I was initially offset when I learned about the donator items too, but if you think about it, the way the GM/dev team have developed THF is a mile ahead of the other custom EQ servers (IMHO) and in the real world, developing custom content and maintaining a quality server (fiber internet bandwidth, "real server" hardware, electric bill, upgrades, etc.) cost $$$. You can't really expect the GM/dev/operating team to shoulder the cost of running everything from their own pockets, especially a server with THF's quality and support. If you want a rock solid & custom server, plus a loyal & mature community, THF is the place to be.
Other EMU servers are running on old server hardware (or even laptops, or regular PCs, etc.). Being in the IT field, I shudder at the idea of leveling several toons to 65/70, building AAs, investing a lot of TIME/effort, then suddenly the server crashes and all character information/database is lost... what happens now if there are no backups and the server got completely hosed?
The point of the donator items is to motivate some of the players to share the cost of developing and operating THF. A well run server depends on the community's support. In return for your support (which is entirely voluntary), you are given powerful items, but these items doesn't make you more uber and play in god mode. At best, they are just very slightly superior to the best items obtained in the game itself. I welcome this idea now, and understand why the donation system was put in place. You can just keep your money, play for free, enjoy the custom content, and ignore the donator items (like what Chaos pointed out above).
I'm having a blast on this server, and don't mind handing out a small contribution to the effort. I box 5 accounts and would have paid $75 on live servers per month for traditional content and far less enjoyable experience.
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