GC boycott?

[Persnicketease]

First thing is that you would need a sizable portion of the user base that buys GC to stop doing so. This is unlikely happen.

Second, it's just not buying GC but buying items that cost GC. You can personally not spend any GC but as long as you are buying items from the CS you are supporting GC being bought. Someone used GC to buy it, and there are many users who buy items to sell on the MP to make gold. If you don't buy those items, they won't buy items because they cannot sell it. Again, this is unlikely.

The only real way to get change is to buy items, item RIGS, decently priced bundles and decently priced items. Showing them they can make steady and good profits while putting out super expensive items and gold gens will get them to change their tactics in a way that will benefit everyone.

[King Blackwater]

evan lysacek

King Blackwater

You must be new, no this idea does not work, and its just plain idiotic.

explain. and i'm not new.

This has been attempted numerous times and its failed miserably.

People are going to keep buying GC despite themselves, many users don't give a damn about any of it.

Also taking away all income from Gaia could actually be more damaging.

We are better of trying to convince users to not invest into certain GC related features and support others.

[High3ye]

It has already been established that gaia doesn't listen to their users, anyways.

[evan lysacek]

TlRA MlSU

Yeah, it was attempted once the site started going to hell... some users even tried a gaia walk-out as well... also a failure...

i can see why a walk-out or a boycott would be a total failure; gaia was addictive enough before the cash shop, and now that many cash shop items essentially work in the same way a gambling website does, it's even harder to pull people away.

[evan lysacek]

King Blackwater

evan lysacek

King Blackwater

You must be new, no this idea does not work, and its just plain idiotic.

explain. and i'm not new.

This has been attempted numerous times and its failed miserably.

People are going to keep buying GC despite themselves, many users don't give a damn about any of it.

Also taking away all income from Gaia could actually be more damaging.

We are better of trying to convince users to not invest into certain GC related features and support others.

even so, i don't think it's an idiotic idea. you would just have to reach out to and convince current spenders to stop spending, instead of simply rallying all the people who never buy gaia cash anyway.

as far as i know, gaia still makes money from other sources, like sponsors and advertising, so it wouldn't take away all income. plus, boycotts are never 100% effective, there will always be people who ignore it and don't care. the point is just to get a significant number of people to cooperate.

but i understand that it's probably near impossible to do, given the size of gaia's community and the age range of its users.

[sterek]

evan lysacek

sterek

It would actually have more of an effect to continue buying GC and boycott gold generators specifically. If Gaia can make the same amount of profits without gold generators, they'll stop releasing them.

i see your point, but i don't think that's the case. even if they made the same amount of profits that way, there would still be no incentive for them to remove gold generators because they could potentially earn more with them.

Gold generators don't magically appear out of thin air. The illustrations need to be drawn, the announcements need to be written and timed, the generators themselves need to be coded. It takes work. If the gap between the cost of gold generators and the profit they make from them isn't big enough, they'll stop releasing them.

Think of it on a larger scale: A company doesn't spend thousands of dollars to adapt their website for handheld devices "just in case" it could get them more views and, consequently, money. These things are calculated beforehand, and before spending money on anything, they need to have statistics to back it up. Same thing with Cash Shop releases. They know who buys what and when and how many. They time their sales accordingly, know which items to re-release or recolor, study how much they can charge without upsetting everyone. It's what marketing is about. So really, the only reason gold generators are still in the Cash Shop is because there are enough people who buy them to represent a significant profit for Gaia.

[Susue]

evan lysacek

Susue

A boycott of all GC purchases is actually bad for Gaia. If anything high priced items and bundles need to be boycotted to encourage Gaia to lower their prices and open up a larger portion of their consumer base.

the point is that it would be bad for gaia. boycotting is meant to make a statement, and the issues i'm referring to aren't high cash shop prices.

I'm aware of what a boycott entails--my point is that it will most likely be ignored because you're not going to be able to convince enough users to completely stop making purchases.
I was just trying to give you an example of a boycott that is more grounded in reality.

[Guro Malewife]

perhaps on a HUGE, BEHEMOTH-SIZED scale a walk out/boycott could do something
then there are users who just don't give a s**t, which there are a lot of.
on an individual level people can choose to not buy cash for whatever reason, that's fine. but i don't really see that going very far. Every organized attempt I've seen has fallen apart and TBH I have no clue how a walkout would even work. plus gaia has to pay for stuff running this site: paychecks, server costs, ect. just to name a few so no one buying cash would damage them in the long run.
don't buy over priced items and especially gold gens. if you don't feel that it's worth it to buy cash, than don't. but i don't see a huge boycott over GC really going anywhere at all.

[Neshira Namea Returns]

evan lysacek

is there any sort of central thread/petition around here that discusses the option of boycotting gaia cash? sweatdrop
frankly, given many of the recent changes and complaints on gaia, i feel like a large, organized boycott would be the most effective way for users to wield some sort of power and be heard.
if you feel that the quality of the website has degraded to the point where it's no longer enjoyable, don't finance it anymore.

i was just wondering if this has already been organized yet, or if there have been attempts to organize it before.

Hello, Here's a link to the Occupy Gaia thread.

Whether or not people agree with you, there's a link.
Personally? I agree with boycotting GGs 100% but not necessarily Gaia Cash. I don't have money to spend on pixels anyway so my opinion is really moot there.

As for anyone telling you that it's idiotic or being rude about it, ignore them. There are a lot of people especially in the GCD who think they're experts on everything and that no idea that isn't their own could ever work. Then of course there's the droves of pessimists who would rather lay down and take it than fight back. They're part of the problem, not the solution.

Either way, whatever you decide whether it be to completely boycott GC or only boycott the gens, I wish you luck.

[hanarain]

King Blackwater

You must be new, no this idea does not work, and its just plain idiotic.

How is it idiotic? I'm not new and I can tell you this much. People have got a lot of things twisted. While yes the Gold Generators have caused quite an issue, its actually the whole of the GC shops set up that is causing the real issue. now this isn't about demonize the shops, or having people send money. Gaia works do need to get paid, after all. No, this is about the real complexity of the situation. See, while there has been an influx of gold from the gold generators this isn't the only thing that has cause prices to go up. Before the Gold Gens even came out, gaia_gaiagold prices were going up, and this because the price and amount of GC items. Add in the fact that most of these items are either RIGs or "limited" (ie:rare items). This means that the people who bought these items are going to want a lot in terms of gold for the item. In the end the gold generators are only a small part of a bigger issue. Gaia needs to work on slowing down there releases and maybe spending more time, oh, idk, fixing the many other issues with the site, and finishing some unfinished. At the end of the day gaia is/has because a business, and at the end of the day a business only truly cares about one thing, profit. so a boycott would be a bad idea. Its only if they see that change, that they'll start changing anything else. the too biggest problems would be getting people on board for it and the fact that it might take quite a while before gaia notices ad makes the correct changes.

[Bowie-Spawan]

Marketing teams look more to sales numbers, than non-sales numbers.
If you don't buy GC at all you're not on their radar.

The customers that DO purchase GC are the ones who can take a stand with what they purchase. Those numbers will register and influence HQs sales descisions in the future.

[LunarSupernovan_Yuna]

But I'm against GGs not GC