OCCUPY GAIA :: SAY NO TO BUYING GC

[Ratgod]

Apollos Liar

from love to pain

UPDATE
Well, I was officially kicked out of Club Verge today, so go me! xD

We're working our way up to 900 signatures, so keep spreading the word and telling your friends!

Other than that, I plan on working on my letter to Gaia soon. In that letter, I really want to represent the voice of this thread, so I'll start asking you guys some questions so I can make notes of what to mention.

First one: What changes would Gaia have to make for you to feel comfortable buying GC again?

You were kicked? For what?

To answer your question: the site needs to be fair again. Right now, the site only panders to people with money. This Halloween event is a perfect example of how they're making things incredibly difficult to people who don't pay and giving out easy access and "cheats" to people who put down cash. They're destroying the value of gold and then turning around and blaming us for it. They have to stop insulting us and balance the site out already. Only then would I even consider the idea of buying it again. They've crossed too many lines for me to invest any time soon.

you know for 100k gold ... like some minor items cost in here, you could BUY a ******** town in the medieval times, including every single man, woman and child and goat that live in that town then. I say the inflationcauses them gold of gaia look like less worth than even the goddamn rubel during the soviet union, worse than the reichsmark of beaten up germany, and they had to buy a loaf of bread for 100k a piece.

[DustQueen]

T3h Oka

Please make sure you're signing in the actual petition thread as well. =] Thanks
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/petitions/occupy-gaia-petition/t.88160435_1/?error_ts=1383586075

[Cruznick06]

from love to pain

As a head's up, I am unable to put the "We are the 99%" banner into my signature. Is there a possibility the code is broken? It only appears as part of the URL and I have ensured all the brackets are in place. All other banners work. Thanks. :3

[from love to pain]

Tori_of_OVER9000_talents

Exactly. Worst part is... honestly if they had scrapped this GCS and went with the Real Items shop.... I would buy so much. I would willingly give Gaia every cent i could so i could own my items "for real".

From what I've heard, Gaia removed its real-life merchandise shop because it was a complete failure and cost them way more than they had earned from it. However, I've been seeing a lot of people lately saying the same thing as you. I wonder if there's already a petition to Gaia to bring it back? I think it's a great idea, personally. I'd much rather spend my money on something I can physically hold than pixels I can only use on one website.

[from love to pain]

Rizrazzle

from love to pain

Rizrazzle

Where did you get your numbers?

Here's a few sources, although not all of them are complete as I didn't save all the links:

- Venture Beat
- Virtual Piggy
- Yahoo Finance
- Worth Of Web
- Alexa
- Crunchbase
- Wikipedia
- Massively Joystiq
- CBS Interactive
- Gaia Interactive/Gaia Online
- Public Broadcasting Service

“Paying Gaia users generally spend about $30 USD every month to purchase Gaia cash.”
“The world is akin to a fantasy world, offering a richer experience than a typical Facebook game. The average revenue per paying user is about $30 per month. Rivals include IMVU and Habbo.” Teen virtual world Gaia Online lays off 15 to 20 staffers - Venture Beat
“Paying Gaia users generally spend about $30 USD per month to purchase Gaia Cash, which is then used to buy virtual things such as evolving, chance, collectible, and limited edition items.” Gaia Online - Wikipedia

“[…] the agreement with Virtual Piggy inc. This means that 26 million new users are added to the pool of funding!”
“26 million registered members to be exact. They're an anime-themed community with very active and popular forums, in addition to some great games.” Gaia Online Signs With Virtual Piggy - Virtual Piggy
““We wanted a way to allow our younger users to safely purchase Gaia Cash,” said Chris Castagnetto, Director of Sales & Business Development at Gaia Online. “Virtual Piggy was the perfect solution, and allows all of our users access to all aspects of our online experience.”
“We are extremely excited about this agreement with Gaia Online, which brings our technology to 26 million new users,” said Virtual Piggy Founder and CEO Dr. Jo Webber. “Younger gamers want access to virtual currency too and on Gaia Online they’ll now be able to obtain it with their own funds in a safe online environment.”” Virtual Piggy Signs Agreement with Gaia Online - Yahoo Finance

“The old crowd is starting to get fed up and leave-” -
http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=660&h=350&o=f&c=1&y=t&b=ffffff&n=666666&r=max&u=gaiaonline.com& - Website Graphs & Charts Alexa Daily Traffic Rank Trend Graph (Max Years), current events and WorthOfWeb.

“What does it cost for Gaia to run a year? About $25 million”
“"We spent $35 million to get started and an average of $25 million on an annual basis to maintain Gaia," said Gaia Online CEO Craig Sherman.” - Gaia Costs 25 Million - Virtual World News
“When you take a look at the casual-focused Gaia Online, you probably don't think that the community-central site has been costing around 25 million each year […]They're reportedly starting to see deals in the higher six figures range.” Gaia Online Costing About 25 Million a Year - Massively Joystiq

“Gaia Online had raised $11 million in a third round of funding to merely complete 'zOmg!'.”
“Gaia Online, a virtual world targeted at teens, on Monday said it has raised $11 million in a series C round of financing from Institutional Venture Partners. The round brings its total financing to more than $32 million. Its previous investors include Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Time Warner. […] Gaia said it will introduce a casual (and free) Flash-based massively multiplayer online game, or MMO, that has been in development since last year.” “Gaia raised a second round of funding from Time Warner in January. The amount wasn’t disclosed.”
Gaia Online raises 11 million to finance massively multiplayer online game - Venture Beat
Teen virtual world Gaia Online raises $11 million - CBS Interactive Inc. News

“Quests on Gaia are now dedicated to profitable promotional purposes. Granting items related to sponsors.”
“Craig Sherman, CEO of teen virtual world Gaia Online. said they were very careful about inviting the right companies into the community to interact with residents — and that strategy paid off when they did the right promotions.“ “We [wanted] sponsors that made the world better,” he said.”
Marketers Grapple with Giving Teens More Control Online - Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

These are great statistics for us all to keep in mind. I have added them to the updates on the front page.

