Kate F.

I've been a member of Gaia since 2004. It was at the height of my teen years and I loved it to bits. I was able to express myself creatively and had loads of fun. I took a hiatus for a while - returning just as zomg was coming out. Needless to say, it was a fantastic game and I got into Gaia again for a while. Then I went to university, coming back after another few years, just to see what I'd missed.

When I left, Gaia cash had just started becoming a thing. The item announcements were a little annoying, but they weren't every day and most of the stuff was pretty neat and creative. I saw it as a way of bringing funds in - which at the time seemed fair. Now, it is literally insane. The user base is squeezed dry because nobody cares about how we feel. Zomg is gone, gold is practically worthless and the forums and games are poorly moderated.

However, the straw that broke the camel's back for me was when, for really no good reason at all, they brought down TekTek. So nobody can create their own avatars anymore, or be creative with all the shoddy cash-cow items being rolled out every five seconds.

It makes me sad, when I look back at how the site once was. I truly hope that one day, it might come back again. For now, I'm done.