One feels the bag of win is just another scam that will make lots of impulse buy revenue for gaia while undermining the virtual economy further, like the infinity hat – especially because it seems that 9/10 of gaia's users are retarded (I saw someone buy a 500k mythrill coin for 1mil and thought he got a great deal). I am tempted to buy one, but I have seen from past experience and reading the payouts of past things of this nature that there is only a 1 in 119 chance (referencing all cash shop items (evolving, normal, MC's, stunts, etc.), event, quest, and chests compared to market prices and averaging came to a 1:23 to 1:215 chance spread with the majority balanced towards the mid-point - so 1:119) of getting something worth the cash expense out of this. If it was guaranteed that I would get something that I could immediately sell for 9,900 gold, I would simply find it vile. But since that is not the case, I am outright infuriated by it.
And since people are buying and selling them for more than they are worth, they will be useless things that will rise in value instead of injecting the marketplace with funds. Gaia should have at least made them not sellable in the marketplace.
And further, what if everyone used them as intended? You would see a massive splurge of spending, followed by a massive splurge of marketplace sales from people who bought before thinking, which, with the way these goffs work, would increase marketplace sales and make the super high cost items, the 1mil+ items sharply rise without appropriate response. Which of course would cause a rubber band inflation effect that would destabilize the gaian economy further.
So we have thousands of botter's accounts frozen with high price items in limbo in their inventories artificially raising prices, people who can't responsibly bid and pay more for items they could get from shops for less money, massively expensive coins being misused, mismanagement, and gaia's myopic greed.
Further, gaia has become subtly complacent about some botters, letting those that drive up the prices in the marketplace conveniently slip through because they know that once an item gets to a certain cost, the way most people go to buy it is through buying MC's and selling those – thus these certain botters increase gaia's revenues by proxy.
Beyond that, it seems as well as recalcitrant towards cash card fraud – if you buy a card and it is redeemed by someone besides you somehow, or simply the cash does not show up, they say the card was redeemed and close the file as they do not care if you get your cash as long as they get their money. As long as they have your money, they could not care less if you get your purchase.
So in the end, I think gaia is heading for making as much money now as they can. They will pull major stunts and tricks like the hat and these bags to warp the market; they will encourage this mischief makers agenda which so far seems to amount to graffiti, public nuisance, and societal entropy; and create a super-streamlined flow of turnover, which will pump in idiots who will spend more money than they should while moving those who have wizened up out. Eventually, gaia would implode on its own, short-term business model – because why have 1.1 billion dollars over the course of 20 years when you can have 200 million over the course of 5? Or really squeeze and have 120 million RIGHT NOW? They are impatient and it shows.
However, it is time to get to the point of this long-winded rant. I feel, with recent acts, that gaiaonline is being milked. I think that, looking back on what has been said and the original mindset of the creators before gaia started, the MMO is not going to work with gaia – it is going to kill it. They are going to milk gaiaonline of every dollar they can and then, after the MMO is out and they MMO budget and work shifts from 80% of gaia's demands to 95%, they will say gaiaonline (as planned) is no longer profitable enough and focus on consolidating the MMO. In turn, throwing out the stripped carcass of GO, adding some forum bits to the MMO, and shutting it down. I can't think of anyone being stupid enough to mishandle something as badly as gaia has. So I am only left with the possibility that instead of stupidity, they simply intended GO to be a moneytrap to build up clients and assets for the MMO. Now that the MMO is almost ready, they can start the forcible squeezing of every, last penny out of GO before they kill it - which, while almost evil in application, would make financial sense instead of them simply being immensely stupid and short-sighted.
You may quote me on any of this if you wish.
Edit:
In regards to this:
This screencap has to do with coding. To sell a 1m coin to a shop to get 1m, the actual cost has to be 2m because the shops buy everything at 50% - it is simply easier for them to do it this way instead of making a special bit of code. However, the way the marketplace works with its "OMG! ARE YOU SURE?!" would lead people to list it for 2m. Especially the marketplace bots, since they are programmed to run that number often. So the rampant inflation is built right in.
And I agree that Gaia has the need and the right to make money. I think they have the right to make a lot of money more than they deserve - but not at the cost of what they are doing to get it.
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