let's talk about Donations

[Bushido]

what're everyone's thoughts on donations? like, donating to servers?

would you do so to offset the costs of maintaining the server? would you to encourage development time, or only for special donator rewards?

what're your thoughts on those donator rewards?

how should donators be treated?



on a more direct note, would you donate to me if i were to set up a donation system? assuming i set you up with a rad-ass server, of course.

[Ad Bot]

[Pecon]

My opinion is that donating for the sole purpose of paying for the costs incurred by owning a server should be perfectly fine.

I have definitely donated to servers before to help them pay for the hosting, I encourage development and rewards (to an extent).

I think donor rewards can be cool awesome things, but not things that affect the gameplay of the server in a significant manner.

I usually think donors should just be treated like normal players, they shouldn't be above any rules and the rewards they get are all they need for compensation.

[Daswiruch]

<snerp>

This.

I've seen a server with donations, and there were a bunch of people who donated like 5 dollars and were about 500x more powerful than any other player on the server.

[wuond]

I donated a dollar to Elm's in exchange for nothing, I didn't even want the prize lol, Elm needs that dollar for whatever.

[Dr.Block]

The only server I ever even considered donating to was Pload's Prison Escape. The only reason I didn't was because it disappeared off the face of the earth before I got the chance.

In any case, I considered donating to him because his game was unique, very well done, he was offering purely cosmetic rewards for a measly two bucks, and most of all the professionalism of it all. I knew I was dealing with someone who actually deserved and could use the money wisely, and who clearly knew what they were doing.

If you can provide all of that, I think people will donate to you.

[Altiris]

I don't see the point of donating on Blockland servers, it's what $6 a month? You can easily pull that out of your pocket by a month. Just save $2 a week or for 3 weeks or something and bam. The only game id see fit to donate would be monecraft servers since those servers are actually expensive like $15-$20 a month.

[LeetZero]

Regarding the last point, a donation is a donation. I hate people who give features for donating.
That's not donating. That's simply paying for features.
Donating should be done out of sole likelihood of the server.
It's like giving money to a hobo and expecting him to give you a free car.

[Night Fox]

Regarding the last point, a donation is a donation. I hate people who give features for donating.
That's not donating. That's simply paying for features.
Donating should be done out of sole likelihood of the server.
It's like giving money to a hobo and expecting him to give you a free car.

people are selfish
a lot of them wouldn't consider donating if they didn't get anything for it

[LeetZero]

people are selfish
a lot of them wouldn't consider donating if they didn't get anything for it

Then that's not donating, at least name it something else instead of bending the definition by a mile.

[sir dooble]

You can't police server quality, so unfortunately there's always the problem that a server you donate to starts becoming crap, or shuts down or no longer does any of the things you donated to it for.
But that's a risk you take.


Personally, I find donations to servers to be perfectly fine. If the server is a lot of fun, is well maintained, and is often (if not constantly) hosted, then there's no problem with donating.

Donor rewards are fine too, in my opinion, so long as they aren't "corrupt".
That means that you don't give a donor Admin priviledges, or let them get away with breaking rules or whatnot, simply because they donated.
Things like aesthetic upgrades are better. Imagine some secret Speedkarts or something that only Donors can get in a Speedkart map (Give Donors a Key-Item and set a new or certain speedkart to only spawn when selected with a key). Give someone a special symbol next to their name, on those servers where people use those Silver/Gold admin symbols. Give them access to a unique (but not unfair/unbalanced) weapon or item in a T/DM.

I don't see the point of donating on Blockland servers, it's what $6 a month? You can easily pull that out of your pocket by a month. Just save $2 a week or for 3 weeks or something and bam. The only game id see fit to donate would be monecraft servers since those servers are actually expensive like $15-$20 a month.

Some people can use the help in providing for their server host. Donations allow that.

And even if they don't need the donations to cover the costs of hosting (They might have money enough for it, or host for themselves), there's no problem with it.
Donations can be solely about showing support for someone.
If someone runs a top-quality server, maybe I want to donate a couple pounds to show my appreciation.
And if that also motivates them to work harder on the server, or to use that money to hire collaborators for producing Add-Ons for the server (Think back to custom speedkarts or weapons/items), then all the better. And if they do nothing with my money, or shut down, then I run that risk. It's a donation, not a purchase.

Really though, there's no problem if someone makes a profit out of hosting a Blockland Server.
If they're doing it legally, then there's nothing wrong.
If other people are happy to spend their money how they want, then let them.

[lolz??]

I see no point in donating to a server that costs less than an average 9 year old's weekly allowance to maintain, if somebody does donate they shouldn't get anything that will affect gameplay, ie: better weapons, and especially no admin.
personally, I think donor 'rewards' should be cool none the less, like perhaps getting to test mods before their released. Or simply

Things like aesthetic upgrades are better. Imagine some secret Speedkarts or something that only Donors can get in a Speedkart map

although they should only go to the server, nothing else.

[Conan]

i believe donor awards should either be cosmetic or out-of-server, like a custom mod that hasn't been released yet. of course, though, that runs the risk of having the donor take that mod and publicly release it.

maybe i'm just saying this because i really want bushido's private T+T skins and teirs.

[Megaguy2]

The only server I ever even considered donating to was Pload's Prison Escape. The only reason I didn't was because it disappeared off the face of the earth before I got the chance.

In any case, I considered donating to him because his game was unique, very well done, he was offering purely cosmetic rewards for a measly two bucks, and most of all the professionalism of it all. I knew I was dealing with someone who actually deserved and could use the money wisely, and who clearly knew what they were doing.

If you can provide all of that, I think people will donate to you.

this

[Swollow]

for later when I pay for hosting for a server

benefits that affected gameplay would be achievable by everyone else, but donators wouldn't have to put the time to level up to get it

[LeetZero]

for later when I pay for hosting for a server
benefits that affected gameplay would be achievable by everyone else, but donators wouldn't have to put the time to level up to get it

That's just as bad in my opinion.
Also, I don't like the VIP room part.