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I am for:

The long haulER 0.28767123287671 28.8% [ 21 ]
The short sprintER 0 0.0% [ 0 ]
The devoted follower 0.095890410958904 9.6% [ 7 ]
The skeptic 0.28767123287671 28.8% [ 21 ]
The fickle consumer 0.10958904109589 11.0% [ 8 ]
The deals wrangler 0.027397260273973 2.7% [ 2 ]
THE POLL WHORE 0.19178082191781 19.2% [ 14 ]
Total Votes:[ 73 ]
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Loiterer

⚠ Do you think that the need to push up their quarterly and yearly numbers
has made Gaia loose sight of the long picture?


My theory is always changing but currently I'm on the fence between them milking us for all we're worth because they just figured out it was possible, or them milking us until some pretty outstanding debts are paid off. I'm leaning toward the former, though.

⚠ Do you think Gaia should start lowering prices and put back the less than 50$ pricetags
for cash shop or even Verge items? (make the 500$-1000$ a rare super special price)

They've made such an image for themselves that randomly lowering the prices now would look even worse. They would have to toe the line with caution and work down to lower prices over time.
But I would've thought selling things at lower cost to the consumer was common knowledge (in econ)? Maybe they don't teach that anymore.
If you sell something for $10 and only 5 people buy it, that's $50. It you sell it for $9 and just one more person buys it (6 people), you've already made more money. Now you have $54.

The difference between Gaia and Amazon though is that Amazon only has to worry about one market. Price thing on amazon, consumer buys item, done deal. Nothing else is effected (that affects Amazon). Gaia on the other hand, has to price an item in USD for the consumer, but then they have to make sure that the item keeps a certain price in gold, and keeps a certain rarity on the market. This makes Gaia less like Amazon and more like... Debeers (diamonds forced rarity).

Gaia has to keep close tabs on the gold market, because people buy items with GC mostly to invest for GG. If a GC item isn't worth GG, less people will be willing to buy it, resulting in less USD.

The huge problem Gaia has (I think) is that there is no one on staff with the competency to handle this type of market manipulation/situation well.


⚠ Most importantly: would you, as a consumer, buy more and spend more on Gaia if
they released more items in the lower price range rather than the 50$ prictetags now?
Or would you still be the same and just close your wallet?

I would, and have spent more when things were cheap and sales of re-released "rare" items were actually rare. I spent $50 for an item that "wasn't worth it" in the very first black friday sale, and I was fine with it. Nowadays though, I wouldn't spend $50 on anything they offer because it's not a special deal anymore, who knows when they'll re-release it again, and there just isn't any more trust to be had that they'll stay true to their word as a company. Besides, when every other item costs $50, I no longer have an extra $50 for the next sale.

⚠ Is it too late for Gaia to change? Has it crossed your BIG RED LINE as a consumer?
It's not too late to change, but if they don't change soon, I'm certainly out. And even if I don't quit the site, I'm certainly not buying any GC any time soon.

Edit:
Totally off-topic, but I was just ignorelisted from someone's thread because they didn't like my gifs.
LOL.

Barton Gaian

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I think you've hit the nail on the head. Re-releasing (and re-re-releasing, and re-re-re-releasing) Flynn's Various Body Parts is shaking apart confidence in the gold market, making it impossible for people to make purchases with gold or really have any hope of doing so in the future - because there's no guarantee that Flynn's Arm And Leg won't show up again.

Releasing normally rare items (especially the Angelic Halo) have pretty much given the impression that items retaining their worth isn't a good idea either, because nobody knows when something will be re-released and cause its value to drop - not even Monthly Collectables, which were supposed to never be released again.

Constant, continuous, repeated flash sales in the cash shop isn't going to make a new user think that they can participate meaningfully on the site without spending some big money, especially with prices in the $25-$50 range. The recent alchemy bundle sale makes me wonder how many people are finding Gaia's business plan outright deceptive. Spend only $20 for a backwing formula rather than $500 for the backwings! You can make them yourself rather than spend all that money! ...Oh, but you'll need to spend $440 to buy leveling-up bundles to complete them, not to mention hundreds of millions of gold in supplies to make them. Don't worry, though. Flynn's Booty is here to help!

Hallowed Knight

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- Definitely. These are the numbers that will get the CEO to his next gig I'm sure. I think they're experimenting now to see how far they can push (give them an inch and they'll take a mile) kind of like how a kid is always trying to see how far they can go without getting into trouble (it will be a constant struggle from now on). The 18+ site is something they can fall back on if and when things go completely south here.
I just can't see how it can last considering that people are incredibly fickle (why wouldn't they be when gaia's not taking advantage of their nostalgia) and when the new best thing comes along (which it will) they'll jump ship for a new adventure. I joined gaia back in 06 because a friend suggested it to me, I doubt stuff like that's happening very much anymore and if it does then word of mouth is not on their side with the recent PR problems they've created for themselves. They don't even advertise like they used to which is something they need to look into if they want this new business model of theirs to be the least bit sustainable.

- The prices are freaking ridiculous. That's some serious sticker shock for a product that's just pixels without any functionality, might even scare off new users. eek

- I would buy things with cash tree GC if they were cheaper but not with actual money. sweatdrop

- I doubt they'll change, they've already got a taste for it now. twisted
They haven't exactly been giving their users too many reasons to stay: dead features, constant CS pushes that are freaking annoying, the marketplace going crazy from Flynnflation, etc. Oh and now they have pop up ads because they are everyone's favorite kind of ads. rolleyes
The Halloween event and Jigsaw are my red lines, so long as they stay entertaining (or in Jigsaw's case just stay considering there haven't been any new puzzles in years) then I'll keep coming back to gaia occasionally.

