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In most of the daily RIGs, the only items that people actually are the rarest items. The theory here is that you will keep buying RIGs until you get what you want.
But given the prices, I don't think that's working any more.
Again, I don't have have hard numbers, but I watch the MP. It's not baseball season yet (less than four weeks to spring training! yay!) and it's far more interesting than pro basketball or this year's "Who Cares" edition of the Super Bowl.
In the past, once enough daily RIGs were opened, the price of the rare pet/item/whatever would come down some. It would still be hella expensive, but there would be enough of them in the MP to bring it down from the Exosphere to maybe the Stratosphere. Hard to get, but not impossible.
But now, this isn't happening. If there are any of them on the market, they stay in the trillions.
My best guess is that it's a combination of three things. First is a really poor drop rate. I do look at some of the daily RIG lists to see what the poor saps buying these items are actually receiving, and the trend over time appears to be more crap and less desirable items. This is driving off sales. I see people who I know spend tons of cash on these things (because they're posting a lot about what they got) say "did 10 of these, got crap, not buying any more".
Here's the thing about intermittent reinforcement: you DO have to dole out rewards. And not just eventually, but enough to keep hope up. If you space them out far enough, eventually the experimental subjects will come to the conclusion that there are no more rewards, and wander off. I expect a number of people have done just that.
Second is the scarcity that goes hand in hand with above - poor drop rate combined with poor purchase rate. Yup, good old supply and demand. Even if they're priced ridiculously, if there are only a few, you only need a few buyers.
And third is that due to selling gold generators, there ARE people who can afford things at those silly prices.
It all combines to reinforce the "cash is everything, and hope you like to gamble" philosophy of the new Gaia. It's great if you have lots of money that you don't mind flushing down a virtual toilet, but for those of us with spouses, houses, cats, and nail polish habits to support, it isn't happening.
Without hope, without reinforcement, without that warm squidgey feeling of renting some pixels for your avatar in a shape you really, really like, Gaia becomes really boring. Why bother grinding when the items you want aren't just out of reach, they don't exist? And you can't bring them into existence?
Yes, some people hang on. That's why there are still players here. But others? Gone.
You can't just take forever, Gaia. You do eventually have to give something back. That's why WE'RE here.
purplewiz · Sat Jan 24, 2015 @ 10:26pm · 0 Comments |
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