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Sorry, KaVir, with one exception I don’t buy any of your examples. (Another viewpoint to this is, that quite a few of the muds that accept ‘donations’ in return for gaming advantages do it to conceal the fact that they are really breaking the Diku licence).
Your example 1 and 2 are both equally cheesy. The fact that the mud owner gets the money in example 2, does not make it the least bit less cheesy, actually more so, since it makes it seem like the mud owner not only accepts but encourages that type of bad gaming behaviour. If we expect some fair play and moral from our players, we should start by setting up an example ourselves.
The second example, about the web designer, is where I agree. If someone spends a lot of time and efforts working to actually improve the mud, they should get some reward for this. That’s why we pay our builders a gold token for each 50 room zone they complete, a currency that can be used to buy certain features within the mud, like personalised equipment or crash-proof houses. I believe most muds have a similar system of reward.
The example where players earn a 5% exp bonus by clicking on a link, might sound harmless in theory. In praxis however, since not all muds can or want to do the same, it disrupts the numbers of a voting list, and is consequently unfair to those that don’t practice the same system. (On a side note, I think the entire idea about voting for ‘the best mud’ is a dumb one, since the vote numbers have little to do with the actual quality, and it also seems to lead to all sorts of cheating and unethical behaviour, but that’s another story).
As for the last example with the poor student Buffo and the rich jerk Biffo, I am all on Buffo’s side. If you want to be good at something you usually have to invest time. Buffo probably knows that, because you cannot get a college degree either, without investing time. So why should some rich jerk be able to just sail in and buy the advantages? Do you REALLY think that is fair?
Let’s take another example: Occasionally I get some junk mail, which offers me University Diplomas if I pay some money. No studies or exams required. Just pay some money into some unscrupulous person’s pocket, and they’ll set me up with something bogus, that apparently looks good enough to fool the world. Would you think that was okey too? And I wonder what Buffo, the poor College student struggling with her exams would think about it…
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