I don't know how Mediavia grew, but you've missed the point with Aardwolf. Aardwolf did not grow to its current size based on "taking money from players". It reached its current size doing the simple things necessary to make a mud popular, consistently. At that point it was necessary to accept donations a couple of times a year (read: not constantly) to be able to continue. It also did not grow to its current size by advertizing - until last week Aardwolf has never advertized in its entire 7 year history (maybe one or two usenet posts in year one). We were not even listed for the free voting on this site until last week so probably promoted ourselves less than most other muds.
This is no attempt to debate/justify the Diku license, that is a conversation I will be happy to have with the license owners and/or their legal representatives and nobody elses business. This post is to put the 'history' in the right order and point out that being able to accept donations won't suddenly make your mud popular overnight.
|