OCCUPY GAIA :: SAY NO TO BUYING GC

[Azial]

Jackie Night

Azial

Gaia needs to get their s**t together, this site is falling apart.

I think they are very well aware of that and just want to get as much cash out of people as there are still some who are willing to pay and once they are gone too, they just drop the site altogether and start some other project.

It'd not be the first company to do that.

I've considered that, but I suppose we'll see what happens

[Honigdieb]

I support this thread. It's getting on my nerves recently and it's good to see that I'm not the only one!

[Sad Flutes]

Inflation + GC + HighRollers + Gaia Stupidity = major bleeding from the ear and nose.

[-randomfreakygothgirl-]

What if we just force the inflation to go away? Like start selling items in the MP for very, very cheap. No one's going to make very much gold, but that's the point. It could work, I think. :T

[A Tart Raspberry Wine]

I've been on gaia since 2004. I've seen ups and downs. But I've never thought the downs were breaking. Now, I don't know why I bothered joining all those years ago.

I protested GC when it first came out, but later simply accepted it, throwing down 20$ once every two months, but protested again when the Cash Shop suddenly became more important than the gold shops

I spoke out against changing "Donation Items" to "Monthly collectables"; A petty title change perhaps, but one is saying "Thank you for your support", while the other is a way of saying "You bought this. It was not a gift because you support us."

I've been on gaia for almost every major ******** up on the site, including the legendary Sushi Database Error, now only spoken in whispers to frighten newbies who didn't have to live it.
I stuck with it because it used to make me feel less like a consumer or a milking machine, and more like... Well, a person. I wasn't a number or statistic.


I recently read the journal of one of the developers. In it she said a CEO's job is not to deal with the customer/consumer base, it is to make sure that the company functions and makes money.
The job of the person who runs the entire website is to not care what we say or think as users, and indeed does not even have to acknowledge our existence. It is to simply milk us for all its worth.

Honestly, I don't even support the site with advertisements anymore; gotta love that ad blocker, let alone money from my pocket.

[Tala Grey]

And the walls came tumbling down
From the citysite that I love loved....

I would love the staff to give some sort of response or feedback.

[Flashy_Cat]

-randomfreakygothgirl-

What if we just force the inflation to go away? Like start selling items in the MP for very, very cheap. No one's going to make very much gold, but that's the point. It could work, I think. :T

you missed the part where people are greedy lol

[-randomfreakygothgirl-]

DARKMIND627

-randomfreakygothgirl-

What if we just force the inflation to go away? Like start selling items in the MP for very, very cheap. No one's going to make very much gold, but that's the point. It could work, I think. :T

you missed the part where people are greedy lol

Oh I know that, but it would be a collective effort. If only we can stop the Gaian greed v_v

[Leunna]

We wouldn't be having this problem if it wasn't making Gaia money. The problem is most of the users willing to take this pledge likely aren't always the biggest spenders. There's probably people that are never going to see this forum that put a lot of money into this site and it sucks there's no better way to get exposure.

[Vindictive D r e a m s]

Kathryn Anon

Oh, I get the point of the petition. But what I'm saying is that a majority from what I've read through doesn't see the right point. And I've seen people who signed this petition say, "Gaia deserves to die" or "Gaia should fall". Their attitudes are not in the right place for this petition. And whose to say I don't understand that this is important to a lot of people? I know what it's like to have something like this happen, where the mods and admins faintly fade away, uncaring to the customers. They tell promises that cannot be kept. And I've seen petitions just like this one, buy guess what happens? People stop spending money > Admins leave / Get Fired > Site stops making changes > Site Dies. And where do Gaian's stand after that? They become none-Gaians. Now I'm not saying don't do the petition, but I do feel it's rather... thought about wrongly.

With time comes change. It's pretty inevitable. I understand wanting to change what you dislike, but don't try going back. Go forward.

And lets be real. It's not the admins or Gaia's fault why inflation happened -- It's the users who are greedy for every cent of gold. A new item comes out -- even one NOT so good. What is the first price of that item? 10Mil probably. Why? Because they think they can make a profit if they are first. And people people want that item SO much, they raise the money to get it. Shouldn't the real petition be "Stop Raising the prices on Items?"

