Donations

[b._.o._.b]

I've recently opened a PayPal account. I have to say that it is very easy and I was amazed how fast you can register and have money on your account. I thought you needed a credit card, but that's not necessary.
Now that I have the account I'm planning on donating something to a couple of developers.

I'd like to see some opinions on donating. Could it prevent some developers going commercial or switching to other scenes?
Is it better to give more developers less or less developers more?

What are your motivations of donating, and to which dev or project? My main motivation is a way of appreciating the work that has been done and given for free. Side effect is clearing my conscious

 

[Metalstar]

The way I do it, is to estimate how much I would have been happy to pay for the "product" and give that amount when possible.

I try to pick the best to donate to, giving £20 to one developer would mean more than giving £2 to 10 i think.

 

[Godmil]

I tend to donate once there is an emu or product that I would really like on a machine that is in a state that I'm happy with (i.e. it's playable - and preferably has savestates and zip support). I pretty usually just give $10, unless something is spectacular, or the developer has continued development and made everything better then I'll probably give another $10.

 

[dosteridge]

I would like to see, maybe, a paypal list on the front page with a list of our top guys to make it really easy to donate - i.e click on the name/emu/homebrew/whatever and your sent straight to the make a payment page.

I have donated to some, and still have some people I want to donate too, but sometimes tracking down how to pay them can be a pain.

Also, ofcourse, some of the devs may not be able to hold a paypal account. Perhaps in this instance one of the mods could hold the money for them.

So, in short, we need to make it easy for people to pay

 

[Parkydr]

You mean a page like this.

P.S. It's in alphabetical order, so I'm a bit over half way down

 

[b._.o._.b]

The way I do it at is to estimate how much I would have been happy to pay for the "product" and give that amount when possible.

I try to pick the best to donate to, giving £20 to one developer would mean more than giving £2 to 10 i think.

I can't remember ever buying any software for £20 (only pre-installed Windows), so that's not something I'm happy to pay for, but I understand what you mean. £2 is probably an amound that's too small (or the dev is asking for a donation like that)

I tend to donate once there is an emu or product that I would really like on a machine that is in a state that I'm happy with (i.e. it's playable - and preferably has savestates and zip support). I pretty usually just give $10, unless something is spectacular, or the developer has continued development and made everything better then I'll probably give another $10.

I think that will be my main criteria as well, playable and something I use a lot.
$10 sounds good too.. Unfortunately I will not be able to give to every project I appreciate. There are just too much of them.

So, in short, we need to make it easy for people to pay

http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/Donations

Looks pretty easy to me.

 

[dosteridge]

You mean a page like this.

P.S. It's in alphabetical order, so I'm a bit over half way down

Haha - yes exactly like that, and here's me trolling round looking in peoples sigs and homepages :lol: :lol:

Thanks for that, better go and check my credit card balance :blink:

 

[gaterooze]

My method's a little different, since I have almost no time to actually play anything for pleasure--so I usually donate just for encouragement or a general thank you to devs. Thus, it's usually smaller amounts ($5-10), but I donate quite often (well over a dozen devs so far).

If there was something in particular I use a lot (I usually just try stuff out to be aware what's out there), I would probably donate a greater amount at once.

 

[b._.o._.b]

My method's a little different, since I have almost no time to actually play anything for pleasure--so I usually donate just for encouragement or a general thank you to devs. Thus, it's usually smaller amounts ($5-10), but I donate quite often (well over a dozen devs so far).

If there was something in particular I use a lot (I usually just try stuff out to be aware what's out there), I would probably donate a greater amount at once.

Funny... I also tend to spend more time reading about gaming on this board than gaming itself. Hmm... I guess that's a donation for Hando

 

[hando]

B)-->

Funny... I also tend to spend more time reading about gaming on this board than gaming itself. Hmm... I guess that's a donation for Hando

Received. Thank you very much

 

[Cruel]

I thought you needed a credit card, but that's not necessary.

How`s that? And where from virtual money is getting? :blink:

 

[Squidge]

With Paypal, If you don't have a credit card, you can use direct debit instead

 

[psj3809]

I've donated to a fair few emulators over the past year, i cant give tons but if everyone gave a little bit i'm sure the developers would be happy. Put money towards MAME 100% as thats an amazing emulator and one i use tons, same with the GBA emulator as i would love to see a final version of that

Not keen on people moaning about not getting enough through donations though, one minute they say 'please donate if you like the game enough' and then moan when people dont donate enough

 

[Parkydr]

You shouldn't expect donations (even for stuff on the bounties list). If you want to try and make money, you should charge for your software.

I just chose projects I enjoy doing and would do anyway. Whenever I get a donation, it always comes as a pleasant surprise, the amount doesn't enter into it.

 

[Cruel]

Uh, maybe i`m doing something wrong, or it`s just PayPal don`t work properly with our country

Keep getting this message:

Add Funds is Not Available
PayPal does not currently offer the ability to add funds from your bank account.

Oh, well, at least i have tried.

 

[b._.o._.b]

Ok, well I've donated to some projects yesterday. Here are my experiences:

- With Paypal it is very easy to donate (and fast), so good job on them.

- It's too bad not every dev has a Paypal account. I'm not planning on getting a creditcard only for donating (sorry Skeezix )

- I was looking for Spoyser, but he's not on the donation list.

You shouldn't expect donations (even for stuff on the bounties list). If you want to try and make money, you should charge for your software.

Agreed, but the people offering bounties should really pay. Don't offer one if you don't have the money. I'm thinking of doing one myself. Is mentioning the bounty in this thread enough?