It's The Lies That Ruffle My Feathers [Now including zOMG!]

[Tigcat2]

You know, as if the constant influx of Cash Items and gold giving Cash Items wasn't enough, now we're dealing with deceit, too. Before you jump down my throat, let me get this out. I think you'll agree.

Flynn's Booty. Yes, another thread about it. No, I'm not saying they should get rid of it because it's only causing inflation, although that's a hell of a good reason to drop it like it's hot. No, my issue is that Gaia keeps saying, "Only until ___!!!! Hurry hurry!!!" as if that's the last time it'll be in the Cash Shop. You know why this makes me mad? Because it's a lie, and not even a good one. You trick people into giving you money by repeatedly promising that it'll never come back again, only for it to come back two days later for a "LIMITED TIME!!!!" Yeah, limited time. Sure. Come back when you've at least thought up something new to scam us with, yeah?

List form of complaints:
- Deceit is bad, stop it.
- Don't lie about things to make money, that's bad.
- I know they won't listen because they're too busy making money but one can dream.
- I think I'm done now.

TL;DR - Gaia stop lying to get more cash, that's just poor sportsmanship.

EDIT 2/11/2014: Thank you so much for all the <3s! They're super appreciated. Along with that, I'd like to say please go support all the other threads in Site Feedback that express their concern with the Cash Items and the influx of Gold Generators. The more of a fuss we make (peacefully mind you), the more they'll be forced to listen.

EDIT AGAIN 2/12/2014 (at like midnight): Thank you so much for making this thread hit Popular status! You guys are awesome! heart

EDIT 11/10/14: I believe it's time to revive this thread. Many things have changed since I first posted this, and I am even more upset than before. There might as well be a completely new section down here regarding zOMG! and Cash items, so that's what I'm going to do.

I will be quoting the entire post by the staff, and addressing it piece by piece, to make this neat and orderly. I will then, as before, make a list form of complaints. Yes, this thread was originally just about GC, but since the title is "It's The Lies That Ruffle My Feathers", this fits. Because we were lied to - again.

Quote:

Some zOMG! Clarifications

Hey Gaians,

We want to take a moment to address the issue of zOMG! being shut down, and to give more details about why we are unable to bring zOMG! back. We understand that people have been upset by this news, particularly those Gaians who have been loyal zOMG! players. We'd to take a moment to address several of the major concerns and comments about zOMG! closing that we've seen expressed in the forums:


a) With regards to our previous announcements, in which we said "don't worry: zOMG! will be up and running as soon as it's patched up!", we want you to know that when we made these statements, we did honestly believe we would be able to bring the game back after fixes were made. It was never our intent to NOT bring the game back. The decision to leave zOMG! down was only made after learning about serious problems with the game's code. We do want to apologize to you, however, for the way we worded our messages. We should not have said the game was definitely coming back even if this is what we believed when we made those statements. It was never our intent to be misleading about the state of zOMG!, and we understand why this is upsetting for you. We are sorry, truly, for any frustration this has caused.

B) Regarding the reason zOMG! cannot be brought back, there has been a lot of speculation on the reason for our decision. Frankly, the truth of the matter is that during an investigation into issues with zOMG!, it was discovered that zOMG! had a serious flaw in the code. Basically, there was a security exploit in the game that, had it been abused (and thankfully it wasn't!), would have allowed people not only access to zOMG!, but to our site's servers and ultimately, to all your accounts. Knowing this was the case, we couldn't, in good faith, continue to allow zOMG! to remain up and running. We even had one of the fabulous former zOMG! devs look into the issue to see how long it might take to fix this exploit, but a concrete estimate was impossible to make given the sheer volume of code. Ultimately, we decided to leave zOMG! shut down because the security of your accounts and our servers is priority.

C) Finally, we would like to say that closing zOMG! had nothing to do with money, or whether or not zOMG! was making a profit. Frankly, zOMG! hasn't made an overall profit for a while now. We've left zOMG! up and running because we love zOMG!, and more importantly, because we know that YOU love zOMG!. Closing zOMG! was actually a very difficult and sad decision for us, especially for those staff members who saw the game from its inception, to launch, and beyond. At the end of the day, however, the safety concerns over the exploit had to prevail.