Example: The Whim Sea I have for a dream avi was once 6Mil when I got it months ago. Now it's up to 16Mil, and was at 26. Why? Because the COMMUNITY made it that way.

Want to stop inflation? Talk to the community users first. Stop putting the blame on Gaia. Items shouldn't be so expensive to begin with. Yeah, they look really nice. But 1,234,567,890,000 for wings? Pixelated wings? Okay. Gaia gave a nice item and then said, "Put this at this price because it's rare."? I think not! That word: Rare. People want rare. Exclusive, Limited Time, Only for a Day, SALES. People just eat that s**t up.

Now like I said -- They should be updating the gold shop just as much, or maybe even MORE, than the CS. If there is a fault on Gaia, it's that they are trying too hard to PLEASE the people with money because they demand so much. The rich demand -- they get. Instead, they just need to tell the COMMUNITY that they need to put a hold on some of their needs to tend to those who rely on gold.

Another example: Art threads -- "RLC will be put first; Sorry"
Why?
People want money.

ALSO, one more thing. I read the "Clarifications" questions/answers. It's a little contradicting.
Click advertisements because Gaia needs money, yes? They get money from advertisements -- okay. But where do the advertisements get the money to support Gaia? Consumers who spend money on the products they are advertising. So if we told Gaia to rely on ads, we are relying on other consumers to pay for what WE want. How is that fair to them?

Our Money > Gaia Stays Alive > (The little space where they help each other out) < Ads Stay Alive < Other Consumers Money

[Vindictive D r e a m s]

DARKMIND627

you missed the part where people are greedy lol

Damn you got to it before I could put it in my counter argument. :C

Like i said in the previous post

98.9% of this problem is the community.

People are VERY greedy.

[Pwnder]

DARKMIND627

-randomfreakygothgirl-

What if we just force the inflation to go away? Like start selling items in the MP for very, very cheap. No one's going to make very much gold, but that's the point. It could work, I think. :T

you missed the part where people are greedy lol

I opened ALL my collected MCs and sold them at a price they were relatively at during the year, not the inflated price. They barely lasted seconds in the MP. I'm not so sure my one or two items put a dent in the ABP overall. I did feel it as a kind of personal redemption for unknowingly contributing to the inflation for my cash purchases. Although, what is awful about it was that I made more money selling them during the inflation than I would have otherwise. It's kind of a no-win when your trying to stand up for what is currently happening.

[Lamiroir]

Vindictive D r e a m s

Either way you look at it, someone it going to lose after all of this is over.

The site needs money regardless if you want people to stop buying GC. I won't lie -- Some of the stuff is horrendously expensive and just completely over the top for a pixelated object. Honestly. $150 for an object that will never exist?

-No one is arguing the fact that the site needs money. Everybody gets that Gaia is a company and needs profit to sustain itself, hell, even sites like 4chan that never asked for a dime now are asking people to donate to them because their transit has increased.

Vindictive D r e a m s

But, this seems rather selfish. This petition, anyway. I've been reading through and a lot of people get the wrong idea. And let's not hide behind masks -- most of the people here are only petitioning for selfish reasons. They want GC stuff because they can't have it now, and they think that if this petition goes through, they can get the good stuff and show it off.

-No I actually think you're getting the wrong idea. The idea behind this petition is to make Gaia stop selling items left and right because it's destroying the economy of the site.
People who buy gcash often do it for vending. Gcash items are supposed to be "special" items to prettify your avatar; that's the whole reason behind them.

With the gcash shop the way it was before all these sales, items held their value. I do agree that we've always had problems with inflation, and one way to stop items from getting so inflated was through black friday sales, but when the site releases sale after sale, the currency starts devaluing and an excess of it floods the system. Items that were reasonably priced are now double their original worth. Items that were 300k are now 1mil, and items that were 2mil are now 7mil, simply because there's an excess of gold in the system and people know others can buy these items for such ridiculous prices.

