Welcome to Gaia! ::

Here is an excerpt from another site, ED:


Okay, doesn't really sound cohesive because it's a wiki-type site that can change - I remember clearly what I wanted to find and this is closest. It was something along the lines of, and whenever Gaia tries to make changes whether of their own desire or due to some petition, the oldbies b***h and moan regardless.

Commonly associated with being cantankerous tween-age twats at signup, but now older and graduated to 'teenage' now, us complainers are typically called... oldbies.

Are we really? Are the complainers really just the long-time users? Are we the only ones who care about the changes Gaia makes like ED described, from just general site changes to the new integrated use of real money?

yes, most of the complainers are older users. we have grown to like this site and do not want to see it go down the shitter. Yes most of the time it does seem like we are the only ones who care.

it seems like were the only ones who care cuz "gaia" the offical website doesn't care. its users do! and why ARE you paying attention to that?

I just laugh at how people b***h about oldbies like me complaining about how much Gaia has gone down the drain. I wouldn't be complaining if this weren't the case but it obviously is. All I have to ask that a-hole is, you're whining about me having an opinion, something everyone is entitled to, but I'm the one with no life? Sir thank you for setting a good example of irony. By saying I have no life yet complaining about what I am saying, you yourself are showing to others that by posting that little rant of yours, that you have no more of a life than I. In fact, you have even less of a life than I do and since I have no life at all, what does that mean for you?

is it truly the "oldbies"? i think it isn't the site has changed so much that the people who've been on here for a months even see the changes, and i've only been on for a year and a half, but i've seen enough changes to get hell-angry. and i do strongly disagree with ED, all of the "oldbies" have lives, though maybe not glamorous ones, its us newbies who are young enough not to have lives, thts why we accept the changes to gaia, cause we either don't care, haven't seen the old gaia, or don't know how to oppose the mods, or get their attention more or less. we need to get some of the older "newbies" in here

Not an old user. I barely went to this site until last year (when I was still wearing the standard newbie peasant pants). Well, anyway, you just need to read what the /oldbies/ are saying and it's not just grouchy bitching. A lot of (all of it) is valid.

10 bucks for pixels = Stupid
Giving away GC for those who sign up to dangerous sponsorscams = stupid
That the games have seen NO improvement = stupid
That they set up a shop that JUST takes GC = Stupid

I've read the moaning the other side is doing "But you don't haaaaave to buy it"

Oh gee if only it were that simple. Psychologically this place works it into you that you HAVE to keep up with the "jones's". For example, let's say you have the BARE minimum aquarium, decide to go to the form, there you are bombarded with "BOOTY GRAB!" wow look at their aquarium, isn't it sparkly, all those colors like candy, look how it coordinates. PRESSUREPRESSUREPRESSURE. Baww so you get sad and slink back to your shitty little tank that's grey and ugly, cheer up! You MIGHT get ANOTHER chance for you to look at how much fun other people are having with VERIZONS new message in a bottle (Subliminal note = Verizon equals good times, make sure to sign up with them later). Well that's alright, you get a little gold in response to doofy mindless responses from your tweeny peers. Didn't get one? That's okay, chances are you have a chest in your aquarium AND OMG THERE IS A TIME LIMIT. RUNRUNRUNRUNSPENDMONEYNOW! PRESSUREPRESSUREPRESSURE!

What's this? Escaped a second time? And you still feel good about being on Gaia? Ho ho, let's fix that. So wander back to the forums where all your friends are dressed better PRESSUREPRESSUREPRESSURE, you don't need to have those glowing eyes, or sparkles, or outfits, or practically naked buddy avatar standing next to you! Right?


Point IS, this WHOLE place pressures you to spend cash, booty grab, the treasure chest, even the other people around you are subliminally pressuring you to spend REAL money to get fake things to fit in. That BS about "well just don't buy cash" is impossible, UNLESS of course you don't have any means to.

I haven't been on all that long, but I'm 50 dollars down and pretty jaded. I spent real money to set things up pretty for a date on Gaia with my girlfriend (who now no longer comes on because they banned her for no reason). I don't like what this places does at all. Why am I still here? ...because I paid 50 ******** bucks and I'm going to get my moneys worth, and they're not getting a cent more.

Well actually...

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/137949792

Petition to have ED shut down for good.

That little quote from ED can be used to sum up how things work with any large userbase or fanbase. People will b***h and moan when changes occur, older members will b***h more as they've put up with more idiocity than younger members. People will b***h and moan when they think things are unequal, and there are invariably groups who think things are unequal no matter what, and as such never shut up. Users will threaten to up and leave over a change, but generally don't - if they do, there isn't the sort of mass exodus required to make the higher-ups give a damn.

On Gaia more than anywhere else I've been on, the older users complain more loudly, frequently and passionately. This, in my opinion, is no bad thing; the older you are, the more you've seen things progress. The more you've seen progress, the more valid your points (generally), the more the highers should listen to you. Sadly, the highers on this site don't seem to care that much anymore...

So, in short: yep, the olbies (surely we can come up with a better word than that?) moan more, because they've endured the best and worst of times and can legitimately comment on how things have altered. New users tend to make knee-jerk complaints compared to oldbies, who tend to complain about long standing problems. It is uncommon but not unheard of to find new users who complain in the same way/for the same reasons as the oldbies.