To Gaia - My friend. [What's keeping you here?]

What's keeping you on Gaia?

The Forums	23.9%	[ 45 ]
Friends	19.7%	[ 37 ]
Games	1.6%	[ 3 ]
The Items	27.7%	[ 52 ]
Towns	1.1%	[ 2 ]
The Events	3.7%	[ 7 ]
Other [Tell me about it in the thread!]	22.3%	[ 42 ]
Total Votes:			[ 188 ]

[low-TENSION]

I'm rarely active around gaia but I still do log in everyday and enjoy buying stuff to dress up my avatar with, I guess its a habit for me, though the issue is a mess waiting to happen, I'll still stay.

[pukaru]

memories I suppose.

[Princess of Cakes]

Friends and the kind and gentle community of paws. :3

[Antiq]

That was a pleasure to read, OP biggrin

Ok, when I was a kid, I used to love paper dolls. I bought books of them with my pocket money whenever I could, or I would design and cut out my own clothes for them. If I had kept them, they would probably be antiques by now lol
As an adult who stumbled across Gaia while checking it out for my son who wanted to join when he was 13, I was intrigued by the avatars. Here I had digital dolls to dress up in infinite ways! It appealed to that kid in me. Then I got to know the community and it's history and developed a real affection for it, which has lasted to this day.
I used to like the management and administrators, they had a quirky sense of humor and fun and apparently enjoyed interacting with us. The current regime is saddening, and I fear for the future of the site if it continues to play dirty push people away.
However, some of the elements that have kept me here are still here, the people and the avatars mainly. I can still, if I wish, enjoy this site for free (for now), without ever spending a dime, I'm not needy when it comes to wealth or perceived status.

Gaia is an extraordinary site, the biggest forum on the internet (or once was), and I think it would be tragic to throw that away. In internet terms, it's almost like an ancient monument. I'd love to be still here in 10 years time, part of an internet phenomenon, so I'll hang on as long as possible, until it becomes impossible.

[THE_FAIRY_EMPRESS]

Your convention experience makes me sad sad
I remember when they first started and being so jealous of people who could go, I think there was only ever 1 in this country.
Your experience is not what i imagined.

They can't continue as they are, it's not feasible as a community or a business, I guess i'll just stick around until things either collapse or are restored. Either way it's going to get worse first.

[Elinoi]

I come back to gaia out of interest. And leave again when some person drives me up the wall about a commission. lol.

But honestly the things keeping me here: interesting npc characters/plot, incredibly creative community, HQ item releases, and art.
While not every avatar/OC may be to my taste, there is a lot of really beautiful avatars or characters to draw inspiration from.

Gaia made me want to draw again (for the first time in two years) a few months back. And its definitely becoming an inspiration/reference as I work on defining my art style and such.

[arcadian98]

mmm, nostalgia, i guess? it's very comfortable and familiar here, even if i don't talk to too many people anymore (but that's true in general, i have maybe one skype contact i talk to ever). i mean.. it's incredible where the site has gone; i find it hard to believe sometimes. i remember when the gcd and etc were worried that booty grab, of all things, would cause inflation from all the dolphin and watermeat tanks. pretty funny to think about now!

i guess what really keeps me here, aside from an apparent love of lurking, is some sort of hope that it'll all work itself out. that, i don't know, we'll find some kind of silver lining amongst this. i'm probably being overly optimistic.

[BHKasha]

What keeps me on Gaia are my friends, cosplaying, and roleplaying.
Knowing how these asinine people within the community called "Gaians" tend to be, that is saying a lot.

[Trundlebug]

Seeing topics like this always make me sad.

Some food for thought: there are a lot of staff members (though not all of them) still onboard at Gaia, watching and reading the things posted here, who love the community very, very much. But for reasons they're probably not allowed to talk about, just cannot answer any of our questions. And a lot of them stay silent for fear of getting harassed by the upset community -- and also have been pushed away by that community.

However, they still love the site and continue to work on it, despite things we don't know about probably getting in their way at HQ. I'm behind the staff 100%, especially the artists, many of whom are my personal friends.

