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Valg · 01-11-2006, 01:46 PM

(Note: It got confusing talking about both Threshold (the game and business entity) and Threshold (the forum poster who owns it), so I'm referring to the latter as Mr. Threshold.)

Heck, we ask our playerbase on our forums to donate if they can, maybe once or twice a year. We don't send them anything beyond a thank-you, and it doesn't do anything to the gameplay (we don't even know what characters are associated, since donations arrive with the player's RL name, which we don't track). Completely voluntary requests like that don't make you a commercial enterprise, and I don't think anyone would confuse us with one.

Threshold is pay-to-play because there's a mandatory fee up front. It's what they advertise, and I agree with Mr. Threshold's philosophy that it probably saves them heartburn to make it clear up front.

I'm not some crazy hippy railing against the Corporate Man. At my day job, people pay me a generous salary for my services, and those people and I get along swimmingly. If I didn't like it, I could leave. Mr. Threshold gets paid for his services, doing whatever he does on a daily basis to keep the MUD running. If he didn't like it, he could leave. If his customers didn't like it, they could leave. There's no difference there- all the relationships are mutually agreed upon.

I'm also not pretending I have no stake in this. I've stated a number of times that what I don't like is that TMS uses the same word ("Free") to describe both Carrion Fields-type games and IRE-type games, even though we use very different business models. I enjoy my game, I've taken on the responsibility of advocating it here, and that's part of it. I think that my agenda (accurate labeling) is beneficial to my game. I also honestly think it is beneficial to players who are looking for a game to play.

If I had a "hidden agenda", as some posters have implied about people on this thread, I wouldn't be signing every one of my posts with my "MUD name", my affiliation and title, and the CF logo waving away in the upper left corner. I sign them that way in the interest of accurately labeling myself as well.

01-11-2006, 01:46 PM	#335
Valg Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Home MUD: Carrion Fields Posts: 643	(Note: It got confusing talking about both Threshold (the game and business entity) and Threshold (the forum poster who owns it), so I'm referring to the latter as Mr. Threshold.) Heck, we ask our playerbase on our forums to donate if they can, maybe once or twice a year. We don't send them anything beyond a thank-you, and it doesn't do anything to the gameplay (we don't even know what characters are associated, since donations arrive with the player's RL name, which we don't track). Completely voluntary requests like that don't make you a commercial enterprise, and I don't think anyone would confuse us with one. Threshold is pay-to-play because there's a mandatory fee up front. It's what they advertise, and I agree with Mr. Threshold's philosophy that it probably saves them heartburn to make it clear up front. I'm not some crazy hippy railing against the Corporate Man. At my day job, people pay me a generous salary for my services, and those people and I get along swimmingly. If I didn't like it, I could leave. Mr. Threshold gets paid for his services, doing whatever he does on a daily basis to keep the MUD running. If he didn't like it, he could leave. If his customers didn't like it, they could leave. There's no difference there- all the relationships are mutually agreed upon. I'm also not pretending I have no stake in this. I've stated a number of times that what I don't like is that TMS uses the same word ("Free") to describe both Carrion Fields-type games and IRE-type games, even though we use very different business models. I enjoy my game, I've taken on the responsibility of advocating it here, and that's part of it. I think that my agenda (accurate labeling) is beneficial to my game. I also honestly think it is beneficial to players who are looking for a game to play. If I had a "hidden agenda", as some posters have implied about people on this thread, I wouldn't be signing every one of my posts with my "MUD name", my affiliation and title, and the CF logo waving away in the upper left corner. I sign them that way in the interest of accurately labeling myself as well.