Donation

[Warock]

would be irritating paying some simple commands which is free in otbrr serversv

[Solstice]

I think that completely disregarding donations wouldn't be a good idea because the server usually can't run by itself. i believe that if not possible for ALL the money to go to the server that majority of it goes not only to the server but also if it is possible to hire like professional website lay-out artists because from what i know majority of players decide whether or not they find the server attractive just from the servers website. a kick-butt website would be totally awesome.

regarding what other players have said, i have played on a couple server that use the premium scheme, and it seemed to work pretty well, like players by premium cards that last a month, they get additional commands, they get additional cloth and hair colors and custom NPC's, but i guess it really depends on how balanced you want the server to be.

[Kaleano]

I don't really understand why a player would pay for simple @commands or hairstyles / pallettes when they can just waltz over to another server and get that stuff for free.

That always puzzled me.

[Randfeon]

I believe the best donation items are those that don't give any advantage to the donor - such as pretty hats, a hat disguising system, some silly @commands, and so on. The problem is the fact that, if donating gives people no relevant things at all, they're going to be less likely to donate... and then bam, the server dies because of poverty.

It's a sad reality, but I've learned to accept it. The closest thing to balanced donation items a pserver could get would be Kafra/cash shop stuff such as Bubble Gum and all of those headgears, but then again... have you seen how broken most of them are?

[Kaleano]

I believe the best donation items are those that don't give any advantage to the donor - such as pretty hats, a hat disguising system, some silly @commands, and so on. The problem is the fact that, if donating gives people no relevant things at all, they're going to be less likely to donate... and then bam, the server dies because of poverty.

It's a sad reality, but I've learned to accept it. The closest thing to balanced donation items a pserver could get would be Kafra/cash shop stuff such as Bubble Gum and all of those headgears, but then again... have you seen how broken most of them are?

Kinda this ^

Some people agree if you can get the donates by other means ingame then its okay that its in the kafra shop or whatever it is you wanna call it.  I know some people think that Field manuals, or battle manuals, are an Over Powered donation item.  I dunno why but, they say if its questable its okay.  Which, I understand not everyone can donate.  But I mean, most likely if someone makes the items questable they're gonna be super hard to get, no? 

All in all, donations are usually needed to help fund the server.  But honestly, only a handful of server owners seem to actually use the money to pay for the server it seems.  Not enough servers staying up for long periods of times now a days.

[adhelle]

Ok... A bit from a server owner point of view and my experience with Lumina.

I don't consider battle manual and gum OP, mainly when they are also easily acquired by non-donators. But I think thats a point of view. Anyway, I consider Lumina's donation shop very reasonable. No OP stuff. Most of items are obtained somewhere else like special events, vote 4 points shop and event coin exchange shop. Very little after the server opened, maybe only not on the first and second month, I always received more than enough donations for paying server costs and saving for future months, extra additions, advertising, etc. Lumina is opened for 1 year and 3 months. So I think this "either we accept +50str stuff on donation or the server will die" is totally wrong conception. I totally crossed off such servers from my list when I wasnt an admin yet and you should do the same. I once worked on a server with such donation items, I hated it. It's unbalanced, unfair, and it has nothing to do with funding the server.

Owners that put those stuff on donation shop are not there to have a good long living server, they are sucking money fast from stupid people. Period. Really. Trust me. A long living server is only about the owner's goal. Hosting a server nowadays is VERY cheap. Always suspect from owners asking money to fund their server mainly if they sat it costs 1000$ up. I'm saying that out of my admin experience. Ok, I know Lumina has huge costs, and it could reach more, so who am I to say that? But it's all about how I want it to cost. The host itself is cheap. I chose to pay 1000 dollars for a sponsor banner on top 200 because I wanted to. I received donations enough for that, I saved and used it. I don't -need- that amount to run the server and I make it clear to the players. That's one of the key things in my opinion.

About admins that use donations for self I think you should not confuse it as being the same as being corrupt, stealing donations, etc. Firstly, because ALL admins do that. Let's stop being hypocrite, please. Of course I'm totally against those that receive s*** of donations take all for them and leave the server on a 512mb vps. People should put the server always first and stop being greedy-asses. I think it's about priorities and how it's done.

