So Many of You Are Probably Wondering…

Why I decided to quit Gaia. The tl;dr answer is that I am sick of it, its lost all the fun it once had. The details of it are something that’s arguable, depending on what you see Gaia as now, and what you remember it being. I’m sure that my thoughts are going to offend some of you, but these are things that need to be said.

I am going to try my hardest to make this a SF worthy post.

1.) The user base of the site has gone down hill. The targeting of MySpace and Facebook users has led to a userbase of people who don’t read the rules, spam, scam, beg, bot and text talk. Its hard for me to find a discussion there that isn’t half brain dead, unless of course its a SF reg thread. The sad thing about it is that my Gaia life consists of complaining and saying no to moar gold and gold to GC treads.

Gaia, you should be concentrating on finding worth while users, ones who aren’t going to break the rules and spam like there is no tomorrow. You should be looking at what appeals users to go to the 50 other avatar sites, the ones who don’t have a spam box and promote actual conversation. These sites, are where your users are going…

You also need to gain control over the GD and not bend the rules because you no longer wish to deal with it. Yes, it is a compromise, but at the same time you are only showing them they they don’t need to follow the rules.

Just the like, you cannot leave it up to the users to take an active interest in reading the TOS and the Rules of the site and forums. You need to include these things in the new user quest, it will lead to better informed LONG TERM USERS.

Further more the addition of the 18+ forum would probably peak my interest in Gaia. I think this addition is a step in the right direction in helping the site grow with an aging userbase.

2.) You’ve sucked the fun out of my avatar. Thanks for that, really. It was the only thing I kept coming back for. I loved buying things for my avatar, but I do not love your RIG. When I asked for things I want to spend my money on I was told by dev’s and users that it wouldn’t happen because you wouldn’t make as much money. Consequently, this means my opinion and wishes mean nothing unless its making you money.

I don’t even know what to say about this. Gaia is a business and needs to make money, even needs to make profit, but really guys when you are discounting users wishes just to make money it’s bad. Do you really care about your users any more, or really has it just become about the money?

At one point, I defended your actions even when you made stupid decisions. I feel like you have made me a liar and on top of that you have taken advantage of my willingness to help you out.

You are not giving your users a choice. It is buy this RIG or the cash shop items that have been in there for a better part of a year (with the exception of a few). Where is the choice in that? There is none. Period. Its if you want new items you HAVE to buy these RIGs. What about those who don’t like the RIGs? Oh, I get it now, fuck us; we aren’t giving you ENOUGH money.

You can’t tell me that this isn’t correct. Its been stated by DEVELOPERS, moderators and users alike.

I wanted to spend money on this site, but as a CUSTOMER (since we aren’t donating any longer, as you have stated) I feel I should have a choice, not buy this because its all you get. It is bad business and bad customer service, I don’t care what Mr. Business Degree says.

My feedback on this is making money is good, but making money at the expense of your users happiness will only lead to ruin. Even if something doesn’t make as much money as you want it to does not mean that it is something that should not happen.

With out your users and their money, where would you be, Gaia?

3.) Appreciation for what the users of this site do for you, more specifically your moderators. I rarely if EVER see a administrator or a developer stand up for the mods, it irks me. They do what they do for free and take crap from BOTH sides. They are the ones doing all the crap that you don’t want to deal with or PAY some one to deal with. You should show your appreciation a little more.

4.) The community. Ah, I miss that feeling, but it sailed away long ago. I left you for a year, thinking I was just burn out and tired and came back to find the same emptiness and let downs that where there plus some. The community, which was once the soul of the site has been replaced with pay for items and flash games, things that take little to no participation in the forums.

The gold grant tweaks were a good start, but so far all they have led to is complaining and spam.

As stated above the addition of the 18+ would make me a little happier and feel like I belong there again.

Most of the developers on the site I adore, however, there are some that make you look terrible and say things that make the users feel insignificant. These are things that should not be happening and should no be tolerated by the administration, and steps need to be taken to correct these actions.

5.) Item outsourcing? Seriously, at first impression I thought this was just strictly sponsor items, but after watching the video I see that it was used for the Celebrity Snare, which judging by the lack of updates was less than successful. These things make me feel like you have really lost touch with your users interests and I think you need to spend a little more time with in your community and listen to what the people in the SF are asking for (well beyond items, mind you).

This place and from what I understand other places make items at a low cost for sites like Gaia. What I really have trouble wrapping my head around is why it hasn’t been utilized for creating items you have designed for the cash shop.

I degress, much of this is rudimentry feedback. Things I wish you would have done, and think you should still do.

~ by Lolli on June 25, 2009.