Catalyste
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- Posted: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:18:58 +0000
Warlord Pilfer
Catalyste
Warlord Pilfer
"It costs" is not the Gospel. They spent gobs on the MMVII vampire movie and that sucked a**.
They spent more than gobs on zOMG!, Qixter is gone, the Xmas event is now a repeat.
It has to do with practical and responsible spending, which is something that Gaia has not perfected yet.
To me, they seem like a kid who spends all their money on bubblegum and trading cards, then wants a bigger allowance so they can go to some computer camp.
The poll is a joke.
They spent more than gobs on zOMG!, Qixter is gone, the Xmas event is now a repeat.
It has to do with practical and responsible spending, which is something that Gaia has not perfected yet.
To me, they seem like a kid who spends all their money on bubblegum and trading cards, then wants a bigger allowance so they can go to some computer camp.
The poll is a joke.
What a joke. You honestly believe that the reason why Gaia is trying so hard is because they've been spending irresponsibly and they need to make up for that?
Let me tell you something here, no business practice gets it right the first or tenth time. Investments are made and sometimes they come at a price when something falls through or doesn't go right. So, yes, they have to find other ways of making up the loss in the next quarter to reach their quota.
If Gaia was as irresponsible as you're placing them, then Lanzer and the bunch would be out of work and kicked out of Silicon Valley as of last year. It's a very competitive area, not to mention the cost of living in California is pretty high, so again they have to try their best to pull in funds to keep them above water.
So what does this mean?
Pulling in major sponsorships who are willing to shell out some 7 figures for some exposure on the site to a worldwide crowd of 18 - mid twenty-somethings.
It means placing more emphasis and push on items that will pull people in to use the cash shop. RIGs are definitely a favorite on this site as it offers the users a chance to own or sell a cool rare item. They've been offering bundles for a little more cash. And also equipping our Aquariums with cash items that would, concurrently, give you some residual income the more you stock your tank with better fish that offer more when they glow.
Investing in anything is a sticky affair as it ALWAYS takes a risk. You can be as careful as you want, but it's an inevitable part of business that mistakes are made.
Gaia has bills to pay. They have hardware and software to update. They have staff to pay.
They already had to cut some staff as a result of the recession. That's no easy task as companies usually try to cut back on expenses first before cutting any employee. And during those cuts, duties are distributed to the remaining staff along with all the stress. So you're looking at folks quitting as a result.
So between finding talent and recruiting volunteers from the site to help out as well as hiring freelancers to help with the workload, what you're looking at is a regular everyday business who's goal is to stay away from the redline by getting the job done as efficiently and quickly as possible without having to suffer any casualties than they've already had.
And if you hadn't realized, I too am tired of people complaining about Gaia. Of course I don't agree with everything they do, but I'm not about to sit here and complain about the good ol days or anything like that when we all know that those days can't happen again as the economy won't allow that.
So buck up and deal with it....or simply leave.
The mantra of fools. Accept it or leave...how naive.
"What a joke. You honestly believe that the reason why Gaia is trying so hard is because they've been spending irresponsibly and they need to make up for that?"
Answer is yes.
The admitted that their writing staff has increased by a large degree, whereas most people are suggesting that the plot was more cohesive when done by fewer writers.
If Gaia listed its cash shop profits, we'd have something to really argue over.
Anyway, you are contradicting yourself by suggesting that they aren't making poor financial choices and then tossing in that companies make a lot of mistakes.
And no where did I say that Gaia shouldn't be employing this cash blitzkrieg. They should streamline their spending or else the Cash Shop stampede could have some very negative effects.
A couple mil for a game that is flatlining after a year and is still in Beta, food?, they cater lunches and shiz? Ridiculous, wasteful spending.
No I haven't contradicted myself as the point of my post was to list the realities behind running a business and that sometimes responsible and careful decision making could sometimes be costly. So it's not wasteful spending, as you're trying to place it. This happens in every business.
"A couple mil for a game that is flatlining after a year and is still in Beta."
Flatlining based on who's observations? The game will continue being in Beta until Gaia feels comfortable making it official. A lot of online RPGs take a while to get out of the Beta stages as there is a lot of programming and planning and marketing tied to it.
Running a good company is a lot of hard work as you're also trying to keep the employees' morale up as well as please your clients. Placing money aside for events like these takes planning and budgeting. They just don't up and decide to stop production and cancel meetings just so they can go and play softball. These things are planned in advanced. And further more, catered lunches usually come from a local establishment that gives a good deal. So a catered lunch and these annual events are nothing more than blips on the screen compared to what they have to spend on updating software.
