Could we sponsor you (say, I dunno, fifty people converting their paid accounts to premium paid accounts, or some other comparable token contribution from those who have premium paid functionality already) not to implement virtual gifts as a shameless money grubbing venture? There are some shameless money grubbing ventures that can be done classily, like the Paid Account Fairy, and there are some shameless money grubbing ventures that can't be done classily. Virtual gifts, for me, fall firmly into the latter category. (I can vaguely envision, though not specify, a way that they could be done and be meaningful, if they represented something a bit more significant than "Hi! I spent a dollar on something ephemeral" - for instance, if you had to earn them like invite codes, or something. This is not so remunerative for you, though.)

This is a very broad brush and I'd like to be able to justify this plea with a more convincing, factual, coolly objective argument than "it feels lame", and nobody likes lines of arguments in which people accuse sites of turning into (insert other, somehow less fashionable, site name here). My argument really is one of taste and feeling, though, and when part of the joy of Dreamwidth is the high respect we hold for your two senses of taste, virtual gifts would feel like a misstep.