You do realize this is our fault too, right?

[Joanne Sheila]

Sellers in the MP are only doing what they have always done and that is to make the most of the rising amount of gold that is available.
Only thing that worries me is those are just the sort of sellers that will scream blue bloody murder if the gold sink Gaia puts in place to counteract the flynn's bits get everything deflated.

Get ready for the rants of "my items were worth X now they are only worth Y. Gaia hates us....I'm leaving!!!111!!!"

This place is gonna be fun for the next couple of weeks twisted

[TheRob]

I know it's not my fault. I only want to spend 5k on donation items. I started mini-raging when some stupid guitar item came out some years back and the prices started creeping up to 7-8k. emotion_omnomnom

[DAngelLilith]

I fully relise this tonight when I was in Towns and saw 3 Gaians planing to make items skyrocket on the market just for fun.

[Erogenous Jones]

Elindranyth

I've seen plenty of threads laying the blame squarely on Gaia for item inflation, but really, it's not entirely Gaia's fault.

Yes, Gaia has dumped a lot of gold into the economy. Yes, this devalues the currency.

But the prices in the Marketplace are set by users. The value of an item on Gaia is only that which someone is willing to pay.

And right now, we've got people who are willing to pay these outrageous prices.

Gaia is partly to blame for that. The release of Flynn's Booty has certainly made people richer than they were before. They are now capable of paying outrageous prices. But in the end, it's the user who decided "yes I will pay that price". They could have used all that extra gold to go buy art. They could have used it to go buy nice items in the Gold Shops. But they chose to spend it on an overpriced item in the marketplace, thereby validating the high price it was listed at.

I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with me, I just hadn't seen a topic addressing this point and it's been eating at me so I just wanted to share it xp

Sorry, but saying Gaia is "partially" to blame really minimizes their role in the current inflation crisis and shifts the blame to the user-base unfairly imo.
The simple fact of the matter is that Gaia has become very much like a drug pusher and is preying upon people's weakness in order to line their pockets with no regard for those spending their money or the rest of the community.
I have no facts upon which to base any assumptions, but I'd have to imagine that there's still an awful lot of people out there who don't have free cash to spend on Gaia, and those people, through no fault of their own, are increasingly finding themselves locked out of the economy.
And the recent announcement regarding the Halloween Event implies that they may now find themselves locked out of the Event as well unless they buy what Pusher Gaia is selling.

People are weak, and their weakness is certainly not commendable, but taking advantage of that weakness is simply parasitism, and I wonder if Gaia is looking at a future where none but the rich junkies will be able to play.

[Fanny Flaps]

They're so 'new money'... it's vile and crass stare

At least a fool and his money are easily parted *rubs flaps together greedily*

[azndreams]

I agree people continue to buy. If we all just refused to pay the prices the mp just might lvl out a little more.

[Ninina]

Well, I don't agree with the OP.

It is our fault only in the sense that we continue to buy these items that produce gold in huge quantities. But then again, it's also everyone's right to buy them if they want. However, it is Gaia's responsibility to keep an eye out for the site's virtual economy. Something they have completely neglected as of late.

However, what the OP describes as "our fault" is in reality the definition of an economy.
I am selling something at "X gold."
However, you really want it and say "I can pay 3X gold, gimme." Then, what am I going to do next time I sell said item? I increase the price to see if there are people out there who can actually pay it. Unless I am a charitable entity and sell for underprice just to be nice, or something.

Now, I ask of the OP, would you sell your goods currently for their previous, non-inflated, value? The answer is perhaps no. Simply because you know that people out there can pay more.

Therefore, it's more complicated. It's not simply that buyers are paying more but that sellers also know there's more gold to go around and want, or even, need more. And this is not simply greed. This happens in actual countries, not only virtual worlds: when your currency is devalued everything jumps in price because people need more currency just to do what they usually do.

And the thing is, there are many, many gaians out there with so much gold, they can throw around 100M like it's not a big deal. That in itself should tell you that Gaia is at fault here. They're that government that just issued and issued currency to the point of creating a negative effect for their economy.

[Mana Caelum]

I stated this in a post in another thread. I realized it wasn't all gaia's fault. It's more so the users. For putting up an item more than the ABP and people willing to buy at these crazy prices. I hate going to the Gaia Exchange forum, they rip you off so bad, both for selling and buying, but it's not ridiculously bad as the MP's inflation now. It's up to the users to change this. Put an item less for the ABP or LBP. You're not going to make as much as you hoped but at least the item will deflate. I'm going to wait this shitstorm out and hopefully get back to questing. I obviously am unable to now due to the inflation.

[Soulfulness]

Honestly, all this inflation has done to me has reset my mind of thinking. I don't give two ******** about so-called 'profit' anymore and buy what I want because I want to wear it, not so I can stow it away and make more money than what I paid for it.

[Ramielion]

✦yes 1000 ******** times yes

[Ramielion]

Cassander Valentine

It all leads back to Gaia in the end no matter how you look at it.

✦you could use this logic to trace something back to the beginning of time lol

[Majni]

i agree people are greedy, it's in our nature.

[Labtech Abi]

I definitely agree that Gaians should be held accountable for this as well. We are not innocent. It's not merely the greedy people who list high prices, though, it is the fact that there is a demand for the items at such high prices. The thing about Gaia is that questing has been apart of the site forever. Therefore, regardless of price, a person will strive for an item. Unless s**t gets ridiculous (like it has recently) a person wouldn't stop their quest if the price of their dream item went up, they'd quest more, therefore (gradual and reasonable-ish) price increases doesn't dissuade purchaisng. Plus with more gold in the system, of course people are going to pay higher prices.

If there is a demand for an item and people are willing to pay a higher price, it only makes sense that people would list their rare items at higher prices. Sure, you could say part of it is "greed" but it's just good business sense as well.

[Atypical User]

thats like saying that legally a father and his minor son share the same responsibility... we already know who takes the hit, right? >_>

[Illucio]

Elindranyth

I've seen plenty of threads laying the blame squarely on Gaia for item inflation, but really, it's not entirely Gaia's fault.

Yes, Gaia has dumped a lot of gold into the economy. Yes, this devalues the currency.

But the prices in the Marketplace are set by users. The value of an item on Gaia is only that which someone is willing to pay.

And right now, we've got people who are willing to pay these outrageous prices.

Gaia is partly to blame for that. The release of Flynn's Booty has certainly made people richer than they were before. They are now capable of paying outrageous prices. But in the end, it's the user who decided "yes I will pay that price". They could have used all that extra gold to go buy art. They could have used it to go buy nice items in the Gold Shops. But they chose to spend it on an overpriced item in the marketplace, thereby validating the high price it was listed at.

I know a lot of people aren't going to agree with me, I just hadn't seen a topic addressing this point and it's been eating at me so I just wanted to share it xp

It's easy to find a scapegoat to a situation, but if we worked through the line and order it's Gaia's fault for releasing it to begin with. Sure people didn't have to pay, but they way I look at is here's Gaia

Gaia: If you give me a little money I'll give you diamonds.
Userbase: WHAT A DEAL!? I WILL GET RICH OFF YOU!

When there are deals like this, people will have a hard time refusing.
And they could had bought art or something from the gold shops? If people bought art it would still be in the system, and there are a ton of limited choices of items in the gold shops. (Dernier Cri doesn't appeal to everyone.) People are smart, they'd invest their money into premium items, and so when the value of gold decreases, the value of their items will rise with the tide.
And again, you can blame the lack of gold sinks on Gaia again.

No matter how many times we point fingers, we always conclude to the same exact answer. It's Gaia's fault for trying to make money off our member's weakness of being loyal to them.