No one is asking Gaia to turn items from the gcash shop into gold shop items.
No one is forcing anybody to stop buying gcash.
No one wants to show off anything to anybody.
The only thing most of us want is for Gaia to stop for a moment and realize that treating users like wallets and bombarding them with sale announcements at any chance they get isn't the right way to approach things. If they need money they could always approach other tactics to raise profit from their users without destroying the economy of the site in the process.

Vindictive D r e a m s

And imagine if enough people stopped buyin GC and it went through -- blah, blah. Never think about how it might effect people who like being able to buy something they like and want? That's the main sole reason why people work. To get things they WANT. Half of you would be happy, while you would make another half miserable because they worked for their money and wanted to spend it on the cash shop.

-Are you sure it's only half of us? Because as far as I'm concerned it's the vast majority of the community the ones that are complaining about this. A lot of people in here could spend their money on pixels, but most of us have priorities. We have debts, school, rents and things we have to pay for. In other words we have priorities. If people have spare cash to spend on pixels it's their prerogative, and honestly I don't think they'd be miserable; Gaia will give them items as long as they keep paying and they know it.

Vindictive D r e a m s

Any growing website needs a lot of money. AND the fact that they even throw conventions for people to win exclusive items, which I'm sure costs a lot of money to run. They do it because they know people want it. It costs money to create all these items people are complaining for, and it costs money to keep the graphics, the website, the forums, the people they hire. It might not embrace equality among those who cannot afford such things, but face it... that's life, LOL. As cruel as it is.

-Everybody is aware they need money. They don't throw conventions, they go to conventions to host panels and events, which is different.
And of course they know all of this costs money! They're a business after all.
And yeah LOL rofl let's face it!!1 poor people shouldn't even be here if they can't afford stuff or if they have priorities, right?! Because it's just like real life! Gosh why are they so bitter?
...right?

Vindictive D r e a m s

You're petitioning a website. Why not get out there and petition the world, huh? It's far more important because we're going through an inflation now.

-As should you.

Vindictive D r e a m s

I know I'm flipping between points here, but on another note: Seriously, they SHOULD create really gorgeous things for Gold Shops. All the stuff in gold shop is plain - pretty okay. Most, anyway. no offense to anyone with just gold shop items.

That's the only thing i agree on.

-If they did this then it'd be counterproductive to the cash shop. If they made gorgeous items for the gold shop then people wouldn't invest in gcash items, thus making them generate a cash loss.
It's not profitable.

If Gaia keeps with these tactics to raise money, the only thing they'll do is to drive away users to new sites that don't behave as greedy as them. Maybe if they were more honest with their userbase they'd get more help. I think that most people wouldn't have a problem if they said something like "hey guys we need you to help us with donations because we wanna launch this project" or whatever they need the money for. In the long run the gcash users won't be enough to sustain the site, leading it to its eventual shut down. Maybe they'll shut down before it's time and it'll be because of what they're doing right now. In the meantime we'll have greed coming from both users that don't realize the extent of what's happening, and the site, which isn't even listening to the users that are concerned about the economy in Gaia.

[johncoffey1999]

-randomfreakygothgirl-

What if we just force the inflation to go away? Like start selling items in the MP for very, very cheap. No one's going to make very much gold, but that's the point. It could work, I think. :T

It wont work unless the 1% who only cares about gold is eliminated.

[johncoffey1999]

Dolce Rogue

Vindictive D r e a m s

Either way you look at it, someone it going to lose after all of this is over.

The site needs money regardless if you want people to stop buying GC. I won't lie -- Some of the stuff is horrendously expensive and just completely over the top for a pixelated object. Honestly. $150 for an object that will never exist?

-No one is arguing the fact that the site needs money. Everybody gets that Gaia is a company and needs profit to sustain itself, hell, even sites like 4chan that never asked for a dime now are asking people to donate to them because their transit has increased.

