You guys need to quit giving Threshold credit for MY system! HAH!
I originally created that system because this discussion crops up every few months because some people have strong objections to several muds advertising themselves as "Free to play" although you can actually play them for free. If you have a codified system, do you know how often we'll be seeing posts like "Tavern of the Shattered Worlds Mud" marked themselves as "Donations accepted", but they give their players a little in-game tattoo for it? That's a game benefit!!! Or, IRE marked themselves as "Pay-For-Perks but Able-To-Play-For-Free", but that's a lie! We need to create a "Pay-for-Perks and Impossible-to-Level-without-20000-hours-played-a-day" check box just for them! Do you really think these issues won't crop up CONSTANTLY with any check box system that isn't clear and concise with absolutely no wiggle room?
That's my sole reason for suggestion a very simple, very easy to enforce system. It saves everyone a lot of time and effort, and in my opinion, it's the most helpful to people looking for a mud. They can and will be able to find a "free mud" with one simple click of a button. We can easily help enforce whether or not a mud takes money then, and there's really no beating around the bush on this one.
There's really no insidious motivation behind my suggestion. I suggested it because there's no wiggle room and no cheating in that system. This thread EXISTS because people are unhappy with how muds are classifying themselves. You realize that with more and more options, people are still going to click what they think will best advertise their mud. That's just one more thing to police, flame each other about, and argue over while being no more helpful than it is now.
I honestly didn't think it would spark some kind of debate. If our primary goal is to help players find games that cost no money at all, then this would solve the problem. I'm confused, though, as to why so many people who run "free games" are arguing against this option. If you're free, then you don't have to worry about it!
There's so many pay models out there, we have no hope of really describing them all. Some of them are truly unique, especially the ones in Asia. They really don't fit any of the western models at all because they are almost all hour/$ based. (I think this has something to do with the number of lan cafes around there.) Do we just keep adding to the various types of payment models there? I can think of about 10 right off the top of my head that exist on major games. Do we add a new type of payment model every time a person comes up with something new, or will games be forced to cram themselves into one of the models that, thus, poorly representing their muds? Or have we decided we don't care about muds once they hit a certain amount of commercialism? What would that threshold be?
If I wanted a free game, I want a game with no money involved, period. I don't want a game where money exchanges hands in an informal system, and there's absolutely no way to tell what the benefits are. There are plenty of muds out there that take no money and exist for free. This would be the easiest and best way to help players find them.
Everything else is just variations on a scale of taking money, no matter how lofty the ideals or pretty the package.