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Witty Autobiographer

With the recent happenings, between the Booty, the survey, and things in between, I know a lot of people have expressed a feeling of not being appreciated as a member of the site. There's a lot of talk about what Gaia was and what it's become. I've seen people say that they're not appreciated beyond their wallet, or that Gaia doesn't care about the community anymore. You know, end of times and all that.

So I'd like to take a minute to discuss that sentiment, and how things came to be that way. Basically: what makes you feel valued as a Gaian? What has the staff done to make you feel valued as a member of the community, or what can they do to foster that feeling now? Do you think things used to be different, and what made it that way? Is there anything they're doing right, and what changes would you like to see in user relations in the future?

Enduring Shapeshifter

For me it's really simple, Gaia no longer seems to care about our feedback or what we think. They only care about what fills their wallets, despite their old business strategies probably brought in more cash in the long run... I guess it's just a case they want the bulk quantity now, rather then having to wait for it.

I feel as if Gaia has far left its roots, which was expected of it becoming an actual business... but I grew to accept what it became in 2008-2011.. I still supported, I still bought Gaia Cash and I still told friends about Gaia... However with their recent forcing cash sales down everyone's throat, destroying the value of gold and creating Hyper Inflation...

Yeah... No... I don't feel valued, and I feel like Gaia only looks at the cows it milks daily.

Flint Jakobs's Compadre

Fuzzy Faun

Dunno if I need to feel valued or justification for being on this site. I just want a free forum site and some cheaper cash shop items made available with some decent gold sinks.

I enjoy the time I spend on here, be it debating, arguing, gifting, collecting art, RPing or hanging with friends with a dash of time wasting.

Though, I was super excited when talking with artists who made the Lunar Bundle for Year of the Snake and the Golden Serpent (who immediately responded back with queries about the item issues) emotion_kirakira

Tiny Inquisitor

Other gaians, mostly. It's nice to feel like I am valued by others in the community.

It's nice to get a reply from a Mod in a thread, or an NPC. Seeing other GCDers post their opinion, whether I agree with them or not, always makes me feel as though I am apart of a larger community as well.

Obviously having items that are in reference to things I enjoy are nice, but mostly it's just... yeah.

My only major gripe is that there are a lot of good ideas that I see thrown about and they're not being listened to or even taken into account. But you can't make everyone see everything all of the time so it's not really a dealbreaker.

Loyal Wife

When they tell us our opinion on site modifications actually matters to the point of where they are listening to us...But don't worry, that's not gonna happen anytime soon.....

OG Noob

    The friends on my friends list make me feel valued.

Ethereal Trickster

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Breaking watermelons makes me feel valued, no no wait breaking watermelons, a egg, and a flowerpot is required for a project due tomorrow.

What makes me feel valued is Zomg and when people say "SWEETHEART! You have sweetheart!", sound silly yes it does but I originally joined Gaia for Zomg anyway.

Questionable Streaker

I felt valued when Gaia actually listened to our concerns and came out with happy mediums to at least somewhat please the userbase. Nowadays I feel as though my worth is only about how much money I have in my wallet. Gaia has a very very very very very very very very upset userbase but I dont think they care anymore.
I think the only value I have now is my artshop.

Tipsy Pumpkin

Being listened to, having features you want fixed taken care of, and features I'd like to see enacted. When someone goes out of their way to make you happy, that's when you know they care.

Hassli's Spouse

Demonic Sex Symbol

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There are really two things going for me right now:

E-Corp and the Gaia NPC Story Contest.

I enjoy putting things together for both of these groups.

I want to throw in Zurg Plotters, but I only feel valued by them about 1/5th of the time because there are so few of them left.

Super Spook

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Nothing besides the community. c:

Witty Autobiographer

Slick Southpaw
Dunno if I need to feel valued or justification for being on this site. I just want a free forum site and some cheaper cash shop items made available with some decent gold sinks.

I enjoy the time I spend on here, be it debating, arguing, gifting, collecting art, RPing or hanging with friends with a dash of time wasting.

Though, I was super excited when talking with artists who made the Lunar Bundle for Year of the Snake and the Golden Serpent (who immediately responded back with queries about the item issues) emotion_kirakira


That's true. Even when I don't feel like having an involvement with the site at large, it's always nice to come here and have a discussion with someone about something. I don't know very many communities that are just like this one, there's always something different or missing that I seem to appreciate about the community here. They have different audiences, or different systems, and most of them don't have other entertainment (i.e. avatars and such) readily available.

