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 Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:00 pm
TokioDoII OMG, TIM! THERES A PIC OF YOU! IN YOUR SIG!!! SO THAT'S WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE?!?!? hot damn, that's odd. Knowing what you look like, and all. and anyways, back on topic... SMOKING BAN= LAMEEE. D: Yep. Your guildmaster is a big fat beardface. 3nodding The Frogger You know something is a big deal if it causes TIM to show his face xD
I just realized I have a pipe in my inventory still, huzzah. (I sold my cig to get the 1k >> ) Yep. And I love how the same topic sprung up in two threads at the same time. xd
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:04 pm
Haha I noticed that after I posted. xD weiiiird
and just one more off topic thing, are you wearing the zOMG gnome hoodie? >>
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:05 pm
The Iron Magus Zaquel I'm kinda split on this. I'm all for eradicating smoking, and it's a fact that seeing other people smoking will make it harder for a smoker to quit or control urges.
But I really hate having items removed or restricted. Especially without warning! Gah.
The Carol of O'l Ebeneezer has a cigar pose. If they change it I will be annoyed. x: I would totally support a full-on smoking ban in real life. No joke. But it's not hurting anyone here. Gaia is a place where you can get away with things you couldn't in real life. I really don't think an item 3 pixels long is going to ruin anyone's life...
Taking them away might not necessarily make a BIG difference, but even if it was only a small difference, wouldn't that be worth it?
^ I don't necessarily agree with this, I'm just trying to follow Gaia's train of thought on this matter. But I have decided I don't really mind so much about this change.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:06 pm
shiny.
but I'm sure a couple moms would freak if their kid went out and bought some o' dem cigs.
rolled up paper and red marker FTW!
or I could descreetly steal one from my brother.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:09 pm
TokioDoII I HAVE AN IDEA. WE CAN POST IT IN THE GCD, AND PROLLY GET SOME PEOPLE IN THE GD TO DO IT TOO. what we all do is take pics of us with fake cigs or cigs or pipes or whatever, and then make it our sigpics. thus, we get our tobacco products on gaia, and then they decide that since it's happening anyways, why not just bring it all back? That's a real cigarette. I bought a pack of Marlboros just to spite Gaia. neutral The Frogger Haha I noticed that after I posted. xD weiiiird
and just one more off topic thing, are you wearing the zOMG gnome hoodie? >> Yep. Zaquel But what if the presence of smoking avatars does/did have an effect? Maybe seeing pixel cigarettes and cigars, or dressing up their own avatars with them, made it more difficult for smoking members to quit, or encouraged the younger members (this is still a 13+ site, yeah?) to begin.
Taking them away might not necessarily make a BIG difference, but even if it was only a small difference, wouldn't that be worth it?
^ I don't necessarily agree with this, I'm just trying to follow Gaia's train of thought on this matter. But I have decided I don't really mind so much about this change. First of all, if they're trying to smoke, and having them in their inventories bothers them... they can get rid of them. And if just seeing them did it... then they're not gonna be able to quit, anyway. Seeing someone smoke in real life, looking at the cigs sitting in a convenience store, seeing someone smoke in a movie... they're all going to be much worse than seeing a three-pixel item on Gaia. And if a kid starts smoking because of Gaia, they have problems. Deep-seated problems.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:27 pm
Like it or not, Gaia is a part of the media, and needs to be held responsible for their content. The Media Watchdogs are everywhere, and if Gaia hadn't removed the smokes, some shrieky, whiny "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" organization would've
A) Sued them.
B) Shut them down. Permanently.
This leaves us with two options:
Start our avvies on the patch, or wave bye bye to Gaia as it falls to legal troubles.
Which would you rather?
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:34 pm
Wuyabi Like it or not, Gaia is a part of the media, and needs to be held responsible for their content. The Media Watchdogs are everywhere, and if Gaia hadn't removed the smokes, some shrieky, whiny "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" organization would've A) Sued them. B) Shut them down. Permanently. This leaves us with two options: Start our avvies on the patch, or wave bye bye to Gaia as it falls to legal troubles. Which would you rather? Sued them for what? Shut them down how? With the pure force of their rage?
