[Muff Muff]

Yeah they haven't updated the shop shops in a long freaking time..

[Yokuutsu]

They had a gold shop update not too long ago.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/comm...ar/t.92196149/

May 29th-Loyal's Bazaar

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/comm...us/t.92253729/

May 24th Gold Shop update

Though that is going past the first page of updates. Most of it is reminders (not the initial announcements) of discounts/items.

They need more money to keep tentacl running -.-

[zosa]

yokuutsu got to it before i did XD they do have them once a month or so it just seems weird because or all the shop updates

bullshit, they dont need any more money, they make several thousand dollars a week from gaia already just through the main cashshop and seeing as the ads are enough to support the site by themselves i call foul on them needing money

[Muff Muff]

Hosting large servers like they do and paying the people to create the items, events, towns ZOMG, etc cost more than several thousands a month. So that's why I see where they are coming from.

And shop update for billions!! Not like the cheap 10g stuff. XD Other than animal crap..

[Yokuutsu]

Well, zomg is only on in maintenance state, so all they're paying for is server space to keep it going. That's it, nothing else.

But ads aren't enough especially with all the users that are tired of all the ads and finally started using adblock (like me)

[katyasha]

I wished they didn't create that other site and fix gaia's website.

[Yokuutsu]

Me too, but I think they plan on shutting down Gaia eventually.

[Muff Muff]

I always wondered if they did that would we get our money back? I paid for things. I paid over a thou$ for things on that site. And they can't just take it away. That's like if xbox didn't want to have a game anymore on arcade but you paid for it and they took it away. Could they do that?

[Espy]

They definitely will not compensate you with real money. No other site that's shut down has done so, to my knowledge.

[Sei]

Yeah, you essentially pay Gaia for the right to rent virtual items and accumulate gold. That's one of the points in the ToS that everyone signs when they join (sorry, I memorized most of it, forgive me!).

Originally Posted by Gaia Terms of Service

Termination.
You agree that Gaia, in its sole discretion and for any or no reason, may terminate any account (or any part thereof) you may have with Gaia or your use of Gaia Online and remove and discard all or any part of your account including its inventory of any virtual items, Gaia Gold, Gaia Cash Member profile, or any Member Submission, at any time. All items, Gaia Gold, Gaia Cash, and other aspects of your account are considered to be a limited license to you for your use while your account is in open. Due to the limited nature of the license, the inventory in your account, your Member Submissions and any other virtual items (including Gaia Gold and Gaia Cash), creations or submissions are considered to be forfeit when you close your account, when the account is banned for violation of the Terms or otherwise terminated as provided herein or in the event that Gaia discontinues the Site. Any fees paid hereunder are non-refundable. Gaia may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing access to Gaia Online, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to Gaia Online or any account you may have or portion thereof may be effected without prior notice, and you agree that Gaia shall not be liable to you or any third party for any such termination. As discussed herein, Gaia does not permit copyright infringing activities on Gaia Online, and reserves the right to terminate access to Gaia Online, and remove all content submitted, by any Members who are found to be infringers. Any suspected fraudulent, abusive or illegal activity or any of the other prohibited conduct as set forth herein shall be grounds for immediate termination of your use of Gaia Online and, in certain circumstances, referral to appropriate law enforcement authorities. These remedies are in addition to any other remedies Gaia may have under these Terms, at law or in equity.

[Espy]

....I'm going to assume that was a common gripe when people wanted to leave Gaia.

[Sei]

You better believe it. *nods*

We'd get 'parents'* emailing us saying that we were 'scamming their children'** by not refunding their money upon them leaving or when we banned them. This clause stopped a lot of the commotion most times, but the most insistent went directly to an admin who had the 'authority level'*** to say it would never happen.

* most likely not parents, but the person pretending.
** this is the most common argument, but the ToS agreement nulls it anyways.
*** "I wanna see your manager! *angryface*

[Espy]

...Sorry, I'm having a good laugh at the mods' expense right now.

[Sei]

Sometimes, if they were a troll, they eventually took it well and laughed it off. Most good trolls know when a joke has gone too far and bow out; it's the bad trolls that keep pushing when they know it's hopeless. The invested users and their 'parents', however, were far more likely to be the ones that had to speak to the highest authority (and believe me, I can understand feeling like you lost an investment - a part of you, and I sympathize with anyone who has lost their account, but the ToS is the ToS and that's what controls what we do).

As mods, we were more likely to know what was going on with accounts than the admins were, because we were the ones who did the investigating. They, for some reason, thought the admins would quickly review all the evidence and decide the opposite of what we did. It was weird. I've told people for years: mods log EVERYTHING - screenshots, quoted conversations, links to 'deleted' threads and posts - we are the police of the forum. If we couldn't get enough evidence to PROVE it, you wouldn't have received any penalty.

[Espy]

Originally Posted by Sei

I've told people for years: mods log EVERYTHING - screenshots, quoted conversations, links to 'deleted' threads and posts - we are the police of the forum. If we couldn't get enough evidence to PROVE it, you wouldn't have received any penalty.

Yeah...people just don't seem to get that. Kind of really bothers me.

[Den]

I'm glad I got out of Gaia years ago. Though I left due to all the petty drama, not due to money issues.