Gaia's Decision on zOMG!

[Pilotslover]

Pilfer von Durem

Pilotslover

Swarf's job was about to change, his ulterior motive could well be that he didn't want things to change in the way that they were doing so.

What was it changing to and from? [ JK ] had been the sole dev on zOMG! for awhile now.

Everyone keeps insinuating the devs are being moved over to facebook games, logic leap suggests there will be at least one disgruntled employee who doesn't like the idea.

[Pilfer von Durem]

Pilotslover

Everyone keeps insinuating the devs are being moved over to facebook games, logic leap suggests there will be at least one disgruntled employee who doesn't like the idea.

Okay. I suppose. Not sure why Gaia is having meetings all today to compile the actual figures behind zOMG! if they were not absolutely, positively telling the gospel.

The fact is that the CEO was never behind zOMG! and he made his resume by a short term transaction. We've long suspected him of pulling the same crap on Gaia. When a dev says something along those lines, it's pretty obvious where our minds go.

[Pilotslover]

Pilfer von Durem

Pilotslover

Everyone keeps insinuating the devs are being moved over to facebook games, logic leap suggests there will be at least one disgruntled employee who doesn't like the idea.

Okay. I suppose. Not sure why Gaia is having meetings all today to compile the actual figures behind zOMG! if they were not absolutely, positively telling the gospel.

I never insisted it was gospel, I am however conscious of the fact that swarf may not have all the facts; swarf is merely an employee, only the accountants and the CEO know the truth.

[Catalyste]

Pilfer von Durem

Pilotslover

Swarf's job was about to change, his ulterior motive could well be that he didn't want things to change in the way that they were doing so.

What was it changing to and from? [ JK ] had been the sole dev on zOMG! for awhile now.

[ JK ] is an Artist, not a Developer.

[Pilfer von Durem]

Catalyste

[ JK ] is an Artist, not a Developer.

He taught himself some code just to work on zOMG!

[Catalyste]

Pilfer von Durem

Catalyste

[ JK ] is an Artist, not a Developer.

He taught himself some code just to work on zOMG!

He's still an Artist. If he taught himself some code, it's not to the depth other developers understand. It's to the depth needed to work on minor issues. His profession is that of an artist, therefore when he's needed to head up artwork on something, he's called in for that, not for coding.

[Pilfer von Durem]

Catalyste

Pilfer von Durem

Catalyste

[ JK ] is an Artist, not a Developer.

He taught himself some code just to work on zOMG!

He's still an Artist. If he taught himself some code, it's not to the depth other developers understand. It's to the depth needed to work on minor issues. His profession is that of an artist, therefore when he's needed to head up artwork on something, he's called in for that, not for coding.

I'm sorry, what do you call the only person working on a game when they are pulling double duty?

Sole Artist? No.

Let's call him "The Creative Director". Does that satisfy you? I sure hope it does.

[Catalyste]

Pilfer von Durem

Catalyste

Pilfer von Durem

Catalyste

[ JK ] is an Artist, not a Developer.

He taught himself some code just to work on zOMG!

He's still an Artist. If he taught himself some code, it's not to the depth other developers understand. It's to the depth needed to work on minor issues. His profession is that of an artist, therefore when he's needed to head up artwork on something, he's called in for that, not for coding.

I'm sorry, what do you call the only person working on a game when they are pulling double duty?

Sole Artist? No.

An Administrator.

Everyone picks up a thing or two when they work, that doesn't stop their main duties. It's merely an extra. Given Gaia's overall template, it's safe to say that everyone there knows a little technical know-how in their general area to help pitch in when someone's out. That doesn't mean they've now taken over a new title. It just means they've gain a little something extra to help out with.

[Prue]

Pilfer von Durem

Madkool

Well from the consumer's perspective, it seems to me that the developers of zOMG! lied to their userbase with false promises. Not the upper level admins. We should be pointing to /them/ asking questions rather than parading their responses around as if Gaia the company is being deceitful. That's how I see it as a customer.

We also don't know when Gaia decided to stop giving zOMG! major updates. But from Swarf's reply, it seems that it was rather recently the meeting occurred.

I understand you're frustrated as well as many others here (which explains why this topic is so heated), but I think this is misdirected anger.

The Developers were lied to. All they ever said was "we'll do the best we can". Lanzer, on the other hand, promised that Buccaneer Boardwalk would be completed or else we'd be refunded money. http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/ask-the-admin-archives/ask-the-admin-01-31-2011/t.69224297_112/#112

Your arguments are broken.

No, the zOMG! developers made statements that if users kept spending money on zOMG!, then it would be fine. That clearly was not true.
I assume that if you file a ticket with Gaia and cite Lanzer's post, you can be refunded your Buccaneer Boardwalk ticket by customer service. You'd be amazed what Gaia will do for you if you only take the time to ask.

As for Swarf's "ulterior motive", I don't think he really has to have one. He just wants to save zOMG!, the project he's been working on for a long time now. He did this, however, by making it seem as if the other staff were ~lying~.

[Prue]

Legal bump

[Tenko72]

[Prue]

This got another 60 votes after just one more post?

[Rya Dracosin]

Uhm. When it comes to gaia losing more members over time....

Could it be that it's not because zomg is tanking. But that there haven't been any real updates to it? Could it also have nothing to do with the fact that customer service CAN suck at times? Or how about hacking? And scamming? That can drive people away. So can constant pleas for money from the cash shop. Especially with prices constantly going up.