We hope this provides you with more details on why the decision to shut down zOMG! was made. Again, thank you to all the players who have supported zOMG! over the years - we hope that you'll carry forward fond memories of the friendships you made with other players in game.

Alright, so, here we go.

Quote:

a) With regards to our previous announcements, in which we said "don't worry: zOMG! will be up and running as soon as it's patched up!", we want you to know that when we made these statements, we did honestly believe we would be able to bring the game back after fixes were made. It was never our intent to NOT bring the game back. The decision to leave zOMG! down was only made after learning about serious problems with the game's code. We do want to apologize to you, however, for the way we worded our messages. We should not have said the game was definitely coming back even if this is what we believed when we made those statements. It was never our intent to be misleading about the state of zOMG!, and we understand why this is upsetting for you. We are sorry, truly, for any frustration this has caused.

As a company, it's your responisibility to double, triple, quadruple check everything you send out on mass scale to your buyers. players, etc. It really doesn't matter if you thought it would come back, you should have let us know there was a chance it might not, even if you thought it would. Why? In the past it has been mentioned how doomed zOMG! was, even by staff members, due to the way the coding was written. Unless you were planning on putting the effort into recoding it in the first place, than what you said was very deceitful, since you knew since long ago it was a trainwreck codewise. If you weren't planning on it, why did you even advertise it'd be taken down to be fixed? You can't win here. You made some bad choices, Gaia, again.

Quote:

B) Regarding the reason zOMG! cannot be brought back, there has been a lot of speculation on the reason for our decision. Frankly, the truth of the matter is that during an investigation into issues with zOMG!, it was discovered that zOMG! had a serious flaw in the code. Basically, there was a security exploit in the game that, had it been abused (and thankfully it wasn't!), would have allowed people not only access to zOMG!, but to our site's servers and ultimately, to all your accounts. Knowing this was the case, we couldn't, in good faith, continue to allow zOMG! to remain up and running. We even had one of the fabulous former zOMG! devs look into the issue to see how long it might take to fix this exploit, but a concrete estimate was impossible to make given the sheer volume of code. Ultimately, we decided to leave zOMG! shut down because the security of your accounts and our servers is priority.

Considering it's a priority to protect our accounts, I understand the choice to leave it down...temporarily. Considering it's mentioned in part C, that, and I quote,

Quote:

Finally, we would like to say that closing zOMG! had nothing to do with money, or whether or not zOMG! was making a profit.

, then why not you know..hire some Devs to fix it? If you care so very much about zOMG! as you claim you do, why leave it for dead?

Quote:

C) Finally, we would like to say that closing zOMG! had nothing to do with money, or whether or not zOMG! was making a profit. Frankly, zOMG! hasn't made an overall profit for a while now. We've left zOMG! up and running because we love zOMG!, and more importantly, because we know that YOU love zOMG!. Closing zOMG! was actually a very difficult and sad decision for us, especially for those staff members who saw the game from its inception, to launch, and beyond. At the end of the day, however, the safety concerns over the exploit had to prevail.

While again, I get the safety of your site matters more than anything, due to the fact that sensative information lies there, you have to understand, you must, that you're contradicting yourself here. "Nothing to do with money"..how can it have nothing to do with money when you refuse to send even a single Dev to work on it? I can see clearly now how this all played out. You laid off Devs, slowly, let the game quietly die, and then found a bug and went "oh well!" and left it all for dead. All the memories we had, all the people who played, everything. And you know what? Your game probably would have been making a profit had you not, dare I say it, made the choice to create the dreaded gold generators and actually worked on the game.

List form of complaints:
- Why say it's not about money when it clearly is?
- Why leave zOMG! for dead if you love it so much?
- How could you have let that problem in the code exist for ~six years and not notice it 'till now?
- Why can't you hire Devs to fix zOMG! if it's not about money.
- It's definitely about money.
- You're lying to us, or at the very least deceiving us, again.

Alright, I covered everything I believe I wanted to.

TL;DR - Gaia you done screwed up again. Fix it, seriously. Fix. It.

[Tigcat2]

Bump.

[Aqueitas]

Tigcat2

You know, as if the constant influx of Cash Items and gold giving Cash Items wasn't enough, now we're dealing with deceit, too. Before you jump down my throat, let me get this out. I think you'll agree.

