IS the Staff & Admins Okay With How The Market Is?

[lovely ghosts]

I'm afraid that's the way inflation goes.

It's much easier to earn gold nowadays than it was years ago, so while things seem more expensive, I actually find them easier to obtain.

-fondly remembers questing for months to buy those 40k fairy wings back in the day- emotion_kirakira

I do agree that alchemy items are BS though. I just pretend they don't exist, so I don't get sad about never being able to have them.
The alchemy system is hugely flawed imo.

[The Santa Clause]

The marketplace has been stable pretty much since it's inception.

However, item prices are driven up because it's become easier to earn gold.

"BUT MUH 2004" you might be screaming. Well, in 2004, 10k was worth like 10mil today (both take roughly the same amount to acquire).

You're falling into the same trap that old people fall into when they say "back in my day, milk and gas only cost 5 cents" Yeah, it was 5 cents, but the average household income was around $1000 annually.

Even with the nerfing of zOMG!, items have maybe lowered in price <15% (Going off of my main's wishlist)

And you can still earn 18 million a year on zOMG! with the 50k nerf. So do keep that in mind wink

[King Awesomolocity]

I like the marketplace the way it is.
It requires work to get the items, which makes them more rewarding.
Alchemy items are expensive because they're rare. That's how it works. xd

~King Awesome

[SOLIDShift_VI]

_
I'm not sure what back in the day was like. I didn't join till 2005 or 6.
I'm just looking for more ways to make gold, and in a fun way!

But I still the Alchemy is strangle out of whack. But I think that's just because I thought it was going to be funner to do than it is. I simply got my hopes up. I think. ^ ^;


EDIT:: I think I didn't say this but, I don't hate the market place! I love it!
Sometimes I spend way too much gold on things that I can't get as cheap in the gold shop. XD
So I have a LOT of little trinkets that aren't worth much, Lol!

I just wanted to know if the inflation is completely intentional, or just a, "It happens" Sort of thing!

Anyway you gais have given a lot of great advise. So thank you very much!
¯

[King Awesomolocity]

SOLIDShift_VI

_
I'm not sure what back in the day was like. I didn't join till 2005 or 6.
I'm just looking for more ways to make gold, and in a fun way!

But I still the Alchemy is strangle out of whack. But I think that's just because I thought it was going to be funner to do than it is. I simply got my hopes up. I think. ^ ^;


EDIT:: I think I didn't say this but, I don't hate the market place! I love it!
Sometimes I spend way too much gold on things that I can't get as cheap in the gold shop. XD
So I have a LOT of little trinkets that aren't worth much, Lol!

I just wanted to know if the inflation is completely intentional, or just a, "It happens" Sort of thing!

Anyway you gais have given a lot of great advise. So thank you very much!
¯

Well, alchemy is really...just a massive gold sink, and it's an expensive one. Which is another reason the wings are so high priced; high cost to craft = high selling price. (Though rarity is probably the biggest influence.

As for inflation, the inflation over the whole market happens when there is more gold being put into the system. More gold means that the gold is less valuable (because...people have more of it. EX: if everyone has 3 cookies, but a chef comes around and gives everyone 4 more cookies...then everyone has 7 cookies, but...the cookies are LESS rare. Before, you could buy gas with one cookie, but now, it takes 3)
Inflation on older items (2003, 2004, MCs, Chance Items) happens because as they get older, they become more rare. Sometimes people who have the items just...stop coming on, meaning...more rare, and thus...more expensive.
But trying to control inflation would make it harder for people to get gold. The majority of the richest users on Gaia make (or made) their living off of inflation. Buy low, sell high. (Johnny K. Gambino, amirite?) So the admins of Gaia (wisely) let the market go on it's own. And I like it that way.

I hope my long, lengthy explanation helps. xd

~King Awesome

[Nemariel]

The Santa Clause

The marketplace has been stable pretty much since it's inception.

However, item prices are driven up because it's become easier to earn gold.

"BUT MUH 2004" you might be screaming. Well, in 2004, 10k was worth like 10mil today (both take roughly the same amount to acquire).

You're falling into the same trap that old people fall into when they say "back in my day, milk and gas only cost 5 cents" Yeah, it was 5 cents, but the average household income was around $1000 annually.

Even with the nerfing of zOMG!, items have maybe lowered in price <15% (Going off of my main's wishlist)

And you can still earn 18 million a year on zOMG! with the 50k nerf. So do keep that in mind wink

10k was not that hard to get in 2004. People exaggerate. I remember getting fairy wings in three days. However, I will say that a million gold seemed like an impossible number back then. I remember when 50k was a lot. Nowadays people blow gold in increments of millions like it's nothing.

