Gothic Rebecca
You're pretty well accurate on everything. I recall the threat which brought the Summons. I bought a full set for two accounts and several of the chance version just to ensure I could get two sets of each. Bought two BB tickets, two Bloodstone amulets, and countless boosters, amps, revives, and the like. I'd buy a new pack of revives before each Dev Meat just in case [ JK ] unleashed his spawns upon us. Basically, I spent a good chunk of cash supporting zOMG!. I recall a few times skipping meals just so I could support zOMG!. Only to discover that most of that money that was supposed to be going to zOMG! was going toward other Gaia projects, including those that took developers away from zOMG!. Let's talk about betrayal for a moment.
You also bring up a valid point that I've been wanting to address since I returned to find zOMG! had been s**t-canned. I will concede that zOMG! was not a money-maker. However, it was not designed to be. zOMG! was developed to attract and retain customers to Gaia. In fact, for the first couple years you didn't even need an account to play. It was distributed to several free-to-play game sites and allowed you to log in as a guest. You could choose from a few different avis and were assigned a 'Guest' name followed by an alphanumeric sequence. You could potentially play through the entire game as a guest, but if you log out your progress was not saved, but you were offered the opportunity to create an account where your progress could be saved.
The idea was to draw new members into Gaia so that they would then get comfortable and perhaps purchase pixels. The other idea was to retain the current client-base, to inspire them to login more frequently, stay longer, and be more inclined to purchase pixels. zOMG! was, in essence, a hook. And it worked. It drew in new members and kept people around far longer than they otherwise would have.
Gaia has been telling us for the past four years that zOMG! was not making, and was in fact, costing them money. Okay, I get that. What they're not taking into account is the fact that scores of people stayed on Gaia or returned from hiatus just because of zOMG!. I'm certainly one of them. The other thing they're not considering when they say, "zOMG! doesn't make any money", is that many of those who are here just because of zOMG! often do spend money. They either buy zOMG!-related boosters or main site items such as MCs, EIs, and the like. Happy customers spend money. That's economics 101. You take the one thing away that's keeping those people here regularly, or at all, you eliminate their contribution to the economy. Unhappy customers seek happiness elsewhere.
Wait and watch. People may not leave immediately; humans are fascinated by chaos and will often linger around to watch things burn, but they will eventually leave. In the coming weeks they'll get bored. Their attentions will be drawn to other things and eventually Gaia will become something they'll recall once in a while. They may pop in just to see if there's anything going on, and then they'll leave again. That's when Gaia will begin to see what an impact zOMG! had on this site. That's when Gaia may realize just how much money zOMG! made for them. By then though, the damage will be done and it may be too late to do anything about it.
You also bring up a valid point that I've been wanting to address since I returned to find zOMG! had been s**t-canned. I will concede that zOMG! was not a money-maker. However, it was not designed to be. zOMG! was developed to attract and retain customers to Gaia. In fact, for the first couple years you didn't even need an account to play. It was distributed to several free-to-play game sites and allowed you to log in as a guest. You could choose from a few different avis and were assigned a 'Guest' name followed by an alphanumeric sequence. You could potentially play through the entire game as a guest, but if you log out your progress was not saved, but you were offered the opportunity to create an account where your progress could be saved.
The idea was to draw new members into Gaia so that they would then get comfortable and perhaps purchase pixels. The other idea was to retain the current client-base, to inspire them to login more frequently, stay longer, and be more inclined to purchase pixels. zOMG! was, in essence, a hook. And it worked. It drew in new members and kept people around far longer than they otherwise would have.
Gaia has been telling us for the past four years that zOMG! was not making, and was in fact, costing them money. Okay, I get that. What they're not taking into account is the fact that scores of people stayed on Gaia or returned from hiatus just because of zOMG!. I'm certainly one of them. The other thing they're not considering when they say, "zOMG! doesn't make any money", is that many of those who are here just because of zOMG! often do spend money. They either buy zOMG!-related boosters or main site items such as MCs, EIs, and the like. Happy customers spend money. That's economics 101. You take the one thing away that's keeping those people here regularly, or at all, you eliminate their contribution to the economy. Unhappy customers seek happiness elsewhere.
Wait and watch. People may not leave immediately; humans are fascinated by chaos and will often linger around to watch things burn, but they will eventually leave. In the coming weeks they'll get bored. Their attentions will be drawn to other things and eventually Gaia will become something they'll recall once in a while. They may pop in just to see if there's anything going on, and then they'll leave again. That's when Gaia will begin to see what an impact zOMG! had on this site. That's when Gaia may realize just how much money zOMG! made for them. By then though, the damage will be done and it may be too late to do anything about it.
