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 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:21 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:57 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:47 pm
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kool ken When Gaia says multiple servers, how many are we talking about?
Well... It's not *how many* as much as *horsepower*... They don't say how many servers they have (but I would imagine at least a half-dozen very beefy machines, a couple load-balancers to make sure they're all utilized about equally, and a couple of smaller servers which only serve the static stuff...), but just throwing more hardware at the problem will generally only mask the problem, at best.
The time to throw more hardware at a problem is before a problem exists. 3nodding Otherwise, you're just postponing the inevitable and making it worse. I suspect their goal is likely to get at least a minor infrastructure upgrade before the holiday season begins.
Considering how decently the service is performing with the massive load of these Halloween events, if they do that and fix what they've identified from this event, Christmas may be nothing but sweets for Gaia. heart
But, real life is gonna rear its ugly head. Murphy's Law indicates that. wink So, as long as we're getting our money's worth, I'm happy! (Indeed, I've only been on Gaia a short time, but I've made it a point to buy quite a few collectibles to show my support, and because it's more stable than many for-pay games!) |
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:50 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:23 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:33 pm
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MattLewellyn Sagitarian_Insomniac Love the new pic on the opening guild page, I wanted to pick those items right off that tree! Yeah... Looks like Christmas is coming! heart Is there a list of requested donations somewhere to facilitate contests? I feel generous at the moment... 3nodding
November is Donations Month, hence the theme of the front page. I don't think we have a list but if you wish to donate to the guild, just send a trade to the guild account, Klioss. |
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Rogue Angel Kiara
Rogue Angel Kiara
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:54 pm
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MattLewellyn kool ken When Gaia says multiple servers, how many are we talking about? Well... It's not *how many* as much as *horsepower*... They don't say how many servers they have (but I would imagine at least a half-dozen very beefy machines, a couple load-balancers to make sure they're all utilized about equally, and a couple of smaller servers which only serve the static stuff...), but just throwing more hardware at the problem will generally only mask the problem, at best. The time to throw more hardware at a problem is before a problem exists. 3nodding Otherwise, you're just postponing the inevitable and making it worse. I suspect their goal is likely to get at least a minor infrastructure upgrade before the holiday season begins. Considering how decently the service is performing with the massive load of these Halloween events, if they do that and fix what they've identified from this event, Christmas may be nothing but sweets for Gaia. heart But, real life is gonna rear its ugly head. Murphy's Law indicates that. wink So, as long as we're getting our money's worth, I'm happy! (Indeed, I've only been on Gaia a short time, but I've made it a point to buy quite a few collectibles to show my support, and because it's more stable than many for-pay games!)
Wow MattLewellyn, that first post was pretty geek but you've redeemed yourself here. Being able to speak so eloquently in geek (a compliment) and then to make such a smooth transition into quoting Murphy's Law. Nice. I loved that. I agree with Rajeshri Anjal that it was nice to hear some positivity for once. |
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:31 am
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:34 am
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Rogue Angel Kiara MattLewellyn Sagitarian_Insomniac Love the new pic on the opening guild page, I wanted to pick those items right off that tree! Yeah... Looks like Christmas is coming! heart Is there a list of requested donations somewhere to facilitate contests? I feel generous at the moment... 3nodding November is Donations Month, hence the theme of the front page. I don't think we have a list but if you wish to donate to the guild, just send a trade to the guild account, Klioss. |
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:40 am
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craftymama MattLewellyn kool ken When Gaia says multiple servers, how many are we talking about? Well... It's not *how many* as much as *horsepower*... They don't say how many servers they have (but I would imagine at least a half-dozen very beefy machines, a couple load-balancers to make sure they're all utilized about equally, and a couple of smaller servers which only serve the static stuff...), but just throwing more hardware at the problem will generally only mask the problem, at best. The time to throw more hardware at a problem is before a problem exists. 3nodding Otherwise, you're just postponing the inevitable and making it worse. I suspect their goal is likely to get at least a minor infrastructure upgrade before the holiday season begins. Considering how decently the service is performing with the massive load of these Halloween events, if they do that and fix what they've identified from this event, Christmas may be nothing but sweets for Gaia. heart But, real life is gonna rear its ugly head. Murphy's Law indicates that. wink So, as long as we're getting our money's worth, I'm happy! (Indeed, I've only been on Gaia a short time, but I've made it a point to buy quite a few collectibles to show my support, and because it's more stable than many for-pay games!) Wow MattLewellyn, that first post was pretty geek but you've redeemed yourself here. Being able to speak so eloquently in geek (a compliment) and then to make such a smooth transition into quoting Murphy's Law. Nice. I loved that. I agree with Rajeshri Anjal that it was nice to hear some positivity for once. |
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:53 am
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:59 am
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Aww... you all make me blush! redface heart
Joe, some back-of-the napkin calculations, based on what I know of prices for services and goods that they'd need, general salaries for the area, what they've stated about how many staff they have, and guesstimates of daily data transfer, they probably are in need of a steady supply of more cash to keep Gaia growing...
They're walking that fine line between "Hey, guys? We need money to survive, so anything you can give would make things better for you and us!" and "Gimmee moneez NOW!" At least they're doing it tastefully. The only ads I find truly obnoxious on the site are the VJ ads. But, luckily, those show up off-screen for me, usually! wink (Don't tell the advertisers!)
And, Joe, sure... You and I can give physical cash to Gaia... But most of those who aren't old enough to join AGA have to make the tough choices in the world! "Hm... Gaia cash card? Or a week of hanging out at Starbucks with my popular friends?" Gaia's "pay-what-you-will" model works out great, in that sense. Teenagers (their core word-of-mouth marketers) can play for free. And those who can afford to give hard-earned cash will give as much as we feel the service is "worth"...
In the end, it kinda evens out, provided they can add enough value to keep those able to pay, paying. If they can add enough value that they make enough to hire more people to make new and unique things more often (and better-tested, perhaps!), then everyone benefits. (And the lower-paid staff may eventually get a raise! lol ) I'm very sure that most Gaia staff don't make "big bucks"; most of the corporate income likely goes to infrastructure; things like: electricity, telecommunications [read: bandwidth and telephone], hardware maintenance, rent for the office and server space, etc...
And I'm fairly certain that they aren't running PC-grade computers as their servers, a la Google. I'd be fairly confident in putting money on them using $150K+ servers as their main boxes... Better overall performance and less administration cost than 150 $1K boxes! Regardless of how they go about procuring their servers, they're not cheap.
Anyhow, I'm rambling again. redface I'm not trying to come across as "The Great Defender" or anything. It's just that most people seem to forget (when things go wrong) that there are real people making real decisions with real money behind the scenes. And sometimes, those decisions aren't necessarily the best. But Gaia seems to be doing more right than wrong. smile So, I'm hoping to provide insight into the generalities behind how something like Gaia ticks.
It's truly awe-inspiring that something like this can exist... 20 years ago, people would have claimed that you were reading too much sci-fi... "HA! A virtual world where you can be a Japanese animation character? You can shop using either real money or the in-world currency (which is useless outside the world)? You can make friends all over the physical world? And it's all real-time? And it works on almost any computer, without installing special software? Oh, it's best to use a computer with more RAM than anyone will ever have, and a network connection faster than any on ARPANET... Sure... And you say that all interaction is in real-time, with 100K users on at once! HAHAHAHA!"
With enough money to keep innovating, who knows where Gaia will be in a few years? The teens are going to eventually become adults... With disposable incomes and a guilty conscience... Making Gaia grow even better! biggrin I certainly hope to be along for the ride!
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:47 am
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Reply