Vindictive D r e a m s

But, this seems rather selfish. This petition, anyway. I've been reading through and a lot of people get the wrong idea. And let's not hide behind masks -- most of the people here are only petitioning for selfish reasons. They want GC stuff because they can't have it now, and they think that if this petition goes through, they can get the good stuff and show it off.

-No I actually think you're getting the wrong idea. The idea behind this petition is to make Gaia stop selling items left and right because it's destroying the economy of the site.
People who buy gcash often do it for vending. Gcash items are supposed to be "special" items to prettify your avatar; that's the whole reason behind them.

With the gcash shop the way it was before all these sales, items held their value. I do agree that we've always had problems with inflation, and one way to stop items from getting so inflated was through black friday sales, but when the site releases sale after sale, the currency starts devaluing and an excess of it floods the system. Items that were reasonably priced are now double their original worth. Items that were 300k are now 1mil, and items that were 2mil are now 7mil, simply because there's an excess of gold in the system and people know others can buy these items for such ridiculous prices.

No one is asking Gaia to turn items from the gcash shop into gold shop items.
No one is forcing anybody to stop buying gcash.
No one wants to show off anything to anybody.
The only thing most of us want is for Gaia to stop for a moment and realize that treating users like wallets and bombarding them with sale announcements at any chance they get isn't the right way to approach things. If they need money they could always approach other tactics to raise profit from their users without destroying the economy of the site in the process.

Vindictive D r e a m s

And imagine if enough people stopped buyin GC and it went through -- blah, blah. Never think about how it might effect people who like being able to buy something they like and want? That's the main sole reason why people work. To get things they WANT. Half of you would be happy, while you would make another half miserable because they worked for their money and wanted to spend it on the cash shop.

-Are you sure it's only half of us? Because as far as I'm concerned it's the vast majority of the community the ones that are complaining about this. A lot of people in here could spend their money on pixels, but most of us have priorities. We have debts, school, rents and things we have to pay for. In other words we have priorities. If people have spare cash to spend on pixels it's their prerogative, and honestly I don't think they'd be miserable; Gaia will give them items as long as they keep paying and they know it.

Vindictive D r e a m s

Any growing website needs a lot of money. AND the fact that they even throw conventions for people to win exclusive items, which I'm sure costs a lot of money to run. They do it because they know people want it. It costs money to create all these items people are complaining for, and it costs money to keep the graphics, the website, the forums, the people they hire. It might not embrace equality among those who cannot afford such things, but face it... that's life, LOL. As cruel as it is.

-Everybody is aware they need money. They don't throw conventions, they go to conventions to host panels and events, which is different.
And of course they know all of this costs money! They're a business after all.
And yeah LOL rofl let's face it!!1 poor people shouldn't even be here if they can't afford stuff or if they have priorities, right?! Because it's just like real life! Gosh why are they so bitter?
...right?

Vindictive D r e a m s

You're petitioning a website. Why not get out there and petition the world, huh? It's far more important because we're going through an inflation now.

-As should you.

Vindictive D r e a m s

I know I'm flipping between points here, but on another note: Seriously, they SHOULD create really gorgeous things for Gold Shops. All the stuff in gold shop is plain - pretty okay. Most, anyway. no offense to anyone with just gold shop items.

That's the only thing i agree on.

-If they did this then it'd be counterproductive to the cash shop. If they made gorgeous items for the gold shop then people wouldn't invest in gcash items, thus making them generate a cash loss.
It's not profitable.

If Gaia keeps with these tactics to raise money, the only thing they'll do is to drive away users to new sites that don't behave as greedy as them. Maybe if they were more honest with their userbase they'd get more help. I think that most people wouldn't have a problem if they said something like "hey guys we need you to help us with donations because we wanna launch this project" or whatever they need the money for. In the long run the gcash users won't be enough to sustain the site, leading it to its eventual shut down. Maybe they'll shut down before it's time and it'll be because of what they're doing right now. In the meantime we'll have greed coming from both users that don't realize the extent of what's happening, and the site, which isn't even listening to the users that are concerned about the economy in Gaia.

Clearly she doesnt get the point of this thread. :T