This site has been apart of my life since I was 13! I love it to pieces. And just because right now there's a rough spot in management that's trying to bleed all life and joy out of the site, doesn't mean I'm going to just abandon it. The management will leave eventually. I look forward to what happens after that point, and how I can help re-nourish what's been withered.

[stampededentist]

I like sharing Gaia's latest "how to not run a business" to my friends who have never been on Gaia Online before.
They think it's partially hilarious and partially suspicious that someone can get away with that s**t/actually makes it out of business school.
lol

Anyway,
I mostly log on for daily chance, which is now starting to feel mini gold generators (which I am strongly against) and a bit of my soul dies errytime. But it's a habit I guess.
I like making avatars with the items I already have (can't afford new items).
And I like bitching about various issues on Gaia.

That's about it really.
surprised

I don't have a sob story or anything.. I did get to meet most of the original team once, at an Otakon convention many years ago. I remember DJ Hellsing was there, and I think at least V0 and Locke.
They were really nice and the crowd was super cute. Very friendly/excited atmosphere.

I hadn't known about that SacAnime convention OP mentioned.
That's...
I'm not really into anime, nor Gaia community anymore so I'll probably never go to a convention again.
But the atmosphere.. I always brought my family with me, who have no interest in the like. But it was just so warm and welcoming and fun, that they couldn't help but love it.
Just hearing that there was a panel, a Gaia panel, that puts a little black spot on a weekend of happiness..

[August Star Of Heaven]

xd Being a leech? Until Gaia becomes pay to post, gets cancelled or gets censor blocked in my place which has a high possibility (sad reality in most western-based social websites), I'll pretty much stay here for the lolz and avi-watching.

I like hiding away from most of my family, my workmates and friends.

Gaia is my Diogenes Club. Only one person important to me IRL knows that I'm here and that's my sib (yep shades of Sherlock there).

[Night born of Raine]

I actually have had more fun on the newer gaia then I did on the old (I seem to be the minority there). Mostly because my small contributions monetarily actually seem to get me somewhere in this new economy and I like that. I actually can afford to be generous to others (which I never was able to before 2013).

I really don't think recent events should effect one's ability to have fun. If you have friends, enjoy dressing your avi, and in general perusing the games and site. I don't see why you can't still have fun now.

And I don't see how the drama of two absurdly rich Gaians (Staff or otherwise) should dictate what you deem as enjoyable and fun. Remember gaia is a site (tool) not a person. It's like blaming a knife for stabbing you instead of the person holding the knife.

I hate how many people bash the site and yet they stay on here becoming a cancer to the rest of the community. Take a couple days off or a week or a month, then come back and see if what was really bothering you today was really worth the trouble. You may just find you were blowing things out of proportion and that there's still a lot of fun to be had on the site in general.

The problems of today will likely seem petty tomorrow. I have come across that lesson many times in life.

[es1k]

Um. Avatars. I guess that falls under items but not really - its dressing up with them that I enjoy. 3nodding

[Badwolf4077]

It's pretty much the same as everyone else has been saying. Habit mostly. I was on a hiatus for a couple of years and I came back in February. What brings me back now is mostly the games, and the marketplace. It wasn't until recently that I started browsing the forums again. I would love to make new friends and stuff like I did before, but it's really not the same.

I guess now I'm just sitting back and watching what's happening to the site. Waiting for the inevitable crash that will come sooner or later. And when that happens if Gaia is still running then I'll do what I can to bring it back up from the ashes.

But for now I have no motivation to participate in any of the events or anything. There isn't as much hype as their used to be and it almost feels forced. So again, I'm just sitting, waiting, and watching on the sidelines (mostly)

[Twizted Child Eve]

I've been here over 10 years. It was my first avatar site. The avatars and items keep me here. Seeing what is going to be released daily keeps me here.
I have a few friends who are still around.
The GCD is where I go mostly.

Events keep me here too, but they've been awful for years. sweatdrop

I guess it's habit too. I can't just leave after being here for so long I guess. I'm just watching to see what goes on.