[from love to pain]

IX Odysseia IX

T3h Oka

Please make sure you're signing in the actual petition thread as well. =] Thanks
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/petitions/occupy-gaia-petition/t.88160435_1/?error_ts=1383586075

I transfer signatures from here to the petition thread as well since the petition originated here before Gaia threatened to shut this thread down. rolleyes

[from love to pain]

Cruznick06

from love to pain

As a head's up, I am unable to put the "We are the 99%" banner into my signature. Is there a possibility the code is broken? It only appears as part of the URL and I have ensured all the brackets are in place. All other banners work. Thanks. :3

A bracket was missing in the image code. My bad. sweatdrop
It's all fixed now if you'd like to switch.

[from love to pain]

Darkchild Angel

METALFumasu

F a y t h - x

Apollos Liar

You all had inquired as to why I was kicked out of Club Verge, and some of you pretty much guessed it, but here's a general answer.

I was kicked out because I haven't BOUGHT enough GC recently to stay in. Access to Club Verge doesn't depend on how much GC you spend, but how much you buy. So since I haven't bought in a couple months now, I guess I no longer qualify. I got a big pop-up ad saying if I bought at least 2,500 GC, I would be allowed back in, but we all know that's not going to happen. rofl

However, as much as I hate the Club, I think it's ridiculous that I was kicked out. Over the years, I'm pretty sure I've spent a total of $1,000 on this site, if not more, so I feel I deserve membership for life for being so supportive. Just more proof Gaia only cares about people who can afford to constantly fund them...

EDIT: Never mind. After talking to Yulania, I've realized I DO still have access. However, the pop-up ads trying to convince me to "join" Club Verge by buying GC are still coming up, so I guess Gaia's just trying to trick me into spending money I don't have to for something I already have.

[from love to pain]

Almost to 900 signatures, folks!

[from love to pain]

Oh, and another thing I was thinking about earlier today.

I kinda wish Gaia would make vending/exchanging "official." I hate not knowing who my gold is going to. I am nervous to spend because I don't want it going to someone who is just running the MP right now and is just trying to make as big a profit as possible. I'd rather buy from someone who actually needs the gold for a quest or something like that.

I'm not entirely sure how a system like that would work, but I know it would make me feel more comfortable in getting back out there. Until then, I'm just collecting all the gold from people I can and using my account as my own form of a gold sink. The more I get from people on here, the less I know is out there screwing the MP over even more. rolleyes

[Cruznick06]

from love to pain

Cruznick06

from love to pain

As a head's up, I am unable to put the "We are the 99%" banner into my signature. Is there a possibility the code is broken? It only appears as part of the URL and I have ensured all the brackets are in place. All other banners work. Thanks. :3

A bracket was missing in the image code. My bad. sweatdrop
It's all fixed now if you'd like to switch.

I'm really enjoying the "Sorry Sexy" one xd

[from love to pain]

I have also started putting all your responses into a journal entry that can be viewed by the public if you're interested.

If I missed your answer, please link me to the post so I can add it!

[from love to pain]

Cruznick06

from love to pain

Cruznick06

from love to pain

As a head's up, I am unable to put the "We are the 99%" banner into my signature. Is there a possibility the code is broken? It only appears as part of the URL and I have ensured all the brackets are in place. All other banners work. Thanks. :3

A bracket was missing in the image code. My bad. sweatdrop
It's all fixed now if you'd like to switch.

I'm really enjoying the "Sorry Sexy" one xd

Haha, yeah, that one is pretty good.
A pretty prominent graphic designer on here made it for us free of charge. <3

[Cruznick06]

from love to pain

Cruznick06

from love to pain

Cruznick06

from love to pain

As a head's up, I am unable to put the "We are the 99%" banner into my signature. Is there a possibility the code is broken? It only appears as part of the URL and I have ensured all the brackets are in place. All other banners work. Thanks. :3

A bracket was missing in the image code. My bad. sweatdrop
It's all fixed now if you'd like to switch.

I'm really enjoying the "Sorry Sexy" one xd

Haha, yeah, that one is pretty good.
A pretty prominent graphic designer on here made it for us free of charge. <3

That's really awesome. I'm going to try to fit as many as possible into my Signature because I can't quest anymore. An item I wanted jumped to over 1 mil in less than a day. crying

[from love to pain]

Cruznick06

That's really awesome. I'm going to try to fit as many as possible into my Signature because I can't quest anymore. An item I wanted jumped to over 1 mil in less than a day. crying

Same exact thing happened to me.
FINALLY decided to take on my biggest quest ever (Princess of the World), and then inflation...
When I started it was about 12.5 mil. Now it's closing in on 40 mil. crying