|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:53 pm
I left this guild a few years back because I have a life. I say this with absolutely no offense to the people who regularly attend this website, of course, but that's not even my point.
This guild has no goals! No ambition! There are 70,600 people signed on to this website as I type this. Why can't at least 50 of those people be in this guild? That's not that big of a goal. People come here to make friends, to have the social life they can't have because 90% of high schoolers are ********. This guild has immense potential, cool members, a well-rounded theme, and some cool banners (that could probably use some updating, but hey).
Where is the umph this guild back in the day when Gaia wasn't some mass market s**t hole? If anything, the people who use this guild need to use it as a hub for people who want to see those glory days again. I personally can't do it because I have other things on my plate, like making the Dean's list 4 semesters in a row. But many of the people in this guild have the time, just apparently not the chutzpah, which makes me sad.
Gaia is the place I found the voice I use in real life now. It's the place I learned to argue, learned that I wasn't actually all that much a failure as a human being. This website doesn't have that energy anymore, but it could.
Anyway, I'll chat with you guys about what you think about giving this guild a jolt with a defibrillator, if that's what anyone wants to do. I mean, is 50 out of 70,000 really that hearty a goal?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:38 am
I don't think there is any problem with this guild, it's the members of Gaia which have the problem. People just aren't interested in talking and making friends anymore. Maybe they would be if you got more gold for posting. People are just interested in polling and spamming to get as much gold as possible. The admins make such fuss about the games and other things Gaia offers, and therefore have made the forums irrelevant...people refer to Gaia as a "game" now...because it's more of a website with a forum on the side, than as a huge forum and community, which is what it used to be.
The people who regularly come here are mainly the older users of Gaia who want it to be how it used to be..maybe we should actually use that as an advertising point to get more members.
But even if you look in the guild registry, most guilds are all the same:
Polling and spam
Guilds for sexuality (cause that's one of the most important things in a young teen's life so there are millions of them rolleyes stare )
Naruto
Harry Potter
Emo bands
etc etc..
Most of the population of Gaia is barely in their teens and they're only interested in the same things rolleyes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:33 pm
You've hit the nail on the head. This guild needs to use the asset that Gaia used to have, aiming to draw in people interested in a conversation, because I know they're out there.
A list of suggestions should be formed, but first things first, hit the GD and the ED to find those remaining people who are actually fun to be around.
I certainly am not available to do it, but certainly the regulars wouldn't find that too much a burden.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:50 pm
I've been thinking about this exact issue for a couple weeks now, looking at different options to get more people here for a bit of that old-gaia taste. My idea to kind of start this off was through our upcomming anniversary party. If we could have a party full of people who want the old Gaia back, and maybe even some new members who can see what the old Gaia used to be like, we could start a turn around of the way Gaians view this site. While this may seem like a pretty sizable goal, if we pulled it off, who knows, we might even get the moderator's attention.i
However, we don't have to dream this big just yet, as long as we keep the goal in our minds we could try and pull it off a couple months from now. We can use this time to help boost up the guild, get the word spreading a bit more about that old-gaia feel, and help this guild prepare for such an event that would get recognition by all of Gaia.
Heck, right before I saw this thread I was planning on making a thread to discuss the upcomming Anniverasy Ball, but we can just combine these two into one idea if you guys think that would be easier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:04 pm
Go ahead and make a new thread for the anniversary.
My idea is a bit more simple than to promote an "Old Gaia Feel", though I think that would be marvelous. My entire thought process is just as I see 83,203 users on, and I wonder if we can get 50 of those in here at any given time. That's not a hard goal.
Now, if you want to use "The Old Gaia" feel as an advertising ploy, it could be interesting, but I think you'd be better off emphasizing "Community", which is definitely what Gaia is not anymore. As Shadow said, people think of it as a game.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:48 am
In all honesty, it's not just gaia that's degraded...it's all the internet and society in general. Every day that goes by I see less and less nice people...more so...I see more and more rude, ignorant, and arrogant people...most of them being in their teens. I know I make 'jokes' saying "I think it's an unwritten rule that when you walk into a store your IQ drops by 30"...but I'm starting to think that for the most part it's true. neutral
Meh, if this doesn't apply to the thread...whatever. I've just given up on expecting anything out of society.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:03 am
How do you guys suggest we make a start then?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:35 am
Well, simple as it sounds, start by PMing your friends. Say, "Hey, we've got this plan to make a super awesome nice-people guild and we'd really appreciate your support." Maybe mention the number of users on-line and how we'd like to get between 25 and 50 of this in here at any given time.
Now then, this might sound hypocritical, but we might want to start pulling our word games out of the "Games" forum to provide some 'game-like' entertainment, and we might want to host some contests both in and out of the guild to develop some awareness and interest.
Hell, I've got enough million gold items on my mule to get some serious campaigns going if we want to purchase some new banners and run some free contests.
But seriously, PM some friends you might think would be interested.
To Alamoria:
I have a tendency to agree with you. People hang around acting stupid, the people with them are going to start acting stupid. The cool thing is, group psychology works both ways. You put an average person in with a bunch of nice people having fun and making intelligent conversation, they'll start acting that way too. It's a matter of what gets put in. On the internet as a whole, a large amount of s**t is being put in, so everyone acts like ********. But this guild can act as a closed system, and if we fill it with positive energy (humor, niceness, intelligence, ambition) the people who come here will have a tendency to adopt those sentiments not only to fit in, because as opposed to being an a*****e, it actually feels good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:39 pm
This may be a little rant-ish of me, but I want to get this off my chest and this seems to be the most appropriate place for it.
