The Funding Question: What SHOULD Chucklefish Do?

This is a debate that I've seen many times over, including this very morning. Money is a touchy subject in a great many ways, and always carries legal implications. What are people's expectations? What is an appropriate way for fans to get behind this game? My personal feeling is this: Donations are the most straight up, simple, and direct way to go. Many will cite the Terraria fiasco, saying "Even the end product was not good enough." There is one MASSIVE difference: Terraria was PROMISING a game for that money. To allow donations, WITH a disclaimer that this is NOT a pre-order, nor is the person going to receive anything save supporting the development of the game and the company, would give people the opportunity to MAKE that choice to be part of making it happen. While I think merchandise, such as a T shirt or hat, are also definite possibilities, I think it leads people into another grey area in terms of expectations. That said however, basically letting people PURCHASE a hat or T shirt so that money will go to Chucklefish is a solid plan. So, I'm asking that people please participate in the poll above, so that the team can actually get a realistic representation of how the largest percentage of the community WOULD be willing to contribute. On the other side of the coin, do you DISLIKE the idea of donations? If so, please share why. There won't be an accurate picture of the way the community feels otherwise, and I'd like this to be something they can act on!

 

Personally, I would just donate straight to the company, but it is always better if you get something from it.

I voted for the first and fourth options myself.

 

Before you all go voting for the t-shirt/hat option, you need to understand that the costs and workload involved in producing, shipping, and managing such items can easily outwiegh the donations coming in, and seriously hamper developement.

 

Any of them for me. Yeah, that's why T-Shirts are sually Limited as one of the Higher donation options if people do things like Kickstarter or whatever the people do to make the Donators Gain from donating.

 

Hm, is cafepress horrible? I think it would be less of a hassle to do it that way.

 

I mis-clicked and ruined my vote :S Anyway, I'd have voted for straight donation (supporter title on forums doesn't mean a lot to me since I usually only frequent the IRC.)

 

I'll pick straight forward donations,look at the yogscast's new game,they got over £9000 in a matter of days

 

I personally like it the way bloackade runner is doiung it.

 

How about any donation above the $50 mark gets a custom-designed forum avatar, put together by your choice out of George, Legris, Rho & Fetalstar?

 

I actually pressed the 1 3 and 4 option, because I think you should get something. What I actually would prefer to all these would be an "update letter" so every month you get an e-mail with the last updates. That would be kinda cool, and I think a lot people would donate under that conditions.

 

That's an EPIC idea. I wish I could edit the bloody poll!!

A sort of newsletter? That's another good idea

 

thank you

 

I'd pay to be able to get more "behind the scenes" stuff, like to be able to follow the development more closely, but that'd be kinda excluding those who can't donate so..

 

yes but it should Be a kind of reward. But it would also get those people to donate who say: I'll donate 1$ and then sell the stuff I get to know because there are ennough naive people who think I'm hacking their server" or things like that.

 

Giving out info can be a little tricky like that, yeah. Definitely the potential there for abuse

 

If I could afford to donate 50$ I would definately want a custom forum avatar from the graphical artists RIGHT NOW!

Alas, I cannot afford such a thing. I made some money online this month, but still, I have more important things to spend it on, unfortunately. But such is life. I want to be able to donate a lesser amount and still be able to get something in return.

I know the donation is going towards Chucklefish, but still, if I don't even get a thank you e-mail or something, I feel like I've been mistaken for a found wallet.

 

I can't imagine them doing this without SOME kind of thank you message, the team is way too awesome to be that rude

 

Okey, I must agree with you on this one, because they are just that awesome!

 

I say 2 and 4

 

Sample post about donations:

Please 'Like' if you support this.

Edit: Added the lines in yellow.