Ask the Staff - 10 Nov 2014 - CLOSED

[Mr Brigade]

the edwardian items are out of sight in the mp are you going to release alot of them any time soon?

[Finni]

Chibi Halo

Items

With the recent LQI for Nyx, the Nyx Reborn and it's recolor in the current Autumn tiers, can we hope to see something in the near future for the Goddess Gaia? She is after all the patron Goddess and namesake of our planet and it would be nice to have something for the Gaia supporters to have like the Nyx fans now do.

The skies are darkening as we approach winter, but as when we approach spring, the Goddess Gaia might be making an appearance~

[Princess Angelishia]

Csilla Silvana

Items
Is it possible there might be a kind of gold shop grab bag that has older gold shop items converted for animal avis?

That's a great idea, thank you!

[Csilla Silvana]

Finni

Vannequin

Items
Will we be getting items/recolours in deep richer shades of purple anytime soon? emotion_kirakira
e.g.

We plan to make recolors in all colors of the rainbow. 4laugh

heart emotion_kirakira I hope gold shop items are included in the recoloring epic.

[gataka]

Games

Who was the fabulous former zOMG! dev you had looking into the issue? >.>

[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)

[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!

[meemster]

Astra Green

Feature: Welcoming Fairy

I posted something in the Site Feedback regarding this but...

Is there a way to update some of the messages the Welcoming Fairy gives like for Achievements and zOMG! That way newcomers don't get confused or disappointed that a feature doesn't show or no longer exists?

This is something that is currently in the works! Thanks for the suggestion! heart

[Darc Nightgale]

Finni

Vannequin

Items
Will we be getting items/recolours in deep richer shades of purple anytime soon? emotion_kirakira
e.g.

We plan to make recolors in all colors of the rainbow. 4laugh

Does that me will see more items with the old gold/yellow color?

[Narumi Misuhara]

Scobre

Today will be my last day at Gaiaonline. I find it fitting timing since I joined Gaiaonline because of zOMG! to leave because of it now. It will always hold a special part of my heart and it was my favorite and first MMO. I knew when I joined that the game was in trouble since I joined Gaiaonline on February 10th, 2010 after my brother had told me that Qixter had left zOMG! I came from the Sims 2 community and I was always frustrated with that game that I couldn’t kill the gnomes and flamingos in it. My brother showed me village greens and I became hooked on the game and happy I could seek revenge on them. Since then I’ve been able to crew with my brother and sister and met many friends along the way. zOMG! saved my life and helped me get through many difficult times with my fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and chronic back pain. I liked that the game was casual enough to not cause me stress, yet silly enough to make me laugh. I guess I was one of the hardcore players since I was able to find time to play every day. I still remember the drunk nights of smebbing seeing Marshall look all swirly which was extremely funny. I did a personal record time of most time spent on Gaia with the 36 hour run in Dead Man’s Shadow for my first Kamila Bloodlust kill and wanted to quit to sleep, but friends kept me going. The community, the experience, and pure silliness is what I loved most about the game.

I’m not mad at you Gaia for closing the game, just disappointed. I actually want to thank past staff [ JK ] and s2b2 for keeping the game going as long as it did. I no longer find an entertainment and social value on Gaiaonline, so I will seek it elsewhere with Aura Kingdom and a Gaian run site recolor.me in case you want to record the stats and reasons why Gaians leave the site. Only advice I can give you Gaia is to listen to your user base because if you don’t try to compromise with them, then they will not support you financially and retention will decrease. They pay for the experience not just the virtual avatar products. I’ve read Gaia compare themselves to a supermarket and a pool with a snack bar before, but if all they offer is an ATM machine with rows of moldy food aka site features, they will seek competitor sites. Gaia Interactive is a service company first with just virtual product perks second. So long and thanks for all the fish Gaia. Continue to be as passionate, smart, and creative as you are community and never feel scared to fight for your favorite feature in a civil manner. I know many of you are different and have different tastes and opinions, but at the end of the day you are all one awesome community of Gaians.

Features

Since zOMG! is one of the newer features of the site, wouldn’t everything else on the site be a huge security risk considering how many more years the coding for them hasn’t been updated?

No, it wasn't just a code issue but also hardware. sad

[Angeni1]

Features

Question: When will we see new fish for aquariums that are reasonably priced?

[Princess Angelishia]

Csilla Silvana

Items
Any ideas on when the next gold shop grab bag will be? I'm till wishing for a silver and pure white Milady set.

Look for one probably around January!

[Jisen Meizuki]

Shops
What will become of Nicolae's shop? I'm aware that he's also working for Crecento in Bifrost, but I also like that he has his own "shady" shop.

[Mr Brigade]

when will black butler trys come back out?

[Jisen Meizuki]

Events
Are we going to have a different style of event for Thanksgiving instead of having the same game features for the last two years? While I understand people like Switch'em and Hunting game, I also like to see more NPC interaction with the community.