As most of you noticed over here we gave out a free gift to say thanks to those who were generous enough to buy more than one set for the month.

There were a few users who voiced their feeling that this was a third CI, which at least to me feels pretty offensive towards our awesome artists. There were also others who felt the gift was too difficult to obtain and didn't view it as a FREE even though there were zero price changes. I was personally a little disappointed with the sale price of the item in the exchange. However overall I did get a warm fuzzy feeling from those who took it as it was intended :)

So that is my feedback on the matter, please share with me yours. Do you want to see any free gifts like this in the future? What do you think we should reward?

YES. I want more free gifts PLOX! :illgetu:

Honestly, whoever considered it a third CI is just BONKERS. :roll:
The definition of 'CI' for Menewsha has evolved over the years... It went from single-pose item to MULTI-POSE!
Personally, I think it'll be fun to keep these free gifts as single-pose items... But maybe that's the simpleton in me talking. :gonk:
...I dunno. Personally, I miss the days of old when we got simple CIs - yet, I still love having the multi-pose CIs... So these 'free gifts' could sate my thirst for something nostalgic, while still giving me something novel and nifty. :lol:

I'd love to see some basic wings added to the mix. I was talking about this today, in fact!
(The Dove/Raven Headwings/Anklewings are missing their back-mounted counterparts... :cry: ) Not sure if they'd fare better as their own separate CI, though... They probably would, so don't listen to my poopy marketing skillz. :P

Anyway, basically anything SIMPLE. I loved the simplicity of the Golden Faun Horns.
ALSO, the free gift should continue to be somehow incorporated into the CI of that particular month - for instance, the Gold Horns were a direct relation to the Faun Horns of the Faun CI (you'd think I would know its proper name by now, but... no. I fail at life! :illgetu: ).

A fusion of simplicity and relatedness would definitely make me a happy customer. :yes:

I'm one of those poor individuals that don't have enough money to donate every month.

I did not believe the horns to be a third CI, though I was sad when I saw it. At the time I was upset because... I was afraid honestly. I was afraid you guys were trying to pull a g-site. ((Please don't make me say their name.)) What frightened me was the idea that *oh no* they are just going to turn into... THEM! My problem with them being I think they are really money grubbing.

I did realize shortly thereafter, that sites need money to survive. Incentives such as a little extra pair of horns is a perfect incentive and not money grubbing because and as you said - They were free, you guys weren't *really* charging for them <3

I would like to see more free gifts in the future, not only will I be excited to get one! <3 Because I'll be able to donate at some point! But I want to see this site grow and not turn into that other site.

I'm not sure if you were expecting the item to be cheaper - or more expensive, but I saw them go for about 1k, which I thought was fair - seeing it as a person who was not able to donate for the month.

This is a personal reply, not the reply of a pink neenja.

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Personally, I feel as if the free gift last month stimulated the Exchange. Users were getting rid of things they'd been stocking up on in order to get them. I saw things that would not normally have sold or been traded leaving peoples' inventories, putting them into circulation.

New members were able to get things they would probably have taken much longer to get, because they were able to donate ten dollars that month and get the gift horns. (Some of you might feel this is a 'bad' thing because it makes things 'too easy' for those members who can donate. But the worth-amount was still relatively low. Nothing obscene that I saw. Nothing that, IMHO, tipped the balance too far.)

I saw users who'd been here awhile buying up many pairs of golden horns, just like any other rare. So they weren't out of reach of the non-donating member either.

In short, I think the gift item stimulated our economy and properly thanked the users who help us afford to run Menewsha. It's not the answer to Menewsha's money problems, but I think it helped a little.

Hmm, honestly it's a great idea I'm just grumpy cause I can't get them, LOL.

It gives a little intensive and thanks to people who purchase more. If people purchase more other people who can't get the CIs have a better chance at getting them through the exchange. Also it's kinda fun.

