Guilds to be a cash feature in order to be worked on

[res novae]

Okay guys, so, I want to discuss this for a moment.

Out of pretty much all the bullcrap and cash features that Gaia has been implementing, this one makes me the most furious. I feel like this makes it official. Gaia has no desire to improve itself. No desire to give the community what they want, and what the site needs. Gaia just wants money. I mean, GUILDS are such an important part of the community. And they are choosing to just let this part grow old and un-updated as long as it's a completely free feature on the site? Really, Gaia? REALLY? You've sunk so low. It's disgusting. You can't even maintain the site if the part of it doesn't earn you any additional money. And you know what guys? Gaia has PLENTY of money now. It makes a lot! They could do this one thing for the community, without asking something MORE of us. Because we all know that tons of us spend cash on the site. Do we REALLY need another feature that's just gonna suck more money out of our wallets? No. No, we don't.

Reference journal entry from dev Narumi Misuhara: http://www.gaiaonline.com/journal/?mode=view&post_id=34475913&u=13865022  

[Dokuro Togiretogire]

LONG: This problem is something that comes in my proffession (Games). A lot of friends who started out as a group become companies and then they earn money. Finally they earn a living. They realise the amount of users and the fact they can earn a lot of cash. So then they set rules. They take each upgrade, patch and weight it at productional cost against income for it. If income is less then it doens't pass. Now for the users/players this is a very irritating fact and aggrovating indeed.

Developing cost I know saddly not for Gaia but for say Coffestain studios (Sanctum) their monnthly cost is aprox: 600.000 SEK for 10 men to work. Now if they have to work on something for 2 months and it will gain nothing it's clear to see the president not agreeing.

Yet then we have the fact that to make that new weapons or level a DLC which 1 million players pay 2 SEK for it then it's a win. Now this is a socialist view (Sorry, I',m Swedish and we're raised that way heh). Now again Sanctum is often upgrade their game with patches for free.

Also note that a upgrade is not something required. I think most (if not all) developers fix problems with their games for free. Actually this is not the issue here but wanted it to be clear.

Back the OP's point.
Guilds work fine, it does what it should. Now would I like to have each subforum cost Gcash. Fancy sparky fronts to cost cash? Then I rather they don't work on it. There is a lot of ways to upgrade (limitless in fact) and make it cost very little. This is after all the new way of games: F2P but cost to get all. Several small transactions. I dropped topic again...it's 2 am soon and a very slow nigth shift.

I think I would like to see the gaai guilds remain like they are but say options. Billboards for guilds. have those cost cash. Just as google first earned money. That's a great idea. Those who wish to pay cna pay and the rest of us keep inviting friends through pms. That way funding can come in and upgrades can be made. Say critical changes for free and that sparkly big gun cost some but the regular pistol is free.

SHORT:
I think a mix can be good. Development require cash and companies need to earn money to pay salaries. That's simple.
Have criticall funtions be free.
Take money for search placements and billboards for guilds on the main page for guilds. No limitations on use on guilds (as they are today) and uppgrades cost cash. Say a special room in the Gaia Rpg cost some gcash. Your members can fight as a group and s**t. That coudl cost. it is not somethign needed to have a guild for but guilds who wish can pay for it. That is my thought on th ewhole idea.

SHORTER:
If I'm ever required to pay with Gcash for a subforum, Notify my members, to start a guild etc. then I say no.  

[BobCatHKSS]

I posted this comment in her journal:

Quote:

Looks like GaiaOnline doesn't care anything about the guilds.

99,000 free moderators which GaiaOnline doesn't have to pay for. These are the guild captains and their crew doing jobs that GaiaOnline moderators would normally do, for free.

That saves GaiaOnline a lot of money. But they don't care about that information.

What do they do? They put more features and effort in to the regular forums, which increase their popularity, which means a huge increase in posts, necessitating hiring more moderators (which costs GaiaOnline more money....)

When, oh WHEN will GaiaOnline actually stop being pound foolish and penny smart?

 

[Pilotslover]

It's bull s**t.

I don't often swear on the internet but this is all complete crap.

What the hell is Gaia spending all it's money on?

I'm holding onto my Autocash until October and then I'm pulling it, I refuse to continue to fund a site that out and out lies to it's members.  

[Fujistu]

Well you guys were able to come up with a ton of idea's on how to improve the guild. I'm sure that if we put our heads together we can come up with idea's for gaia cash implementation in a way where we can accept. Love it or hate it, Gaiaonline is a business now. We're gonna have to compromise a bit. I find it amazing that this guild has gotten this far. This isn't the time to give up. So all i can really say is: If you really want guilds 2.0, then we're gonna have to make another idea's tread and get to work.  

[Kane Solomon]

Personally i don't see the need for making us pay for the guilds, there have been some very god ideas so far but i still dont want to have to pay for them, using real money.

Guilds are not just a very important part of the community of gaia it is an important part of its economy. People buy guilds and buy sub-forums using GG (Gaia Gold). So in my opinion what they could do is simply raise the prise of having to make a guild and sub-forums. This would stop there being so many dead guilds and put gold back in to gaia making the economy slightly better.

