I'm probably not the only one who doesn't understand the need for any kind of special hosting. Add to this the fact that a big part of this project is closed source and you get a user base which feels this is someone else's project. I think these are the main reasons so few people do donate to this project and why many who did will probably never donate again. Don't take this the wrong way, parts of this project are open sourced, nobody can be against that and it is always a shame to see this threatened in any way.
This project however did not start out with such requirements for money, and why it acquired them along the way is but one of the many sad things which happened to it. This project has always been in some kind of danger of being shut down at some point, but it was never really by Sony, which is odd as Sony is the only one this project should have to worry about.
This is an EverQuest emulator. EverQuest is a Sony product. Sony does not like people making money off of them and will do all they can to prevent that. So all that is needed for this project to carry-on is to stay away from Sony's pockets. Believe me when I say that the people at Sony can count better than you and I can. They will not go out spending a single dime if they do not see a gain from it. How much would that be worth? Would you spend money to shut down what is known as "EqEmu"?
Funny thing is allot of people would say "Yes!". Those people, who often have their own agendas besides the good of the project, justify it with different far fetched ideas, when in fact EqEmu is just an innocent bystander in their ideas and not the core problem at all. But hey, at least those people try to justify themselves rather than just coming up to you and being upfront about them just doing it because they can or just feel like it. Then there are those who just want to fit in! I tell you, Sony is the least of this projects worries. Then there are those like me who just stood by all these years not caring enough to try to change things.
Actually, I did donate 100$ to the project a few years back, but then the guy to whom I donated was pushed out of the project and almost took it down with him. Not to mention that it didn't evolve any faster after people donated whatever was needed. Actually it didn't evolve at all for a darn long while. That made me wonder why they needed any money in the first place when you can just pay 5$ a month to host a forum.
I will say this about the community, People are now really helpful on this forum, which is a real nice change as this place was packed so full of jack-asses you couldn't get a straight answer about anything. Cheers to everyone here but me, cause I don't do a thing.
|