Guild Wars 2

Why not do a donation page similar to Kickstarter, to get community to donate money to developmental projects for the game, that interest them?

with something like this, we could have been had funding for a dedicated WvW developer.

Same with dedicated Gear Model Artist.

Also could have funded a dedicated World Event developer/designer.

that way Gem sells alone wont be the only way Developers can get funding.

Because this is an established business and that would meet up with so much resistance it would defeat the purpose. It would look very greedy.

What if McDonalds put up a donation box to develop more hamburgers?

If someone donates a substantial amount to a project and then it gets scrapped, do you think he’ll take it quietly? Most likely he’ll take them to court. People sue over stuff all the time, whether they have a case or not.

If you want to “donate” money to Anet, buy gems. You don’t have to use them, just buy them.

What? Why, lol.

If you want to “donate” to Anet, buy gems. It’s not the only way they get funding – that’s why they sold a full price expansion. And it’s probably why they will sell another in the future.

Yeah I like that idea,just look at star citzen they got 100m$ donated

Are you for real?

I rarely round on someone but I am sick and tired to the back teeth of established companies/celebrities/organisation using resources intended to help the ‘little guy’ get a leg up in an increasingly neocon multinational stranglehold obsessed society.

And there you are actually encouraging this rapacious behaviour?? Do you think Anet has to divvy up its 50 breadcrumbs to divide between staff every month? Do you understand modern Capitalism?
~micdrop

Stop it!

Someone brings up a Kickstarter-like donation idea every month or so, and every time it just seems like a bad idea (for the reasons already listed above by other people).

Not just seems like a bad idea, IS a bad idea.

“Help us finish legendary weapons!” Patreon campaign.

ArenaNet is a business, not a charity. I doubt they’ve got money problems in the first place, to be honest.

Seriously, why do people keep starting nonsensical threads like this?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Kickstarter-Upgrades-Anet-Servers
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/A-two-fold-question
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Kickstarter-to-provide-funds-for-new-content/first#post4621662
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/How-about-a-Kickstarter-for-new-class-skills

A small sampling of times this has come up in these forums, with explanations of why a kickstarter isn’t viable for an established prospering business and isn’t desirable in the specific case of a B2P game.

RoseofGilead.8907:

Someone brings up a Kickstarter-like donation idea every month or so,

It’s useful to consider why certain ideas keep getting brought up. There seem to be people who:

• Are impatient for ANet to fix/improve/add the content/mechanics they want most.
• Want more influence over ANet’s priorities.
• Think they have great ideas about what makes for a good game and want ANet to implement them.

It’s not crazy to want these things. Folks just have a tendency to ignore all the other factors that go into making a game or running a business (often because they’ve never done either before).

RoseofGilead.8907:

every time it just seems like a bad idea (for the reasons already listed above by other people).

Indeed.

uknortherner.2670:

Seriously, why do people keep starting nonsensical threads like this?

Several reasons. Sometimes they think they’ve just had a great idea and don’t realize it’s already been proposed (and shot down) many a time because they don’t know the search feature is busted and they need to google or do other searches to find previous threads. Sometimes they do know it’s been brought up before but with the recent spate of moderator locks on necroed threads they feel they need to start a new one to address an issue they still feel is valid despite previous failures for it to get traction. Sometimes they are trolling. In the latter case it can help to use a feature on these forums that does work: click on their name at the left side of the post, then click See All Posts by them, and skim through to get a feel for how they behave on the forums. If the same name keeps getting you doing that, eventually you’ll decide that s/he is merely trying to get a rise out of people and won’t feed their threads.

Whichever of these applies to the OP, the OP can feel free to send all the money s/he desires to ANet, but cannot expect ANet to then spend it as the OP directs. Which is one of the flaws among many in the proposal — people who fling money at something generally expect some control over the results and that’s not how major MMO development works.

Because Anet is a for-profit business. “Donations” to such a business are taxable as income and come with expectations that a product will delivered. It opens Anet to a truckload of legal crap and is a terrible idea.

If you want to support gameplay development instead of gem store sales, check out this idea instead: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Think-Tank-VIP-Subscription/page/2#post6177981

Rhyse.8179:

Because Anet is a for-profit business. “Donations” to such a business are taxable as income and come with expectations that a product will delivered. It opens Anet to a truckload of legal crap and is a terrible idea.

If you want to support gameplay development instead of gem store sales, check out this idea instead: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Think-Tank-VIP-Subscription/page/2#post6177981

They’re both terrible ideas. The gem store was specifically designed to support the game instead of having a subscription.

If ArenaNet implemented crowd funding, they’d just be saying “Guys, we’re desperate. Please gib cash” – and customers will turn away.

If ArenaNet implemented a VIP subscription, they’d just be saying “Guys, we’re desperate. Please gib cash” – and customers will turn away.

I’m sure the Gem Store more than covers their expenses for them to not need either too.

Knighthonor.4061:

Why not do a donation page similar to Kickstarter, to get community to donate money to developmental projects for the game, that interest them?

with something like this, we could have been had funding for a dedicated WvW developer.

Same with dedicated Gear Model Artist.

Also could have funded a dedicated World Event developer/designer.

that way Gem sells alone wont be the only way Developers can get funding.

We have very little say in what happens beyond “I think ABC would be great additions” or “XYZ should be tweaked/removed because MNO.” Get used to it.

Anyone who proposes or thinks this is a good idea is ignoring the idea that consumers should hold companies responsible for providing value for money. They would be enabling businesses to provide less for more, which is a growing trend as it is. If a company gets the idea it can give customers an incomplete or lacking product only to have the customers then throw money at them in advance to flesh that product out, that’s exactly what companies will do. Who loses in such a scenario? We do because it takes more money to get something decent.

I know we need a Kickstarter for “GUILD WARS 2 MOUNT FUND”

Just because someone has a idea doesn’t mean Anet thinks it’s a good idea or in their immediate plans. I’m sure half the ideas we players come up with wouldn’t fit in the existing game or would cause some odd conflict that we couldn’t even comprehend. It’s a business, their business. We as customers can make suggestions, stay customers or not.

Setting aside the (numerous) reasons why this idea might not pan out like you want it to, it’s also fundamentally opposed to what they’re trying to do right now.

A while ago, Mike O’Brien declared that they want to delight us with what they ship, not just with promises. A crowdfunding campaign is literally selling people on promises. That can be good or bad, but it’s definitely not what they’re trying to do right now, especially after certain missteps in the not-so-distant past.

They would just spend it on blackjack and hookers

But seriously, I doubt a donation system would work since people paid good money for an xpac which they still hasn’t fully released. Which is strange seeing as this was the same company that put out 3 games and 1 xpac within years of each other and supported for years. Just goes to show how bad its gotten.