Let's start big...

Well I finally got a blog started for myself. Unlike a journal I'll be writing things that mean a lot more to myself, to people and to the world around me without making readers feel weary after every sentance.

It's all thanks to Danzo that I have this blog as he thought it to be a good idea that I start one and as we spoke I mentioned about an article I had been writing for a website I had once loved.

Before I get onto that I'd just like to make things a little clear; I have no problem with whatever I mention here whether it be news, the obvious or even personal secrecy all except other peoples secrecy, afterall I am not a journalist. The name of my blog is all about me, the name 'Nayfin' is just my real name with a childish way of spelling that an old friend once nicknamed me(Or name edited me) I am a child at heart so I'm not just being egotistical when I say it's a 'blog of all ages'. Finally I'd like to make it clear that this originally was going to be a weekly vlog but without a camera that is a tad difficult to achieve. Eventually I shall also make a vlog, sometimes voice and facial expressions can make all the difference.

So boring blog beginnings out of the way let's get onto the main subject that I'd like to talk about to actually give a first blog a big sense of subject.

www.gaiaonline.com

The above is a social networking website similar to Myspace and Facebook but with an anime theme and a selection of forums. The world of Gaia is based in a fantasy realm with it's own story, city and a wide cast of characters complete with personal character creation and accessory applying features, the ability to customize from the head down and even your own homes in the world of Gaia sounds like such a wonderful and fun website that even hosts an assortment of games.

Now for those who know of Neopets may wonder what's the difference between the two. Gaia Online though very similar has a history that continues to advance as real time dates change, fun new events happen from time to time, and new items are created from time to time, it is a world of its own that has its own way of becoming alive to its audiance and keep them entertained in a social enviroment. Very similar to Neopets but in its own way.

So what causes me to be disheartened by this world which I have been apart from for over five years? One could say growing up could well be the reason but on the other hand I was on Neopets just last week. Keeping me on Gaia right now is everything that I worked hard to get; friends, gold, many items and memories. (One could ask questions about why does an online website give such feelings to one person but that's for another blog)

(For those who do not wish to read a huge amount of text there is an explination all in one paragraph below written in pink)

The reason for my constantly growing dislike for Gaia is the fact that it has gotten so advertisingly shit. I realise the before sentance wasn't really an anjective nor was 'advertisingly' a word.

To put it basicaly; I miss the magical days where it was fun to explore and advertisment wasn't all in your face and when Gaia didn't look like a more sparkly Facebook. Nothing wrong with Facebook, I use Facebook for different reasons.

The next few paragraphs users or ex-users of Gaia will understand a lot more then people with less knowledge upon the website.

Gaia constantly brings out new items, or a selection of new items every other day, it was amazing when they'd bring two awesome items in every month (Monthly Collectables) and every few months one or two shops would get new items. Now it's just NEW EVOLVING ITEM EVOLVING NOW along with about two other evolving items also evolving and don't forget these boxes worth about 999 cash points which all have about 30 different items in them that are released every other week. Remember when Pink Magical Giftboxes were all the rage? When did Cash become such crucial methods to gain in game gold. The fact that I use the term 'in game gold' means they've obviously forgotten that it was once a fun online game where real life money did not matter. Sure I used to use real life money to get two items every month but that was no where near expensive as all these new items and what with so many items being released it adds up.

The layout of Gaia nower days is dull and newspaper like, looking for your favourite forum is now reading between words to find the right link, sure it's still colourful but compared to what it used to be like it's a bit of a anti-climax. Though the shops do have a nice picture to view the actual shop and the characters are still on display it still leaves little to the fun of exploration. I'd have kept the shortcuts that they do but via a link but as a standard option I'd have kept the world map a prime visit which was much more fun to explore, it was also a good way to have people click places they may not have used much before. I remember when I found that the Gambino Mansion was accessable for an event by scrolling over it on the world map, I thought that was awesome, Halloween events were much more fun with the map as well though to give them credit I believe they still use them for Halloween event item gaining. (Course can these free items match all the rediculously high priced items you buy with REAL money?) These days the Gaia background and the top bar as well as peoples profiles are the most imaginative things about Gaia's layout. Course everynow and then they bring new colour schemes and backdrops to keep it looking entertaining, presentation can sometimes be everything but I wouldn't say it's Gaia's major problem.

The Daily Chance was actually a really fun invention I thought it was quite clever untill they even ruined that. See before hand it was good to think it was possible, though very little chance, of recieving an item worth a lot of gold. Not too long ago they decided that if you invited a load of people to Gaia your percentage would increase dramatically spoiling the fun of a chance game which was only meant for exploring each page daily, not to mention a cheap way to get more people to join, by using it's current Gaians as tools. That's right I said it, the USERS are TOOLS! Or at least the ones who are fooled into such traps.

Awhile a go Gaia was not doing too bad with its shapechanging, it was better before the changes but not so bad that Gaia was intially ruined (Gaia did not sellout at the time.) So the emotes :cheese: :dramallama: :wahmbulance: :emo: (All ways of typing out emotes) were created because Gaians were being too bitchy about it. At least Gaia at the time was not in it for the money. These days I'd happily set off my Drama Llama due to being not impressed by Gaia.

Again I say perhaps it is because I am getting older, but then again, such things as Mario games, Neopets, trading card games and many other things would probably still not amuse me. No I think it is not my imagination and feelings that is changing the way I feel, I honestly think Gaia has changed in such a way that it has almost killed my interest, excitement and fun for Gaia. What would it take to enjoy Gaia again? Or is it too late, has the damage been done and now beyond repair? The best thing I find about Gaia right now is every now and then I get a little nostalgia about the fun times I had with friends in Gaia where we would go fishing, play in the slots, or just post a lot of posts on the forums. I did once wish to go as far and hope to be a moderator on Gaia oneday, but I wouldn't enjoy being a moderator, if I can't enjoy being a citizen of Gaia.

IN SHORT: I believe Gaia has sold out on most of its users. Most new people who join today don't realise how much Gaia has become money grabbing sellouts. Gaia's way of running the world is by getting as much advertisement as it can including Skittles, Sims 3, Venus Embrace (That's right, a womans shaving tool is a sponsor for Gaia) Kingdom Hearts and Kong Fu Panda along with so many more. The way Gaia brings out so many items that you must buy with real money to get (especially at high prices) one would think would push away new people rather then pull them in. In fairness you can still get these items using in game gold at the Gaia marketplace but users sell these items for so much gold that it's still not as easy to get them, especially so much at once, I wanted to play not work. Don't get me wrong a little advertisement and a little real life money for items to keep them paying the banwidth (Or whatever) is fair enough but Gaia seem to have taken all this into account and using what they know to get so much more out of its users. Once again I feel that Gaia Interactive is using the people of Gaia as tools. I could try to look at it in another light or perspective, but I know sometime soon I'll see another post saying something along the lines of: "NEW AMAZING ITEM WORTH 999 GAIA CASH BUY NOW BEFORE IT'S ALL GONE COME ON GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(1000 Gaia Cash is worth about £6 where if you buy £13 or £26 worth you'll get an item and even with a new item and 5000 cash you still probably wouldn't be able to buy everything)