A Review: Kickstarts/storytelling/GS updates. lrn2Gaia

[I have a tissue]

Dear Gaia,

What happened? Did you forget you are an entire world with its own unique lore and mythos?

You have done some questionable things before with your gold traps. This takes the cake in the "erroneous decision with continuity" department with them, unconditionally. You have failed as storytellers on top of being openly evil about your users deserving these updates.

You've blocked the use of a shop without any damn good reason other than to extort your members, as previously with your other shitty Kickstarts. It's absolutely, completely, utterly unacceptable. You're making your members pay for gold shop updates that you should already be providing.

This is not an event.
This is not fun.
This is an outrage.



These are the main points why I feel you have no idea what's going on, just in case you missed it:

• You are making your members pay for Gold Shop updates.
  
  Are they going to be in the multitude of colors and options that they have been before?

• You have ignored NPC/Gaia's plot continuity.
  
  What on earth did you pull out of the far reaches of your a**? Louie in financial trouble? Seriously? That's depressing and against everything we know about someone who is a lot more intelligent about "life", being a vampire and all.

It would be one thing if you gave us decent Gold Shop updates before this like you have in the past almost monthly with lots of items and quality additions. Not to mention, if you didn't sell the free currency on the site to line your pockets with blood money. Then, and only then, would it be a hell of a lot different. But you're using an NPC and doing something that is uncharacteristic of their story.

There is no rhyme or reason. It's bad story design, and you expect your members to lie down and take it while you bone'em and s**t all over what they know about the NPCs that exist in their world.



Just because it's obvious you don't understand how storytelling works, anything that you put out that contributes to the story should enrich Gaia's lore. Your events, your RIGs, your manga, your games- Kickstarts should not be an exception.

Get a creative team on board, already- you're overdue for consistency in your continuity.



What makes it worse is you have attached this failure of a story with another gold trap that should never have been even a glimmer of a concept.

This should have been set up the proper characters and/or a believable story. At the very least, you need to try harder in the creative department so your storytelling doesn't look haphazard and thrown together for the sake of a few extra bucks.



At least try. Please. It's sad that you respect your continuity as much as you respect your members-- which is down to zero, if you haven't noticed.



The less you try the less I am going to give you my money. I'm not the one missing out. I have Nintendo to keep me company.



I have a tissue

Community Member
Gaia Customer

[Sir Dark Hat]

well said and well put. c:

[Adnama Lavode]

My budget for games is getting pretty fat because of Gaia being terrible. I spent a fair amount here in the past, but why should I now? They have screwed up in every imaginable way and show no signs of stopping. They'd have to have a stellar record for at least half a year before I even consider spending like I used to. I'm not one to take a small "sorry" and fall back in love again. Been bitten too many times in too many different ways.

[Minty-MANZANA]

I like to believe that with this amount of discontent SOMETHING should have to be said to the admins at least.

I haven't seen so much angry posts since uuuuh the summer game? Not even that was THAT full of anger.

[I have a tissue]

Up, please.

[I-Kawaii Kiore-I]

I agree completely.
I've been a member for several years, and I am so disappointed in the recent changes to Gaia as a whole. I used to love the sense of community that revolved around Gaia, but as time progresses, I feel more and more disconnected from all of the new "updates" and events.

I feel as if they are only looking to profit from the users, and they aren't listening to the suggestions and the major complaints of the Gaia Community as a whole.

If they would've listened to the community's warnings posted within the forum discussions regarding Gold-generators, there wouldn't have been a need for these "Kickstart" generators that are only meant to be a Gold-sink.

I am that much closer to quitting Gaia altogether, but I'm still trying to hold onto my account for as long as I can possibly bear (for sentimental reasons).

[Tako Pin]

I agree with this. This whole thing is so bad it makes me want to cry. Taxes, seriously?! Nether I of the people running the shop is THAT bad, that something like this is normal. We have to pay for a "free" shop not only that but an insane amount to boot. :/ Who thought about this "grand" event?

[Dunyazade]

Gaia is making it really, really hard to be a naive optimist these days.

[Kyorukki]

thank u for this post

the recent s**t gaia's been doing is... emotion_facepalm

[KittieCupcakes]

Yes, well said, OP.
Gaia seems to be one big blunder after another.
It does make me think, though, that we as users may be more willing to forgive them and less angry with them if we felt like we weren't being ignored. Sometimes businesses make mistakes, but when they own up to them and treat their customers like humans instead of dopamine-addicted rats dollar signs, their customers are much more willing to forgive and forget.
I can't comprehend why Gaia is acting the way it is. Are they deluding themselves into thinking that everything is great? Are they really that daft?

[I have a tissue]

Up, please.

[xFyex]

I don't have a problem with paying for new shop items. In fact, I recall supporting this idea. The problem I have is a shop suddenly closing out of no where and the inconsistencies. Many have already pointed out that Louie is too smart to forget about paying taxes, but I don't think anyone said anything about this and this. It's just me nitpicking, but in the gobal tiers, it explicitly says that Louie would be doing the tailoring, but in the announcement, Louie "won't let his hands see any actual manual labor". This is a small thing, but this kind of proves to me that the people that check aren't there/doing a good job.

[Scobre]

Ivan used to be one of my favorite NPCs, but his lack of understanding with accounting and taxes and putting H&R Wesley in danger made me stop liking him with this kickstarter. crying Why Gaia do you do this to me? I also heard H&R prices of existing items will be increasing after the kickstarter has ended as well so that stinks. I guess it's safe to say that gold shops and achievements and forums have all been monetized by now. Maybe Ivan is actually related to Gambino and this is a sneaky way to raise funds for Gambino's plastic surgery after the explosion? I still think Gambino is alive.

[Amia-Chan]

Louie is, like, the unofficial favorite NPC of Gaia, I think.
Hence, in my opinion, that's the only reason they chose H&R Weasely ...

That or, Gaia really hates the shop - considering they've nearly killed the original owner and set it on fire.
Now they're trying to close it down again. emotion_donotwant

[Janine Melnitz]

Highest Donator Contests, and all variations of it are not permitted.

These contests involve the promise of an item to the person giving the highest amount of donations. They are essentially like auctions, except bids for the item are not returned.

Also, giveaway threads that claim that donating more will increase the chances of getting the item(s) being given away are considered variants of this type of contest, and are not allowed as well.

Announcement from the Admin regarding Highest Donator Contests.

I might as well put this here since this kickstarter caused this conflict with Gaia's rules. The highest donor rewards for those halos appear to run counter to the rules for the Exchange. Granted that these are rules for that portion of Gaia, but isn't it just another inconsistent and , perhaps , hypocritical action done by the site? Rules are made to maintain order, but Gaia seems to be the first one out the door to break them. These kickstarters are certainly causing all sorts of inconsistencies like the current staff is no longer familiar with not only the canon they've established, but their very own guidelines. Who are these people heading this site?