Flynn's Booty. Yes, another thread about it. No, I'm not saying they should get rid of it because it's only causing inflation, although that's a hell of a good reason to drop it like it's hot. No, my issue is that Gaia keeps saying, "Only until ___!!!! Hurry hurry!!!" as if that's the last time it'll be in the Cash Shop. You know why this makes me mad? Because it's a lie, and not even a good one. You trick people into giving you money by repeatedly promising that it'll never come back again, only for it to come back two days later for a "LIMITED TIME!!!!" Yeah, limited time. Sure. Come back when you've at least thought up something new to scam us with, yeah?

List form of complaints:
- Deceit is bad, stop it.
- Don't lie about things to make money, that's bad.
- I know they won't listen because they're too busy making money but one can dream.
- I think I'm done now.

TL;DR - Gaia stop lying to get more cash, that's just poor sportsmanship.

I completely agree; especially with the part when you speak about inflation. Items that i have wanted have gone up in the past two years and i have never been able to touch them. things that cost 100,000 gold now costs 5,000,000 million gold and that quite upsets me because they don't particularly give out more money on zomg. I need money to get these items. I love Gaia but the market has just gotten ridiculous.

[Tigcat2]

Aqueitas

Tigcat2

You know, as if the constant influx of Cash Items and gold giving Cash Items wasn't enough, now we're dealing with deceit, too. Before you jump down my throat, let me get this out. I think you'll agree.

Flynn's Booty. Yes, another thread about it. No, I'm not saying they should get rid of it because it's only causing inflation, although that's a hell of a good reason to drop it like it's hot. No, my issue is that Gaia keeps saying, "Only until ___!!!! Hurry hurry!!!" as if that's the last time it'll be in the Cash Shop. You know why this makes me mad? Because it's a lie, and not even a good one. You trick people into giving you money by repeatedly promising that it'll never come back again, only for it to come back two days later for a "LIMITED TIME!!!!" Yeah, limited time. Sure. Come back when you've at least thought up something new to scam us with, yeah?

List form of complaints:
- Deceit is bad, stop it.
- Don't lie about things to make money, that's bad.
- I know they won't listen because they're too busy making money but one can dream.
- I think I'm done now.

TL;DR - Gaia stop lying to get more cash, that's just poor sportsmanship.

I completely agree; especially with the part when you speak about inflation. Items that i have wanted have gone up in the past two years and i have never been able to touch them. things that cost 100,000 gold now costs 5,000,000 million gold and that quite upsets me because they don't particularly give out more money on zomg. I need money to get these items. I love Gaia but the market has just gotten ridiculous.

Yeah, everything has gone up ridiculously. An item I had donated to me a year or two ago that was originally worth about 3mil is now worth 20mil. It's getting crazy frustrating, especially since they won't even make it possible to get more gold without spending GC.

[Aqueitas]

Tigcat2

Aqueitas

Tigcat2

You know, as if the constant influx of Cash Items and gold giving Cash Items wasn't enough, now we're dealing with deceit, too. Before you jump down my throat, let me get this out. I think you'll agree.

Flynn's Booty. Yes, another thread about it. No, I'm not saying they should get rid of it because it's only causing inflation, although that's a hell of a good reason to drop it like it's hot. No, my issue is that Gaia keeps saying, "Only until ___!!!! Hurry hurry!!!" as if that's the last time it'll be in the Cash Shop. You know why this makes me mad? Because it's a lie, and not even a good one. You trick people into giving you money by repeatedly promising that it'll never come back again, only for it to come back two days later for a "LIMITED TIME!!!!" Yeah, limited time. Sure. Come back when you've at least thought up something new to scam us with, yeah?

List form of complaints:
- Deceit is bad, stop it.
- Don't lie about things to make money, that's bad.
- I know they won't listen because they're too busy making money but one can dream.
- I think I'm done now.

TL;DR - Gaia stop lying to get more cash, that's just poor sportsmanship.

I completely agree; especially with the part when you speak about inflation. Items that i have wanted have gone up in the past two years and i have never been able to touch them. things that cost 100,000 gold now costs 5,000,000 million gold and that quite upsets me because they don't particularly give out more money on zomg. I need money to get these items. I love Gaia but the market has just gotten ridiculous.

