Z a f f r e
Oh. Sigh.
You're wrong, though, on one point. They would not make more money by putting the items directly into the cash shop. Think about it; if you buy... say... 3 of them because you want a certain item, in order to get the item you have to be lucky. The more you want the item, (then try and fail to get it) the more rigs you will buy in order to try again.
If they can't make Gaians happy and get good money, then they will have to choose just one of the two. Guess which one they will always choose?
You seem to fail to grasp something though.
The RIG's are fairly cheap and people ARE losing patience with them.
Gaia could get away with releasing the items in the RIG's for a lot more cash.
As I said elsewhere, until it's properly tested NO ONE can say which method is more effective, I would love to see the alternative trialled.