I Know The Internet

Today’s main issue on Gaia is whether or not it should become a pay site.

 And I can probably guarentee that a large percentage of those who do not want to pay are the ones who have numerous accounts in order to cyber, bot, horde event/quest items for later profit or randomly annoy others out of boredom (i.e. - teenage kids).

And, seriously - who couldn’t afford $10 every six months/year? people spend more than that a month on MC/evolving items, for pity’s sake.

Even in the case of users who are unemployed, they can always find spare change laying around and save up.

And just as time guarentees growth, it also involves change. With Gaia’s growth, it has welcomed more members, which makes things more expensive to run. Keeping things free of charge no matter how huge the populace grows would be a nice fanatasy, but unrealistic.

If Gaia were to suddenly come out and say ‘with the massive growth of the site, we’eve decided to make Gaia a pay by play site’ and explain the reasons behind the decision in further detail, sure they woudl lose a number of members, but they would keep and potentially gain far more.

To which I replied:

I’m pretty sure that if they’re unemployed, they should save up that 10 dollars for food an bills. Gaia is a way to escape real life, and these poor people have lives they want to escape too. You’re ignoring the fact that while, yes, most of these people on here are teens who don’t have to worry about food, many are adults who have bills to pay and are struggling to do so. It’s extremely presumptive of you to say that just because someone has many accounts that they’re doing anything wrong. And what’s wrong with hoarding event items to make a profit? That’s what you’re trying to help Gaia do.

I don’t think they’d keep many players. Those who donate now, do it for beautiful items. If they’ll have to donate to be able to use the site at all, they may not have the money for those beautiful items, and then they’ll just not want to be a part of this anymore. They won’t gain any new members, because they’ll be unable to try out the community without having to pay. Being a pay for play site is a huge wall between the company and the customers.

It’s easy to see Gaia doesn’t want to become a pay site, and I hope they never do. I’d have to quit if they did decide to become a pay only site, and I don’t want to do that, I love this community!

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