CleoSombra
So I just saw this thread in the Monster Galaxy forum by a gaia staff member 'Mike Moga,' who I can only imagine is Mike Sego because I don't know of any other Mikes at Gaia (yes, I know Mike Sego, the CEO of Gaia, has another account muumuupie. Mike Moga is the name of the application developer on facebook, so he might have created another account for MGers who are familiar with that name). I might be wrong, but I'm going to assume that Mike Moga is Mike Sego for reasons I'll list in a moment.
Basically, the thread talks about making changes to bonus attacks in the game. Blahblahblah. The last lines are what bothers me.
And inb4 "What he MIGHT have meant was XYZ," yeah, I know.
Ah, yes, it's about time this happened. About time that players of the game were not addressed as the players or members they're pretended to be seen as, but the customers they really are.
Monster Galaxy was not designed to entertain people or bring amusement to people. It wasn't for fans of Pokemon to come running over or for casual gamers to get immersed into pretty art and story. No, the game was designed with its pretty decorations and flashy things to get the cash cows still long enough to be milked.
I look at my avatar and my profile and I see CleoSombra. Gaia looks at my avatar and profile and sees Cash Cow #453771.
What pisses me off isn't the use of the word "customers." It's the use of the word customers combined with this sensation of, on Gaia, customer first and member second (if at all). To me, that's not what a community is about. But Gaia is no longer a little mom and pop shop looking to make ends meet and act as a hang-out spot, it's a corporation. I'll admit, Gaia has gotten better in some regards. We don't have nearly as many cash shop updates as we used to and I now look forward to seeing them rather than rolling my eyes at the sight of them.
At the same time, though, they've gotten stingier. A ******** stingier. Antique Shop was a multi-artist EI. It had 44 poses and cost 10 dollars. You know what else was a multi-artist EI? The Nightmare. It cost 25% less and had 25% more poses. Lanzer's response was that it was because the quality of the Antique Shop was higher. Neverminding that quality is largely subjective, to my own, non-artistic, casual-gamer eye, these EIs aren't worlds apart in quality. In fact, some of the poses in the EI were clearly rushed.
But you know what? Fine. Maybe EIs in the past were taking too much time to be profitable (because that's what it's all about). Okay. Whatever.
One thing that grinds my gears is the wig from the second evolution of the Zodiacal.
Zodiacal costs $15 bucks, but if you want the full wig as it's advertised in the banner, expect to pay $30. $30 for a virtual wig. Because the stupid thing is in two poses and only two poses.
I don't give a crap if the side tail can stand alone all on its own (even though there are but a tiny, tiny handful of hairs that the side-tail looks semi-decent with). I'm not saying there shouldn't have been a separate side tail pose and a separate tail-less pose. But there is no reason other than dollar signs that a third pose - a wig and side-tail pose couldn't be included. Other EIs in the past have done it - EIs that cost as little as five dollars had the decency of doing this. Biancamella had a dress, a corset, and a dress and corset pose. Enchanted Book had a cloak, a hood, and cloak and hood pose. Picolitrosso's Urn, a ten dollar EI, gave us a hood, a mantle, and a hood and mantle. Why? Because these particular poses looked very good on their own and went together perfectly. But Gaia couldn't do it for a $15 EI. What. The. ******** don't care if they release it in the finale. They should have released it when it came out. It shouldn't have been used as a ploy to squeeze more money out of people who really wanted the wig as it was advertised.
But again, that's not the point of this thread. It's one little thing that builds upon others.
Let's go back to the second part of this statement:
Yes, Mike Sego, you're firmly committed to making Monster Galaxy the best game ever.
But, Mike Sego, you're also the CEO of Gaia Online. For those of you who don't know, the CEO is the big head-honcho. The leader who leads the company in a certain direction. And it's becoming very that direction is moving away from Gaia, the forum and community, and into facebook.
To be honest, what this thread really boils down to, is that it appears to me that Mike Sego has no interest in Gaia - but plenty of interest in Monster Galaxy. Of the 14 posts Mike has on Gaia, 3 of them were created in the last month - regarding Monster Galaxy. None of his 14 posts have had anything to do with Gaia. From what I understand, he hasn't been seen wandering around in Towns or zOMG, either. Even fin, the old CEO, actually tweaked his profile and aquarium a bit. Mike's is set to the default.
I don't think he knows who the members are and to be honest, I don't think he cares.
Oh, and inb4 "this a rant, not feedback," let me make it explicit: Mike Sego, start acting like you're interested in Gaia. Remember that you have members to attend to, not just customers. We're people, you know, and a community relies on people, not ATMs.
Edit: Rofl, I got -4 votes in 3 minutes, which tells me people aren't reading the entire thing before making an opinion. Let the flamefest begin? Please note, while you're free to dissect parts of this thread and make rebuttals or arguments, I, personally, won't be responding to them. I'm getting tired of Site Feedback lately and I'm not interested in fighting anyone right now and having to defend my point of view. This thread isn't to Gaians - it's to Gaia. I just want to speak my mind.