I'm sorry. I may not have been lied to. None of us may have been lied to. But I can tell you that there's very little honesty happening right now. Lots of smoke and mirrors and efforts to try and please us so WE don't leave. So a MAJORITY of people don't leave.

I'm tired. I'm weary. And I want the business of Gaia to be straight up with us. Stop beating around bushes. Stop sugar coating words. Be as cutesy as you like, however, give us the STRAIGHT answer.

They would be surprised how many would STAY and SUPPORT this site, if only it was 100% truthful to it's users. Or at least 90%. I'm sure many would even accept 80%. However, there are so many different responses coming from so many different places. It tells you how out of tough Gaia is with itself. This to me yells "this business can't tell it's head from it's a** therefore can't choose a direction to go in".

I'm glad they're trying to take steps in repairing what they've destroyed. However, there's been a lot of damage done. Telling the truth CAN hurt gaia, but you know what would get me to be loyal to the site EVEN MORE? If they did tell all the truths in regards to this, despite knowing they could lose a significant portion of the user base.

Honestly, I would rather see gaia recover from a major loss with a clean slate, and nothing but facts on the situation. ATA, while fun and the like, should require that one person with knowledge from each department attend. They can't answer everyone's questions. But it would mean that there would be less "I think" and more "I know".

But if Gaia does want to go the other way. Try and salvage what they have by sugar coating things to make them seem less bad then they are, I may not have the ability to be supportive anymore. I boast about this site to friends. I would rather not boast to friends about a site that lies to it's userbase.

/random sputtering of nonsense

[AKB0048]

To be honest, how I feel about zOMG is that it was structured wrong from the beginning.

The issue with the game is that there's no incentive to level up. There's no incentive to farm recipes or loot (though I guess now there is with Alchemy using zOMG loot).

The gameplay itself doesn't evolve in the least as you play. There's nothing substantial you can get from the game other than a huge time sink and at one point it was a Chinese gold farmer's dream. I don't see how you can look at the game and not see how it mega failed.

It tried to copy the other free to play models, except without the actual things that makes those models work. Cardboard house without a roof at best.

For one- They were too quick to scrap making the game profitable because the community bitched about it. Too much love for the community and not enough brains.

I still think the ring system is god-awful.

Though I can understand the difficulty of creating a US-side MMO. It's not like Korea who can put out stupid games all the time and roll in profit because PC gaming is all they have. Still... to whoever planned this- What the hell were they thinking?

[Prue]

Rya Dracosin

Uhm. When it comes to gaia losing more members over time....

I think you misunderstood Dark's quote. It was referencing zOMG! losing more members over time, not Gaia.

Quote:

I'm sorry. I may not have been lied to. None of us may have been lied to. But I can tell you that there's very little honesty happening right now. Lots of smoke and mirrors and efforts to try and please us so WE don't leave. So a MAJORITY of people don't leave.

It seems to me that 2012, what was to be the year of excellent customer service, was shattered by a few devs lying to the userbase. The smoke and mirrors are coming from them, not Gaia as a company. And there is a lot happening right now. It looks like Gaia is trying to do some PR control, as they should. It's not really their fault that their zOMG! devs blatantly lied to us within the confines of their tight knit forum.

Quote:

I'm tired. I'm weary. And I want the business of Gaia to be straight up with us. Stop beating around bushes. Stop sugar coating words. Be as cutesy as you like, however, give us the STRAIGHT answer.

That's the thing, Gaia is giving all of you straight answers. You just don't like them.

Quote:

They would be surprised how many would STAY and SUPPORT this site, if only it was 100% truthful to it's users. Or at least 90%. I'm sure many would even accept 80%. However, there are so many different responses coming from so many different places. It tells you how out of tough Gaia is with itself. This to me yells "this business can't tell it's head from it's a** therefore can't choose a direction to go in".

There are 2 responses coming from two different places. There's the zOMG! devs that tried to cover their a**, then there's the rest of the staff. I wouldn't try to over-think it, because it's honestly not more complicated than that.

Quote:

I'm glad they're trying to take steps in repairing what they've destroyed. However, there's been a lot of damage done. Telling the truth CAN hurt gaia, but you know what would get me to be loyal to the site EVEN MORE? If they did tell all the truths in regards to this, despite knowing they could lose a significant portion of the user base.

Do you want to know the truth? The truth is that those developers were unwarranted to make the statements that they did, and they should probably be fired for shattering the trust of the users. That's the truth, and you now what, I support Gaia if they decide to fire those developers that were involved in these shenanigans.

Quote:

Honestly, I would rather see gaia recover from a major loss with a clean slate, and nothing but facts on the situation. ATA, while fun and the like, should require that one person with knowledge from each department attend. They can't answer everyone's questions. But it would mean that there would be less "I think" and more "I know".

ATA is meant to be a chance to talk with the other staff. Most of them do have a certain degree of knowledge, and they do the best they can to answer your questions. Almost none of them can give you a 100% definitive answer ever; the site is too complex to have 100% certainties all the time. After this fiasco, I wouldn't be surprised if they took a break from ATA for awhile. It's not like we really give them much thanks for it, and now after everything they say, we just scream, "YOU LIE".

Quote:

But if Gaia does want to go the other way. Try and salvage what they have by sugar coating things to make them seem less bad then they are, I may not have the ability to be supportive anymore. I boast about this site to friends. I would rather not boast to friends about a site that lies to it's userbase.

/random sputtering of nonsense

I seriously think you're being over-dramatic.