Besides just paying its costs, making upgrades, extra additions, ads, etc, me and my staff team work really hard maintaining Lumina, for example. I think this is the same in any server. Keeping a RO server is very time consuming, I believe every admin that really takes care of their server know that, and I believe thats one of the reason some servers die. Players always complain about everything and only a person who has been taking care alone of a server knows how hard it is.

I see no wrong in when the server receives donations way more than what's necessary to use the rests as my own payment and to pay special staff, like chief GMs, scripters and such, like I do on Lumina. I believe it's also an investment for the server's growth. Paid staff are always more dedicated than volunteers, because that's how the world is like. Plus, there's really no difference between that and paying 250$ to jigs to make the website design, 20$ for a custom map, 40$ to eradicate for source snippets. Owners pay all the time people for individual scripts and designs, so what about that GM that is also scripter and makes something for your server every time you ask? Why can't permanent staff be paid? There's no reason at all. This system works very well on Lumina and should work well on any other server. When I was just a player I believed being honest, fair and transparent about donations (what's offered as rewards, maintaining the server with the best equipment, and what's done with the donations) is top requirement for a RO server, and that's what I strived for in Lumina when I made it. I only know 1 server that is nearly this transparent, and it is many years online. Truth to be told I dont lurk around other server's donation systems much and there are hopefully more good servers doing this.

Anyway, that was my 2 cents.

[Relic]

So yes, as you would know lots of server died and included in such misbehavior, reasons are corrupt staffs and donation things. So let's talk about the thing that Server's should do to their donation to avoid this.

Any nicely suggested ideas about this is much appreciated.

Main Question: What should be or What are the donation ideas that a server should have?

Try putting some items like megingjard, brisingamen or some items that can make distinguishing marks for the rich players or donors. By the way, check the items first if they will cause too much imbalance in your game.

[Derpityderp]

I'm strongly against anything that affects gameplay.

Even manuals and gums make a big difference on a long run.

[Satyre]

There are certain items I somewhat have a problem against.
First of; +71679263 stat wings. Those kind of determine if I want to play on a server or not.
Then there's stuff like bubble gum, battle manuals and convex mirrors.
Anything that gives a donator an advantage over non donators somewhat irks me.

On the other hand though, if said donation items are obtainable through events or other means aswell, I don't have as much of a problem with it. Of course, excluding things such as MVP drops. Donating for stuff like a diablos robe or proxy skin would be a big no for me :| Also including those wings and convex mirrors I mentioned.. Do not want.

[Derpityderp]

Only cosmetic stuff, minipets, hat remodels, unused hats with their stats removed, maybe some awesome custom dye palettes.

Account services like name and sex change are fine too.

[Relic]

I don't really understand why a player would pay for simple @commands or hairstyles / pallettes when they can just waltz over to another server and get that stuff for free.

That always puzzled me.

Human beings are unique and of great intellect. Using common sense on this matter will take away the puzzle in your mind, players would pay for simple @commands and etc because they like staying on the server that they're on and/or maybe they're just too lazy to find another server and download their huge game clients.

[lexbol]

You need competent, reliable, MATURE people working it.... Otherwise these things will always happen again. It's better to only deal with people you know in person. Especially when it comes to financials....

[yC]

In a profit point of view or keeping server alive point of view, I want to ask would you donate if the donation advantage wouldn't last forever.

Such as ... would you donate for a command or item that you could only use for a month?

With that I want to keep a server not flooded with donation items overtime that would drive new comers away while keeping the server with some cash flow to stay alive.

Do anyone see server do that?  Does it work?  

iRO gave me this idea because they call their cash shop items "Rental Item", then I think "hey so when the rental ends?"  and the answer is never?  Isn't that wrong.


Or what about donate to buy a raffle ticket (minus the corruption), so you get a pot of donation but the "output" is limited in order to keep the server balance.  To me that is kind of rip off because your donation might not get you anything.  Depend if there are still human left who believe in donate to help the server rather than donate look better or be strong.  Again anybody see this around?  Does it work?

[Skotlex]

Cash items ARE rental items and they do expire, it's mentioned in the description.

And apparently people DO pay for them. I saw the whole cash-shop as motivated absolutely by greed, so I always hated it. I can't give you an unbiased opinion on whether it works or not.