Man, I've been here since 2009, and I can remember every phase. The noob phase (shudders), the greedy-for-gold phase, and the beautiful friends phase. But I dunno, I guess I got fed up with not having the amazing items that the richer people had and started hacking. My account was rightly deleted, and I swore I wasn't gonna come back to Gaia. But this website kind of grew on me and I came back in spite of it. Now I earn my gold the right way, and I'm just amazed by how much it has grown.
I'm not impressed by the fact that users have to pay for everything that's desirable. Honestly, make staying on this website worth my time.