Welcome to Gaia! ::

I can't believe we funded a porn site. Perverts.

Okay- it's kind of annoying that people keep labeling it as just a porn site. It's not.
There's ONE NSFW section and that's where the porn ends. There's also a section called A/S/L to split up the people who want to hook up from the rest of the community. The other forums just also have the benefit of people more content permissible- so for example the Storyteller's Corner... the vast majority of it is in depth story telling of a wide variety, but the 18+ nature of the site allows them to include more violence, allows them to include more romance, and other mature themes if they so choose. There's 32+ page roleplays and original stories with ideas that I've never imagined.
They have boards for Spirituality, Technology & Science, Art & Design, and Gaia Creatives- which is specifically for people who came here from Gaia to RP/post art/etc pertaining to Gaia's universe. It's posted by Nicolae. Yes, Gaia's Nicolae. And these boards are actually active.
I've discussed everything from pop culture and media to O'Neill Cylinders and 3D printed robotics.

To everyone in here who keeps blanket stamping the site as for perverts: just stop. It's ignorant as all get out. It's for more than just porn- and the entire point of the 18+ flag was so that people could post more of whatever they want. Probably to compete with other sites like Tumblr and because of the fact that a lot of Gaia's ORIGINAL USERS are now *gasp* getting older.

Not to say I don't have my issues with it. There's a built in system to buy Gems *which is GC* and to flat out buy Gold- and for insane cost. 34,697 gold is $79.99- when there's a pair of wings in the shop for 20,000 gold. Gems sell for 440 for $39.99- and there's things in the shop for 300 gems.
On top of the fact that they're selling things for so high- the site is so early in Beta that most of the items in the shop don't layer properly and there's entire systems and menus that don't function. And they've made some decisions that honestly don't make sense- like one of the boards they have is called the High IQ's board which as no surprise to anyone turned into a cesspool... but a lot of the cesspool is still contained to High IQ's and the b***h Plz boards.

There's also nothing but rumors as to whether or not Tentacl received any funding from GCash. It's possible I suppose but without knowing how the company is divided up I can't say. But that all just ties into the fact that regardless we should be getting some kind of idea where Gaia's income is going. They make $8000+ per sale of single items (for example selling 999 of one item) in a lot of cases. What are they doing with all of that money?

I also don't think they'd ever consider replacing Gaia with Tentacl. Having both running is just too much of a cash cow for them.

So far I've enjoyed my time in the Tentacl community. I've met a lot of nice people and had a lot of great discussions. The Unravel game struck me as a bit invasive/creepy initially but in the end it turned out to be a fun way to get to know people. The staff has been responsive and communicative- but so far it seems they're no less interested in milking the community for funds than they are with Gaia.

By the way it's also kind of silly (in my opinion) to get bent out of shape at the idea of Teens money going to an 18+ community when it's already going towards items here on Gaia that are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more adult in nature than a lot of what Tentacl currently has up for sale.

And that's why I don't buy Gcash. emotion_facepalm

This is why, I will no longer be buying Gcash, even if the aggressive advertising for it dose end.

their avatar templates are weird as f*ck and horribly drawn.

Sadly I have to agree I have not seen this much greed since TQ Entertainment and their business methods especially obvious on Conquer Online. Gaia used to be about fun but now all the staff cares about is how to fill their pockets with cash.

Remember when each month we got a personal thank you such as this?
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/featured-announcements/september-2006-donation-items-released/t.17720403/

Now instead they keep pushing more and more items out at outrageous prices to milk their community for all we're worth without giving a damn.