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 Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:37 pm
Got a rant about the guild or gaia or real life? How about some good praises? Post them here!
Rules: Just follow ToS, Rules and Guidelines, the rules of the guild, (Once I come up with it.) the usual.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:25 am
Format for submitting a rant/praise:
Codename: (Has to be related to your rant/praise, like if your rant is about staying up all night, your codename should be AllNighter or something like that)
Rant/Praise:
[b]Codename:[/b]
[b]Rant/Praise:[/b]
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Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:27 am
Codename: Gaia Cash or How Narumi Misuhara is gouging us!
Rant: Have you noticed that absolutely nothing lately hasn't been said or done by the staff that doesn't revolve around Gaia Cash in some way? Well guess what people? EVERYTHING from here on out will revolve around Gaia Cash. We won't get anything done around here unless we pay for it and I mean with real money via Gaia Cash. Narumi Misuhara, who was "promoted" from the Engineering/Development staff to head of Projects said so himself. That's a fancy way of saying he decides what will and will not be worked on. He doesn't do any work on any of the projects himself anymore. His job is to make sure that anything that IS done MAKES MONEY FOR GAIA and he reports to the COO (one of the money people for Gaia inc). IF it doesn't make money, it doesn't get done. If it costs money, it won't even get a second look. Take Guilds 2.0- that's a prime example!
My question is, SINCE WHEN IS IT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USERS TO MAKE MONEY FOR GAIA? Why should WE be responsible for making money for Gaia Interactive? Why does everything we do have to be a money making endeavor? I come to Gaia to chat with friends, play games and have a good time. I don't come to Gaia to work for Gaia Interactive. I never signed anything agreeing to PAY TO PLAY?
If I want to DONATE to the cause, I will donate. Remember when we had DONATION ITEMS? That's what the "Monthly Collectibles" used to be called. We didn't have a Cash Shop. We could "Donate" $2.50/American Dollars and get our choice of 2 and sometimes 3 items for our avatar every month. Now, we buy Gaia Cash to spend in a Cash Shop, or in the Regular Shops, now called Gold Shops, which gives you an option, in many but not all cases, of using Gaia Cash to purchase items.
Now, it is going to be mandatory for us to PAY TO PLAY. Naruimi Misuhara stated in his latest journal entry for everyone to read that from now on, "This biggest change between then and now is that all projects going forward must earn their production cost."
Here's what this means for us in guilds. Guilds get screwed again. For 7- count it- 7 long years, Guilds have not gotten a decent upgrade while the Forums have been getting regular, major upgrades. And the funny thing is, if the Guilds had been updated and upgraded at the same time, Guilds wouldn't be in the mess we are in now! But that's neither here not there. The PROBLEM is, THERE IS NO WAY FOR GUILDS TO MAKE MONEY. What are Guilds going to do? Guilds cannot buy Gaia Cash? Guilds cannot USE Gaia Cash. How can Guilds EARN THEIR PRODUCTION COST?
How in all that is holy and righteous does Narumi really expect Guilds to "earn their production cost"? His brilliant idea is for USERS to BUY GAIA CASH AND DESIGNATE IT FOR USE TO UPGRADE GUILDS. Here's the problem with that: 1.USERS CANNOT DESIGNATE HOW TO USE GAIA CASH WHEN IT IS PURCHASED!!! 2. WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THE PROGRAMMING AND MAKE IT COST EFFECTIVE TO MAKE IT VIABLE FOR US TO DO THAT ANYWAY?
If Gaia thinks user numbers have fallen over the years steadily before, wait and see what happens if they start pulling this kind of crap. We should not be expected to pay so we can use a properly working site. The site is supposed to work properly so that we can use it!
Now, if this isn't a sad enough state of affairs for Gaia, Narumi has let his staff come up with another money making scheme, a way to wheedle more of our hard earned money out of our pockets and line Gaia's coffers. WEDDINGS! That's right, the latest scheme is to allow Gaians to get MARRIED & DIVORCED on Gaia. Of course, this is going to be another way to FORCE US TO BUY GAIA CASH. Oh, we will have the OPTION of whether or not to do it, but it's the principle of the matter. Here's how it will work as I see it:
1. You pay Gaia Cash for Wedding Attire in either the Cash Shop or a New Cash Shop/Bridal Boutique
2.You pay Gaia Cash for a Marriage License/Divorce Papers, Officiant/Judge
3.You pay Gaia Cash for use of the "flash space" for ceremonies, receptions, etc
4. You pay for the privilege of having your "Mr/Mrs" under your name,WHICH IS ONLY GOOD IN THE FORUMS... That's right folks, it's a Forum based function.. Guilds are shut out of this again- at least until Guilds 2.0 happen.
