You hate us. Please don't hate us.

Do you think Gaia hates its non-paying users?

Yes.	87.6%	[ 113 ]
No.	12.4%	[ 16 ]
Total Votes:			[ 129 ]

[L S D]

This site is so old, the concept so niche. The business that owns this website could have been exploring new Big Money Internet 3.0 concepts but instead they just did the best they could to help this site turn as big of a profit as possible.

I don't know why any business-minded person would invest in Gaia. Anime fans, teenagers, artists, roleplay people, all individuals who have famously little income.

We're lucky this site is still around at all - the people who own it could be doing anything. There are freakin' online marketing firms that make more than Gaia. They could probably quadruple their income by becoming a little vanilla no-name customer service center (god knows they have the infrastructure). If they pulled all their games and put them into the Apple app store for $2/pop, they'd probably net more than they do running Gaia, with only a fraction of the overhead. But instead they're still running a little online game.

Keeping Gaia open is like choosing to run a burger restaurant when you have the funds and experience to buy the beef distributor.

[Andromeda Phoenix]

Anjoulie

Andromeda Phoenix

I'm pretty sure Gaia's always hated it's non-paying users. You can't run a business on love. They're just very obvious/tactless about it now.

As I've always maintained, this is a short-sighted view:
Because the non-paying users create an item demand that is met by paying-users who buy more things than just for themselves and sell them on the marketplace for gold in order to buy things that aren't currently being sold for cash.
At least, that is how it used to work.
By selling gold directly, Gaia meets that demand for gold by its paying-users,
so they no longer have an incentive to buy items with cash to sell for gold.

Non-paying users also generate page-views and add to the number of active users,
thus enabling Gaia to make money from advertising and sponsorships.
Active non-paying users also contribute to the community, which in turn attracts more users,
at least some of which will end up spending money on Gaia directly.

It's not that non-paying users don't make a contribution, it's just that Gaia doesn't respect it.

emotion_brofist You and I see and understand this. How do we go about pulling Gaia's head out of it's a** and making them see it? *wonders*

[Anjoulie]

Andromeda Phoenix

emotion_brofist You and I see and understand this. How do we go about pulling Gaia's head out of it's a** and making them see it? *wonders*

Ah, I didn't realize that you were you, else I wouldn't have preached to the choir. ^^

Well, for now, I just keep repeating these things over and over in the hopes that some day, they'll get it.
But I do feel like a broken record sometimes and wonder why I bother.

[Andromeda Phoenix]

Anjoulie

Andromeda Phoenix

emotion_brofist You and I see and understand this. How do we go about pulling Gaia's head out of it's a** and making them see it? *wonders*

Ah, I didn't realize that you were you, else I wouldn't have preached to the choir. ^^

Well, for now, I just keep repeating these things over and over in the hopes that some day, they'll get it.
But I do feel like a broken record sometimes and wonder why I bother.

Ah, it's fine. The more people see it, the more we can them to see/understand it too.

I know that feeling. I'm not even sure if bothering with the forums is worth it. I get the feeling that the members of staff we need to talk to the most don't even have accounts. Then I think about sending in a letter or an email, and I'm reminded of that contest winner who's still waiting for Gaia to send them that poster thingy. sweatdrop

[Anjoulie]

Andromeda Phoenix

I know that feeling. I'm not even sure if bothering with the forums is worth it. I get the feeling that the members of staff we need to talk to the most don't even have accounts. Then I think about sending in a letter or an email, and I'm reminded of that contest winner who's still waiting for Gaia to send them that poster thingy. sweatdrop

Yeah, that's both really lame. sad

[JinxlikesPeaches]

there needs to be checks and balances. Gaia can't depend on the GC buyers and act like us gold buyers don't exist. The inflation literally makes marketplace nothing. Look at my balloonimals I bought. I got it for 20k and now I'm selling it for 28mil. THAT CRAZY!!!!! (cash shop w/ crazy prices) dramallama

[CuAnnan]

Easley Lighthalzen

Andromeda Phoenix

I'm pretty sure Gaia's always hated it's non-paying users. You can't run a business on love. They're just very obvious/tactless about it now.

Loyal's Bazaar on it's own could have easily eased the "gaia hates us" feeling, but Gaia chose the "let's act like we're making a gold sink" route instead. emo

I'm pretty sure you can't run a website with just paying users. eg. Facebook, twitter, Neopets. They did not get big just because of paying users.

Facebook runs its business by selling your photographs, and those of your friends, and personal history to businesses.

[Easley Lighthalzen]

CuAnnan

Easley Lighthalzen

Andromeda Phoenix

I'm pretty sure Gaia's always hated it's non-paying users. You can't run a business on love. They're just very obvious/tactless about it now.

Loyal's Bazaar on it's own could have easily eased the "gaia hates us" feeling, but Gaia chose the "let's act like we're making a gold sink" route instead. emo

I'm pretty sure you can't run a website with just paying users. eg. Facebook, twitter, Neopets. They did not get big just because of paying users.

Facebook runs its business by selling your photographs, and those of your friends, and personal history to businesses.

XD

I knew it!!