Messaged Narumi

[Left Feb 2015]

Hey guys! I've sent a message (now two) to Narumi Misuhara, a developer here on Gaia. I got her name from this guild, and I understand everyone's view of her may not be very positive, but she seemed to be a level-headed sort of person to me, and more importantly, someone who might have answers. I had questions, and I think they're not just points of concern for me, so I told her I might post her answers here. I just got her response today, and I'm posting it, along with my reply, in here for you all.

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Narumi Misuhara

Casidhe Wetherington

I know that you might not respond to this message, but I wanted to try. Lately, I've been noticing some changes in the Gaia community that have me concerned. It seems a lot of users are very angry with the administrative staff here. I was in Ask-the-Admin last night and talked to a few users who have been there more regularly, and that's what brought these concerns to a head for me. The way I remember Ask-the-Admin, it was a [mostly] polite place where the admins talked to/with and listened to us users. In fact, the previous time I'd been there it was about a forum glitching issue that had been ongoing for some time, and literally weeks after I posted about it, it was fixed. It made me feel really good that we had admins who care about us like that. Last night was a whole new ballgame. I didn't see as many admins around as usual. It seemed like there was a lot of hostility, some not entirely misplaced. One big concern I noticed was that the admins decided to go ahead and center the site even after they took a poll where the response was widely negative. I, personally, don't care about the site centering. I understand Gaia has always been a place willing to change. I've been here since 2006 and seen quite a few changes in that time. Some, true, have been not great, but you all have always listened to your users' feedback before when that happens. I guess what I'm wondering is what's going on now? What's changed? Also, if you could tell me why Gaia decided to do a poll if the plan was simply to ignore its results (with regard to centering), that would be much appreciated.

Another concern I have is the constant onslaught of sales and Gaia cash and ads in the flash spaces and announcements about these. I heard something about a new 18+ site that this push is going to fund? Could you tell me more about that? Or if that's not it, a little bit about where the funds are going? I realize some of that information might be "above my paygrade" so to speak. Also, since I choose not to spend real money on the site typically, I don't have any right to complain, so I won't. I also know there are options to turn announcements etc. off, but I choose to put up with the onslaught for now since there are still occasionally announcements I care about, and I realize Gaia needs to make money. I'm just curious what the seemingly sudden increase in the push is about.

Anyway, I just joined a guild called Revolution: Gaia, and I'd like to post your answers for them. From what I've seen of your posts, you seem like a reasonable person, so I just thought you might be a good choice to go to for answers. If you don't have answers for me, but could direct me to who might know, that would also be appreciated. Thank you for your time. I apologize for the length of this message. I hope to see a response, but I completely understand if you're too busy.

~A concerned Gaia Citizen

The poll was to see where people stood on the issue. We had to center the site due to contractual obligations, had nothing to do with ignoring users but with fulfilling our end of an agreement.

The "cash push" is us putting in standard practices for a social website to keep the business viable so we can further invest in Gaia.

Thank you so much for answering my message! I really appreciate it. One of my questions, however, I'm still curious about is why the cash push feels like it's suddenly gotten more intense...say, within the past several months. Is it related to the contractual obligations? I mean, why the sudden decision to go so hard on it? I understand Gaia needs a certain amount of money to operate and improve, etc. I'm just wondering, I suppose, if those needs have changed recently. If you can't say, I understand, but I just wanted to be more specific with my question, since I don't think I was very clear when I asked it the first time. Thank you, again, for responding.

 

[Pwnder]

Very nicely put. I'm glad you got a resonse lol

Its understandable that contractual obligations pushed the site centering. For me its just more of an annoyance than anything.

Personally I can understand how making the site look profitable can bring in new investors. New investors means more funding and staff to improve the site and its users demands. However, I'm still upset by how hard they are pushing it and the tactics that they are using to make it happen.  

[Left Feb 2015]

Yeah. I can't say the centering of the site has bugged me all that much like it has a lot of people. I agree...it's the tactics. I'm hoping she'll respond and tell me the whys. I always feel better if I at least know why. Plus, information is power, baby. wink If we know what Gaia needs, as users, and why, we can help it get those needs met in ways that are more palatable for us as a community. Or at least that's my view of it.

EDIT: I can't even tell you how good it made me feel though that she/he responded. After that last ATA I went to, that was a huge concern for me...the user/admin relationship. Her/him responding made me feel a lot better. I think there's definitely still a lot of hope for our beloved site. *loves on Gaia* xp  

[A Thief Appears]

Considering what they lost (L0cke, Pan, CP, etc) it almost makes sense. However, $1k for an item is dumb, no matter how you look at it. You could get like, the best thing ever on an MMO for less than that, probably, and get more use out of it.