All this boils down to this: Gaia is not going to do a blasted thing unless WE pay our hard-earned, or our parents' hard-earned money for it. The days of coming to Gaia and playing for free are gone. No more announcements to tell us of how wonderful it is for a new enhancement that is being brought to us. No, now it's all about Gaia Cash, Cash Shop and how much it's going to cost you if you want anything done here on Gaia. Better start saving all that money Grandma and Grandpa send you for your birthday kids. Take a second mortgage on your home if you want Guilds 2.0 to ever get done before the next millenium all you faithful Guild members. If you thought your wedding in real life was expensive, cash in those Savings Bonds or CD's at the bank if you want one here on Gaia! Oh, and games, I suggest you go to Facebook where you can still play many of them FOR FREE, I do. I haven't paid a penny there in all the years I have been on Facebook and those games are better and more plentiful than Gaia's!
Here's another problem with using Gaia Cash for anything. Narumi admitted that any funds that come into Gaia via Gaia Cash go toward ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS FIRST. Excuse me? Administrative costs first? Hell no! If I am buying Gaia Cash and earmarking it for a specific project, I damned well better have each and every penny going to the developer to be working on THAT project. I don't care if the COO, the electric company, the water company or anything else gets paid. I am paying for Guilds 2.0 to be worked on, for specific developer/s to be working on that project. You find another way to get the other stuff taken care of from someone else's Gaia Cash. As it is, too much of our money goes to ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS and very little goes to "projects". I know there is overhead, but they need to find other ways to cover "overhead".
This has got to be one of the most poorly run companies I know of if there is no marketing department. If there is a marketing department, why in all that is good and holy can those people not go out and earn money for the site in advertising funds? I know little children that can do a better job at doing that running lemonade stands than the so-called professionals running Gaia in San Diego. And, please, don't tell me that mobile apps are taking all your advertising/sponsorships away. Any GOOD/DECENT marketing people can find advertisers in the kind of market that caters to Gaians. And you cannot tell me that a certain Anime company that used to be a sponsor here ran to mobile apps and not the internet. Not the biggest Anime company in the USA that has it's own internet site! Someone is blowing smoke up someone's skirt. I say someone at Gaia let that sponsor slip away!
And last but not least, we have a BIG HALLOWEEN EVENT coming up, which of course will be FORUM BASED again; although Narumi did mention that there might be Trick or Treating. My question is... How does Narumi Misuhara plan for the Users to pay for this event? After all, he must have something in mind. What are we going to have to buy to make this event profitable for Gaia's bottom line? Only time will tell, I'm sure he will think of something. And let us not forget, right after Halloween comes Xmas event. Now that you know has to be a big money maker, after all, it is in the real world, it has to be here in Gaia World too!
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 4:48 pm
Codename: A Synner
Rant/Praise: I've recently gotten involved with a new website called Syndrone. It's an avatar website, and it's forums-based, but that's about where the similarities between Syndrone and Gaia stop. And for a lot of reasons, I'm starting to like Syndrone better than Gaia.
One of the things I've most noticed about Syndrone is the advertisement -- or rather, the lack of it. That's right -- there's no noticeable advertising taking place on Syndrone at ALL. Recently Gaia's been allowing worse and worse advertisements to "grace" the site's non-forum pages. I'm getting really sick of this one plate-faced Asian lady who talks about the same stupid thing, and the little kid whose piercing shriek gives me a start. I HATE ADVERTISEMENTS. So when I realized that Syndrone doesn't have this kind of thing, I was really pleased. It's a lot more refreshing and comfortable when you don't have billboards in your face!
Another thing that is making me really happy is the community: they're not the pretentious types that have been stocking Gaia's shelves recently. In fact, being unkind to another user is strictly banned from Syndrone, and the admins are quick to enforce the rules. What comes from that is a very kind, generous and overall welcoming community, which makes me in particular very proud to be part of it.
Now, I've heard some complaints about Syndrone in recent times on Gaia; a few people don't really like the way the avatars look. I think that's a matter of preference and not really a valid comparison, and I actually quite like the avatars myself. They're not squished like Gaia avatars tend to be. The height is always more than the width, and it's easier to draw.
The last thing I want to cover in my praise of Syndrone is the purchase-currency. The ratio is the same for Gaia Cash and Copper (the Syndrone pay money), but you can buy a LOT more with 100 Copper than 100 GCash. 100 Copper will get you pretty far in the Syndrone markets. And as for the non-pay currency, there's an established 20:1 ratio for Coils to Copper, held by the community, and in my sparse few weeks of membership I've found no change in that value. 100 Coils and 100 Copper each have the same buying power as they did a few weeks prior.
Maybe this is just the pleasant time before the capitalism sets in -- Syndrone was only founded this April. Maybe it won't stay like this forever. But I have a feeling that it will.
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