I know higher prices mean that some will stop spending. That's the way things work. And I'm not gonna make any friends with this next statement...lol. But just so that anyone thinks it's aimed at anyone in particular it's not:

After prices dropped and people bought more than they would probably ever use, the market did indeed get busier. However, it also meant that every Tom, Dick and Mary decided "I'm gonna sell something" cause, well...people tend to buy a $10 pack of 12 flood fill textures than they do a $10 pack of 3 awesome textures cause, well...there's TWELVE (even if they so totally suck and it's something anyone with half a brain can do in 5 minutes for themselves). But I digress...

Some may not believe this but when prices dropped, quality dropped shortly thereafter. Sure, ya could have those 12 crappy textures for the same price as the three really good ones, but is that a good thing either? Not only did prices and quality go down, but some got lazy cause they why do it yourself when you can buy it?

I could argue this all day long. The consumers who want their stuff cheap will feel justified in what they think. People like me feel totally justified in what we think. But the truth is when I see ppl (in the name of low prices) joke that "I still have to pay rent this month" I gotta wonder if we have a problem. Maybe prices should go up just so that we can keep this as a hobby in perspective.

/rant

Laurie

There are a few vendors I could name off the top of my head that always have higher prices but their work is of such excellent quality we're more than willing to pay it becuase it's that good. The whole market should be like that. Who would argue that Fabiana's items are not worth every penny she charges for them if not more? I'm sure that she can't really pump out that many things a year because of the time she spends on them. She and those like her deserve to get what they can for the work they do.