. I just choose which events to participate. I barely acknowledged the Summer Event. I didn't take a bite out of the Pie Hard one and I rather not go egg hunting for the Easter one. I don't think I liked that Prom one either. I think only the Halloween events still hold some draw for me.

[Skaia Beltane]

Erynne

Iehonatane

I used to spend hours and hours here during events. The last one (something fluff xD) I missed. It just didn't seem interesting at all. I can't pinpoint the exact time when I started losing interest in the event's, it's been downhill for a while. But this summer was the first one I didn't try out at all, which I find a bit alarming.

I know how that feels. I just choose which events to participate. I barely acknowledged the Summer Event. I didn't take a bite out of the Pie Hard one and I rather not go egg hunting for the Easter one. I don't think I liked that Prom one either. I think only the Halloween events still hold some draw for me.

For me it's the Halloween and X-mas events. those are the only once I still care for. Easter was okay-ish, but the summer events have been bad for years now.

I also wish that there was more mini events, something to keep me occupied. I just logged in today properly for the first time in 3-4 months (Properly for me means that I actually see what's going on and not just to see if my account is ok) and the only really "new" thing for me is the facial hair in the salon... I've been logging in once in a while but I would still call it a small hiatus because I spend like 2 minutes at a time. Even the all the new items have been kinda boring. sweatdrop

[Kitt Koneko]

I think all the new directions also help explain why NPC fan threads are dead mostly, too.

[Forest Gladiator]

I probably won't care much if Gaia dies in a few years. I just logged in after a little more than a year, just to check things out. But, I have other hobbies that I can devote more time to.

[youkoonna]

It's scary because these are very real points. I think I'm still going to invest my time and money (when I can) on Gaia until it goes down though. I still love this place enough to do so.

[Eserel]

everything is tldr because i'm a lazy a**
but i wouldn't mind if gaia closed down at the end of a year
i think it would be a nice close being it's 10th year anniversary and everything its doing this year
but i don't think it will happen
yes theres plenty of good rational for gaia grasping at everyone's pockets and the idea that the end is near
but i'm still on the fence
the company might have grown too large to support itself
but it still has a large dedicated fan base that has proven willing to throw the money when asked
the point on spending money on pixels is another debate entirely
but i really think the rumors are getting out of control
if it happens, it happens
if it doesnt, it doesnt
through this is a home and accepting environment where people have grown and made friends they will keep forever
it's also a game
people need to realize theres other outlets and other worlds beyond the screen
if gaia closes, it's not the end of the world, just possibly it's own

[FairyInDreams]

ROM, I have to agree with you 100%. And it bothers me due to the amount of REAL MONEY I've put into Gaia all of these years (my main is a 2005 account... I just had my 8th anniversary at the start of July O_O ). Not everyone can be a wiz in the Vend or the Exchange, and MCs & Cash items have to be bought by SOMEONE to get them into the system, right? I mean, when I first joined Gaia I had no idea that donation letters had actual items in them, so I was selling them to the NPC shops for 1k gold each so that I could buy clothes for my avi. I didn't even know what the Vend was at the time nor that we could buy/sell/trade with other users. I didn't really have any guidance for the first few months *shrug* My cousin talked me into joining, and he said the site ran solely on donations from members...so I thought that the letters were just a courtesy thing with no intrinsic value to me. I just wanted to help the site out like I did other sites on which I was a member.

I honestly don't care if Gaia cuts out stuff like Towns and car stuff and excess games in which people DO NOT spend REAL MONEY to get better stuff (*cough* try to save zOMG! *cough*).. but I really hope the avatar portion of the site remains for at least a few more years. I enjoy playing with my pixel dolls and owning the items is so much easier for me than trying to work TekTek considering the size of Gaia's ever-growing item database.


