[Molly]

To me it is very simple. If money in any way influences any part of the gameplay, then the game isn't free. Calling the transactions 'donations' or 'pay-for-perks' isn't purely semantic. The definition of a 'donation' is that you give without expecting or receiving any reward, otherwise the transaction is a sale.

It doesn't matter much if the perks are available by normal gameplay or not. Naturally the former is preferable, but as long as you can pay for something that normally takes X hours of time to achieve in the game, you are still buying an advantage over other players.

What really counts is whether the gameplay is affected. So pure donations, or selling mousepads and T-shirts from the website are okey - as long as no in-game benefits are received the game is still free.

But to avoid the usual semantics around the word 'Free'. let's go for KaVir's 3 main categories;

1. No in-game benefits
2. In-game benefits available
2A. Low-impact pay-for-perks
2B. Standard pay-for-perks
3. Pay-to-play