To Donate or Not To Donate, That Is Thy Question

Started by Joshy_1289, Oct 28, 2008, 06:06 PM

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Hutchy

Quote from: You on Oct 30, 2008, 01:42 PM
Quote from: Joshy_1289 on Oct 29, 2008, 01:28 PM
You may have to work for it but the people who donated worked for there money

Working for relatively-insignificant bonuses on an online game does not equal working in real life for usable currency to live.  Besides, for most kids playing here, donation's a few minutes of whining to Mom/Dad/Legal Guardian.

Really, why aren't donation bonuses just called a Store?  It's essentially what it is, and if someone doesn't want to buy your crap, then just call it a donation.  It's hard to keep a straight face with eight billion "donation incentives" that have a huge price range.

Good point.

Irrelevant

Quote from: You on Oct 30, 2008, 01:42 PM
Quote from: Joshy_1289 on Oct 29, 2008, 01:28 PM
You may have to work for it but the people who donated worked for there money

Working for relatively-insignificant bonuses on an online game does not equal working in real life for usable currency to live.  Besides, for most kids playing here, donation's a few minutes of whining to Mom/Dad/Legal Guardian.

Really, why aren't donation bonuses just called a Store?  It's essentially what it is, and if someone doesn't want to buy your crap, then just call it a donation.  It's hard to keep a straight face with eight billion "donation incentives" that have a huge price range.

Then again, you could count people who actually donate for the sake of keeping a server up with one hand. Far as my understanding goes, server owners call it donations since if it were called an item shop, they could get some legal issues with Gravity for copyrights and whatnot.

Descent

Quote from: Irrelevant on Oct 30, 2008, 02:10 PM
Quote from: You on Oct 30, 2008, 01:42 PM
Quote from: Joshy_1289 on Oct 29, 2008, 01:28 PM
You may have to work for it but the people who donated worked for there money

Working for relatively-insignificant bonuses on an online game does not equal working in real life for usable currency to live.  Besides, for most kids playing here, donation's a few minutes of whining to Mom/Dad/Legal Guardian.

Really, why aren't donation bonuses just called a Store?  It's essentially what it is, and if someone doesn't want to buy your crap, then just call it a donation.  It's hard to keep a straight face with eight billion "donation incentives" that have a huge price range.

Then again, you could count people who actually donate for the sake of keeping a server up with one hand. Far as my understanding goes, server owners call it donations since if it were called an item shop, they could get some legal issues with Gravity for copyrights and whatnot.

+1 to this man right here.

We're forced to call it donations, or else it'll be viewed as something.....well....more illegal than a private server.

Josh, you are quite wrong in how you worded that one, bud. :X

Irrelevant

You is right to the point where donations are plain item shops, but hey, if it keeps your server up...

Shinoken

As I've always said on Ragnarok Society - Real Donation Item's will never exist here; I'll explain this system in short - we had a Coin-system. It was one of my unfinished projects until my host (Frantech.co.cc) screwed up for me:

We had 3 type of coins;
- Monster Coins (By getting in our Monster Arena - farming coins against Reflect (10) monsters on a 10% drop chance)
- Event Coins (Rewards for hosted events, exchange value: 25 Monster Coins [Not sure about Exchange Value anymore])
- Donation Coins ($1/Coin - Every $10 dollar you'll get a 20% bonus, exchange value: 100 Monster Coins [Not sure about Exchange Value Anymore])

We had these customized items:
- Monster Customs (Required 50 Monster Coins - +25 All Stats)
- Event Customs (Required 25 Event Coins - + 50 All Stats)
- Donation Customs (Required 12 Donation Coins - + 100 All Stats)
- Donation Card (Required 20 Donation Coins - eg. Stalker Card: Full Strip Level 1)

Monster Coins could be converted to either Event Coins or Donation Coins, and Event in Donation. Converting from Donation to Monster (Revert) would take 10% (Giving you only 90 Monster Coins, to save the economy of to change currency exchange)

Hope you found this useful, or any other individual looking for a donation system. One note, scripting this takes a real big amount of time.

Also, regarding to what others say; the term Donation is indeed token out of it's regular shape; when real donations get made, you'd get nothing in return (except maybe a small plush tiger  :P) - if you are financially dependable from donations to keep your server running, you just can't use donations anymore - as I've seen until now, cash wont roll in without an effective system, where both non-donators as donators are happy with the server. Currently finding people that would like to donate without getting something in return are very rare.

That was my post in a long while, back to working on Ragnarok Society' website again.

Bai,
~Shinoken

cheesestix

For the server I'm at, if we were to put up something over-powered, a large part of our population would be outraged. We don't even have bubble gums for donations, since the general consent there is that it gives too much of an edge.

Most of our donation items are un-stated hats that are compounded to a headgear you already have. Other things we have are aura's, and a few services, most of (or was it all?) which you can also use zeny to pay for. The only items that actually affect normal gameplay are the OBB/OPB, bloody branch, giant fly wings and stuff.