Golden horns :drool: *grabby hands*

i enjoyed the idea of it and it made me seriously considered buying march contribution items. but i didnt in the end, so im not sure my opinion is really useful.

i agree with CK in that it seemed to stimulate the economy of mene. because a lot of people wanted them and such.

i guess i really dont have as much to say as anyone else. although i think if you are going to do it in the future you should make sure to not do it every month. or ever every other. just do it every once and a while and it will be great.

I felt like the bonus gift was absurd, as it was sort of a rip off of a recolor of one of the current CI's.

I do like the idea of a perk if you spend money on these items, but I personally think that CI buyers should get something more universal, like 2,000 gold for every 10 dollars spent. I feel like the third item was a bad idea, in general.

As I said, I have no problems with perks, but perks that everyone may not be able to get is the problem.
Maybe you can do this the way Ernya does it, where if you spend by an increment of ___, then you'd get ____ extra mennies, so that way people are still paying for a perk that no one else can get, but it's a lot more fair.

Just a suggestion from a Menewshan who doesn't spend money on CI's though.

I like bloodstainedwings idea of not doing it every month but like SURPRISE there it is randomly on different months instead of just doing it every month.

Even though i didnt buy this months CIs i thought it was a great idea to give out a free gift! plus the idea of making golden ones was very clever and i think you should do it every month :]

I love the free gift. :) It made a good addition to the set.

I would think that as long as those free gifts don't end up being worth more then the normal CI items then its okay. :3

I kind of left the site that shall not be named because everyone who just joined were becoming instantly rich because they could afford to donated like 20-40 bucks to that site every month. I've thought of that as unfair because I had to earn most of my gold the hard way due to financial problems in real life, so I didn't think it fair that now all the newer people who were rich or in better financial conditions could become instant millionaires there.

I have donated before though and I do like donating and getting extra stuff when I can. This is not often unfortunately. D:

So I support free items as gifts of gratuity as long as their prices are under control in the exchange. :'D That way its fair for everyone. Just pwease be careful about the CIs! :3 Wouldn't want another G-site catastrophe. D: >

lol I didn't even know you guys were doing free gifts either. XD So its all news to me.

I personally Like the free bonus gift. I brought my share of CI's that month. Even though the horns are not my style or what ever....I still liked the thought of a free bonus gift.

Umm It would be nice to get it every month since I buy CI's, But I dont think we should get one every month.
Umm I dont know why you didnt like how they gold in the exchange....Well I dont know I didnt sell much of them.
I didnt see it as a third CI.

Well bring on the bonus gifts! Please

I feel a bonus gift every once in a while is a good thing. I don't view it as a "third CI". I find that ridiculous when some view it as such, since you don't have to pay any extra money to get it. What had been presented in March was fair, to me at least. For $10 a user would get 2 sets and 1 bonus item. What's not to love? While some users only donate $5, I think most users like to donate $10 so that they have a set to play with and a set to hold onto.

I don't feel it should be done every month, because to me it would defeat the purpose of you guys giving a thanks back to the community. It's a nice surprise every now and then.

As far as the "donating user versus regular user" debate, I will always feel that those who contribute their real money into the site should be privy to special things, on occasion. Please note that I'm coming from a standpoint where I haven't donated to the site since March 2008, save for $5 here and there. I am not saying this because I donate and thus feel entitled to something extra.

I'm not saying the site should throw itself at the contributors' feet, but in no way will I ever feel that giving something back to those who help pay for Menewsha's artwork (pixel work and otherwise) and site management shouldn't be able to get a special thank you once in a while.

In short (read: too long), I support an occasional free CI gift. :)

For me, it was the only reason I bought more then one set. I really wanted the other horns. I got one of each at first, then two more Overloard's, sold one and gave one to a friend because I wanted the gold horns. I like the idea of a free gift, it also gives users a 'rarer' item that we could sell to someone who wants it but can't afford to donate.

I wish I have money to donate. I love the CI of March! It kool and cute!

Originally Posted by Pietro

I do like the idea of a perk if you spend money on these items, but I personally think that CI buyers should get something more universal, like 2,000 gold for every 10 dollars spent. I feel like the third item was a bad idea, in general.

