Disclaimer: This commentary about Gaia's latest announcement is one person's opinion and not representative of anyone but myself. Whether you have a similar or differing opinion, please feel free to respond but remember to keep your replies within the TOC.
It wasn't bad enough when they moved the date for letters to open up to the 15th of the month, but I was totally against them making it any earlier than that. I knew back then that they wanted to give more people time to see the item and come up with the money to buy them, hence increasing their sales while giving themselves more time to process mail in orders. I could understand that they would get slammed with orders once the letters opened on the 25th and it took them well into the next month to process those, constantly putting them against the wall, so I didn't mind it moving up a little over a week.
But now they have cash cards available in several stores, and letters are available in the cash shop. They have direct ordering with a credit card and paypal and so many ways for people in and outside the country to get the items without having to mail in, it seems by now fewer people should be mailing in. Maybe I'm wrong and with increased growth comes even more mail-in orders, or maybe the reasons for moving the date up have changed... maybe they just want to have the item live on the site long enough to make more people want it and order it or maybe they just want us to get sick of looking at it for 3 whole weeks before we get a new letter. Perhaps they think offering the item long enough will cut the inflation rate of the item. Whatever their reasons, they suck.
Why even bother to have envelopes at all if they will be opened before most people even get around to buying them? Because of my financial situation, I have had to wait til closer to the middle of the month before I could buy them and with this new change, there will be no surprises or sealed letters in my inventory for me. I will no longer have the thrill of waiting and wondering what is inside of my letters and why?? All because of a bunch of impatient newbies who didn't understand the fun us oldbies had with the former system and voted they wanted the letters to open earlier. Gaia may as well just turn into Habbo and say, "Hey, here's the new collectible... Buy it." Why waste time, energy and money having to have someone design a new envelope each year for a lousy 8 days.
Yes, I have been complaining more and more about Gaia lately and as much as I complain, I'm obviously not as happy here as I used to be. Perhaps this is the beginning of the end and my time on Gaia is coming to a close.
Will Gaia care? Of course not becuz loads and loads of new people are constantly flooding to the site. New people who don't know when Gaia was actually good. New people who will accept pretty much anything just becuz. New people who think everything is just hunky-dory. New people who are too damn impatient to wait until the 25th or even the 15th of a month to receive an item. New people who don't like the thrill of the surprise and who see a risk of the item possibly being crap therefor waiting before buying. New people living in an instant gratification society who want it yesterday. New people who will crave even more new items once they know what the MC is, thereby allowing Gaia to throw out even more crap in the cash shop to feed the boredom of the masses who no longer have a surprise waiting for them inside an envelope. Members buy into this and don't see it for what it really is... just another plot to manipulate them in a way that makes Gaia more money.
I, for one, am pretty much as close to done as I can possibly be. I think anyone who actually gave a s**t about Gaia's glory days is either long gone or taking longer and longer breaks away. We, the earlier Gaians, have been outnumbered by all of the newbie Stepford Gaians and I find that very, very sad.
Gaia, you have brought me more frustration than happiness lately. I find I have more fun away from my computer than at my computer. I used to spend hours upon hours and dollars upon dollars on this site, buying at least 14 MC's per month. I own at least 1 of every evolving item from the cash shop to date, all first generations. I once set a goal to collect at least one first generation of each evolving item ever released but with our failing economy and the continued increase in gas prices combined with your incessant release of new items sooner and sooner, I can no longer afford to keep up with that goal, which is depressing, not fun. Gaia used to be a place I came to when I couldn't afford to spend money in real life because I could shop in game with my gold and satisfy my shopping urges. I could come here and feel good in my virtual world when my real one sucked a**. Unfortunately, now, my virtual one sucks too because it is so money-driven I spend money I can't afford on things and then feel guilty after just trying to keep up with my goals. But if I were to discontinue trying to keep up with those goals, then I have failed. Failure is not fun. Thank you for killing the fun. Thank you for banking on the spoiled little rich kids who don't know the value of a dollar and can get money from Mommy and Daddy to buy whatever they want and for screwing over long-time dedicated customers who were there for you when you were a small little site just trying to make ends meet. Thank you for getting too big and full of yourself to care about the people who gave you your start. I remember when Gaia was a community... now it is simply a business.
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