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Author Topic: The funds! The funds are holding us back!  (Read 23545 times)

KaelGotDwarves

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #45 on: March 01, 2010, 11:00:26 pm »

Yeah, some of you guys need to read the monthly updates and threetoe's stories more if you're really thrown off. It could've been worded better but Threetoe's always been exhuberant like that.

SirPenguin

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #46 on: March 01, 2010, 11:02:41 pm »

Right or wrong, I think Toady (and most people on the forums) consider it tactful to not frame donations as some kind of quid pro quo transaction, even if that is the mindset of many donors.

And since the current release is in the final testing stages, there is no longer any way to speed up the release schedule by leaving some features out, thus whining about the delayed release changes nothing.

This is the best post to ever be made on the Bay12 forums
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bombcar

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #47 on: March 01, 2010, 11:13:31 pm »

and I love my periods I guess....

Here's the proper Unicode for you: … (U+2026)

Aka, the famous dot dot dot.
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Misterstone

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #48 on: March 02, 2010, 12:41:51 am »

Note that it's $51 a day. Buy a Toady One for only $51 a day!

For just $51 a day you can change the life of a struggling independent video game developer.  In return for your sponsorship, you will receive daily devlog entries, podcasts and infrequent version updates.  Over the years you will be able to see how your donations improve the life of your developer and his cat as they grow and mature.
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Cheddarius

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #49 on: March 02, 2010, 12:55:30 am »

Hmmm. Suppose we have all the "active" members - members that have 1000+ posts - donate a fixed amount. That's a quarter a day for DF development. Not bad.
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DeadlyLintRoller

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #50 on: March 02, 2010, 01:19:57 am »

I suspect that anyone who would have potentially donated in Feb is holding off until the release. He will see a huge amount of donations when it hits. DF is more popular than ever. Just compare the thread views in the announcements forum of the posts from 2007 to  now.

He made five grand in december. That is twice what I make on a monthly basis and I live in one of the most expensive areas to live in the US. Toady is doing fine, the fan base is growing. All is well.
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I'm back!

Retro

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #51 on: March 02, 2010, 02:22:16 am »

This thread is fun. In the same kind of way that losing is.

Honestly, we're talking about donations. It's kind of weird that there's a discussion about this at all. You can pay or not pay; I don't see how the matter can get any more fleshed out than that.

XSI

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #52 on: March 02, 2010, 03:41:57 am »

I would say if everyone playing DF just donated 1$ each(Or more, depending on if they want to give more) every month then there would be a lot more money going that way, possibly more then 10k each month(There are more DF players then you may expect).

Speaking of which, I'm going to go check my paypall account to see if I have some extra cash on it.

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Noble Digger

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #53 on: March 02, 2010, 04:05:10 am »

Hmmm. Suppose we have all the "active" members - members that have 1000+ posts - donate a fixed amount. That's a quarter a day for DF development. Not bad.

I wouldn't necessarily call post count a measure of activity... Remember some of us spend far more time playing than posting.
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quib·ble
1. To evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections.
2. To find fault or criticize for petty reasons; cavil.

smokingwreckage

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #54 on: March 02, 2010, 04:28:42 am »

I know I get angry when people who produce a game I would have happily bought at retail for $80 (AUD) ask for a donation so they can buy food. Where do they get off, I ask.

Gotta donate somethin', I don't have much money at all, but I can spare a quid for DF. Off to donate am I.
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Raz

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #55 on: March 02, 2010, 04:38:35 am »

Despite the fact that the entry should have been worded differently, I don't think you should make such a fuss about it. Every kind of release schedule always upsets somebody.
If he'd released a version with a couple of minor changes, you would've complained that the version was hardly different from 40d. If he'd released it in its current, buggy state, you would've complained that the game is too buggy. Also, for every minor fix or update, you'd have to start your fort all over again.

Instead, Toady chose to do all the revamping of the core stuff in one go. It will only get better from now on.

Also, I feel quite guilty that I haven't donated a single penny so far, despite playing since 2007 (haven't played for about a year though) and because I always thought Toady should get by quite well with current donations. This thread made me think of donating regularly, so I guess it had quite the adverse effect for the OP. :D
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carebear

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #56 on: March 02, 2010, 06:36:51 am »

Money can't buy extra hours in a day. Lower donations should hardly have any influence on his working speed.
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Shades

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #57 on: March 02, 2010, 07:28:44 am »

Money can't buy extra hours in a day. Lower donations should hardly have any influence on his working speed.

But as mentioned if it means he has to get a job, or even a part time job to survive then it does influence working speed. That said I don't appreciate the 'funds are holding us back' statement either.

Despite the fact that the entry should have been worded differently, I don't think you should make such a fuss about it. Every kind of release schedule always upsets somebody.

It was a silly thing to say it like that. Especially as there was (is) a high chance of a donation drive thread when the number drops that low.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2010, 07:31:19 am by Shades »
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zwei

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #58 on: March 02, 2010, 07:40:30 am »

Money can't buy extra hours in a day. Lower donations should hardly have any influence on his working speed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Lower donations can shift him from whatever level he is on to L2/L1, and that would be quite bad for development overall.

If someone is on L3/4 and has to worry about slipping to L2/3, it does hit productivity too, depresed developers are not going to do good job.

You are right that extra money does not buy more hours per day or improve someones skill. But you want you eployee to be in good position in his life overall so that he can work on his peak, that means paying him enough to be able to comfortably support his lifestyle (family man should be paid enough to be able to take care of his family for example).

I would say last donation month is at edge of being worrying, and i'd most certainly say it is going to push release by few days if it actually causes some stress.

smokingwreckage

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Re: The funds! The funds are holding us back!
« Reply #59 on: March 02, 2010, 10:17:58 am »

In the real world, money does in effect buy more hours in the day. Almost inevitably, the cheapest way of meeting needs is also the most time-consuming. Appropriate tools can effectively increase work-hours, and cost money. Refined and/or redundant tools can then reduce downtime, further increasing work-hours. All of this ignores the possibility of bringing in work for hire, if not for the project itself, then for other demands on Toady's daily productive work-hours, thus further increasing his usable daily work-hours.





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