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I completely agree with a "commercial" and "non-commercial" distinction provided that there's a uniform and objective standard applied. The trouble is that defining commercial vs. non-commercial gets difficult at the threshold between the two.
Iron Realms - Commerical (obviously)
<some MUD that doesn't take money at all from players, doesn't sell t-shirts, etc> - Non-commercial
But how do you define MUDs that take payments from players or that sell t-shirts and such? Are they commercial or non-commercial? If they claim the payments only go to server stuff, do we require verified accounting statements to prove that not a penny of profit is made?
I mean, to the IRS, if you're an individual and you're taking payments from players, you probably (I am not an accountant and more to the point I'm not your accountant) have just made a profit off your mud (making you perhaps commercial) because you may not be able to deduct something like a server expense since you're not running a business.
It's a lot more complicated than just saying "commercial" and "non-commercial" in other words. In some cases (like Iron Realms) it's obvious. In others, it's a lot less obvious. When it's less obvious, which category do you put them in? Who decides ultimately, and how can you decide without seeing the flow of money through the organization or person?
--matt
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