Here is what I have to say as far as why I think Gaia is in trouble:
I think that Gaia is showing too many signs of economic struggle too closely together...and I found I came to the GCD that I'm not the only one. I found this {your} topic on the first page as soon as I landed in the GCD:



I'm really starting to wonder about Gaia's economic situation right now- too many was to bring in new cash too quickly:
Just examine what they have done in the last month to get more money pouring in at a quick rate:
>> Spectacular Summer Sale
>> re-release of the Halo (which, even at it's $1,000 price tag cannot be ruled out as a "mass re-release" because it was made available to ANY AND ALL users... Gaia had no idea how many people would be willing to break into their college fund for the chance to get an Angelic Halo, the ULTIMATE ITEM!)
>> Club Verge,
>> Selling event items as GCash items (WTF?? Slap in the face much to the people who put the energy into earning those items?!)
>>a HUGE gold bonus for any first-time GCash buyers (aka selling pure gold)
>> and now a sudden discount on a $10 EI, after it was already in the store... but is still BRAND NEW

I'm sure I'm missing something in the Gaia Cash-a-thon, but I think these points are enough for just over ONE MONTH worth of activity. O_o
To me, it seems like Gaia has been trying to bring in a LOT of money in a short amount of time. Does anyone else see this trend, or am I reading too much into it?

Anyways, I really hope Gaia isn't dying. I have been on Gaia since 2005 and have personally poured thousands of dollars into the site to get the items I want to make the avis I want to make. In fact, I suggested at SDCC 2006 that Gaia introduce a special GUILD for their users who were regular supporters ($xx per month/six month/yearly donations...because they were still called donations back then and you had to be on the White List in order to purchase more than $200 a month worth of DI Letters). To have that Guild spring up 7 years later was really a surprise... and not the happy one I had thought it would be.

Gaia Cash really changed many of the dynamics of the site... some not so much for the better IMHO. (I think RIGs are HORRIBLE due to the fact that items get re-released with each new RIG EVERY SINGLE MONTH, thus deflating their value tremendously).
I love EIs, but to have a stunt like this pulled after all the other things that have happened so recently just screams MONEY PROBLEMS AT GAIAONLINE.

I apologize if this sounds like a rant... I'm a bit out of practice talking with people in forums. I prefer to use Gaia as my "dress-up pixel doll site", not so much as a social outlet any longer. I can talk with the few friends who are still on Gaia via PM.

[Ghostfrost]

Maybe not dead, but not as great as it used to be and not a chance of redeeming itself. I stay here for the forums but most of the people here are oldies that grew bitter over time.

When I first started gaia like four years ago I spent enough money on it and now I have enough to not spend any real cash anymore. I just take advantage of the now kinda messed up market place to make money and I can use my old but valuable items to trade off for newer ones.

Tbh I lost interest in this place when the notification system change a couple years ago, it had bugs that didn't notify me when I got comments and I got sick of it. This still hasn't been fixed either.

[Bullet Sonata]

I've been on Gaia for a little over seven years now; my first account (Feb, 2006). There used to be a time when I logged on three times a day just to go on towns and update my profile. Over the years my interest in Gaia has almost come to a standstill. The monthly collectibles have, in my opinion, been a failure since 07. Guilds like MLP and GJC, that once were centers of post however dumb they may have been, are now dead or non existent. The decline of Gaia began, I think, when EI started. People used to have to bump in threads, play the mini games in order to complete that 100k quest, or donate the 2.50. Now, you spend five dollars and you can buy ten of those 100k items. Who will posts in threads like crazy to get that Chyaku Norisu Scarf when they can simply spend six dollars to get it. I personally feel that it's a slap in the face that any user can buy the amount of effort and time that I have put into my account.ZOMG helped a little but overall it only manage to delay the inevitable fall of Gaia. I now log on about once every two weeks just to see if anything has changed; sadly, it hasn't.

[Immortal OG]

Damn and i just cameback today after been gone since 2008 ............ it's sad to hear how it's going but i still feel like gaia still has a lot of users

[Spifficated]

I joined Gaia when I was sixteen. I'm now in my mid-twenties. I think the real issue is that Gaia (for me) was before facebook. It was before myspace and before social media exploded. I hate to bring up this age-old story, but we still played outside and had friends and activities outside of the internet. Gaia was a completely new concept (at least for me). It was a place to be unique, customize and have a say. It was a fun, new thing.

As time evolves, people evolve. I feel like instead of Gaia finding real potential, it's turned a loyal userbase from a group of individuals who loved the unique features that this website offered, into cashcow loyalties whilst offering the minimum of content that this website once offered.

For years I've watched them lay off incredibly good people to our community, while keeping others that seem sub-par. Gaia is a history to me. Perhaps it's just me getting older, perhaps it's a userbase that was attracted during a peak and we're just all getting older. I will always check the site, I'll always log in (frequently) to check what's going on. But as far as an active status, I'm afraid that's just a faded albeit great memory.