Donations can be redeemed as tickets, and players are free to vend/trade tickets. This makes it possible for players who don't donate to get donation items as well.

Although it's not enough to cover all the server costs every month, it helps, and the players seem satisfied with it.
Don't worry, be happy =(

Joshy_1289

Im not quite sure how People dont work for the money they donate to keep the server running. I know when I get paid every other Thursday I worked for the money i donated. The people in game have to work for the coins they earn in game if they dont donate, it would take quite a long time to build up to the amount you could donate for, but its still consider working... Yes we donors work in the real world were we slave away each and everyday. I never met that its Equal work, I just mean we provide a fair system for donors and non donors...

Irrelevant

Asking your parents to donate for you; that's how you can donate without working for the money donated. Besides of all that, even if people see it as just an item shop, donators ultimately do help the server to stay up (in the case the donations are used to fund the server). As such, even if they don't get what you'd call "they're money's worth", they're a) Getting more of a free service they're already getting and b) Doing the same for the entire community. What most people don't realize is that running a server somewhat pars with the job Gravity does. Let alone that you have to pay for the expenses of keeping the server/site/forums, it is also a lot of work to come up with fresh ideas to keep your playerbase entertained and attract new players, solving the playerbase's issues (reports, bugs, support, etc.), and, generally, doing everything needed to keep your players in your server; and you -as a player- are getting all of that for free. It really wouldn't hurt you to give something back for it.

Loki

Donates are just donates. You donate to help the server because you were sincere. You can't expect to get something in return. Maybe a compensation like something useless but cool in-game or a different user-title in the forums. Donates =/= Special Privileges.
QuoteWhatever floats your boat.

laoganma

@1st post

i think it will be good if you implement donation system purely to keep the server up and make the game more fun.

honesty is very important, start with showing an actual list of where all the donations money go in details, and make a list of who donated and how much so players wont think that you are asking for donation to fund your holiday trip to europe...

doesnt matter how much you are asking every month as long as its an honest list players will donate if they like you and your server.

and make sure you add donation items what wont ruin the games balance, maybe you can ask players opinion before releasing it.

Quote from: LaoganmaLover
Lao, you are so cool!!! i beg you, please take all my zennies!!

Quote from: LaoganmaLover
Lao!! i wish i could give you +1 every second!! *cries*

Quote from: LaoganmaLover
omg Lao, your posts are awesome, ignore those internet bullies.

Loki

Quote from: laoganma on Oct 31, 2008, 02:08 AM

make a list of who donated and how much so players wont think that you are asking for donation to fund your holiday trip to europe...


Revealing personal information much? Making a list of who donated is enough. But also stating how much they donated in the list, is not a good idea. This could somewhat attracts beggars to the person who donated most or donated a large sum of money. Even hackers and whatnot would be attracted.
QuoteWhatever floats your boat.

Pandora

Actually I agree with laoganma (for once), and I think it's good to be open and honest with your players about where their money goes, I have a donator list and spend list for my server, I write what the money is used for. As for the donator list, it's up to the player to choose which name they wanna appear under or if they prefer "anonymous".
[color=darkblue]heRO is a great friendly, pre-renweal, unique and fun server with a great community, give it a try![/color]



[color=darkblue]Click here to find out more about heRO![/color]

Hutchy

I agree with being open and honest, but posting a list of who donated for how much is a violation of the players' privacy. What someone gives to the server is between them and the server owner. That's kinda like asking someone to publicly log where they spend their paycheques each week.

Being open about server costs is something I can get behind. Letting players know how their money is helping. keep their server running can bring you as an admin closer to your players. You'd want them to trust you with their money, whether it belonged to their parents or they themselves worked for it.

As long as you put a lot of thought into your donate system,it'll be appreciated, I think.

Pandora

Well if players have to agree to be in the donation list (under their desired name which doesn't have to be their character name) then it's not violating their privacy, if they don't wanna be named I simply write anonymous.
[color=darkblue]heRO is a great friendly, pre-renweal, unique and fun server with a great community, give it a try![/color]



[color=darkblue]Click here to find out more about heRO![/color]

Garlyle

There are a few things I believe, in regard to donations.  Ironically, they all sum up to a couple key points.

1. Donations that allow for standard items are fine.  Donations that allow for custom items are dangerous.
If everything that a donator can get can be gotten through fair play, there shouldn't be much of an issue.  If you want to reduce the issue more?  Still don't allow the donator to get exceptionally valuable stuff (Such as MVP cards).

2. The issues caused by donations on a server is directly proportional to how PvP oriented the server is. (This is the big one!)
The main issue that people always have with donation rewards, especially donation customs... is imbalancing the gameplay.  More specifically, imbalancing PvP.  Because they're not donating, they're at a disadvantage, and that sucks.  The important thing is this: The more important PvP and WoE are to your server and players... the more of a danger anything that causes imbalance becomes.  I can vouch for the fact that players who are focused on PvM are far less concerned about class imbalance and having the player next to them be really powerful - because hey, in PvM, they're working together.
Dood.