How do you feel about donation bonuses?

[tajjuk 65]

Skins yes, guns no.

People will pay for it though so it's a clever idea,

[spangley_special 19]

No. I've been playing a whole load of different servers recently (I am in search of a new long term home) and stumbled upon a server where IRC 25$ got you an as50, ghillie, SD M9, heli and other stuff. Having this stuff on spawn meant they just didn't care if they died so were running around the coast taking on new spawns.

Not a good way to build a server, but hopefully takes the people with that kind of attitude and gives them somewhere far from me to do their asshattery, leaving legit servers to attract (hopefully) a better level of regulars.

[dallas 5195]

There's a big difference between donations to run servers and then selling items to make a profit.

No one is selling ghillies and AS50s to provide a better service, they are just exploiting a free mod.

[RJTurneR 112]

You find most of these servers that give gear for donations are poorly run, or the Admins have no clue. I stand by what I have always said about this, and that I don't mind donating, but I don't want gear. I'm willing to contribute to imrpove a server, keep it running at high performence, and help build a community within that server through things like server events.

And no offense to any of you that have paid for gear, but you have to have a pretty low IQ in fairness. I have recently been playing PvP servers were you spawn with good gear. One of these servers also allows you to donate for more gear. So everyone ends up with AS50 TWS. What does that say? That people can not use gear they are given, they have to use OP gear to even attempt to kill somebody, and they have to pay for it to do that.

Donating £10 for a virtual weapon and backpack, that will last you mearly a day before you killed by someone most likely more skilled, playing fairly, sticking to games roots, and using his own gear. Guess what? You got ripped off.

It's a shame, there are some really good private servers out there that are really well run, care about those playing, the admins mantain it very well, and they have good communities. Then you got servers like this.. Who fool people, and make money of it.

I almost wish you had to pass some sort of test to even host your own server, just so we could get rid of these kind of servers.

Edited May 10, 2013 by RJTurneR

[charley-taylor@hotmail.co.uk 39]

I was complaining to some admins on a private hive and they banned me for saying it was a huge unfair advantage as their donors spawned with as50 and fn fal

[Guest]

As most of you know, some servers have started offering bonuses to players who donate to the server. These can range anywhere from starting with guns, to a special skin of your choice,

However, I get the feeling that not everyone likes these, so I created a poll.

Personally, I think that bonuses in the form of cosmetic fluff (skins) are okay, but getting weapons for donating just crosses the line.

To be honest thats cool with me. If enjoy that server, then any support is good. Plus you can get the gear they have on the map anyways.

[jdz (DayZ) 238]

I once played on a server that you could buy bases on... These bases had barracks, lockable gates and vehicles. Unless you were a part of the clan, you weren't allowed to touch anything and would get banned. It's safe to say that we made it living hell for the base owners

[Auslovich 48]

It's not a true donation if you're getting something in return, in some cases it's blatantly pay-to-win.

I'm against anything but the skin, but they need to offer an incentive otherwise only a tiny percent of the population of the server would donate.

Of course, donation rewards work so much better on games other than DayZ, lol.

[Auslovich 48]

I was complaining to some admins on a private hive and they banned me for saying it was a huge unfair advantage as their donors spawned with as50 and fn fal

Same happened to me on a certain Fallujah server when I was complaining about the gear you spawn with.

[SaraMichelle 62]

I think doing donations for things that are not game breaking are okay but no high or even med end weapons/gear, maybe a revolver and a Winchester and a 12 slot bag at most. But no AS50s or DMR or NVG, or anything that is really rare. I understand personally why people ask for donations. Simply put, being an admin/owner of a server can be a full time job, and cost money to keep it up and running. You have to pay to upgrade it, and i have even seen some scripts that you have to pay for if it is wanted on the server. There are even additional anti hack programs that cost money as well. Its nice when people donate on their own but most people want something in return. Just how the world works,

Edited May 10, 2013 by SaraMichelle

[colekern 1364]

Edit- I misread someones post.

Edited May 11, 2013 by colekern

[Saethkept 134]

As most of you know, some servers have started offering bonuses to players who donate to the server. These can range anywhere from starting with guns, to a special skin of your choice,

However, I get the feeling that not everyone likes these, so I created a poll.

Personally, I think that bonuses in the form of cosmetic fluff (skins) are okay, but getting weapons for donating just crosses the line.

This is a very sore subject for me. I was on a great Chernarus server months back where the seemingly "friendly" admins - tweedle dee and dumber - would often try to interact all the time with us players. After a few days of seeming bliss and getting set up, I was playing alone with one of the admins. All he wanted to talk to me about was donation packages and what kind of gear a player should get for each level of donation. He whined on and on about the costs of running a server, and subtly hinted that I should donate to help out. Anyway, it came down to the admin telling me I had to donate in order play on his server. I walked.

I've had my own server for four months. I know how much it costs to run one, to rent a teamspeak server, to set up a free website and forum to pitch your own server to the DayZ community. It is ridiculously cheap my friends. My opinion, you ask for donations, you were not cut to be an admin in the first place. It is that simple. To those who boo hoo about not being able to continue to pay for their server without donations, I think that is just too bad.

DayZ is free. We've all bought Arma2, OA, and perhaps PMC and BAF. Why on Earth would you pay someone for gear you can easily enough get in game? If I wanted to pay a monthly fee, I'd play an MMO.

Edit: Paying to "upgrade" your server? Paying for better anti-hack software? Spend a few months learning to script .sqf, learn your way around the database and do it yourself for free or with the FREE aid of the awesome Arma2/DayZ scripting community. As for bought anti-hack software, passing that cost to your player base is very questionable.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Saethkept

[colekern 1364]

This is a very sore subject for me. I was on a great Chernarus server months back where the seemingly "friendly" admins - tweedle dee and dumber - would often try to interact all the time with us players. After a few days of seeming bliss and getting set up, I was playing alone with one of the admins. All he wanted to talk to me about was donation packages and what kind of gear a player should get for each level of donation. He whined on and on about the costs of running a server, and subtly hinted that I should donate to help out. Anyway, it came down to the admin telling me I had to donate in order play on his server. I walked.

