I don't understand the MIA GM's either, and we're starting to really feel the lack.
Back in the old days, GM's would show up every so often just to say hi. They didn't always give out goodies, sometimes they would just shoot the breeze in worldchat or duel people on the bridge in Varanas.
I miss that.
They also used to pop on when things got ugly in worldchat. I haven't seen any worldchat supervision in a long long time. I can see them letting a random F-bomb slip past without comment, but when people rant for an hour at each other and no one intervenes, it makes the servers feel lawless.
I'd like to know my GM's, and I did know some of the old ones, and that engendered trust. I knew if I ever had a problem with my account, I could rely on Tenmei or Hathore to take care of things. Tenmei actually fixed a friend's account once off the clock, he dialed in from home on a holiday to make things right, and that really impressed me.
Now... I dunno where I would even turn if I ever logged on and my account was hacked.
Who do you call when you suspect hackers? I knew who to holler at before- now I don't.
Our new Frogster Overlords need to understand that people feel kind of abandoned. We have sales that go on for weeks, that seem like they're set on automatic pilot. No one ever pops on to say hi, and no one seems like they're home. If you have a problem, you can't even send in a ticket in game anymore- you have no idea how much that bothers people.
What we really need is a GM per server, like a real server mommy or daddy. Someone who would get to know us, get to know who mouths off in worldchat, who the worst spammers are, who's hacking whose account etc. They wouldn't need to be online 24/7, they could work part time on one server and part time on another- but we need to see boots on the ground. We need to see presence. Not just presents.