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Old 07-17-2014, 07:37 PM   #1
Erisine
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Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 21
Erisine is on a distinguished road
When considering paying for coders

I'm a long-road planner. I would like to get a game idea that I've been working on up and running one day, but I'm considering how to best tackle a few difficulties -- like work-life-play balance.

When I used to admin for MUDs, the number one problem with designing, coding, and later running a MUD was the fact that volunteers were just that -- volunteers. You'd bring on 10 people and maybe 1 was still around by the end of the month, you spent a huge amount of time teaching new people, and there was always this sense of "I'm a volunteer, I don't actually have to do anything and I still get to be a staff member." Probably the worst issue I witnessed was when head staff members made a decision that a contributor didn't like, so they claimed 'ownership' of their work and tried to demand a take-down (which is always a PR wildfire).

So, those scarring experiences have made me seriously consider paying my own theoretical staff real money, or some other form of appreciable compensation (I'm not sure what just yet).

How many MUD owners out there have done this? What would you consider a 'fair rate' or balanced exchange to be? Besides money, what other forms of compensation have you offered staff members to complete projects? Have you ever had any problems?


- A few side notes: I plan to use a free-for-use codebase which does not prohibit paying people in the license. I am also not a business, and am not looking to pay a 'salary' -- I'm looking more for the experiences of amateurs like myself, who don't mind paying for a little work or for short-term projects, but are also paying out of pocket.
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