Welcome to Gaia! ::

That's good to hear (:

Haha fair enough, a few of my friends are pretty intense gamers. I tend to put a solid few months of effort into a game and then move on to something else. Seeing as I've been writing a review for it I've put 139 hours into Borderlands 2 since November, so that was intense. (: I regret nothing though!

Oh that's good that it wasn't homework I guess, now you'll have more time to work on other assignments while everyone else works on that. You also managed to lighten your load for your other classes too, so it's a win-win situation!

Ooh, that's awesome! Man, getting an article to be New York Times worthy when you're in high school would be insane, it's good preparation for the real thing though. I sure wish my school had done something like that. At least you'll be prepared to deal with tough-as-nails editors! What kind of topics do you write about? (:

Thanks! For my photojournalism story I'm planning to write about a weed infestation that has... infested local lakes, deoxygenating the water and preventing bird life from feeding and such. So that should be cool. What I'm really looking forward to though is writing a story for my News Writing and Reporting unit on just how 'free to play' free to play sites and games are, and just how much of the revenue is needed for such sites/games to run and how much of it is overblown just to make a ridiculous profit at the (often young) user's expense. It might be hard to find interviews for that one but statistics shouldn't be too hard to find. I am not looking forward to actually having to make accounts for those godawful Facebook games as research though...

Haha, anyway, how's your day been?

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Haha yeeeah I had a four months off of uni so I could afford to waste the time (:

Ah that's cool, I agree about political topics,not to mention the fact that (in my case anyway) it'd be really hard getting interviews with politicians when you're only a student journalist.

Yeah, I know ): It's taken the local council months to start clearing out the weed too. But oh well, it makes a good story for me. (:

Haha yeah it is pretty interesting so far. Yes, I'm counting Gaia as one of those 'free' sites. That's ridiculous about the prices of cash shop items and bundles! D: I miss the days of 2008-9 when Gaia wasn't all about Cash.I saw a graph yesterday that showed back in September '08 for the entire month only 19% of the announcements were for Cash-related items. It compared that to the first week this year, where 92% of the announcements have been for Cash-related items/updates. It's disgraceful that a purportedly "free" site has elevated its paid currency above its on-site currency. That's most evidenced by the inflation of course, which the admin don't seem to care about, but that's a whole other kettle of fish... Wow, I couldn't imagine spending $30 a month on Gaia... to be honest, that's pretty sad. Where do people get such disposable incomes? I wish had money to waste in that fashion.

Haha I never really played them, I can understand why you would if you aren't much of a gamer. I guess in the end they're pretty much just all flash no substance.

Yay, that's good! For the most part, anyway. What, that inflation is ridiculous. Surely the admin must be able to just do a reset of the marketplace to before the gold generators got totally out of hand... That would probably present its own problems but it's surely got to be better than the current situation where gold is essentially worthless.

My day was good but tiring, spent the morning making a selling sandwiches for a fundraising event and then spent the afternoon looking at media releases for story ideas. Since then I just played guitar and Armored Core. :3

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Yep, that's the basic idea xD Interspersed with poorly guised attempts to get your money for slight bonuses.

When it comes to Gaia that's definitely the case. I spent $10 on Flynn's Booty when it first came out and ended up just using all the gold I got from it on the sinks (the Halloween event, the Barton Grab Bags, etc.). I got some sweet items from the grab bags, like gold Fairy Wings and a pink High Elf Scarf that I donated, however I still regret it though. The Stygian Shuck that I was/still am questing for is now seemingly forever out of reach ): But oh well, I don't really use Gaia for items anymore, not just because it's increasingly difficult to earn the gold needed but because there's nothing besides Stygian Shuck I really want. Never understood why anyone would spend $30+ on pixels that don't do anything or than show how much money you've invested in the site. That's the problem I see with Gaia nowadays; So much emphasis and worth is placed on the quality of the items an avatar has rather than the real community aspect of the site that it's downright tragic.

Sorry for the rant, ahaha.

The Black Market is indeed a good start, although once again it's catering only to the richest on the site, albeit in gold rather than real currency. I'll hold out on passing overly critical judgement until it's fleshed out though (: You're right, hopefully they continue with something in

Awh what, that's terrible! I remember seeing a similar incident that happened here (Australia) a few years ago, although unfortunately the father succeeded in drowning himself and his children. You're right, some truly messed up stuff goes on in the world.

Depressing news events aside, how's your day/week been? (:

On a side note, I found this to be interesting, to say the least... http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Gaia-Interactive-Reviews-E108355.htm

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Haha man I was exactly the same, I guess it's always nice to hope for that extra zero though (-:

Yeah, exactly. I can understand it if you have a job that pays really well (but if you're a bonafide adult then I believe you already should have priorities that rate much higher than Gaia) then by all means blow your paycheque on the site, but I don't see why you'd spend so much on a student budget. Personally I'm absolutely blown out after spending $500 on textbooks. xD

I hope the site doesn't go down! If (when) the current management gets booted then I'm more than happy to donate every now and then provided they actually give back to (in earnest, not in a money-hoarding sense) rather than attempt to take from the community. But yes, many laughs will be had at those who put hundreds of $$$ towards the site if it does end up collapsing (:

Oh, the last event I played was the Halloween event. I loved the actual idea of the battle system, not so much the cash grab. It really wasn't geared towards everyone, especially seeing as those potions to restore health/stamina cost 25GC. Not to mention the fact that the potions sold for 25k in the marketplace, essentially barring those new to the site from progressing.

The more I see the site decline the more I think I'd hate to be a new user. D: Uh last I checked Stygian Shuck was 11 mil? I could buy it if I sold my Billowing Cape but... I don't want to (: Haha as much as I enjoy this guild (truthfully it's become the only reason I stick around Gaia) I'd feel bad constantly trying to gain donations. But then I also can't be bothered playing zOMG again to earn the gold so I'm in a bit of a rut but oh well. xD I donated an item worth 100k to someone in this guild the other day that I was planning to sell but then they mysteriously unequipped every item on their avatar so I have my suspicions that it was in fact a mule... Oh well with the worth of gold on the site these days I honestly don't care about my quest at the present time.

Haha, I never know what to tell people about where I live seeing as to me it just seems ordinary, but I guess the beaches are really awesome xD At the moment we've just entered autumn (fall as you Americans call it) and yet it's still so hot D: I'm looking forward to the cold weather with the wind and the rain to be honest. We just went through the driest summer on record too ): Anyway yeah Australia's pretty damn awesome (free healthcare!) and is definitely worth visiting! The education is swell too (~:

Oh damn, that sucks! How are you dealing with them? (: At least the week's almost half over for you? I think there's about a 12 hour time difference, not 100% certain though. It's 3:04pm Wednesday afternoon here right now (: I hope you're coping with all that okay smile

Actually I just found it in a thread! But I am a member of Revolution: Gaia so I would not be at all surprised to find it there (: Yeah it's sad that they've resorted to made-up reviews ): Oh well, at least the fake's are glaringly obvious.

I'm doing pretty well, had a haircut and driving lesson today and am at university now about to knuckle down on some Media Law study before my lecture for said unit. Then I need to water the garden when I get home and then I'll probably watch The Simpsons :3 I expect the pressure for uni will come in about two weeks time when I have 3 news stories due for publication, but I'll deal with that when it comes.

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Happy Guildaversary! I hope you had fun throughout the days and weeks.

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