As much as I understand these business tactics, from what we know and what we've seen (also the blatant disregard to the Gaia economy and the gold users and even the GC users,) I just don't believe that the need to hire is actually a thing here.
They refuse to work on anything (and if they are we have yet to see any changes,) and unless it brings in money they ignore it. Narumi can say all he wants, but at the end of the day it means very little to me.  

[frozen_water]

I appreciate that Narumi tries to respond, however his responses are becoming increasingly unsatisfactory.

I'll commend him for trying, but at some level that's just not enough.

(BTW: Narumi is male IRL)  

[Deim]

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Contractual obligations to center the site?
Honestly that sounds like the biggest crock I've heard so far.
What person in their right mind would want that, especially considering how many users don't like it.

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[Sash0]

Happy you got some answers it does help when they do answer which is good, I'm a little happier about this emotion_kirakira  

[xena91388]

Shoopuffs

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Contractual obligations to center the site?
Honestly that sounds like the biggest crock I've heard so far.
What person in their right mind would want that, especially considering how many users don't like it.

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That's what I was going to say! Also, "contractual obligations" with whom? If the answer is off-site advertisers (which it probably most likely is), I'm throwing a brick at something.  

[The Vic Viper]

I really don't like that response.

Narumi specifically calls the cash pushes "putting in standard practices," which makes me feel like they're trying to make it just a normal aspect of the site. Something to expect in the present and future of Gaia, in general.

And "keeping the business viable" just sounds like a nicer way of saying they want to milk the site for money.

Having some current desperation due to low funds or what have you even seems way more favorable to me than "This is what we're going to aim for on Gaia, now."

Which is just further proof that they aren't listening at all to the feedback people have been giving them on this matter.  

[Anja Sedai]

That's such a vague and uninformative response.

If they had to center the site due to these contractual obligations, why even bother asking the users? Why not just roll it on out like they have with previous site changes? What is the point in seeing where people stand if it's not going to change anything? That poll just gave users the idea that Gaia was going to listen to their opinion, when clearly it didn't matter. I actually prefer a centered site, but the way they handled that opinion poll was just bad.

As for the cash push answer, I would like to know what he means by "viable". And what this further investing in Gaia is as well. As far as I can see, the only thing Gaia is investing in right now is pushing out more cash-centric features. This would be a lot more believable an explanation for me if Gaia were now updating features like Guilds and the inventory arranger that are in need of a major update, but they're not. So I'm not really sure what exactly further investing in Gaia is supposed to be.  

[A Thief Appears]

xena91388

Shoopuffs

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Contractual obligations to center the site?
Honestly that sounds like the biggest crock I've heard so far.
What person in their right mind would want that, especially considering how many users don't like it.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

That's what I was going to say! Also, "contractual obligations" with whom? If the answer is off-site advertisers (which it probably most likely is), I'm throwing a brick at something.

This annoys me the most, though I'm using a script to decenter it. So much better, even though my screen is gigantic and can thus handle the centering.

They said it was because they were entering a new partnership, but they keep skirting around telling us which company they contracted with? emotion_drool  

[TS Sailor Cronus]

Xaetorase

This annoys me the most, though I'm using a script to decenter it. So much better, even though my screen is gigantic and can thus handle the centering.

They said it was because they were entering a new partnership, but they keep skirting around telling us which company they contracted with? emotion_drool

The 18+ maybe? neutral  

[A Thief Appears]

TS Sailor Cronus

Xaetorase

This annoys me the most, though I'm using a script to decenter it. So much better, even though my screen is gigantic and can thus handle the centering.

They said it was because they were entering a new partnership, but they keep skirting around telling us which company they contracted with? emotion_drool

The 18+ maybe? neutral

I dunno, isn't Gaia making that?
I really wish they weren't so damn shady. emotion_eyebrow

Also, since we can say all manner of curse words on here, and I have never gotten smacked with a ban for describing copious amounts of gore, why would they even need an 18+? So what, the desperate role players can now have sex or something?  

[TS Sailor Cronus]

Xaetorase

TS Sailor Cronus

Xaetorase

This annoys me the most, though I'm using a script to decenter it. So much better, even though my screen is gigantic and can thus handle the centering.

They said it was because they were entering a new partnership, but they keep skirting around telling us which company they contracted with? emotion_drool

The 18+ maybe? neutral

I dunno, isn't Gaia making that?
I really wish they weren't so damn shady. emotion_eyebrow

Also, since we can say all manner of curse words on here, and I have never gotten smacked with a ban for describing copious amounts of gore, why would they even need an 18+? So what, the desperate role players can now have sex or something?

I dunno. But I was under the impression that a sister site would not necessarily involve the complete staff of Gaia, plus it could be managed by someone else.