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[Grakelin]

At a guess, one consequence of this will be that the 40d# merge gets delayed.

I am a bit confused by the assertion that decreasing funding to somebody makes them perform their job slower. It might make sense if your name is Jim Halpert and you're a paper salesman, or if you're an accountant, but it does not work for somebody who is essentially running their own business. If money actually became tight for Toady, he would be better off rushing a release than delaying it further.

I don't think he tabulates his monthly earnings, divides by 20-30, and works that many hours per month (though that would be amusing). Toady is making Dwarf Fortress, but he doesn't have to spend the month of March hunting vermin for food because $1500 wasn't enough to pay for his bedroom AND some plump helmets.

[Baughn]

Nonono, that's not what happens.

The thought process is thus:
- Funding is down.
- Funding is down because there have been no releases.
- We must release soon.
- Thus, skip anything we can skip without compromising quality.

40d# definitely falls into that category; the game runs perfectly well without it, and his current codebase is 40d#-less anyway.

[knowbuddyuno]

Huh. I never took ThreeToe's stories as outright requests for additional funds. I thought they were simply a reflection of funding for the month (a la the Goblins webcomic's 'Tempts Fate' adventures). More donations = something cool happens in the short story. Fewer donations = something less cool happens. Maybe it's a bit simple of me, but I always saw it as a status update in cool story form. I think ThreeToe and Toady appreciate that the numbers speak for themselves.

[Orkel]

I am a bit confused by the assertion that decreasing funding to somebody makes them perform their job slower.

Maybe he has been dwarfified from working on the game so much. Kinda like how lack of alcohol makes dwarves slow

[h3lblad3]

I have trouble knowing what the support model for the game is.
URW at least is clear, the game is indy and will stay indy and for x dollars you get a life time license. My money flew to that one. Mount and Blade was clear. My money flew to that one.
This one is less clear. Do they want donations until they can sell the complete game and then we would buy it?  The other issue is that some people have been doing a "pledge money to donate when the next version comes out" thing that is certainly costing toady money right now.
I would say this game is worthy of spending money on right now. I have enjoyed trying to figure the damn thing out. But not sure what my dollars would do, are they the sole support for the team of two?

I don't think you have to worry about a version 1.0 coming out and making you pay. 
Plus, it'd be well worth the price tag he puts on it if he did which I doubt he ever will.

By the time 1.0 comes out, everything will be in the raws and any changes he makes could just be put into the previous version by a dedicated modder.

Unless he rewrites the game.

[nil]

Huh. I never took ThreeToe's stories as outright requests for additional funds. I thought they were simply a reflection of funding for the month (a la the Goblins webcomic's 'Tempts Fate' adventures). More donations = something cool happens in the short story. Fewer donations = something less cool happens. Maybe it's a bit simple of me, but I always saw it as a status update in cool story form. I think ThreeToe and Toady appreciate that the numbers speak for themselves.

Bingo.  It's like the little stories you get when donating writ large.

[nenjin]

I really can't help but feel this thread was intended as troll bait. Shockingly, or perhaps not, no one has really risen to it.

[Noble Digger]

Ehh, the last time someone made a thread like this it was very disrespectfully-flavored and calling us all morons for donating to a game that hasn't had a release in forever, and in fact inciting people not to donate as a means of starving Toady into releasing. Pretty moronic shit, and I for one decided to indulge in flaming the guy... Toady ended up having to close the thread but I regret nothing. This guy wasn't disrespectful like that :O

[Retro]

I am a bit confused by the assertion that decreasing funding to somebody makes them perform their job slower.

Maybe he has been dwarfified from working on the game so much. Kinda like how lack of alcohol makes dwarves slow

I concur. My next donation will forego cash in favour of vast quantities of rum.

[LordNagash]

A lot of people here don't seem to understand the word 'donation'

See, a donation isn't something where you give money and get something back. If I give money to a charity I don't expect them to come clean my house or something, that's not how a donation works. A donation is money given to help someone keep doing what they're doing.

Toady already gives you more insight into where your money is going than pretty much any other organisation you could give your money to, with (usually) daily development logs, regular answers to questions in the Future of the Fortress thread and monthly podcasts about the future of the project, plus you actually get a little ascii art and a story to go with it if you donate.

I mean I am not going to say I am totally thrilled with the wait either, but it's not like the response from Toady is 'Just shut up, it will be done when it's done.' He has admitted that this took way too long, and said he never plans to do it again.

What more do people want, seriously?

[Bauglir]

-snip-

[DeadlyLintRoller]

I don't get to play with excel charts very often and decided to seize this moment. It's also been a long time since I've practiced any statistics, but it looks like 2009 was a good year, February is historically a bad month, but the trend continues upward.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Threetoe Mission Status is always an artful interpretation of that months donation activity. I thought nothing of it when I read it.

[Strife26]

The forum gets awfully defensive whenever anyone suggests that Toady not updating is a bad thing.

Mind you, it's true, and I'm pretty sure that Toady has admitted that this long upgrade cycle was a bit of a mistake (I think it was DFT 4 where he said "and if it takes until March, that's just sad).

Being the bastard that I am, I only get around to donating when something big happens.

[Shades]

What more do people want, seriously?

You need to re-read if that is the impression you got. Most people donate and don't except anything (well maybe the ascii-art stories). Most complaints here are about the asking for donations rather than stopping them in an effort to get the game release or something silly like that. Sure there are a few people that make the mistake you say but not a lot.

All I personally want is to be able to donate and feel good about it, not to be asked for donations and feel I need to. I don't think that is much to ask.

[Sean Mirrsen]

What more do people want, seriously?

You need to re-read if that is the impression you got. Most people donate and don't except anything (well maybe the ascii-art stories). Most complaints here are about the asking for donations rather than stopping them in an effort to get the game release or something silly like that. Sure there are a few people that make the mistake you say but not a lot.

All I personally want is to be able to donate and feel good about it, not to be asked for donations and feel I need to. I don't think that is much to ask.

Well, it's not much to ask, I guess. However, though I don't know what it says in your personality profile, something tells me the line "He likes helping others" isn't there. Can't you feel good after donating money to someone who asked for it because he needs it?