Yeah, everything has gone up ridiculously. An item I had donated to me a year or two ago that was originally worth about 3mil is now worth 20mil. It's getting crazy frustrating, especially since they won't even make it possible to get more gold without spending GC.

The worst part to me is that i dont have gc at all i dont work i still go to school and my plate is super full but i still want stuff but i cant have it because they just keep driving prices up.

[Purgatories]

In my own view I don't see this as deceit, I don't think there's a malicious intent behind it but I definitely think it's a marketing strategy. "Get it now while it lasts!" basically which lets be honest most if not all stores do. "Final sales" "Winter/summer etc. sales" "Holiday sales" it's a sales tactic to get people to buy right now, only for that item to be re-released a little later or go on sale again. It's just the way business works.

[Tigcat2]

Aqueitas

Tigcat2

Aqueitas

Tigcat2

You know, as if the constant influx of Cash Items and gold giving Cash Items wasn't enough, now we're dealing with deceit, too. Before you jump down my throat, let me get this out. I think you'll agree.

Flynn's Booty. Yes, another thread about it. No, I'm not saying they should get rid of it because it's only causing inflation, although that's a hell of a good reason to drop it like it's hot. No, my issue is that Gaia keeps saying, "Only until ___!!!! Hurry hurry!!!" as if that's the last time it'll be in the Cash Shop. You know why this makes me mad? Because it's a lie, and not even a good one. You trick people into giving you money by repeatedly promising that it'll never come back again, only for it to come back two days later for a "LIMITED TIME!!!!" Yeah, limited time. Sure. Come back when you've at least thought up something new to scam us with, yeah?

List form of complaints:
- Deceit is bad, stop it.
- Don't lie about things to make money, that's bad.
- I know they won't listen because they're too busy making money but one can dream.
- I think I'm done now.

TL;DR - Gaia stop lying to get more cash, that's just poor sportsmanship.

I completely agree; especially with the part when you speak about inflation. Items that i have wanted have gone up in the past two years and i have never been able to touch them. things that cost 100,000 gold now costs 5,000,000 million gold and that quite upsets me because they don't particularly give out more money on zomg. I need money to get these items. I love Gaia but the market has just gotten ridiculous.

Yeah, everything has gone up ridiculously. An item I had donated to me a year or two ago that was originally worth about 3mil is now worth 20mil. It's getting crazy frustrating, especially since they won't even make it possible to get more gold without spending GC.

The worst part to me is that i dont have gc at all i dont work i still go to school and my plate is super full but i still want stuff but i cant have it because they just keep driving prices up.

A lot of people can't buy it (or refuse to, like me, lol). Gaia's turning pay-to-win and it's pretty lame.

Purgatories

In my own view I don't see this as deceit, I don't think there's a malicious intent behind it but I definitely think it's a marketing strategy. "Get it now while it lasts!" basically which lets be honest most if not all stores do. "Final sales" "Winter/summer etc. sales" "Holiday sales" it's a sales tactic to get people to buy right now, only for that item to be re-released a little later or go on sale again. It's just the way business works.

The reason it's deceit is because they say a specific date that it will "never come back again" after. That's just plain lies. Even with other companies, if they say that, it's a straight out lie and it's wrong. Marketing or not, it's terrible and it needs to stop.

[Evil_Heartless_Moogle]

When they say "last time to get this item!!!1!1!" they really mean just for that day.

[Shadawn]

Excluding the fact that gold generators in general are bad...

There's no point in having it for a "limited time" because they always bring it back!

Gaia, stop spamming me with your announcements and just keep gg's in the cash shop. I mean, if you're just going to be bringing it back.......................

[Tigcat2]

Evil_Heartless_Moogle

When they say "last time to get this item!!!1!1!" they really mean just for that day.

Basically.

Shadawn

Excluding the fact that gold generators in general are bad...

There's no point in having it for a "limited time" because they always bring it back!

Gaia, stop spamming me with your announcements and just keep gg's in the cash shop. I mean, if you're just going to be bringing it back.......................

That's the thing about it..just leave it there if it's going to always be there anyway. (And yes, that's completely avoiding the fact that the gold generation is awful on it's own even without this.)

