Welcome to Gaia! ::

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few months or pay absolutely 0 attention to the announcements and main pages, you know what the gaia cash shop is.
I want to start off with something positive to say about it before balancing that against all the reasons I despise it, but I can hardly find anything to fit the bill besides "it has items that people always wanted". That is nice and all, but it is precisely one of the reasons I wish I could watch it implode, so let us begin.

I think it is fine to send $5 in as a "donation" to the site to support it and get the monthly collectibles. Gaia is a huge site and it needs donations to support itself and its bandwith. What I don't agree with is making a bunch of literally expensive items that you can only buy with REAL money. Let's not forget that these are FAKE items, so why are you suddenly dishing out parts of your paycheck for a bunch of pixels? Because there are many people who are desperate enough to get the items and because there are plenty of spoiled kids whos parents will shell out money for them. Suddenly a kid just has to spend $20 to buy a few evolving items and they now have 100k. But for the people who aren't stupid eno-... willing to pay REAL MONEY for a FAKE item, they would need to suddenly pay a wild amount of gold for an item that was just released. Not to mention the pressure of "THIS ITEM IS LIMITED, USE YOUR REAL MONEY NOOOW"! I do honestly think there is a big differance between money being donated and actually shopping for things that don't exist. It is on the same wavelength as the flood of ads and "sponsored items" that have become a reoccuring trend on the site. I don't want to say gaia is selling out, but it is coming pretty damn close.
Now let's look at the fact that evolving items, which I am sure users have been clamoring for for some time, are only available in the cash shop, not to mention at a far higher price than most "normal" items. Because of this, even if you want to buy it through the marketplace they inflate so fast that they are at a ridiculous price. So users wanting these are forced to pay REAL money for FAKE items, because it is easier than spending weeks saving up for a neverending inflation on the evolving items.
In a simialar point, am I the only one who notices all the effort they take in making all the really interesting items that people have always desired only available in the cash shop? Not trying to squeeze money out of people at all I say.
I could go off on this tangent for hours but I do have to stop myself at some point. What complaint could sum up this whole concept in one conclusion? I am at a lack for words. Every time I see a new release of items in the cash shop I feel the familiar disgust knowing gaia jumped on the internet cash wagon just like many of the other virtual community sites as of late. Maybe the disgust stems more from the fact that I know people will be foolish enough to spend their money on gaiacash.

Aye, I never thought I'd see the day where I got so peeved from coming on a website like gaia.