Ask the Staff - 10 Nov 2014 - CLOSED

[Mississippi Black Velvet]

Item

Just a suggestion but we are seriously lacking in the Chupacabra department and I would love nothing more than to have a chupacabra companion if at all possible.
Example

[Matxaza]

bluealaris

Symply Syn

Items:

There is a glitch in the Marketplace where two Cream Marionettes show up, is this going to be fixed anytime soon? It's been there for quite a while now.

This is interesting- the glitch is created by the item having 2 item IDs. We can't fix this because it would destroy items in inventories if we were to erase/replace one listing.

Hmm, what if people were reimbursed (Dunno how to spell that) for the item taken out of their inventory, could it be fixed then? You could re-release it through a CI or the Cash Shop after the problem had been resolved.

[bluecherry]

[NPC] Gaia Staff

Quote:

Shops

D*C was once for beautiful, limited items at a very high gold cost.
Could the LQI be reinstated for this?

Yes, we can definitely do this in the near future!

emotion_donotwant New DC stuff = yay, limited = nay

[Narumi Misuhara]

PlumaDeTerror

Narumi Misuhara

faerie graveyard

Features

Can we get an addition to the drop down menu below people's avatars?
Specifically, a link to the user's marketplace shop?

Here is a thread in support of this idea.

It wouldn't be difficult, but isn't that drop-down getting kinda long?

get rid of the txt and IM

...true dat'

We can swap it out.

[littl3chocobo]

my question to staff;

will you please respond to this user's question? i am very interested as well in what your answer is and after ten pages of reading i do not see an answer

ElegantlyLuminous

Yes, I'm back to wreak havoc with a totally insane, long-winded question (one that wasn't answered at last week's ATS). Sorry! It's only because I care about the community and love the site.

Items
In response to my question at the ATS on 10/27 (Why can’t you remove gold generators?), you said that the major reason for not removing them was that gold generators are popular (read: people like them!) and that they help to fund your site. I have no quarrel with the second portion of this argument. I like this site and I would like for it to be here for many years to come.

I do, however, have to heartily disagree with the idea that people like gold generators. As I mentioned previously, the current statistic is that 90-92% of those polled (by Gaians) hate gold generators. (Many of these polls are linked here but I'm sure there are more recent ones that can be found quite easily.) That means that only 8-10% of your population likes them. There are multiple petitions begging for the removal of gold generators, here (2,500+ votes) and here (1,450+ votes) to list two of the larger ones. (There are even two that I've seen asking for Gaia itself to be deleted or reset entirely. There’s even a poll here with people predicting Gaia’s imminent downfall.) Likewise, many users have vowed not to purchase GC until things change (though the OP isn’t editing her first post to reflect the numbers, there are ~165 pages of signatures).

So I don’t buy the premise that “people like them.” It could well be that people are buying them because they feel they have no other choice. Not everyone understands vending and not everyone has the patience for fishing. And, let’s face it; the output from the other games is pretty much worthless nowadays. (Though I understand a fix for Booty Grab is coming- thanks for that.) Gold generators are pretty much the only way that some people have to get the items that they want on this site (if they want to pay with gold) and that’s not right, considering they’re what wrecked the economy in the first place.

The actual question is this: Have you considered having a neutral third party conduct a survey requesting feedback on gold generators or hosting a poll of your own (without a cop-out neutral answer) and then sharing the results of that survey with us?

Your sales might reflect that these items are popular- but that might be for the reason I mentioned above. Or, worse, it could be because the item descriptions in the cash shop are vague and some people don’t know what they’re buying until after they open the item. There are tons of conspiracy theories out there- I won't list them all. (I've wasted enough of your time.) Hosting a poll and having solid proof that you’re willing to share with the community could not only help to weaken one side’s argument (I don’t even care if it’s my side), it could also show the community that you care about our opinions and are genuinely willing to listen to us… something that some of us feel isn’t present at this particular moment. (If you frequent Site Feedback, that is.)

My apologies if this comes across poorly but, as I said, I care about the community and this is one of those issues that a good many of us are deeply concerned about. Thanks in advance for any answer!

[Terriah]

bluealaris

Symply Syn

Items:

There is a glitch in the Marketplace where two Cream Marionettes show up, is this going to be fixed anytime soon? It's been there for quite a while now.

This is interesting- the glitch is created by the item having 2 item IDs. We can't fix this because it would destroy items in inventories if we were to erase/replace one listing.

True.
But you could do an SQL ALTER or UPDATE on the items with the secondary ID. So, point the second set of items to the same record properties as the first. Then you can drop the second item type without loss of records.