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:54 pm
For "corrupting the youth," or whatever lame duck stance church (or for that matter, health based) organizations, and-- this is key here -- their lawyers-- can come up with. I'm not happy about this either, but you have to remember, Gaia is a business that is just beginning to gain a presence in the mind of the general public, and when presenting oneself to a large group, whether personal or professional, it's best to try not to offend people with an axe to grind and the means to do something about it. And Gaia is PG-13, emphasis on PG --kids younger than 13 are allowed to come here with parental guidance, and I bet there's a lot more parents checking out Gaia than we realize. Gaia is mostly a site aimed at kids and teens these days, (just like Neopets transitioned from college kids to kids) but parents control the purse strings, so the mods are doing their best to please them.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:05 pm
Wuyabi For "corrupting the youth," or whatever lame duck stance church (or for that matter, health based) organizations, and-- this is key here -- their lawyers-- can come up with. I'm not happy about this either, but you have to remember, Gaia is a business that is just beginning to gain a presence in the mind of the general public, and when presenting oneself to a large group, whether personal or professional, it's best to try not to offend people with an axe to grind and the means to do something about it. And Gaia is PG-13, emphasis on PG --kids younger than 13 are allowed to come here with parental guidance, and I bet there's a lot more parents checking out Gaia than we realize. Gaia is mostly a site aimed at kids and teens these days, (just like Neopets transitioned from college kids to kids) but parents control the purse strings, so the mods are doing their best to please them.Emphasis on the PG, indeed. It's the parents' job to guide the children, not Gaia's. If they don't want them smoking--or hanging around on a site that has pixelated cigarettes--it's their job to stop them. Until you show me where it says in the lawbooks that an independent website can be shut down for "corrupting" people, I'm going to remain a bit skeptical.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:50 pm
Wuyabi For "corrupting the youth," or whatever lame duck stance church (or for that matter, health based) organizations, and-- this is key here -- their lawyers-- can come up with. I'm not happy about this either, but you have to remember, Gaia is a business that is just beginning to gain a presence in the mind of the general public, and when presenting oneself to a large group, whether personal or professional, it's best to try not to offend people with an axe to grind and the means to do something about it. And Gaia is PG-13, emphasis on PG --kids younger than 13 are allowed to come here with parental guidance, and I bet there's a lot more parents checking out Gaia than we realize. Gaia is mostly a site aimed at kids and teens these days, (just like Neopets transitioned from college kids to kids) but parents control the purse strings, so the mods are doing their best to please them.
Hell. Alice in Wonderland has a hookah in it and Pinocchio has cigars...
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:57 pm
I agree with Crim. And also I am wondering what the answers would be to Tim's Questions. It is illegal for Cigarette companies to advertise AT ALL in the U.S. But a site that IS a PG-13 site, can not be sued for slight drug use. If you look at some PG-13 movies, they have weed in them!!! That is worse then Cigs cause weed makes you go LOCO!!! Back to my point. There is no legal bridge that allows anyone to sue Gaia just for having Cigs or Smoking Pipes on the avies that are made by the people. It is like those shows that say, "Parental Discretion is advised."
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:01 pm
It isn't anywhere in the lawbooks, but that won't stop something like that allegation from... well, being alleged. Comic Book stores have been sued... and lost... for that same allegation; not because they did corrupt youth (through selling salacious materials to minors, in this case) but because they could have. And all because some sue happy parent got a hold of a money grubbing lawyer.
Gaia is only trying to put on a good public face. If they don't, they run the risk of earning the public's ire. As a young and growing business, they literally can't afford to make the source of their business-- ultimately, the parents-- angry.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:22 pm
Aw I should have shelled out for that pack at the store. u.u
My sister has a weed pipe in the garage, but I don't want to touch it. I may get some sort of disease.
I'm all for putting cigs in sigs, and would do it, save my two creepy stalkers ._. Who are convinced I am a boy because my Halloween Boy avatar and will probably spam me, despite the obvious fact I do indeed, not have a penor.
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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:34 pm
Smoking is allowed in modern movies these days, but in PG-13 or lower, it's either not shown or used to denote an "unsavory" character type. (This MPAA rule started in the 80's, when smoking was seriously starting to be outed as unhealthy.
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:12 am
Woah, I just paid the GCD a visit for the first time in ages and out of the 30 non-stickied threads on the first page, 24 were about the smoking ban. xD
What annoys me slightly more than the ban of tobacco-themed items is the fact that now some users have them, but no-one else will be able to get them, ever. Unless they want to shell out hundreds of thousands of gold for the Carol items, which only provide substitutes. And that still won't give me a pipe. Now that I can't get a pipe, I want one so badly.
Curse my habit of regularly cleaning out my inventory of unused items. stressed
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