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[Telamon]

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[Blaise]

I'm gonna go back and finish reading it all, but I didn't get far before the neon sign saying "Potential for nefarious transactions of gold for RL money" was in my face.

Let me read on and see if there's more to that point.

I understand it's not direct, and the money would go to the shard itself, but no one should be able to buy their way to weatlh in this game with real money.

I was just thinking about how that sets this shard apart from so many others, in a good way. Honestly, if I could buy may way up, I'd probably waste a ton of cash on this because I'm hooked. But in the end, I'm glad that I can't without potentially losing everything. It makes it better.

[Kander]

I understand it's not direct, and the money would go to the shard itself, but no one should be able to buy their way to weatlh in this game with real money.

I was just thinking about how that sets this shard apart from so many others, in a good way. Honestly, if I could buy may way up, I'd probably waste a ton of cash on this because I'm hooked. But in the end, I'm glad that I can't without potentially losing everything. It makes it better.

Im sure that is what would happen. A new player that has money to spend can come in get some rares and be a week old with 10 mill or more.

[Mikel123]

All that text and no thought given to this?

No one is obligated or will receive any type of reward in-game for donating to the shard

[applejack]

All that text and no thought given to this?

No one is obligated or will receive any type of reward in-game for donating to the shard

It was the first thing that I thought of!

As a subscriber I really wish more people would donate, but I don't want to be rewarded nor do I like the idea of it. And I have a hard time taking seriously a post by somebody who has been bragging in game that, and these are direct quotes: "i dont donate sh*t anymore" and "so I hope Derrick likes paying for this place instead of having xmas money." Stay classy Telamon.

[chumbucket]

I didn't read it all, but it is very true that any items for donations quickly lead to new players buying gold in effect. Perhaps the items could be.made 100% nontransferable?

[mrbojangles]

I do not support the purchasing of in-game items with real-world money, and that's what this idea is.

Support the shard with donations because the staff donates their time, money and resources to offer you this service- not because it is a advantageous for you in-game.

[Vhyx]

However there should be no rules for transferring the items, adding to their appeal as rewards.

Would this drastically affect the shards economy? No
This is no different than any other items that have been added to the shard from GM events, holiday giveaways or yearly rewards. It would simply be one more item players could purchase from one another in game.

Yeah, I too will call shenanigans on this. People would donate simply for the opportunity to sell some l33t pixels for in game gold. This would screw with the in game economy, and it's laughable to say it wouldn't. I like the fact that the donation system here on UOSA is strictly a charity for people to help keep the server up and running. It does not need to turn into some bastard system that will offer shiney baubles as incentive.

The only way I would even consider supporting anything like this, is if the rewards were 100% non transferable to other players. If the house they were in decays, they decay. They would not be able to generate ANY kind of gold for the owner, whatsoever.

Since the chances of this becoming implemented are zero, it's good to know whether or not I am supportive really doesn't matter. I'm simply replying to this because you asked for it.

Besides, as someone who supposedly "quit because of the smear campaigns", why would you waste the time writing up such drek in the first place?

[Ragancy]

If the rewards could be traded for gold, then it's a bad idea.

If the rewards could somehow be tied to an account and only that account can place them, then that scenario would work with little room for abuse.

[Jayrich]

while i applaud telamon for taking the time to type all that up i have a lot of problems with it. i really see this as becoming a way to trade real money for items. even the fact that telamon takes the time to even break down what items are worth or what he believes the value of 1million coins is. this just seems like totally the wrong thing to do.

while i totally agree with donating to the shard, i dont think people should be rewarded or given items for it. you choose to donate because you want to support the shard not because you want free items. i mean i can see how in time this would become like a free market and like someone would be like well how much money do i have to donate for xyz item etc and i dont like the idea of that.

i totally respect that derrick and the other admins are not greedy and looking to exploit the whole items for $$$ and that is why i play here and im sure that is why most everyone plays here. we do not want people buying items or legitimizing selling of real currency for virtual items . this system while sure it would reward the donators would very fast become a way to inject alot of gold to your bank account. people would donate 20 a month for a few months to get these items and then sell them .

also i find it totally classic you say oh we will change item packages every few months . the reason donators would want that is so that not too many of the same item is not injected so they can keep demanding top dollar for their pixels. i think this is just totally against what derricks wants.

i really think if the shard was in some money troubles people would totally pay for whatever was needed personally i have never donated a cent but after reading this i would donate 20 dollars just because i think its the right thing to do not because i want some items.

the only way i would support this type of items is if they were totally bound to your account and if your house decayed they decayed.

[Braden]

Thanks Telamon for trying to think of a way to increase our donations.

Unfortunately, this goes against one of the fundamental tenants the shard was founded upon, which is that we will never accept real money for in-game items.

Back in the day, when people were trading items for real life money, a FOREX association developed between real money and gold. Back in 2002, it was $16 per 1,000,000 gold (iirc). Currently on UOSA, no such association exists. The value of $1 cannot compare to any amount of gold. We do not want such an association to exist.

As more gold is purchased for money, we will see a net bump in the amount of gold in the system causing the value of gold to decrease at a steeper rate and inflation to increase at an accelerated rate. This would not be good for UOSA players. The price of housing and goods will drastically increase while the cost of goods sold by NPCs will remain the same creating a grossly dispraportionate price gap.

[BlackFoot]

I am all for underwear dye as a donation reward.
every $100 donated you can dye one characters underwear yellow or brown. Non transferable even between characters on the same account.

[iamreallysquall]

All that text and no thought given to this?

No one is obligated or will receive any type of reward in-game for donating to the shard

It was the first thing that I thought of!

As a subscriber I really wish more people would donate, but I don't want to be rewarded nor do I like the idea of it. And I have a hard time taking seriously a post by somebody who has been bragging in game that, and these are direct quotes: "i dont donate sh*t anymore" and "so I hope Derrick likes paying for this place instead of having xmas money." Stay classy Telamon.

seconded

[Vilenarios]

Aside from helping the staff pay for server/network costs, what do the donations go to? How would it help bringing new players to the shard? Or would it just go to the staff as payment for spending time doing updates/helping players/etc?

[Kander]

I got a kick ass T2A sticker when I donated and a thank you card. IT WAS KICK ASSSSSSSSSS!