I don't understand what the Gaia staff's problem is, even if zOMG! doesn't bring in money. What it DOES bring in, our would (*glares*) is people, which would then explore the rest of Gaia and buy Gaia Cash stuff.
Do they not realize what they have?
MMORPG that is:
+ Free-to-play
+ No download (browser based)
+ Well crafted with great artwork and lots of charm
+ Full of awesome music
+ Fast-loading. Gameplay over graphics means almost anyone can enjoy this at top quality.
+ Fun. From gameplay mechanics to quests and crews, zOMG! is quite enjoyable.
+ Customization -- to an unheard of degree. I'll elaborate a lot on this one because it's huge. Players want as much customization as possible in an MMORPG. What do they always look for first? Character creation / customization. What Gaia has done is given more customization in an MMORPG than probably any other in existence. They've taken the multitudes of items of Gaia's avatars and put them into an MMO. What you get is not only a great game, but a great game that you CARE about, because so much more of YOU is in it!
If that isn't a winning combination, I don't know what is.
Sure it's not a profit machine, but that's what makes it great! NOBODY likes those free games that make you pay for better stuff. EVERYBODY likes free stuff.
But the good news, again, is that zOMG! doesn't HAVE to be a profit factory for it to bring in revenue. Gaia gets money when its users buy things. If zOMG! brings in users--and more importantly, as a lot of you are saying: KEEPS THEM--then a lot more people will end up buying the Cash items.
zOMG! could be huge.
zOMG has been huge!
Why can't the Gaia staff see what a great thing they have here?
Sure they've said they like it. Well, I don't think they like it enough. How can they not realize all this?
All of you who've said Gaia is about the long-term in the eyes of its users are 100% right. Look at the way Gaia is set up. You exist in the world. You hang out. You do stuff. Over time, you get more gold, buy more items, do more achievements, gain status, better your avatar, be awesome. If that isn't long-term-oriented, I don't know what is. Gaia REWARDS long-term, unlike Facebook games that just try to keep you clicking things as often as possible. There's no real interaction with what matters: other people. On the other hand, on Gaia everything revolves around user interaction.
So why are the Gaia devs focusing on "shiny new things" instead of "shiny old things." Gold stays shiny forever. Sleek new things just get fingerprints all over them and turn gross in a couple days. That's an exaggeration, obviously. After all, zOMG! was once a shiny new thing. But you get the picture. zOMG! is a REAL shiny thing--something unique to Gaia and, really, the internet at large. There are other free-to-play, browser MMORPG's, but in my opinion, zOMG! is the best so far, at least in terms of community.
Gaia should stop being Facebook and start being Gaia again!
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