On the topic of gaia's degrading community, I feel it's equally the moderator's and the normal gaian's fault as well. The fall of the community slightly began with the addition of the casino, but it was still a community when they added that and fishing. I think it really started collapsing when they they took away the map's purpose. Back in the day, if you wanted to go shoping or anything like that you had to use the map, even for events. Using the map brought a since of it being a little world, gave that community feel an extra little boost. Now the only time the map even comes into play is if you want to go fishing, other than that there is a short cut to finding it. Furthermore, as the users became more obsessed with gold, the moderators flooded the market with gold and games, like Shadow pointed out, and now we have the gaia we see today.
But yes, I'll create the Anniversary thread and start up that list of what needs to be done for Blade's plan tommorrow when I have more time, and the sooner we start both of these things the better.
I suggest we work on Blade's plan first, because we still have over a month before the Anniversary and if we can complete his goal before then it will make the guild and the Anniversary both run much more smoothly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:58 pm
I honestly don't blame the degradation on features. I blame it on selling-out. I mean, really, why are we advertising for movies and anime and TV series and every ******** thing on the planet? Gaia needed to be isolated, not some media machine. I'll give it credit for not being as bad as Neopets, but it's going down the same path, just much slower.
People used to gripe when we were afraid of it going the Neopets road, but look here we are for not griping. We just have a better layout and more adult theme.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:54 am
Blessed Blade I honestly don't blame the degradation on features. I blame it on selling-out. I mean, really, why are we advertising for movies and anime and TV series and every ******** thing on the planet? Gaia needed to be isolated, not some media machine. I'll give it credit for not being as bad as Neopets, but it's going down the same path, just much slower. People used to gripe when we were afraid of it going the Neopets road, but look here we are for not griping. We just have a better layout and more adult theme. Yeah, I don't see too much problem with some advertising but Gaia does go over the top and advertise pretty much EVERYTHING. But it wants the money and who can blame the developers for that? The inclusion of the cash shop did it for me...because I see no other reason for that than greed by the developers. Basically, the main reason behind the downfall of Gaia is basically greed. The developers want more members and money, and so they are going to go the way of other popular sites...myspace, neopets etc, to achieve that because they know those sites are popular. Pming my friends isn't gunna make much difference..I have a mere 13 and it was difficult enough to persuade them to join my own guild, let alone another. we need to start advertising, and advertising in the right places.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:50 pm
Shadow__Dweller Yeah, I don't see too much problem with some advertising but Gaia does go over the top and advertise pretty much EVERYTHING. But it wants the money and who can blame the developers for that? The inclusion of the cash shop did it for me...because I see no other reason for that than greed by the developers. Basically, the main reason behind the downfall of Gaia is basically greed. The developers want more members and money, and so they are going to go the way of other popular sites...myspace, neopets etc, to achieve that because they know those sites are popular. Pming my friends isn't gunna make much difference..I have a mere 13 and it was difficult enough to persuade them to join my own guild, let alone another. we need to start advertising, and advertising in the right places. Which is why I say we run some contests. Avatar contests, lotteries. But what other kind of advertisement is there?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:24 pm
Another way to go about is through the fourms. I joined this guild because I was having fun at TTTWND and saw that there was an entire guild associated with it. It may be a longer process to take but making a thread where people really enjoy themselves and see that there is a guild backing it up could work. Another option is advertising in other threads, donate to their cause and have them put one of our banners in their first post. Both of those are alternative types of advertising.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:36 pm
Having been on Gaia for 2 and a half years, I'm probably one of the less experienced guild members. But when I joined, Gaia was still about making friends and chatting about stuff. We called the Collectibles "Donation Items" because the money given was actually a donation. I'm one of those people who hate the fact that Gaia has sold out via affiliations with movies and videogames and the like. All this "Generic Movie X is in cinemas near you! Pick up a free item!" crap is just reinforcing the avatar-centerdness that Gaia has become now. People bump threads and answer polls simply to get gold which they either hoard or spend on items for their avatar, considering it to be the most important aspect of their Gaia membership.
I am in full support of the idea that we need to use the old Gaian values as a way to draw more like-minded members. I suggest changing the name of the guild to something like "The Gaian Old Timers Society" etc. If that's too drastic, then maybe the introduction on the guild homepage could be changed to advertise what we believe in this guild.
Eg. "Are you tired of how Gaia has become a corporate sellout? Are you beginning to hate the free items that arrive when a new movie comes out? Are you sick to death of pointless posters and poll whores? At The Hangout Guild (or another suitable title if we decide to change the guild's name), we believe in the Gaian values of old: making new friends, chatting and having fun."
Et cetera, et cetera. Personally, if I found a guild that had a message like this on the homepage I'd join straight away. It might be an idea. Just my thoughts on the matter smile
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:49 pm
I worry about creating a written and express sentiment of "Old Gaia Values", because change is constant, and an intolerance what has come doesn't do any good for anyone.
Gaia has serious problems, sure. It's become incredibly egocentric, but it was always egocentric, always item focused, filled with polling, spamming morons. Gaia's biggest problem is that it's played to that in order to attain popularity. It's been focusing on all the negative things that will expand it's member pool: mindless entertainment, free items, selling out.
The important thing for us is NOT to focus on the negative aspects of Gaia, but on the positive things that we want to have here. Positive things like real conversation, like the ones we're having right now, but with as many people as we can possibly get in here. ^_^
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
![[King_Chaos]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/c8/84/525da2151084c8_flip.png?t=1268626891_6.00_00)
