GEE THANKS AUSTRALIAN USERS FOR YOUR MONEY!!

[Ghenja]

Is it crazy that I have to buy other items with real money from the cash store and sell it on the MP to buy an item off the MP because I can't pay money to buy it from the origonal store with GC?


I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

[Aldo Simoncini]

Ghenja

I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

Just check the GCD, there is a thread about the new RIG. wink

I can't enter the Mecha Neko too, but I don't play RIGs anymore anyways, so I couldn't care less. 3nodding

[Eerie Doll]

Ghenja

Is it crazy that I have to buy other items with real money from the cash store and sell it on the MP to buy an item off the MP because I can't pay money to buy it from the origonal store with GC?


I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

this.

[KiciaKocia]

Ghenja

I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

They can't do that - making whole store was only way to prevent non-US users from getting items.

[Ghenja]

KiciaKocia

Ghenja

I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

They can't do that - making whole store was only way to prevent non-US users from getting items.

Actually all they need to do is add a foreign key in the database to US only items so that when you go select an item not valid it displays the error message for the actual item instead of the shop and blocks out the buy option in the shop. It shouldn't be too hard to do.

[Anne Packrat]

Ghenja

It's a website. It should cater for international users by default. Otherwise its just a bad business plan. I can understand not releasing the videos in the anime movie section because that means that people would get access to the show early and they would lose sales and viewer here when its released but items online have no excuss because it hinders their sales rather then improves it for both Gaia AND the sponser.

It really is super annoying.

gaia always screws international members over. The anime movie section, the shops, conventions (I have an achievement that will sit there forever.) Even the Gaia Cash system where you work for gaia cash is geared negatively. I went to the movie section and there was only 2 options. so I did them both and now I'm 6GC richer. There are alot more in the survay or signup section but I find only about 1 out of 6 will actually give me the GC at the end of it and they take ages so I gave up on that. might be better now. I'll have to test.

Mecha neko, and the Anime Player are both subject to international licensing regulations. If the overall rights holder refuses to deal with Gaia directly than they have to work with the individual rights holder for each country. For Mecha Neko this means that Gaia will have to make twenty or more contracts, which means spending a lot of time and money on it (for travel, phone calls, translation, lawyer and government fees).

The Anime Player is through one company who only has the rights to show the anime in the US. Gaia would have to go through and get individual contracts with the creators of every single anime (which is notoriously difficult with the Japanese anime industry) in order to make it available internationally.

Conventions are a different matter, and they have done some internationally in Canada and England. Australia however is very far away, and flying there takes a long time and a large amount of money. Considering Australians make up about 1% of the total population of Gaia, it unfortunately just doesn't make sense to spend a lot of time and money to get there.

[The Magnificent Unsu]

Oh look, it's one of these threads again.

There's a lot of bureaucratic red tape to even sell these items, lots of laws to comply with and contracts to draft. It's complex enough to get it for even US members. But once it crosses into other countries, there are other copyright holders, laws, and agreements that also have to be complied with. Gaia still is a small site compared to many other social sites, even if it is large for a forum-based website. Having to jump through all the hoops to sell to even another country, say Canada or the UK, would be a lot for their legal team to manage. So they take a way that allows a majority of users to buy it with cash and then sell to everyone else. It is the better way, since now everyone has access to it and they don't even have to spend real money.

But you're right, it is so unfair to you. Let's take it down so no one can buy it ever. Because if you can't have it, no one should have it, amirite?

[Zzyli]

Evelin333

*lives in australia*
Meh. The items aren't that good anyway....I wanted some new wigs....or dresses...

Does tiger and bunny merch even sell in australia? I haven't seen any in large game stores in NSW

Zzyli - Zzy as in Xylophone, Li as in leaf

Madman's pretty much the only people to license anime, and they haven't got Tiger & Bunny. From memory, it wasn't an amazing series either, though I've never been huge on shows with Mecha.

This is one of those things that at first glance seems unfair, but really, doesn't affect people that much. When FMA items first came out I was all "Hey- why did you guys do that?", but it makes sense. Gaia isn't going to undergo talks with Funimation in the US, and Madman in Australia, and whoever else they need to to release items internationally in the Cash Shop, and you can still get them the day they're released via the MP.

I take greater issue with the fact that it can take months for games to be released in Australia owing to weird licensing issues, and you end up paying probably 1.5 times as much as you do to buy them in the US *is dying to get a release date for P4:Arena*

Sometimes, I get annoyed at not getting the same kinds of options as someone who lives closer to Gaia HQ, like when I hear about my friends who have 40-50 dollars worth of GC they've saved up from doing sponsored videos & I can't even scrape together enough to get donor status for consecutive months, but I guess it's just a consequence of location. When you think about it, it's really good that we can get any kind of sponsor cash packages for international users. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't trade my mostly free healthcare & heavily subsidised tertiary education for easier access to pixel shinies.

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative...

[azndreams]

So then by that logic if the company was say based out of Europe they should make a US specific item then since they would be "catering" to Europeans first? Oh and this is a rhetorical question. No need to respond.

[Nymshi]

I never thought this was fair. Little can be done about sponsorship issues, but Gaia at the very least could release an alternate item for all other locations not covered by said sponsorship. And not some cheap thing either. Same value, same quality.

[Tsuki_Kirkland]

Nymshi

I never thought this was fair. Little can be done about sponsorship issues, but Gaia at the very least could release an alternate item for all other locations not covered by said sponsorship. And not some cheap thing either. Same value, same quality.

They don’t need to ,everyone can still get the item through the marketplace so there’s no point in releasing another item just for everyone else

[AKB0048]

Ghenja

KiciaKocia

Ghenja

I think I'd be alot happier if they actually let me into the store but told me I couldn't buy them so atleast I'd know what was out so I could check the MP rather then just rellying on announcements and tektek.org

They can't do that - making whole store was only way to prevent non-US users from getting items.

Actually all they need to do is add a foreign key in the database to US only items so that when you go select an item not valid it displays the error message for the actual item instead of the shop and blocks out the buy option in the shop. It shouldn't be too hard to do.

Except, for whatever reason, they isn't what they decided to do. They know better how the CS system works, not you. Creating a store front that only US users could access was the easiest and quickest thing they could do.

Other sites also do IP blocking for foreign IPs.

[Calelith]

Nymshi

but Gaia at the very least could release an alternate item for all other locations not covered by said sponsorship. And not some cheap thing either. Same value, same quality.

No they don't.

"Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wagh’nagl fhtagn."

[HeIIraiser]

Honestly.
Just be glad the items exist at all.

If Gaia didn't have these contracts, the official items would not exist.
Would you honestly rather b***h about region locks, and having to buy the items on the MP, or just not have the items exist at all?

At least you can still GET them, they're not LOCKED to US only customers, just the ******** shop.

[Awesome McGee]

Kain-Senpai

Isn't this something do to the sponsor licensing issues? Not sure, but it may be the same as Full Metal Alchemist.

That's exactly it.

But for real, if you want them that badly you can just buy them in the MP. Take something off someone else's hands, and sink a bit of Gold while you're at it.