Basically, the thread talks about making changes to bonus attacks in the game. Blahblahblah. The last lines are what bothers me.
Quote:
We read all customer feedback and are firmly committed to making Monster Galaxy the best game ever.
And inb4 "What he MIGHT have meant was XYZ," yeah, I know.
Ah, yes, it's about time this happened. About time that players of the game were not addressed as the players or members they're pretended to be seen as, but the customers they really are.
Monster Galaxy was not designed to entertain people or bring amusement to people. It wasn't for fans of Pokemon to come running over or for casual gamers to get immersed into pretty art and story. No, the game was designed with its pretty decorations and flashy things to get the cash cows still long enough to be milked.
I look at my avatar and my profile and I see CleoSombra. Gaia looks at my avatar and profile and sees Cash Cow #453771.
What pisses me off isn't the use of the word "customers." It's the use of the word customers combined with this sensation of, on Gaia, customer first and member second (if at all). To me, that's not what a community is about. But Gaia is no longer a little mom and pop shop looking to make ends meet and act as a hang-out spot, it's a corporation. I'll admit, Gaia has gotten better in some regards. We don't have nearly as many cash shop updates as we used to and I now look forward to seeing them rather than rolling my eyes at the sight of them.
At the same time, though, they've gotten stingier. A ******** stingier. Antique Shop was a multi-artist EI. It had 44 poses and cost 10 dollars. You know what else was a multi-artist EI? The Nightmare. It cost 25% less and had 25% more poses. Lanzer's response was that it was because the quality of the Antique Shop was higher. Neverminding that quality is largely subjective, to my own, non-artistic, casual-gamer eye, these EIs aren't worlds apart in quality. In fact, some of the poses in the EI were clearly rushed.
But you know what? Fine. Maybe EIs in the past were taking too much time to be profitable (because that's what it's all about). Okay. Whatever.
One thing that grinds my gears is the wig from the second evolution of the Zodiacal.
Zodiacal costs $15 bucks, but if you want the full wig as it's advertised in the banner, expect to pay $30. $30 for a virtual wig. Because the stupid thing is in two poses and only two poses.
I don't give a crap if the side tail can stand alone all on its own (even though there are but a tiny, tiny handful of hairs that the side-tail looks semi-decent with). I'm not saying there shouldn't have been a separate side tail pose and a separate tail-less pose. But there is no reason other than dollar signs that a third pose - a wig and side-tail pose couldn't be included. Other EIs in the past have done it - EIs that cost as little as five dollars had the decency of doing this. Biancamella had a dress, a corset, and a dress and corset pose. Enchanted Book had a cloak, a hood, and cloak and hood pose. Picolitrosso's Urn, a ten dollar EI, gave us a hood, a mantle, and a hood and mantle. Why? Because these particular poses looked very good on their own and went together perfectly. But Gaia couldn't do it for a $15 EI. What. The. ******** don't care if they release it in the finale. They should have released it when it came out. It shouldn't have been used as a ploy to squeeze more money out of people who really wanted the wig as it was advertised.
But again, that's not the point of this thread. It's one little thing that builds upon others.
Let's go back to the second part of this statement:
Quote:
We read all customer feedback and are firmly committed to making Monster Galaxy the best game ever.
Yes, Mike Sego, you're firmly committed to making Monster Galaxy the best game ever.
But, Mike Sego, you're also the CEO of Gaia Online. For those of you who don't know, the CEO is the big head-honcho. The leader who leads the company in a certain direction. And it's becoming very that direction is moving away from Gaia, the forum and community, and into facebook.
To be honest, what this thread really boils down to, is that it appears to me that Mike Sego has no interest in Gaia - but plenty of interest in Monster Galaxy. Of the 14 posts Mike has on Gaia, 3 of them were created in the last month - regarding Monster Galaxy. None of his 14 posts have had anything to do with Gaia. From what I understand, he hasn't been seen wandering around in Towns or zOMG, either. Even fin, the old CEO, actually tweaked his profile and aquarium a bit. Mike's is set to the default.
I don't think he knows who the members are and to be honest, I don't think he cares.
Oh, and inb4 "this a rant, not feedback," let me make it explicit: Mike Sego, start acting like you're interested in Gaia. Remember that you have members to attend to, not just customers. We're people, you know, and a community relies on people, not ATMs.
Edit: Rofl, I got -4 votes in 3 minutes, which tells me people aren't reading the entire thing before making an opinion. Let the flamefest begin? Please note, while you're free to dissect parts of this thread and make rebuttals or arguments, I, personally, won't be responding to them. I'm getting tired of Site Feedback lately and I'm not interested in fighting anyone right now and having to defend my point of view. This thread isn't to Gaians - it's to Gaia. I just want to speak my mind.
Which was found:
Here