With less guilds, because people wont be able to afford them right away then there would be less of an update needed in the future, of course it would still be a big update after 2.0 but it would not be as big as they thought it would be. Secondly there should be an option to sell a guild back to gaia or at least delete a guild, this also would be beneficial as there would not be so much used space in gaia.

But the point i am trying to make is that we as users should not be bailing them out of a situation that they themselves got in to. If they had simply done what they had said they would do in the beginning then they would not have nearly as many problems. They have dis-guarded one of Gaias best features and let it become outdated. I came to gaia for the role-play which happens more in guilds than anywhere else on the site, I love guilds. But for guilds to not have not been looked after for so long, while the rest of the site grows and gets newer is just unprofessional in my opinion. Its like starting to draw a picture and only colour and shade one half of it.  

[Pilotslover]

Kane Solomon

{/snip}

heart

I am tipping you mentally right now.  

[Kane Solomon]

Pilotslover

Kane Solomon

{/snip}

heart

I am tipping you mentally right now.

Thank you very much XD  

[The one and only MAMARITA]

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?  

[Kane Solomon]

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

 

[The one and only MAMARITA]

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

Again, we are on the same page. IMHO. I don't give Gaia 3 years at the rate they are going. Long time users are already leaving the site, others are getting tired of the games the staff is playing with the GC now and are going to leave soon. Once word of mouth gets out that the site is just after their money and not giving anything worthwhile in return, no new members will come. I feel bad because I really like Gaia. What I don't like is the way it is being run behind the scenes. Something needs to change but I am not sure how we as users can do anything about that. In the end, the users lose and so with they when Gaia folds. The only ones I really feel bad for are Lanzer, Ling, L0cke and the other originals who made Gaia and loved this site for what it was meant to be.  

[Kane Solomon]

Suzareigna

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

Again, we are on the same page. IMHO. I don't give Gaia 3 years at the rate they are going. Long time users are already leaving the site, others are getting tired of the games the staff is playing with the GC now and are going to leave soon. Once word of mouth gets out that the site is just after their money and not giving anything worthwhile in return, no new members will come. I feel bad because I really like Gaia. What I don't like is the way it is being run behind the scenes. Something needs to change but I am not sure how we as users can do anything about that. In the end, the users lose and so with they when Gaia folds. The only ones I really feel bad for are Lanzer, Ling, L0cke and the other originals who made Gaia and loved this site for what it was meant to be.

I have been on gaia since 2009 and am very loyal to this website, it has given me memories with my friends i will never forget and i want people to feel the same experience but i feel that my memories are besmirched by the way they are running things. What they are doing to this site is a disgrace of its original intention i think.

They need to get back in touch with what the users want from this site, why they came. Only then will they get more users to stay and join this website. I truley love this website and to see it decaying the way it is, is painful.

And to me a an owner of several guilds i like to think i know what i am talking about what i say, especially when i say things about keeping people active and keeping them in a guild.

I would not go around my guild changing what it is and expect people to still go there understanding what is going on. The bored that control this site need to think about the the users before anything else.

I think that a good way to get users involved with the website decisions is to make a guild and invite users who they think should be there, or otherwise let the users apply, and only take on people they know who can deliver. in the guild then they would have a diverse gathering of users and developers and such so they can hash things out and come to decisions that the users of gaia and the owners can be happy with. It will be a good way of getting them more familiar with the limitations of having a guild as well. And this guild would be useful for more than just talking about the guilds it could be used to discuss other changes in the website that they need user feedback for.

I do allot of volunteering work and am the chairman of several different groups involving youth and such, and this i feel is a way to make everyone stand on the same ground and to make sure our opinions get heard by the right people. The users who are in on this guild and discussions are in a good position to feed back to other guilds and people in the community who are unable to be in this group. If they were to do this it would show that they are proactive for the development of gaia and that they want to know our opinions as users.

 

[Shanna66]

Suzareigna

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

Again, we are on the same page. IMHO. I don't give Gaia 3 years at the rate they are going. Long time users are already leaving the site, others are getting tired of the games the staff is playing with the GC now and are going to leave soon. Once word of mouth gets out that the site is just after their money and not giving anything worthwhile in return, no new members will come. I feel bad because I really like Gaia. What I don't like is the way it is being run behind the scenes. Something needs to change but I am not sure how we as users can do anything about that. In the end, the users lose and so with they when Gaia folds. The only ones I really feel bad for are Lanzer, Ling, L0cke and the other originals who made Gaia and loved this site for what it was meant to be.

it is starting to feel more and more like Farmville and all those other facebook games that only have real money related updates. the only reason I get on anymore is to talk to friends ive met on this site, but im friends with them on a lot of other sites too so if they stop posting on gaia then im gone

I haven't gotten gaia cash in years because of how the site has been run  

[The one and only MAMARITA]

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

Again, we are on the same page. IMHO. I don't give Gaia 3 years at the rate they are going. Long time users are already leaving the site, others are getting tired of the games the staff is playing with the GC now and are going to leave soon. Once word of mouth gets out that the site is just after their money and not giving anything worthwhile in return, no new members will come. I feel bad because I really like Gaia. What I don't like is the way it is being run behind the scenes. Something needs to change but I am not sure how we as users can do anything about that. In the end, the users lose and so with they when Gaia folds. The only ones I really feel bad for are Lanzer, Ling, L0cke and the other originals who made Gaia and loved this site for what it was meant to be.

