McSteak'n'Cheese! ~ SFHangout Thread ~ Objection!

[Baka Midori-chan]

I've been on this site ever since it started and all I can say to this thread is:

Amen.

[H0LA]

You may seriously have something here, goodluck

[elleOelle]

Simplicities

roxy is a diva

Simplicities

So until someone makes such a convincing topic as to cause a massive user drop, Gaia will not take any action against these petitions.
After all, why should they?

I don't know...maybe because actual money from users is being put into this site? Since users are encouraged to spend money here one such things as EIs and the like (see the "to do" list on the My Gaia page), then it is a business. They should at least make sure stuff actually works and not leave things down for long periods of time. stare After all, it's really annoying to put your money into something only to find out it isn't all that great.

And no, no one is forcing anyone to buy anything with actual cash, but it's obvious the higher ups or whoever expect us to.

As long as they get revenue, they don't have to do jack.
There are enough new users to make up for old users, so unless as I said, a massive user drop, in sales or altogether happens.
They don't have to do a damned thing.

Just my two cents (okay, ten):
1) Gaia won't change a thing about cash shop items. It brings in so much revenue that changing anything simply isn't a fiscally sound move. No matter how much we b***h about it; it's making money.

2) Gaia DOES need to consider fixing glitches before adding pretty shiny new items or features (like game items in trades for one, I know there are many - including getting those damned aquarium items OUT of my inventory! ZoMG has its own tab, give the aquariums one!). Just like myspace, they add crap like "friend updates" and moods and apps but do nothing to fix the glitch of a feature that's always been broken; event invites from band profiles when they tour. We should be able to search within a radius of a show to send invites to locals when a band tours. This has not worked since I started running band profiles in early 2006 although the feature is actually there. But I digress..
You fix glitches before adding new things "sponsored by Blah Blah comapany".
I read elsewhere that an announcement would be nice "Now you can organize aquarium items; sponsored by Starkist Tuna!" rofl

3) Financially, Gaia is a privately-held company; thus exempt from the law requiring companies to provide their numbers to the public. Many companies, like Google before it went public, DID make their books public, just out of courtesy to users. Gaia does not. Why? Because my friends, you will never buy a cash card again. Why? Because you'll puke when you see how much Gaia profits and how little their overhead is. I would really loooove to see their offices. 24 cubicles in a storefront minimall with a helipad outside for the real owners of Gaia.
But what makes them so much profit?
See Madagascar items (Dreamworks), The Hills (Viacom) items, "visit the Six Flags profile and earn Gaia gold". These are all huge corporations and you, darlings, are their target demographic. Gaians are, in general, the generation that these companies would kill to marketing directly to and here Gaia is to provide this for a cost - and we're not talking ten grand for an announcement, quest or special items. We're talking companies who have millions to spend to market to you on Gaia. Gaia did just fine without the cash shop but if users are willing to support Gaia, too - then why would they change anything?

The only way to make a difference here is to log off and tell your friends to follow suit. They certainly do track these figures, along with how popular a particular sponsored event/item was.
Declining membership is the only way they'll start rethinking their business plan. So far, I'm sure they're quite pleased with the millions they're getting from sponsors and users via the cash shop. In their eyes, if it ain't broke (play on words there - Gaia's far from broke), why fix it?

[milkyol]

I never though of this stuff like that. Nicely said! I faintly remember before when the cash shop and all that crap started... when they started cash I went into a state of depression!!!
I've been begging my mom since cash started, and I might get a cash card 4 Christmas. only 10,000 gold until I can get celebrity date!!! <-- random blaugh

[Chibi Nerd]

Do you guys think that being smart mouth to the Dev's are going to make them do what you want.

[pinocchiomon]

bump

[larmica_lee]

bumpers

[-xgardenGnosticx-]

Miyavi Kurizawa

roxy is a diva

Simplicities

So until someone makes such a convincing topic as to cause a massive user drop, Gaia will not take any action against these petitions.
After all, why should they?

I don't know...maybe because actual money from users is being put into this site? Since users are encouraged to spend money here one such things as EIs and the like (see the "to do" list on the My Gaia page), then it is a business. They should at least make sure stuff actually works and not leave things down for long periods of time. stare After all, it's really annoying to put your money into something only to find out it isn't all that great.

And no, no one is forcing anyone to buy anything with actual cash, but it's obvious the higher ups or whoever expect us to.

~:Miyavi Kurizawa:~

Not to ruin this for you or anything, but you do know that the "to do" list thing, isn't an actual list, yeah?

its more of "pretty graphics that make us want to stay on the site longer because it reminds of things we might not have done, assuming we ever look at that page"

Don't worry...nothing's ruined because nothing has changed; it still stands as it is. And I know that it isn't an actual "to do" list. I'm not stupid. But really, calling it just a "pretty graphics that make us want to stay on..." sort of thing? Perhaps in terms of the so-called manga updates, but when buying EIs and replenishing GC is a part of that, it's still encouraging users to spend actual money on this stuff, so it isn't just some pretty graphics thing. And as I said, if they want us to spend cash, then they should at least make sure things work. Being a business doesn't justify certain actions.

