[the_logos]

That does seem to make some sense though I'm a little unsure about the third option insofar. If you're not a registered charity I'm unsure whether it's proper to consider something a donation when the person giving the money is getting something fixed in return.

It's certainly possible for charities to reward people for donating but someone running a MUD is almost certainly not running a charity. Most of the time when MUD operators take donations it's either income going into the pocket of the MUD owner (who may then spend it on server costs or whatever, but is not obligated to) or income going into the pocket of an LLC or corporation that owns the MUD (who may then spend it on server costs or whatever, but is not obligated to).

Another question is how to deal with MUD operators that only sporadically accept donations. For instance, if a MUD operator took 'donations' 2 years ago but not since, does he check #3 or #4? How about if he/they took them 1 year ago? 1 month? 1 week? Yesterday?

--matt