Ernya.com

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• Disclaimer: I like to think that the following post is concise and coherent but since it is nearing 3AM, I apologize if it is not or if you think I go off on a tangent.

As a user, I wouldn't say I've lost any sort of trust in the site from recent events. I've been a member of 2 sites (which will remain nameless) that lost the trust of it's users. The first was through unfair bans because the staff and users disagreed on certain topics and in order to regain "control" of information decided to ban those members who talked about the things that were of concern to them on the site, such as the staff breaking the very rules they were meant to enforce. The other site simply decided to do what they wanted and to hell with the user's opinions because they're the admin and they're in charge and what they want will be the law period, to the extent that they ran rampant with highly priced donation items to ensure that if you wanted all items on the site your wallet was going to bleed cash. Both of these sites I donated a good deal of money into. The first site I can state for a fact that I donated well over $1500 before they banned my account and $600 into the second. I state this openly so that anyone who wishes to disagree with what I have to say can see where I am coming from and that my experience with avatar sites is extensive.

On Ernya, I have been here from close to the beginning. I was one of the first 2k members and joined in it's second month. I had to quest for my shibu's and sushi's. I was also there during the event that had the ragdoll skin. I honestly cannot remember after 2 years whether or not I was able to easily complete the event or if I had to pay up and buy candies to complete my set. However, what I do know is that I not only got one complete set, but two sets before the event had ended. Yes, I have 2 ragdoll skins. I've had them all this time. One is for my use, the other is being held in storage for when I decide to sell it. It's my item, I'll sell it for profit when and if I choose. I've seen a LOT said about these 50 ragdoll bodies being sent into the system and I think that a lot of users have been jumping the gun and speculating about what it means for the economy.

I participated in this recent event. I battled for the fun of it. I'll admit to being miffed when hearing rumors of a limited 50 item release of something new. But only because the event was sooooo long, that I knew it would mean the constant work and toil that the people who ended up winning had to put into the event to get it. I was glad that it wasn't a 50 ct item. That meant I could battle but also take a break and still enjoy the site during the event. When I learned that users could get any EI, I knew the ragdoll was going to be most people's number one choice. As the OP pointed out, you could get that, sell it and buy what you really wanted with profit left over. But I also knew that since no one knew WHAT the prize was going to be until after actually winning, that they hadn't gone into it with the intention to resell an item for cheap. A good deal of those users are going to keep it because they didn't have one already. Sure some people are going to sell it. I've seen several in the exchange. But I've also noticed that it really has not come down too far in price. It is still hovering around 200k. Even if there is a short dip in prices it isn't going to last forever.

The same goes for the DIs, they experienced a short dip in value around the time the jars were available but now most if not all of them are being sold for almost the same values they were before the jars were released.

As for all this hooplah concerning what it says on the Donation page about how item values are guaranteed to rise over time. The ragdoll skin was NEVER a donation item. I hardly think the same rules apply to it. The jars perhaps but certainly not the skin.

Now I wanted to address all of those points which the OP would almost certainly deem as "off-topic" but I bring it all back to this. At no point through any of these processes has the staff made any sort of tyrannical decisions to enforce whatever it is that they choose to do and the users be damned. At no point have I seen users banned for raising valid issues. Emy and the people she chooses to run the site are always 100% professional, courteous and take everything we say, no matter how it's said, into consideration. This is a site which has held my trust and I feel confident in saying will most likely always have my trust as long as this is their practice. Do I always agree with the decisions being made? Absolutely not. I am against spells being doubled to the point of a 100% markup right now. However, I was not on the site when that particular issue became discussed. I did not have an opportunity to raise my voice with that because I was not online much during those few days. I did come back to see that users raised the issue, it was discussed, the admin heard the user concerns and addressed them with a new plan of action. That is the best, in my humble opinion, that users could ever hope to gain from a site of this nature because I've seen the rest of what is out there and they pale in comparison.