I have been on gaia since 2009 and am very loyal to this website, it has given me memories with my friends i will never forget and i want people to feel the same experience but i feel that my memories are besmirched by the way they are running things. What they are doing to this site is a disgrace of its original intention i think.

They need to get back in touch with what the users want from this site, why they came. Only then will they get more users to stay and join this website. I truley love this website and to see it decaying the way it is, is painful.

And to me a an owner of several guilds i like to think i know what i am talking about what i say, especially when i say things about keeping people active and keeping them in a guild.

I would not go around my guild changing what it is and expect people to still go there understanding what is going on. The bored that control this site need to think about the the users before anything else.

I think that a good way to get users involved with the website decisions is to make a guild and invite users who they think should be there, or otherwise let the users apply, and only take on people they know who can deliver. in the guild then they would have a diverse gathering of users and developers and such so they can hash things out and come to decisions that the users of gaia and the owners can be happy with. It will be a good way of getting them more familiar with the limitations of having a guild as well. And this guild would be useful for more than just talking about the guilds it could be used to discuss other changes in the website that they need user feedback for.

I do allot of volunteering work and am the chairman of several different groups involving youth and such, and this i feel is a way to make everyone stand on the same ground and to make sure our opinions get heard by the right people. The users who are in on this guild and discussions are in a good position to feed back to other guilds and people in the community who are unable to be in this group. If they were to do this it would show that they are proactive for the development of gaia and that they want to know our opinions as users.

The only problem I seen with this wonderful idea is , that's what they will say the SF forum is for. Again, it is my firm belief that they are trying to phase out guilds in favor of forums and that is why we haven't gotten any real updates in years. Why update guilds when forums do what they want all of us to do, post there?  

[The one and only MAMARITA]

Shanna66

Suzareigna

Kane Solomon

Suzareigna

I believe a point was well made - I too believe that the Development Team is trying to phase out Guilds and get everyone into the forums only. Didn't they have some kind of announcement not too long ago that more or less pointed to the fact that they were thinking of making mini-guilds on the forums? I remember mamarita even posting some feedback about their announcement about how that's what they were trying to do.

The staff let the guilds get to the state they are in. Sure we can live with guilds as they are now and just plod along like this. We don't have to have improvements and not pay for anything. The thing is, why should we have to?

Why should we have to accept their word on anything anymore? They have told us one thing and done something else so many times, I for one don't believe anything they say. As for paying for guild upgrades- no.

Let them upgrade the guilds and then maybe we can pay for things. But tell me this, how can a GUILD BUY GC?

I take my hat off to you there. i agree with everything you said. if they had kept guild updated from the beginning Guilds could be raking in the money from them, not only in Gcash but GG as well. but right now i dont believe we as guild owners should have to pay for something that was promised a long time ago. And not only that they have gone back on their word one time too many, they really aught to know by now that making Gaias members angry is just going to make people leave the website. which in turn they will loose money for.

What they should do is to start another project that rakes in the Gcash so that that project can pay for itself and the guilds. They could make some new items specifically to raise money to pay for the guild updates, not only would they be gaining money but the users of gaia would be getting two for one in the long run.

To be honest i also think they need to have a user focus group either held on gaia or in real life to represent the needs and wants of the users of gaia, because frankly i really do not think ATA is doing anything too productive. They need real gaia users behind them in everything they do or this site is going to die in the next 3 years. (just an estimate there)

Again, we are on the same page. IMHO. I don't give Gaia 3 years at the rate they are going. Long time users are already leaving the site, others are getting tired of the games the staff is playing with the GC now and are going to leave soon. Once word of mouth gets out that the site is just after their money and not giving anything worthwhile in return, no new members will come. I feel bad because I really like Gaia. What I don't like is the way it is being run behind the scenes. Something needs to change but I am not sure how we as users can do anything about that. In the end, the users lose and so with they when Gaia folds. The only ones I really feel bad for are Lanzer, Ling, L0cke and the other originals who made Gaia and loved this site for what it was meant to be.

it is starting to feel more and more like Farmville and all those other facebook games that only have real money related updates. the only reason I get on anymore is to talk to friends ive met on this site, but im friends with them on a lot of other sites too so if they stop posting on gaia then im gone

I haven't gotten gaia cash in years because of how the site has been run

When they start asking us to pay to play the games, it will be like those games, then again, we don't HAVE to pay to play those games. I never paid a penny to play Farmville or any other Facebook games. I still get enjoyment out of those games.