Amorra Aeterna
Kalon Ordona II
What I think the involved Gaia staff fails to realize is that zOMG! doesn't have to bring in revenue on its own to be worthwhile for the site in monetary terms. zOMG! is a user net more than a cash dump
Actually, it does. They have stated over and over that Gaia Online is a business. They are not here to make us happy or to be our friends in that kind of way. (They want to keep their customers happy, yes. But it isn't the same thing.) They are here to pay their bills. It does not make a difference if the rest of the site covers their needs, if zOMG! does not make a profit than they will view it as a weak link in the chain and leave it in the box in the closet covered with cobwebs.
They would rather support 3rd party Facebook games than develop and popularize their own MMOG. And it was the very lack of adverts which killed it in the long run. The stupid Facebook game of theirs has far more on-site adverts going on (even having 'news' updates in your My Gaia area...) than zOMG! ever had. The lack of adverts meant it wasn't popularized. The lack of popularity made the company pull staff from the project. Fewer staff meant more bugs showed up and it took longer to fix. More bugs meant fewer people willing to play... you see the spiral?
You are very correct, and that was actually my whole point. Their entire approach is flawed, as evidenced by Gaia's present situation.
They didn't used to be about money. Think of Gaia's origin. It was conceived to be exactly what it says it is: an online hangout with lots of fun things and community, and so on.
As Gaia grew, they needed to start actually paying the people who worked on it, which is totally understandable, but the problem is of course is that the focus gradually turned toward profit and away from the original spirit of things. Exactly that downward spiral you mentioned. It cost too much to advertise zOMG!, so they didn't, so it wore out, so they stopped making stuff for it, so it wore out some more, and resources were pulled, and here we are.
If they hadn't had the money mindset, they might have seen the value of zOMG! as distinct from its
direct monetary revenue.
That's what I'm trying to say: zOMG! is best used an
indirect source of revenue. It provides both a means and an end for Gaia avatars, which is what Gaians really want and do spend their money on.
The've taken the focus away from avatars with the onset of Facebook games, and that's draining the life from Gaia, not adding to it as they hope. And they have difficulty seeing past it because of their money focus.
We expect it from Facebook. We never expected it from Gaia.
Evolving items was a great answer. Aquariums are also good because that's another personalization people can do. That's Gaia.
Facebook games have none of that. You just name stuff, click stuff, and keep clicking stuff--and hopefully click ads along the way, or even participate in surveys and things for premium currency.
It's cheap and it's a sellout and it benefits Facebook more than it could ever benefit Gaia, even in theory.
So basically Gaia's in danger of losing its soul to profit-mongering. It's an inevitable battle all companies face as they expand. Except in Gaia's case, we're not winning for losing--we're just plain losing. All we can do is hope the level of demand for avatars and zOMG! gets their attention before things get any worse.