[Aqueitas]

Purgatories

In my own view I don't see this as deceit, I don't think there's a malicious intent behind it but I definitely think it's a marketing strategy. "Get it now while it lasts!" basically which lets be honest most if not all stores do. "Final sales" "Winter/summer etc. sales" "Holiday sales" it's a sales tactic to get people to buy right now, only for that item to be re-released a little later or go on sale again. It's just the way business works.

True in a sense but one could say that they are stealing. I do see what your are saying everybody has a mark up even in reality but is really necessary here where this is meant to be a place to have un poquito de divertido. a lil bit of fun but instead it is turning out to be less of that and more of money.

[Purgatories]

Aqueitas

Purgatories

In my own view I don't see this as deceit, I don't think there's a malicious intent behind it but I definitely think it's a marketing strategy. "Get it now while it lasts!" basically which lets be honest most if not all stores do. "Final sales" "Winter/summer etc. sales" "Holiday sales" it's a sales tactic to get people to buy right now, only for that item to be re-released a little later or go on sale again. It's just the way business works.

True in a sense but one could say that they are stealing. I do see what your are saying everybody has a mark up even in reality but is really necessary here where this is meant to be a place to have un poquito de divertido. a lil bit of fun but instead it is turning out to be less of that and more of money.

I am not taking their side, nor any other. But I can see both sides of this. I guess I'm playing devil's advocate. Gaia is first and foremost a business, with employees, salaries, etc. The influx of gold generators, new items are paying for this business to be kept alive. So that's one side. The other is the customers getting a bit (if not more) annoyed at the constant bombardment of flash sales.

They could tone it down, yes, but it seems under the new management it wont happen, this is the course the new CEO has taken for Gaia. I doubt things will change.

[David2074]

Tigcat2

The reason it's deceit is because they say a specific date that it will "never come back again" after. That's just plain lies. Even with other companies, if they say that, it's a straight out lie and it's wrong. Marketing or not, it's terrible and it needs to stop.

Can you link me to even one announcement that said it will 'never come back again'?

If I have a store and I introduce item 'X' and say it is on sale until next Tuesday -
That does not mean I said I will never sell it again.

I do agree Gaia tries to instill a sense of urgency by saying thing are for sale for a limited time but
"on sale for a limited time" =/= "will never be sold again"

Granted they may have said something different and I missed it. Gaia puts out so many "Go buy s**t" announcements any more I ignore them. I glance for about a half second to verify it is yet another 'go to the cash shop' announcement then I move on. I'm surprised people are still buying Gaia Cash. It's pretty obvious the current Gaia management policy is just 'milk users for all the cash you can and to hell with the future'.

Earlier I was reading Gaia Online reviews on Glassdoor.com
Even a number of former Gaia employees feel it is a sinking ship and (EDIT - GAIA* ) doesn't care about the community and is just milking users for cash. There was also a comment about current management openly mocking site feedback. If they don't change direction it is likely just a matter of time before this site tanks.

* Edited out Valdemort's name because some folks say threads with his name in it get trashed.

[Erynne]

David2074

Earlier I was reading Gaia Online reviews on Glassdoor.com
Even a number of former Gaia employees feel it is a sinking ship and CEO Garry Schofield doesn't care about the community and is just milking users for cash. There was also a comment about current management openly mocking site feedback. If they don't change direction it is likely just a matter of time before this site tanks.

One thing about Glassdoor that other regulars here will surely comment and give you a much clearer perspective than I can is that the reviews there have lost a bit of credibility because apparently, there are ways to tamper with the feedback one gives there. While I don't exactly know how they go about it, it seems that users (perhaps well-meaninged ones or malicious) render feedback by pretending to be former staff. This made most people here wary about anything review coming out from that site sadly. Maybe once upon a time, the reviews were legit, but now, there are doubts.

[The Trancy Brat]

The lie that got me most was the MCs. I always understood when Gaia gave MCs away as prizes once in a while since the OLD MC page said they would never be mass re-released, but I couldn't believe when Gaia actually started putting old MCs in the cash shop. Changing the MC page and the wording on it to make any loopholes bigger was just the huuuge lump of s**t icing on the turd cake.