So Gaia, foolishly, asks me what I think about the Christmas Event, and doesn't put a limit on how many words I can type!!!! Probably the last time they'll do that!

I figured I'd post my response here as well, just to see what anyone else thinks. Oh, beware of tangents that lead to tangents upon tangents which leave you sitting way off topic wondering what goes on inside this empty fossilized skull!


The caroling items were ok, if you like green, but not comparable to past Christmas themed items. Although it does seem that someone forgot to include some pants for the male avis. ?????? I think you would have been better off sticking to the Holiday (Christmas) outfit theme, similar to the way past Halloween and X-mas events have. Last year's candy cane theme was brilliant-different, unique, and still fitting.

What I'm most disappointed with is the entire collection of event items. They are literally trash, and I have no use for any of them. It was a major amount of my time for nothing. Particularly maddening was my 5,000 gold donation that got me a Red Makeshift Engine Doll. You choose to use the word lame for this survey. Well, lame fits, though I feel my true feelings would be better conveyed with some profanity along with it.

The story was Christmas was in jeopardy, and haphazardly put together to cover for Santa, and then the day is saved and everyone is happy. In keeping with that, I feel it would have been wise of you to have the items we paid for evolve into something quality, instead of remain junk. I know you wanted a gold sink, but shouldn't I feel good about supporting you, instead of like I got ripped off... YET AGAIN? I make plenty of my own mistakes that cost me gold all the time, probably one of the biggest gold sinkers you have, being a marketplace idiot, but at least that is by my doing, instead of being robbed! 5,000 gold for a piece of crap doll that really looks like a mini peelunger. I knew that was the item for that achievement, but Gaia said there would be a reward for people who participated, so I put 5K into it. And then, even people who only donated one time got the same reward as I did for doing the entire event. And that is a tinsel halo which I also have no use for and has no market value either. Unless I save it for what... 10 years?

I’ve put a lot of time into making my gold the hard and tedious way. Gaia is just like the real world. Money is limited, and hard to get. So you stand with your face pressed against the window looking at all the neat stuff that daddy buys for the mammothrepts, and watch them flaunting it about like they are superior to everyone else and you know you can never hope to have 19 – 26 million gold for your stupid Devil’s Tail. (Ok, over generalizing, and yeah, I wanted to use the word mammothrepts = spoiled children, but you get the point!)

I've thrown all the items from the event into my pile of recipes, trash, flowers, tank backgrounds, & bugs that I'll just let sit there and annoy me when I try to navigate through my inventories. You could have made it so 10 of those items donated earned a Gingerbread, or something at least. YOU were the ones who said it was an opportunity to clear out our inventories. I usually don't keep things that have no value & that I don't want... because I want gold, to get those cool items you make unobtainable to people who don’t have cash to spend because we have electricity and rent to pay. So LAME there too.

The Captains outfit is fine – SANS PANTS… HELLO! Event items just suck hard, each of them. (No offense to the designers.) But you people know what a good item is and what crap is. How many avis in bathtubs did/do you see running about town? Easy solution was to have the items evolve into something a bit cooler. Put wings on the bathtub! See… ties in with the story, makes it weird, and who wouldn’t want a flying tub? (? eek ) You did it to the B.O.O. skin at Halloween (which I thought was mean after letting people have the choice of keeping their skins the previous Halloween. – But a potato?), so why didn't you do it when it was appropriate. Remember all the I Am A Cow’s running around last year! That was awesome! And the Elf Techs were great too! People loved the Star Hat. But this year it was more like "Christmas is saved, here's a macaroni necklace I made for you. Happy Holidays." Christmas isn’t saved if you give your kid some newspaper and garbage bags you picked out of the garbage and tell him/her they are wings.

I was really pissed about it! The impression it gave me was that Gaia Admins were more concerned with getting on to their own personal holidays than they were with making another fun and cool event. “Half-assed effort” seems to fit. Like you didn’t even look at the items and just said, “Yeah, that’s fine. Do that. What’s for lunch? And can we go home early today? I want to start stringing my popcorn.”

I love the humor you guys have on Gaia. I love Gaia itself. I liked it much more before everything became about getting cash. Back when you dumbed down Daily Chance.

I hate the gambles you sell – Lottos, boxes that may have normal items, or may have neat items. I was SO disheartened when you made the aquarium items cash only, making them high market values = out of reach for most people, and to really make it bad, you give them life spans? Needless to say, I don’t put my gold into that. I was really bummed about that too. The idea was so exciting, until… I want something I can enjoy for a few years, not weeks, especially for that much. And I know some of you Gaia Gods are keeping reef tanks. I’m a former professional aquarist. I used to stock our stores in San Diego from the same places in L.A. that your fish and corals come from. That’s why I figure you now want everything to bring you cash, because reefs are expensive. Bangai’s live for about 5 years. Average normal goldfish can live more than 30 years. Two weeks is for people who put them in bowls.

(If you really want to make money, some symbiotic relationships would do well for you. Clownfish & Anemones, and Pistol Shrimp & Gobies pairs could be sold with a rock/home to allow for animated behaviors in and around that home. Pistol Shrimp rock homes could have two or three small stones that can be moved back and forth to cover the entrance… blah blah blah.)

I really don’t like the silent position you take when it comes to most events, and addressing bugs and technical issues. You have mods. A simple, “We got your message. We can’t help you. / or / Give us a bit of time, and we’ll get to you” would really go a long way.

And a simple, “Here’s what you need to know for doing this or that…”.

For example:

1) New people, as I once was, don’t just know what to do to participate in a Halloween event, and it would be nice for Gaia to elaborate on what and how to participate, in some detail, rather than me having to go to forums, search for or start a thread, wait for an answer from someone else who may or may not be explaining it properly/accurately. (Granted there was a big improvement in that area this time around – so thanks…. But then my little mind says of course there was, they want you to dump your gold, so of course they’ll tell you how to do that! Shhh – quiet little mind.)

2) Skittles Fun Park has disappeared after giving out tickets. Here we are in limbo…. Why not just announce, “Stay tuned…” or something?

3) I can’t purchase the Thank You Letter for December 2009 in marketplace along with a few other items. I’ve seen no reason why – no explanation, but I know they can’t do it in Denmark or Germany either. But a solution or explanation is not to be found, that I’ve seen.

I appreciate the opportunity to voice my opinions. Thanks for that. Can I interest you in a Red Makeshift Engine Doll for 5,000 gold?

I really feel like I was taken advantage of in this holiday event.

burning_eyes burning_eyes burning_eyes

I'm open to any thoughts or constructive criticism, or differing opinions. Though we all know that once we reach a certain age, everyone who does not agree is simply wrong!

blaugh