Even compared to other avatar websites, there's something about this one that keeps me coming back whereas I tend to forget about the other ones. Sometimes it's the fact that it just feels cold, and the people running it have this attitude that the site must be played and run THIS SPECIFIC WAY, because it's THEIR creation. Some creators don't have a presence at all in their community. That's what I absolutely loved about this community: it always felt so intimate and personal, even though I'm one of hundreds of thousands of users.

And now I'm talking to the thread at large, but I can sympathize with people who don't want to lose that aspect of Gaia. They don't have to implement every idea, respond to every post, or shut out cash sales in favor of gold-only. However, the idea that anyone can come to Gaia and have fun, whether they are able to spend a lot, a little, or any at all, has always been central to the founding principles of the site.

They don't have to listen to every suggestion, but having a happy community is mutually beneficial to the company and the community. You can entice people into collectively spending a lot of money out of temporary happiness or novelty gimmicks, but it's bound to wear off and people are going to say, "If I don't enjoy it here, why do I care about getting these items anymore?" On the other hand, if people enjoy coming here and feel like they're part of something special, you're going to have an audience who wants to contribute, feels good about spending money, and enjoys it over the long-term.

That's what I loved back in the days of Panagrammic and Fleep. It wasn't just the fact that everything was geared towards user happiness, it was also the little things they did for/with us. Like the time Pan made staff notices with little puzzles that linked to a virtual space + a password where some devs were hanging out. I went in and hung out a couple of times, and that was just so cool. It was a time after the website went through something that was very similar to what it's going through now (a lot of people felt the site was only grabbing for cash anymore), and I remember feeling like Gaia had returned to its roots and started cherishing the user again.

Flint Jakobs's Compadre

Fuzzy Faun

Celestial Fireflies
They don't have to listen to every suggestion, but having a happy community is mutually beneficial to the company and the community. You can entice people into collectively spending a lot of money out of temporary happiness or novelty gimmicks, but it's bound to wear off and people are going to say, "If I don't enjoy it here, why do I care about getting these items anymore?" On the other hand, if people enjoy coming here and feel like they're part of something special, you're going to have an audience who wants to contribute, feels good about spending money, and enjoys it over the long-term.

That's what I loved back in the days of Panagrammic and Fleep. It wasn't just the fact that everything was geared towards user happiness, it was also the little things they did for/with us. Like the time Pan made staff notices with little puzzles that linked to a virtual space + a password where some devs were hanging out. I went in and hung out a couple of times, and that was just so cool. It was a time after the website went through something that was very similar to what it's going through now (a lot of people felt the site was only grabbing for cash anymore), and I remember feeling like Gaia had returned to its roots and started cherishing the user again.

FLEEEEPPP emotion_kirakira I also miss biglanky too.
Idk, I think Uncle Kenny, Sisky, and Narumi have done a pretty good job in trying to keep in contact when they can. Zero Omega and codemonkey seem to also be more active than ever in interacting with the userbase (granted, I came on in tail end of 2006ish/2007 so I can't compare to earlier years). If anything, I think it's harder to appreciate their interactions and efforts because of all the hate and frothing at the mouth and users not feeling appreciated.

Artists are giving out a lot of freebies, and not just single pose, but multiposes too.

Gaia is in a middle of a heafty balancing act. Gotta make money and keep a happy userbase and employees.
Timely delivery/ceasing of features a large part of the community asked to be implemented/removed

or at least meeting the community half way on these demands if they feel strongly otherwise

Along with occasional focus on less popular features and making decisions that show generally high ambition and confidence
quoth the rupaul...
"If you don't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?"

Heroic Pumpkin

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At the moment? Absolutely nothing. Gaia is hiring assholes who make offensive surveys and items that are ridiculous just for money. They aren't listening to the people using the site at all.

If they were they'd improve things, such as zomg and aquariums.
Instead they're giving us what they think we want, such as back wings and recolors instead of good EIs and fun games. And ungodly expensive cash items that some idiots will buy, further fueling these bad decisions. emotion_eyebrow

I havent felt listened to in a long time...and that was a hair style suggestion.
Gaia feels like a spoiled sibling, only listening when it is useful to them.

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