About Donations

[Kerbox]

Hi, I know I mentioned this before several months ago when this project kicked off again, but again it would be nice if I could donate to this project. I don't know how to program anything so I could help this project, there isn't hardly anything else I can do except give encouraging words to the developers and mainly to LethalEncounter who is working his butt off.
Many emu projects have a way to accept PayPal donations, and I think it would be a good idea, LE I want to buy you lunch or something at least as a small gesture of appreciation.

[John Adams]

I cannot speak for LE, as he may have ideas about "donations" down the road... but my not-so humble opinion is that once a project starts taking money from people, it goes from being a fun hobby to a job - and unnecessary complications from people who mean to do the project harm. People seem to think that because they gave $5 they somehow now sit on a board of directors and their word is gospel. I, personally, would never take a red cent from someone when it comes to my hobby or fun time for any work I invest. If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't. You start taking money, folks at SOE now have a reason to start keeping tabs on you. Who needs that?
However... there is one qualifying excuse to accept cold hard cash for global projects like this; and that is hardware/bandwidth support. No reason one guy should carry the weight of an entire community out of their own pocket. When the "Official" EQ2Emulator server goes online for public play (Beta or Release), that hardware expense might warrant accepting generous tokens of gratitude from strangers.
I think words of appreciation and encouragement go a lot farther than $5 a year. But that's just me.

[alfa]

Personnaly I think the best donnation is to try to make some code / dumping data in DB / Do script.
If people give money (this is my opinion) they certenaly think they are able to say to LE (or Dev Team). I have make a donnation so why you don't have made the engine for spawning a little rabit in Antonica, and make it run arround I have request on forum ???
...

[LethalEncounter]

My philosophy about donations in just like John mentioned: if you start taking money it turns into a job and I am not in it for the money. It just becomes more of a headache then it is worth. If you really want to help, even as a non programmer there is plenty to do You can help with the db project, report bugs, offer suggestions on what you would like to see. The more active the community is, the better our product will eventually become.

[Kerbox]

People seem to think that because they gave $5 they somehow now sit on a board of directors and their word is gospel.

Okay, I see where you are coming from but a donation is defined (at least by me) as a contribution you give without expecting anything back in return. I personally don't see anything wrong with donations since it is not and wouldn't be required or would there be any kind of an obligation from anyone to donate anything. And if the developers looked at it as such, then it would be hard to look at it as a "job". As we all know this is a free project, open source and obviously no one is here for the money, I just wanted to make a small donation out of my own free will with no strings attached.
In closing: LE, I regret that you see this differently than I do but I do respect your opinion and as such will not mention this anymore.

[Cadimiom]

Best thing right now is to keep the community going, on the forums and IRC. The community helps fuel the developers in their work. Also as LE and others mentioned, the database project, another vital part of any emulation project needs help as there are various zones, spawns, and items that need to be collected. So there are various other ways to donate to the project right now, would be nice if the majority of the community doesn't limit to just giving monetary donations (no offense).

[Kerbox]

would be nice if the majority of the community doesn't limit to just giving monetary donations (no offense).

Absolutely, I agree with that but it still would have been nice to have the donation option in addition to being involved with the community in other ways. I'm sure majority of those people in other emulator communities who donate money to the project still keep active in the community.