As I said, I have no problems with perks, but perks that everyone may not be able to get is the problem.
Maybe you can do this the way Ernya does it, where if you spend by an increment of ___, then you'd get ____ extra mennies, so that way people are still paying for a perk that no one else can get, but it's a lot more fair.

Though I feel that idea would be nice, at the same time I feel it defeats the purpose of thanking users. Typically users buy the amount of mennies they need for a particular month and that's it. By giving a percentage bonus we would simply be encouraging users to spend more in short bursts which really isn't much of a thank you. Also giving straight gold for a mennies transaction is bad as it sets a site defined value of mennies, where as giving an item allows the market to decide what mennies gold ratio should be.

As long as it's only once in a while, say no more than three months in a year get a bonus, I think it's fine and really quite cool. If they're given too often though, I can see where people might think of them as a third CI.

It was definitely a third CI. A "Contribution item" by my definition at least, is an item that can only be gained through contributing to the website or through a player who has. It seems a bit of a technicality of the name, but I digress. I myself can't say I didn't enjoy it, I did, but it is a shot at more money. I'm sorry you didn't see it as such but, like I've said before, it's basic economics. Someone spends $5 a month for 2k. (1k per item) If they are given the opportunity to spend just $5 and make double profits per dollar spent, and they have the ability to spend more, they will. (1k per item + 4k for horns)

I think that setting the mark at $5 for the extra CI would be more acceptable. It makes it more universal to the Contributors as well as easier on their wallets.

As an occasional incentive, a bonus gift is probably fine (as long as it's couched that way, as a bonus), and if it helps keep the site going, that's all for the better! (And I don't mind throwing some of my sanity/entertainment budget your way.) This is an ad-free site, after all. If you, for some reason, decide that throwing up flashing banner ads or malware-spawning pop-ups is a good idea, then we can worry about money grubbing.

I did get an extra CI set, which I usually don't do, with the intention of selling one on the Exchange. I assume I'm not the only one. If this is true, then basic economics suggests that the supply of March '10 CIs in circulation should be higher, and the Exchange prices lower (assuming demand is about the same as any other CI), which benefits non-donators. Theoretically, anyway.

I liked the idea and I admit I was a little disappointed that we weren't getting one this month too.

I don't really see it as a 3rd CI, because well, tiny little horns would be a dissapointment of a CI if that was the whole thing, but.
It sortof is in a way, on the other hand. o; I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but it was like an add-on to one of the CIs, just a recolour of one of the poses in the fawn item, and therefor kindof like a CI.

But, that said, I'd like to see more of them in the future. A long as they remain "free".
Buying two sets to get one of them, really isn't a bad deal, honestly.
It's a little bonus for those that support mene a little extra.

I think that it's a really good incentive to offer a free gift when you buy both CI sets, but I think that the gift should have something to do with both of the sets, not just one. I also think that you should consider making the gift non-trade-able, so that people who didn't buy both sets can't get it for gold.

I agree with some of the people who posted here. It gives those who cant obtain the item through Contribution a chance to grab it in the Exchange because the extra item encourages those who do get the CI to buy more than one pair ;)

the free gift was really cute and i was/am a big fan of the free gift idea

personally, i feel that the donation items are WAY too expensive! the price for the menes is too much especially when other sites i go to, which are generally a lot nicer, i feel, are one dollar=one donation item currency and the monthly items are 2 plats/luna/dollars each. so for me, spending almost 5 dollars for two items that personally aren't even that great isn't worth it.

and for those who get a gift because they buy a TON of menes, more power to them, let them blow their hard earned cash on items that aren't even real.

I really like the idea of the free gift, but I felt like the March one wasn't anything all that special. I don't mean that to be offensive to anyone, but I think it might be better (to me, at least) if the item were not so closely related to the actual CIs for the month. I didn't bother with it because I didn't like the CIs all that much this time around (again, no offense, just personal preference), and I saw it as an extension of them (since it was just a different color). It's just that it's a little like putting all of your eggs in one basket. But I really do like the free gift thing. I just think it needs to be a little more special to entice people to buy more than they normally would.