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The Power of Gaia: Arrogance sigh Well, some people may not like what I have to say in this entry and that's fine. They can disagree if they choose. Some of the marketing and advertising trends Gaia has been following have been bothering me for a while now. I wasn't happy when I saw the announcement previously about the Youtube video, in fact I was annoyed to the point where I have thus far refused to go watch it at all. Yesterday, the new announcement I found about the video was, to my mind, even worse. It's not the fact that they're on TV that bothers me, or that they asked the Gaia community to help the video to be popular. It's the blatant arrogance in some of the announcements that gets to me. It's not like saying, "Wow, look what we accomplished! Our community is the best!" It's not as if they ask this community to do anything worthwhile in this holiday season, like promoting something that would bring help to those that need it. No. No, they tell their community to prove that they are powerful. The community responds. Their response is akin to, "WE ARE GAIA! FEEL OUR POWER! MUAHAHAH!" Sometimes I think whoever is making decisions these days has been contaminated by the fangirls and fanboys who acted as if Lanzer were a demi-god when they met him at a convention and approach any 'official' Gaia event with something approaching near-worship. And somehow, I don't think the original creators get much say in things anymore. I never found them to hold this level of arrogance, despite the fangirls and fanboys. I'm not going to leave the site. It's one of few I can access from work, and a lot of my friends are on here. My determination to not spend any of my $$ here has been re-inforced though. Also, I am very glad I chose to resign as a moderator when I did. It's hard enough to watch something you were once proud of turn into something you don't even like from a distance, from the outside. It would only be worse to watch it close up from the inside. That's a ball of stress I definitely don't need. For those who continue as moderators... you have my empathy and my sympathy. I know better than most what it can be like behind the scenes. Love you all~ heart Edit @ 9:10 am - It occurred to me while talking to someone else about this... 'community' is no longer the word for Gaia's users. In fact, from the attitude of the administration, it seems like in their eyes and the eyes of their sponsors, the users here aren't a community at all for the most part... no, they're a #@$)#@(*$ mindless and blind army who will go wherever and do whatever they're told -- so long as there's an item to be had somewhere there. "Go here! We'll give you an item!" "Do this! We'll give you an item!" They're not even GOOD items. The youtube thing was even more blatant: "Go here and prove we are powerful!" The 'community' that raised such an uproar and screamed so loudly when they discovered the 'marketing' plan being shown to potential sponsors a year or two ago... proclaiming, 'our users become your walking advertisements!' has become a blind army willingly marching to the tune of whatever sponsor will give Gaia the most $$. Ironic, isn't it?

Posted by: Kava Wed Dec 19, 2007 @ 02:52pm

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Grawr?Rwrz!

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Breyer
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Commented on: Thu Dec 20, 2007 @ 08:20am


	Nothing that I can say will change the status quo on this site, so I've given up trying.

Commented on: Thu Dec 20, 2007 @ 11:00am


	Ironic, and a bit sad, yes. But most of the users who were here two years ago are no longer with us. And the ones who are have grown up a bit and decided that they like the niche they've created in Gaia enough to not be too bothered about getting free items so that the site can continue to run. Being proud of a place you spend hours a day on and wanting it to prosper is a far leap from being a 'blind army', but if the Admins ever wanted to mobilize us against Neopets or MySpace, I'd be first to march.

O Demosthenes
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Coii
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Commented on: Thu Dec 20, 2007 @ 01:28pm


	Coming from just a lurking by-stander, I think your pretty much dead on with your statements. Gaia has become something like you advertise on TV and people at home still sighing at the boring thing that is Gaiaonline, like those annoying mortgage and Tax advertisers (But being a 13-year old I'm not 100% sure what goes on in that department), they tell you about thinking of there current customers and not just new ones. I think sometimes, has Gaia done vice-versa? It's sad to admit, that I think Gaia will advertise on TV one day, and therefore the Old (Such as yourself) players, will no longer be respected, and will no longer have a say due to the increasing fact, they don't need your help anymore. It will probably become money and power genre of living for Gaia's Admins, Advertise = Money, Money = Power, Power = Money, to much power = Mindless robots, Mindless robots = Loss of players, loss of players = Advertising, the fools endless cycle. I doubt I'll leave Gaia due to that, if the amount of real money I spend on Gaia Highers though, it's not just me who will pay for it, it's my family. And I will force myself to leave. Being 13 and all, I don't get money from a job, and I don't get pocket money either. But I've already spent roughly 15$ on Gaia things in this last two months. I'm beginning to get scared, that my lust for attention and conversations with people, have brought me to the point I've focusing on my wealth to get the people who have something to say, yet are picky with the people they do, to notice me. I hate bumping, and hate having to tlk lyke d1s to have a general laugh online. Not that this has anything to do with the topic, I just like to let my mind wonder. Mods however, (Coming back to the original subject) Scare me. It's like the humans they once where, have died, to become just a machine that moves topics, tells people the same-old info about scamming, I wonder if they actually make the biggest of differences these days (They used to, God did they used to!), the fact that I see dozens of bots and illegal advertises who won't shift away, and the positive people towards mods don't seem to ever be acknowledged for there good deeds, they just don't seem to be intertwining with the community enough to realize what's going on, and the negative world behind them must be all they think about! Being a mod, gosh... I don't know what that’s like, I never will know even if its a dream for me. It's being a single short-term player, that I can smile and say, I know how this game works, I know it's opinions both negative and positive, I'm young with my whole like ahead of me, I don’t have to worry about this stupid game taking over my life. But, I do have to worry, I should not be smiling. I’m still new to this game, yet I crave to be known through-out it. This is just a game for people anymore, it’s a second life. (Ok, I've read over this a few times now. I can safely assume half of it makes utterly no sense, and it's a bit self-involved. I hope it's not something you'll dislike me for sending to you. I just like to wet my nose in other peoples businesses, and a have immature comment on it.)

Commented on: Fri Dec 21, 2007 @ 10:13am


	Maybe it is not the word for all the Gaians altogether, but community still exists within Gaia. A community is what the individuals inside the community make of it. ^_^;

PaleBlueSlump
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Kava
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Commented on: Fri Dec 21, 2007 @ 07:33pm


	There is still a community here, yes. Community just isn't any longer the best word to use to describe the vast majority here. I've never been against the site making some $$ and supporting itself. However, as my journal entry was attempting to point out, the attitudes being displayed to the public these days I find to be disappointingly arrogant and self-serving. Some people may support this site because they're proud of it, but I find very little here to be proud of anymore. When the message from the top is: "We're big and we're powerful, watch us ROAR!" So Gaia is big. So what? So far as I can see they're not doing anything, or even attempting to do anything worthwhile these days... merely line their own pockets and increase their user base and thus their power and their potential income. You can throw all the excuses that you like out there, but I still can't find much to be proud of in a site that has such 'power' and uses it solely to brag about themselves. That Today Show and YouTube thing was one big publicity stunt. "Go us! We can create mobs and they'll do what we tell them to! THE POWER OF GAIA!" I've never been a fan of other organizations or companies that do this. I'm not a fan of it now.

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