[Susue]

I'm sorry you feel that way! A friend of mine just came back from a long hiatus and was pretty shocked when I started describing cheap RIG items in the 30-50k range. It is easier to earn gold now but there's also a lot more speciality items so seeing so many awesome things in hundred k ranges can definitely seem daunting. I would despise being a new user today.

As far as why is everything out of control in the Marketplace? I'm assuming it's because Gaia creates pretty good cases of lacking supply when there's high demand. SD Dolls for instance are rare and randomly generated and often have low store sellback values (I'm not sure if this is meant to be ironic or what). However, the few that are released onto Gaia are often highly coveted and then thrown into the Marketplace which is pretty much an open market ran by teenagers and young adults--many of whom trying to make profit and who can blame them for that? The lack of actual regulation on the MP is the issue. The only thing the goldsink tax has done is made people feel like they need to raise their prices more to make up for it or saturate The Exchange with threads where the OP's idea of lowballing is 10% less than MP average buy price. The only thing the warning feature has done...is waste some coders' time, I suppose.

It's kind of sad really. I've been on this site for 8 years and have quite a bit to show for it, but even then...a lot of things still feel very very far out of my reach. xd

[Prodigal trailblazer]

Scit

emotion_hug

Just to shed some light on the deal with Alchemy: it's not a feature intended to earn people a profit. It's quite the opposite.
Alchemy is a feature for so-called 'hard-core' Gaians who are willing to spend a lot of time and gold into a prestigious status.
It may offer some form of profit in the long run, but it takes a lot to get there.

So if you're a casual Gaian, there's no need to pay it any attention.

Gaia is what you make of it, and you should do what you enjoy doing. 3nodding

Who gives a damn if we lose the war?

I disagree.
Alchemy like all other gaia features should be accessible to any gaian!
sure it may not be feasible for two day noobs.. but i've been on gaia for 8 years!
if you ask me alchemy needs a major revamp.

Let the walls come down, let the engines roar!

[Kouga Loves You2]

To be fair, while a lot of things are crazy-expensive (be it from rarity, or just natural inflation), a ton of items have decreased in price in the last couple of years. CI items are constantly being re-released. A ton of alchemy components are a lot more common than they used to be. The magical giftboxes and the items they contain are nowhere near as expensive as they were when I first joined.

There will always be items that seem out of reach-- which I understand; I'm sure that's done by design. But I think there's a fairly good balance between items being kept rare, and items being increasingly made more accessible.

[The Santa Clause]

Nemariel

The Santa Clause

The marketplace has been stable pretty much since it's inception.

However, item prices are driven up because it's become easier to earn gold.

"BUT MUH 2004" you might be screaming. Well, in 2004, 10k was worth like 10mil today (both take roughly the same amount to acquire).

You're falling into the same trap that old people fall into when they say "back in my day, milk and gas only cost 5 cents" Yeah, it was 5 cents, but the average household income was around $1000 annually.

Even with the nerfing of zOMG!, items have maybe lowered in price <15% (Going off of my main's wishlist)

And you can still earn 18 million a year on zOMG! with the 50k nerf. So do keep that in mind wink

10k was not that hard to get in 2004. People exaggerate. I remember getting fairy wings in three days. However, I will say that a million gold seemed like an impossible number back then. I remember when 50k was a lot. Nowadays people blow gold in increments of millions like it's nothing.

10 mil isn't that hard to acquire today, either wink

Although, your right, the actual comparison is something closer to 10k = 6-7 mil today 3nodding

I sometimes lurk the exchange and when I see people adding hundreds of k to haggle, it's still pretty mind boggling eek

[Nemariel]

The Santa Clause

Nemariel

The Santa Clause

The marketplace has been stable pretty much since it's inception.

However, item prices are driven up because it's become easier to earn gold.

"BUT MUH 2004" you might be screaming. Well, in 2004, 10k was worth like 10mil today (both take roughly the same amount to acquire).

You're falling into the same trap that old people fall into when they say "back in my day, milk and gas only cost 5 cents" Yeah, it was 5 cents, but the average household income was around $1000 annually.

Even with the nerfing of zOMG!, items have maybe lowered in price <15% (Going off of my main's wishlist)

And you can still earn 18 million a year on zOMG! with the 50k nerf. So do keep that in mind wink

10k was not that hard to get in 2004. People exaggerate. I remember getting fairy wings in three days. However, I will say that a million gold seemed like an impossible number back then. I remember when 50k was a lot. Nowadays people blow gold in increments of millions like it's nothing.

