Here's a few things that Gaia should keep in mind:
MySpace has an absolute TON of users. They don't offer any feature that you have to pay for. Their sponsors & ads pay for everything that we use on MySpace. The users don't pay a dime, & their ads are links to other websites; NOT pop-ups & overly talkative ads, & redirections, etc. Then there's also the fact that they sue the pants off anyone they find hacking others' accounts to advertise. This also earns them money while keeping a tighter lid on the hacking & spamming. (Hacking of any kind is against the law, & if Gaia doesn't do something to prevent the hacking & scripting that happens everywhere, they risk a lawsuit).
If MySpace can do all that without user money, then why can't Gaia? After all, isn't their goal to become a bigger, more popular, richer MySpace?
Another example they should think about:
MapleStory. It's been a while since I've played (the download is too much for my computer), but here's how it worked last time I was on: There's no forum. The main feature of Maple Story is the game, which zOMG! resembles quite well. They, too, have a cash shop, but their cash items don't impose on your play time. The coolest thing I ever saw them apply to Maple Story that was in Cash Shop only was the Pets. The pets cost about 2 dollars in real money, & you couldn't trade or sell Cash Shop items. If you tried, you'd be banned. I don't know if it's still the same, but that's how it was a few years ago. They didn't send you a daily Announcement telling you what new features they had in Cash Shop only unless you signed up for it, & you couldn't sell them, so you couldn't earn gold off them. You bought cash shop items to make your avi cuter. It didn't help you in the game, it didn't earn you money, & it didn't impose on everything that you did. The rest of the site was completely free. Gaia has already made a TON of money off of us. If Maple Story can do just as well WITHOUT the use of every members' money, why can't Gaia?
FaithBlack · Sat Feb 21, 2009 @ 06:12am · 1 Comments |