Buggy Mage

Well, I wont argue with Amazon.

Hassli's Spouse

Demonic Sex Symbol

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I'm done paying GC.

Things are too expensive now, and the value of my money is too low.

I also basically have enough, I guess. Like, I will be happy with the items I have if I can't have anything else.

But I have no idea if other people feel that way.

I really only care about the events.

Gaia could very well be pushing people away.

Maybe if they let out high quality low price items.

Ruthless Shapeshifter

Yeata Zi
I'm done paying GC.

Things are too expensive now, and the value of my money is too low.

I also basically have enough, I guess. Like, I will be happy with the items I have if I can't have anything else.

But I have no idea if other people feel that way.

I really only care about the events.

Gaia could very well be pushing people away.

Maybe if they let out high quality low price items.


People probably still want to buy items...but with how aggressive Gaia
is with pushing out item after item with insane prices. I have a feeling
Gaians now are wary of buying anything new unless they really REALLY
have to. : /

I know I am. I usually can't sit on any amount of gold without impulse
buying but as of recently I've just been sitting on it and not doing any buying
at all especially when I know Gaia will just release more new items every few
days with prices in dollars skyrocketing even higher everytime...
and the worth of gold plummeting. X__x
Whatever the case was
in June I would have donated to a kickstarter or something without a qualm

but they've become completely repulsive
and it's going to take some time of quality improvements before I feel that sort of loyalty to this site again

Friendly Fairy

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One of the big issues to my mind is that we're all discussing it with anecdotal evidence, whereas Gaia will have detailed stats enabling them to decide on the pricepoint of CS items. I wouldn't buy items from Verge for instance, I don't want them badly enough, but there are obviously a large number of users who are willing and able to buy from the store, so Gaia's market research has done its job properly.

If CS items were cheaper I would buy more items overall, but I would still only spend the same amount of money per month as I do now. Using my example it wouldn't be worth their while to reduce prices. *shrug*

I don't think it's too late for Gaia to change, but to be honest I'm not one of the crowd who thinks the site is ruined and falling apart. I don't rush out to buy everything my favourite make-up brand / publisher / clothes store / etc puts out, and I don't need to own every item Gaia produces. So long as the site is not made pay to play to access, I'll still be here.

Destructive Bunny

Lyllisa
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.

          I don't think Gaia is in this for the long run.

Hilarious Genius

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okay so everyone who has an IPHONE please open your stock app as we can see amazon is not in the top 5 lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

Witty Autobiographer

I have not and will not ever plunk $50 into one single item. $2.50 or even $5 for a bunch of pixels? Yeah, that's not so bad. $50? That's enough for a video game that will last hours upon hours, and I will not put that into ONE item.

However, I guess there are people out there who are ready and willing to do so, and if Gaia can get people to buy, why shouldn't they put the item out there, speaking from a business perspective? I just hope that the $50 items don't eclipse cheaper ones, and the only people able to partake in Gaia are those rich enough to dole out $50 for a few poses of an item like it ain't no thang.

I just don't want Gaia to lose sight of the aspect that users participate in for free. It didn't start out as a play-to-pay game, and I'd be disappointed to see it head that way. I paid plenty of cash when there were a lot of free things to do, because it felt like a worthwhile addition on top of what I could do for free. Games that are solely based on (overpriced) micro-transactions in order to achieve ANYTHING meaningful lose my interest very, very quickly.

There's always the forums (unless, god forbid, you ever have to use GC to participate in forums), but why stay on Gaia when there are so many other social communities to participate in? For example: Reddit, which is a diverse site with a lot of people to interact with. Plus any of the numerous forums out there. The thing that set Gaia apart was the gaming aspect-- earning gold to dress up your avatar, play games, or create your own little community via guilds.

And again, it's because of these free things that I felt it was worthwhile to spend my money here. I was enjoying it anyways, why not support the site and get a little extra on the side? I can't afford to be a regular big spender, but I've spent some good bucks here. Certainly more here than I ever have on any other website for digital goods.

Admirer

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⚠ Do you think Gaia should start lowering prices and put back the less than 50$ pricetags
for cash shop or even Verge items?
I just think they need to stop the sales in general. A yearly sale during Black Friday was great, now it's starting to become too much.

⚠ Most importantly: would you, as a consumer, buy more and spend more on Gaia if
they released more items in the lower price range rather than the 50$ prictetags now?
Or would you still be the same and just close your wallet?

I would spend more if they weren't so costly.

⚠ Is it too late for Gaia to change? Has it crossed your BIG RED LINE as a consumer?

There's always time for change.

Big Member

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Sure, Gaia may have finally started to act like a business. But in the worst possible sense. I have been saying this since the beginning of the cash push and this thread just seems to make my claim more concrete. The really sad thing is that so far it worked.
It's almost pathetic that they could take advantage of the "most loyal" by hiking up the prices and slapping on some pretty words and they'll shell out for it.

I can't bring myself to spend more than $25 on items. And that's plural. Just so everyone's aware, the last $10 item bundle we had was the lackluster Wild Adventure bundle in June.

Hesitant Mystic

gaia's pixels are not worth as much rl money to me as gaia thinks they are

Back in april I had no problem dropping a little cash on a bundle or a cute REI, but those felt like deals.
With a bundle you got a few items, with a REI you get a lot of different poses along with the anticipation aspect...

But nowadays it seems every announcement is verge related and there is no way I'm spending 50 bucks on one item.

I haven't donated in months and I'm not really planning to in the future.

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