Daily Philosophy

[favoured]

This is a "series?" that I'm doing. Basically each day I'll talk about something interesting that is related to minecraft or to gaming, and maybe some of you guys could discuss it. Here is the first topic. Donations. A donation usually means something that you give to someone else without expecting any payment or reimbursement. But on minecraft servers it seems that its taken out of context. I used to play on a server where you could "donate" to become an admin. I know thats a extreme example but a lot of servers offer tons benefits for "donors". I find this quite funny as it is no longer donating, its simply buying benefits. Then there are other servers where the benefits to donors are mild at the most and most of the time dont go beyond a colored name. These servers give a equal playing field but seem to always need money. Then there are servers like massive, where you can pay for SOME benefits, but they are not extreme, and often bring in a good combination of money and a decent respect towards the server, unlike on some servers where non-"donors" usually sulk on the forums and complain 24/7. What do you think of this? Do you think its acceptabloe for servers to offer benefits to people that "donate", or is it acceptable as long as its not too extreme.

 

[Ben_2025]

Interesting point, I think the main aspect of this is the fact that servers cost money to run. Running a server like Massivecraft with your own money might sound nice, but if you think of the annual cost it would be quite high I presume. The "donations" that people give help directly fund the server, and so the owner (or bill payer) has to make donating appealing, otherwise they may not get enough money to keep the server running. Even though people who "donate" are given an advantage over those who haven't, without the "donators" the server they are on may possibly run out of money and have to close. Overall I think the rewards for "donators" are given for a good reason (and depending on how expensive the server is to run "donators" may get better rewards) and are acceptable for owners.

Just my opinion.
=)

 

[favoured]

So basically you have to pay "donators" something to make them "donate"? I know that i should have known this before, but its kinda depressing. Also, what do you think is acceptable perks for "donators"?

 

[Ben_2025]

I think the perks for donators could be anything, ranging between what we have on massivecraft and superficial things like coloured names. I think that the advantage that people get for "donating" should be balenced, so that the game is still playable. You wouldn't give materials to a "donator" because they would abuse that to obtain materials that they would not have had if they hadn't "donated".

 

[igel_son]

If i may speak out of my role as an admin of massivecraft about donations for a while? Thanks!
Donations on many servers sure can look like more of a payment for features. Its disgusting to see servers taking so little value to there server quality that they give away admin roles for money, that is called sell out and servers like that in my opinion have no love for the game or want to take the gameplay to the next level.
But wait, donation? Isn't the word itself the problem? Well Sorta, but then again there is something you have not considered yet!
When you buy something you get a bond to the seller that have to provide you with a service or a thing of some sort that the buyer has specified, but when you donate there is no bond, only gratitude at best. This makes the legal works much easier if you lets say ban a player that have broken the rules but "have paid for a month of premium" that where sold to him and that server must allow him to have or refund the money.

 

[favoured]

ah so i could say that since the "donor" was "donating", you are not required to give him any benefits. I see, its the play of words that actually seems kinda genius in hindsight.

 

[Banned]

Do not think of it as donating for benefits. Think of it as us rewarding you for supporting us.