10 mil isn't that hard to acquire today, either wink

Although, your right, the actual comparison is something closer to 10k = 6-7 mil today 3nodding

I sometimes lurk the exchange and when I see people adding hundreds of k to haggle, it's still pretty mind boggling eek

I blew 50mil on an art auction once. It was sorta mind-boggling to me, but totally worth it.

[Qyp]

They tried to control it with the 2%... but that made things worse I reckon...

[daydreamer_girl]

Einrick

I will admit, I don't like that regular forum posting earns you so little compared to playing the games. It is no doubt to get people interested in the games, but I still think of Gaia as a forum, and as such feel a bit sad that foruming is so undervalued by the gold system.

You know what? That's a good point. That's a very good point. Especially from a person like myself who participates mostly in posting and hanging out in threads. Where's my recogniSHUN!! scream

*ahem* Anyway, I used to covet a lot of things on Gaia, but I never actually made a substantial effort to get the really rare items, so I've come down from realising how much I can spend and on what range of items based on how much I make. It's usually between 100k and 300k because I don't let myself save much more than that sweatdrop

[Bleak Life]

well i figure they created the marketplace and let it be user run to allow users to do as they please. i understand the frustration of inflated prices COMPLETELY (kind of depressing indeed. i just wanted 1 item that shot up to the multimillions as i was finally reaching the multithousand dollar then-current price).

anyway, i think with things like booty grab being so easily accessible building up people's gold for anyone who goes to it, and the real money payments for items AND gold makes some users want to feel more separation. if you want a good item they paid $ for, they want you to pay more gold maybe. or the fact that anyone who plays booty grab can buy any now-considered "cheap" item in the few thousands... everything good is in the millions, as a result.

i agree it's sad, and i don't like it, but i have accepted it. you can make a good amount in an hour of booty grab, and that can help you build up to 1mil eventually.

[AcapeIla]

SOLIDShift_VI

_
What I mean is... It seems like the Major staff doesn't seem to mind the Huge growth of the gold exchange rate. Items are so Expensive nowadays, and the Alchemy things are ridiculous.
I just don't even know what to say about the alchemy stuff.I'm not really angry, just very... sad.
It's honestly depressing to know that I will never have half the things on my wish list. Or even like 2%! XDD
There was a gewd 2+ years where I visited Gaia so rarely because I was so discouraged.
I guess I still am. But I digress. I'm not what this is about. Shoganai.

I just wanted to know, since it seems somewhat obvious the
The Staff, Devs, & Admins back the growth of WHOW-ness::
Is this how things will always be? Should I just get used to it?
And is it okay that I feel this way about the whole thing?
(( You know, like all; bleh, and out of sorts. ))
I know it's stupid to let this get me down but.. I figured I'd at least ask.

And maybe ask for advise to help me find the site fun again, that won't require me to spend more than 9oooG. (( Or play the MMO. The Gold cap just depressed me more. Lol XD ))

Also does the Site need A LOT of money to keep running?
It's come a long way and it's a lot bigger than it used to be so I'm curious about that.



..... I think I need a hug. ; n ;


EDIT:: in;bf The Staff doesn't answer questions here, it's community run;; It's okay I know that.
I still would like any advise you could give. Thank you! <3
¯

Hello there user!
As one may suggest do the staff pay attention to the market is what piqued my interest and I will gladly answer yes! They try to ensure that prices on rare and valuable hard to get items are not over stocked nor overpriced incase of the loss of these items through bans. So We ask ourselves how do they do this? They just commonly regenerate the items and sell it back in the market for 1g lower then the LBP, now i know this isn't much but they at least still pay attention to it correct? Secondly the market is generally run by us the users of gaia who are constantly spending IRL currency on a virtual pixelated site that can easily generate the gold to keep the market flowing. It just so happens that any rare or hard to get item is extremely expensive due to the fact that only a few handful of gaians are actually able to aloofly require these through legitimate means while others spend hundreds even thousands on this site. As the old saying goes "The rich get richer and the poor stay poor" is indeed a true fact on gaia, But hardwork and dedication will pay off.

P.S I don't see the economy of gaia changing soon seeing as how Money runs the world and as any other normal human being we can't get enough of it, but as a fellow gaian who has adequately enjoyed himself over these long years I just wanted to let you know it's not the items or the fancy art or anything that keeps me on, It's the unique and vast amount of people i'm meeting everyday that makes me stay to play on gaia for another day~