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Fujoshi Sama's Dojo
Welcome to my inner sanctum. Before you lies my thoughts, rants, and any other random stuff I felt like talking about at the time...
Gaia Problems: The Cash Shop, Evolving Items, and Gaia
The Cash Shop was not always around, and I remember a slightly more ‘innocent’ time, when Gaia was not submitting to money-grubbing at seemingly every turn.
I realize that this sounds harsh. But to me Gaia is now, at its core, simply a money hole. It’s become ridiculous.

My problems with the whole “Cash Shop” operation stem from the fact that they are charging up to TEN DOLLARS for PIXELS. And eventually, probably more than ten. Now, I was all for the Monthly Collectibles. And if they weren’t still going, I wouldn’t mind the Cash Shop very much. HOWEVER. The Monthly Collectibles still run at $2.50 a pop, and on top of that, there are the evolving items that run the gambit from $1.99 to $9.99, in addition to just normal items residing in the cash shop, which start off in cents and also run up to over 9 bucks. If a Gaian went into the CS intending to buy every single item there, it would take a whole week’s worth of my wages.

Not even kidding. I did the math.

Personally, I think Gaia has gone too far. At least with the SHOPS, you can use your cash to buy things you may not be able to afford with gold. But spending so much money on pixels is ridiculous. I realize Gaia is a company too, but come on people! More moms and dads are going to shell out maybe 2.50 or 5 bucks a month than another 4.99 EVERY WEEK. Lower the prices for some of your items, and you’re likely to sell WAY MORE of them. OR, make your evolving items into your MC’s every now and then. Like the Trick or Treat Tote? That could have been an extra MC for October.

“But Fujoshi Sama!” you say “Not everyone on Gaia is going to buy ALL of the Evolving Items. Maybe I just want one or two?” That’s not the point. The point is that when you introduce new EI’s EVERY OTHER WEEK OR SO, there are always going to be people who WANT to collect them all (haha, Pokemon?) and they’re going to be spending upwards of 25 dollars a month, just for these pixels. And with MC’s too, that seem to now have regained their quality? Make that 35.

Now, I called Gaia a money hole at the beginning of this entry, and if you haven’t figured out the ways it is one yet, then let me enlighten you as to how this happens.

Way back when I first joined Gaia, I REALLY wanted some of those older MC’s… the Coco Kitty, The Chuck Norris Scarf, etc., etc. I busted my butt to get gold all the time when I was online, and bought cheap clothes and sold old ones the second I wasn’t wearing them anymore. THEN I discovered that Gaia would let you turn your real money into credits, so you could buy things THAT way. I bought myself into a large inventory, quite a few MC’s, and eventually achieved my goals. Then I set a new goal. I was going to have a huge inventory, full of stuff so that I could pick and choose my outfit from a multitude of clothing. I was gonna be rich, so why not? So I bought and sold more Collectibles and then more Credits (which eventually turned into Gaia Cash)… and I didn’t really think about it much. Then I found myself hurting for stuff I needed IRL. Gas cash, money for lunch, cell phone bill… things I really, really needed.

It is my opinion that Gaia is a company run by people with no experience in running a company. They get the general idea of it, but when it comes to the specifics, they screw it up. Royally.

I realize that Gaia has a lot of mouths to feed, and that they’re banking on we the users to help em out with the money end of things. However, the LOGIC is completely gone from the situation on the USER’S end of things.

As always,
Fujoshi Sama

Note: Sorry for the long delay in posts. I’ve been generally avoiding Gaia for a while… Often times, I’m only on here to maybe buy an item or two I want, fiddle with my avatar, save it, and leave. I might be posting more often now, but like I said in an earlier journal post, I’m no longer very involved.





 
 
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