Is a flat donation model viable in 2024?
I've been developing a custom game mode and I'm thinking of hosting a server based around it. This may come off as incredibly naive, but I've been considering making all the usual perks, ranks, items, cosmetics, etc earnable in-game rather than paid. The only edge you can get over others besides playing the game would be some minor vote rewards.
My guess is that this would be a breath of fresh air for a lot of players, but the cynical side of me thinks that people are too used to aggressive monetization to appreciate my efforts to provide a better experience. So my question is, in 2024, can i cover costs if the only income are donations with no rewards associated?
1. Currently I am the sole developer of the gamemode. It's an action-rpg style zombie shooter-looter with heavy custom-worldgen elements and a robust horde system. Dead players come back as zombies, teammates can revive each other, all the works. Progress is slow but going well.
2. This is a passion project. I'm not trying to make a business or anything, I'll just need to cover hosting costs. Anything extra is just compensation for my time and any volunteer staff I end up having.
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Requested by hjk321#0
I'm just one person with one experience, but I've never been able to cover costs with straight donations. Usually I'll get several donations right at launch, and a few more might trickle in over time, but I've never made the total donations last more than 6 months.
A lot of people have enough success with strictly EULA compliant, non-predatory perks that it shouldn't be too hard to pay the bills with that structure. It's very possible to have no crates at all, and no p2w stuff like crazy enchants, fly, etc., and still pay the bills. The challenge comes when people want to "make a living" hosting Minecraft servers, which almost always ends up in unbalanced ranks and some form of gambling.
tl;dr: It's not too tough to keep your soul clean and keep the server online; if you want to actually be paid for your time (and pay a staff), it becomes very difficult.
yeah, i personally am in the same boat. I think it would be a breath of fresh air for the communtiy, i'm sure, to not have any predatory perks or p2w things. I blessed enough to make enough money to keep the server up and never notice it come out of my check. But not everybody is in that boat lol.
I was able to cover my server with donations in 2023. But tbat was the first year ever I was able to do so.
But that is not very repräsentative
Like 80% of my donations are from micro transactions, without micro transactions I wouldn't be able to afford running my server