[Astra the Fae]

Leasfy

Mori Kiyoshi

Leasfy

Question CategoryzOMG!

Question
Why can't you guys simply put zomg back? we dont need fancy updates etc. Just put it back

gaia_angelleft gaia_star gaia_angelright
One sky...

We do need fancy updates because account information had the possibility of being stolen through zOMG!.
So, it was a choice between keeping the game or letting hackers take information.
While zOMG! will be missed, if it was impossible to fix it,
then I'd rather have my info safe and sound than playing zOMG,
which had outdated gold rewards and whatnot anyway.

One Destiny...
gaia_angelleft gaia_star gaia_angelright

Honestly, most regulars play not for the sake of gold nor rewards. Its for the community. If zomg could be possible threat then why is it discovered just now? Something like that wouldn't have been able to get past development. Besides that,there was drama back then regarding gaia fired zomg devs. I am deeply offended that they claim it has nothing to do with money in one sentence and than not even the next paragraph ( if you can call it that) state that it hasn't been making any money.

Erm. A lot of threats were and have been created in the past and are recently discovered by various people. The arena of computer science isn't something set in stone and s**t does happen.

The point of the matter is to make sure that you're more on top of it than the black hat hackers. I agree with Mori, I'd rather my account information not be taken by hackers. zOMG isn't the only place for the community to talk or discuss and I'd rather not sacrifice my information for something like that. If you want to then that's fine but consider the rest of the site.

I think getting offended that they were being truthful and showing that they do care about our information is ludicrous. Unspeakable even. I mean do you know how damaging having someone steal your identity? Is that something you really want to risk?

[Nenanah]

Features/Items

Can we have achievements for owning certain expensive rare items?

[nikiera]

Princess Angelishia

His Majesty King

Features
What new features can Gaians expect for the [near] future? (i.e. a new game announcement, renovating older features, adding onto Towns, updates to mini games/introductions to new mini games, sneak preview for a holiday event, new contest)

The next big feature coming up is one of the most anticipated: an updated inventory arranger.

Before we celebrate, please tell us if gaia inc. is planning on making that feature free/gc related.
I think it will be a very big mistake if the staff/upper management plans to make that cash related.
Same with adding more slots to the wardrobe.

We'd all appreciate some more transparency , less half-promises and less surprises at this point, please.

thank you for your work but a lot of users are very wary of the staff and management's word.

[Candy Cadaver]

Events/Plot?

Do the results from site-wide events actually affect the plot?
I am inclined to believe that the manga and plot only altered slightly based on which side won the 2k14 Halloween event.
Was Azrael doomed to fail no matter the result?

[tsukune_713]

Items
I'd love to see some animated trees, especially ones that are for this season, like autumn trees that are in yellows, oranges and reds that drop their leafs, or some bare trees with snow on them that falls and you can do that with ever greens too. I think theyd go great with a lot of avis coming out this time of year. I know id buy them instantly even if their from the cash shop.

[Iovins]

Kanahit

Misc.

First of all, yes, I am sad to see zOMG! go, but I understand that it had to be done. Now here's a controversial question. Why wasn't it taken down sooner?

On June 16th, we were told, "In a few weeks time we'll be shutting the game down in order to repair a critical issue that could potentially affect many Gaians playing the game."

It wasn't until September 30th that the game was taken down, three and a half months later.

On November 6th, it was revealed, "Particularly we were addressing some critical vulnerabilities in the server infrastructure", implying that Gaia was aware of what the issue was when the first announcement was made.

November 7th, we were given more clarification that "...during an investigation into issues with zOMG!, it was discovered that zOMG! had a serious flaw in the code. Basically, there was a security exploit in the game that, had it been abused (and thankfully it wasn't!), would have allowed people not only access to zOMG!, but to our site's servers and ultimately, to all your accounts."

On to the question: On June 16th, was Gaia really aware (as announcements seem to imply) that zOMG! had a hole allowing people to potentially access the website's servers and all of our accounts? Did Gaia really leave the game up for three and a half months while being aware of this massive security issue? If so, why? What caused the delay in shutting the game down if Gaia was aware of this?

I am the 4th person to quote and post this with no response from the staff. It was posted on the first page.
zOMG wasn't just a game. We are a community, we are a family
We demand to be heard!

[Platonic Purple Panda]

Can we get house items that separate our house into sections? Like an actual wall item? Many people rely on the bookshelf as a makeshift wall.

[culocuddles]

Features

any plans for a new instant messenger for gaia?

[May_Mau]

features

remember that "pets" thing that was supposed to happen after the "what the fluff" event??? maybe with some house updates... the pets thing can be included?