I've had my own server for four months. I know how much it costs to run one, to rent a teamspeak server, to set up a free website and forum to pitch your own server to the DayZ community. It is ridiculously cheap my friends. My opinion, you ask for donations, you were not cut to be an admin in the first place. It is that simple. To those who boo hoo about not being able to continue to pay for their server without donations, I think that is just too bad.

DayZ is free. We've all bought Arma2, OA, and perhaps PMC and BAF. Why on Earth would you pay someone for gear you can easily enough get in game? If I wanted to pay a monthly fee, I'd play an MMO.

Edit: Paying to "upgrade" your server? Paying for better anti-hack software? Spend a few months learning to script .sqf, learn your way around the database and do it yourself for free or with the FREE aid of the awesome Arma2/DayZ scripting community. As for bought anti-hack software, passing that cost to your player base is very questionable.

Really, it depends on whether or not your host your own servers, or rent them.

[Devon206 (DayZ) 77]

Fine as long as you don't spawn with an Anit-Material Rifle.

[leviski 2152]

P2w is a sin and if you like it then go get a life/give me that money and ill use it for something useful.

THERE ARE SO MANY FUCKING p2W games no days I pisses me off.

[Sutinen 635]

What I feel like the guy that donated is an idiot.. Especially if the point of the donation is to get more free shit or to become the admins friend ("Admin, I suck at this game so ban the "hackers" that killed me")

[dulix11 731]

As long as the skin is permanent and toggle-able then I'm in.

[Guest]

Do I get a Llama ?

[Mos1ey 6301]

Its not one dimensional. Servers have to make enough money to pay the bills if they are to stay alive.

So you want to run a server and play with admin superpowers but your players should pay for it for you? Lol.

The players make the server, without them it's nothing. Asking them for donations is just wrong IMO.

[Leto (DayZ) 72]

I donated on 2 servers to get the soldier skin. Never cared much about getting a free gun, but starting with some tools and medicinal items was quite useful.

[Rage VG 4033]

Donations are for assisting the team to make the game more fun and complete.

Thus, giving donators anything that isn't cosmetic is counter-intuitive; you are taking away a part of the game (Finding the weapons) as opposed to adding more parts of the game.

Cosmetics are perfectly fine as long as they are not obstructive.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Rage VG

[Element47 2481]

donation perks have no place. mind, i am not opposed to micro-transactions for cosmetic items as part of the financial model of the SA. but it has no place in community-run servers. its fine if you as a player want donate to the people who run your fav server to support them. but not if you expect special treatment for it.

Servers have to make enough money to pay the bills

do they?

i run a few dedicated servers, on which i host Trackmania Nations, Warsow, TF2 and HL2DM gameservers, plus TS3 servers for a few clans. I would host DayZ if there were proper linux server files. its part of my gaming hobby, my passion, and hence my expenses. others do spend similar amount of money on parties or other leisure activities. i used to spend much more on sex, drugs n rock'n'roll in my youth than i do now on servers.

i do not expect others to pay for it. it doesnt have to be a single person who pays for a server, it can be a clan, or a bunch of friends, who band together and agree on sharing the costs. but you shouldnt expect your players to pay for your server. and you shouldnt entice donations through perks. thats my understanding of "community-run" servers.

[wooly-back-jack 294]

I have been paying for mine since November, I get the odd donation and if they are regular players with a sensible head who donate then I may set them up a limited access admin account. Just to do restarts/timechange and stuff :)

[SaraMichelle 62]

So it is okay for someone to run a server, learn all the database stuff like SQL, ect i don't know everything cuz i just know basic stuff, **plus no matter how much they learn some scrips just cost to even get** But it is okay for them to spend their ENTIRE day working on bugs, helping people, adding in scripts, fixing scrips, ect. But they don't deserve ANYTHING for it! Never mind the fact that they more then likly put up the server cuz they like to play the game itself, and prolly don't play as much as they like since they are the owner of the server, i know this personally, cuz i rarely get to play, cuz when i get on it is Admin this and admin that. Either way It is a full time job, i know cuz i seen my boyfriend always working on our server weather it is him in admining, or working in the data base, fixing issues ect. And i am always on our server as an admin, and i work IRL on top of it. However I do enjoy admining our server but it is extremely time consuming, and there are alot of whiny people out there that we have to listen to, and 'kiss @ss' to cuz we are the admins! And unlike alot of private hive servers **not all**, were friendly, helpful, and we don't do @ssh0le things to our players, just cuz were admins! Personally if i didn't have my own server, i would most definitely donate to a server that had good, honest, admins, that didn't use god mode to kill you cuz you killed there BFF! In the end if you don't like it then play on a server that doesn't have any donation options, obviously they have more money then most and can afford to host a server for everyone and there mothers to play on, destroy, bug up, hack or whatever. However, at this point weapons or anything for donation. One of the things we do offer is a base, my boyfriend will build it with the 3d editor, nothing HUGE or anything, just something small that is safe from trolls. And we have Base Building as well, for those who just wanna build there own. We offer a few other non op things, but nothing that we consider game breaking. We have played this game on and off since it released. So we know that the point of the game is to scavenge things, vs getting them handed to you for a little cash!

Edited May 16, 2013 by SaraMichelle

[mzltv 2281]

A low-end gun and a skin seem okay.. as long as the skins don't offer any advantage and the gun is low end with limited ammo... otherwise you're just removing the challenge.