Character Classes

[shani]

Donation sounds rather nice, but I think that purchasing DLC is nice
and supplying online services such as online profile and online gaming
with fee is also a good business model.

[edge2054]

I can't stand DLC that costs money.

If I'm buying a game I expect for everything to be included. I expect to be able to play my FPS games online with my friends straight out of the box. I expect all content that's ready at release for a game like Dragon Age: Origins to be shipped with the game.

/rant

Anyway the guy that does Dwarf Fortress does pretty well just through donations and you don't really get anything out of it (he offers to do some ASCII drawings for you if you want and you get an account upgrade on the forums that does nothing except show that you donated).

I understand what shani is saying and he's right about the business model but you have to realize too that someone is going to say, 'pssh... this game isn't really free. It's pay to play like some of the free mmos.'

Advertising the fact that you take donations and expanding your player base is a working business model too though. You really can live off a game you develop on your own without charging anyone a penny for anything.

In other words. Getting more players and putting up a big fat DONATE NOW button everywhere it won't be tacky does work.

[getter77]

My concerns with Donation Thresholds is that they can turn into Donation Ransoms---DwarfFortress has some perceived issues in this regard in some circles and is a special case unto itself really despite being inspiring in various ways.

Another option is a Bounty Board roughly similar to the way it is being done over at Chaosforge for DoomRL, AliensRL, DoomRL2, BerserkRL, the Neko Platform, DiabloRL, etc. This version also perhaps allows for more people to get involved in any such wranglings should the ToME4 Team grow in number as Chaosforge has.

I never got the impression that darkgod was aiming for any sort of pronounced livelihood from this in particular---moreso I pictured taking the edge off of hosting costs a tad, buying delicious sandwiches, perhaps occasional technical purchases that are dev related, and so forth.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Perhaps combine a couple of different methods together.

The module is finished, then a donation maker is put up. Say enough to pay server costs for an entire year. The module, or whatever you want to call these DLC type things, is released after a period of time, say three months, even if the threshold isn't reached. If it is, then then it gets released immediately. All donors of any kind get it right away in any case.

There you go, incentive for donors, benefits for the entire community and no holding anything for ransom.

[darkgod]

Hum I imagine this could work too yes... hum