@elle0elle: So true about the company info. I have seen similar statements like that. It's sad that good customer service takes a backseat to trying to make a quick buck. I could go on about the EIs, aquariums, etc. but that's all been covered. If companies like Google can post their info, then so can Gaia, but you covered that so perfectly.

Also @elle0elle: Omg, that Starkist tuna part made me LMAO. I can see it now: you go to the store, wander down the aisle with the tuna cans, and as you pass then, something on the label catches your eye. It reads: "Free Gaia aquarium fish with every can you purchase! Just enter the code on the backside of the can!" Hell, there might even be a pic of one of our fishy friends. If that happened, I don't think I'd be surprised.

[Dragonsnatch]

I nearly killed over when I realized just how much money Gaia makes. eek

You see I was reading the forum on zOMG and low and behold Gaia itself stated "Why is zOMG free?", the reply was "Gaia racks in well over 11 million a year in profit just from the cash shop and monthly collectibles alone." (this doesn't even include the millions upon millions that they make from sponsors)

I thought my eyes would pop out of my skull. It's not like Gaia has anyone on payroll, all of the admin aren't paid for their services and only the sole creators hire a select few to fix bugs and such and seeing as said bugs have not been fixed, you can just imagine how much money they are making. Truthfully this is a Monopoly because regardless of how much we pry for change, the Gaia creators aren't fools, and if they make that much money on Cash shop stuff alone why would they lose money just because you say it's wrong? It doesn't matter if you quit Gaia or not, because if you quit there is always another ten more people to take your place. crying

[Elivate]

|●|[ .NK. ]: First of all, I couldn’t thank you enough for making this thread. It touches on every single problem and glitch that I know of and want fixed myself. I dearly hope the head honchos are reading this thread and that it does some good, because if someone doesn’t do something about it soon, I don’t know if Gaia will continue to be Gaia. That saddens me.
For people like me who have been dedicated to Gaia for years this just makes me very sad. All the unwanted ads, ‘updates’, programs, items, games; the list goes on. I truly feel sorry for the Mods and Devs that have been trying to keep Gaia the way it should be, but have they really got a choice? They joined the Gaia team even though they don’t get paid, because they wanted to make Gaia a more interactive and wonderful place where people could hang out and genuinely have a good time. Instead, they have no choice but to listen to what their bosses say and create things for Gaia that goes against everything that they believe Gaia is. It’s pathetic, really.
Gaia Cash shop has ruined the one thriving economy and now even Monthly Collectibles have a starting rate of 35k! A year ago, I could buy a MC three days after its release date for 5-10k. What happened to fairness, Gaia? What happened to the promises? What happened to a forever free site? What happened?
Truthfully, I know that the Cash shop can never be crossed out. Not after you started making money off of it. Not after we’ve wasted so much of our hard-earned cash to waste it on the crappy items available. It’s not going to go away. It’s depressing, but it’s true. You’ll never get rid of shitty advertisements for sites filled with spam, or the introduction to games that nobody cares about. The Aquariums will never be free, and the Marketplace will never be equal. Maybe inventory will be fixed with the next blue moon, and maybe Gaia will regress back the wonderful site that I joined 3 years ago. A site with intelligent people to talk with; a place where I can be myself; an area where I can meet new friends, play some games and have a good time spending some hard-earned gold. Maybe this will happen someday.
I doubt it. I really do. And it’s sad.

[LOL SPAM TIME]

LOLISIGN.

[Lyklex]

☆ Kelly
Amen, brother!!! I Sign!!!!

[Relendet]

Hey, I noticed Gaia did seem to pay a little bit of attention to this thread...
They modified zomg so that even though the paying users got there first, the next in were the oldest gaians, and the newest gaians will be the last ones in.

A small concession, perhaps?

[p33p33s]

maybe the struggle to get money is to hire good ppl to work for the site to take care of everything that's been neglected surprised

its a pretty large site that needs alot of things surprised like msn or something only >o> msn is a little goofy to though...

it sounds like thers alot of things that ppl want to be done here, and i've been wondering about a few things myself! lol

but i want to know what or who does the site really need to keep going ? servers...employees ..do tthe employees get paid; where do the employees come from and what age range are they in?

if anything, i would like to know more about the ppl who run the site...how many ppl are there, when do they work, how long do they work, what is their pay, do they work in a studio or at home do they get health benefits or anythinig like that, how many servers does the site have, what does it take to run them. >.< it's alot of work i knw lol i tried running a website of my own (it failed)

maybe the bigger/ more experienced the work team is the more things will get done *i'm just throwing around ideas now lol * XP if there is like 3 ppl working on gaia lol you can forget about things getting done.

i'm on gaia for art, drawing and getting art lol and i know i don't follow along with things on the site very well, but perhaps finding out some of the answers about the ppl who run the site will make things seem more clear.

that's what i want >o> like a super detailed report on why how when and where things work, where are they going, what is on their list of priorities, are they accepting applicants to help them with the work? How many ppl have applied/ offered to help?*edit/ where does all the money they receive goto? i want gaia to announce this, and to admit to their flaws, and to appologize for the dissapointment which has come about

[Vanishing Angel]

you are probably onto something with this thread
good luck to you, or, us really...