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In the first of a series of many blogs I plan to do, I ask "what is a good donator benefit?". Too many times have I seen overpowered benefits for donating. Yes, I get that servers need donations to run, in fact I completely agree that they should ask for people to buy subscription or a one time payment for some extra in-game perks. However, there's a line where a perk turns into an overpowered advantage.
It just looks good, and doesn't provide an unfair advantage over everyone else. In fact, I think it's a great thing to offer in return for donations as it makes it obvious who donated. A word of advice though: in my opinion, rainbow names are icky.
I think being able to login to a server when full (such as at peak times) is a fantastic bonus! While it acts as an incentive for players to donate, it doesn't mean free players lose out on everything, as they can still login during less busy times.
At the very least, I recommend that every server offers this to their staff, so that they can login if trouble occurs during peak times and sort out the situation.
For example, if the server prevents normal players from placing TNT and lava to prevent griefing, then I see no problem with allowing donators to place them (although I recommend you use a plugin to log placement of these two things) - in general, donators are less likely to do things that will get them banned, although there are always some that will.
What I don't think is a good perk is where the admin blocks placement of certain blocks that don't need to be blocked (such as brick, seeds, ore blocks etc) to "encourage" people to donate (when in reality, they're just being greedy and forcing people to donate for things that they shouldn't have to).
If you allow free players to protect 25x25 blocks of land, then allowing donators to claim 40x40 blocks of land seems fine to me. There's always the same issue as the restricted item placement, where the server owner purposely only gives them a small amount of land to pretty much force them to donate - e.g.: free players only getting to claim 5x5x5 of land and donators getting to claim 100x100x100 of land - it's just plain unfair.
The same applies to plots if you have a plot based world. Sure, let donators claim a few extra plots, just don't give then the ability to claim ones that are already claimed by others, or an excessive amount.
Daily currency bonuses or periodically available kits are great, but don't overpower the bonus! An iron ingot or two every day isn't overpowered, 500 diamonds is. Think "is it possible to get this bonus by mining/gathering in the same amount of time a donator can claim it?", If not, then the bonus is too high and overpowered in my opinion.
Please, just no. It's a staff power to be able to punish players, not a donator's. I promise you, at some point it will be abused to the extent where you'll lose players. It's a completely unfair perk where if a donator disagrees with what a free players says, they can effectively "torture" the player.
It does tie in with my last point, but even indirectly offering staff powers puts you in my bad books. Staff should be chosen because they're good at their job (which is moderating in most circumstances), not because they have money to spare.
Please, just choose good candidates and ignore their donation status. Someone not donating doesn't mean they don't want to support the server, it could just mean they can't afford to do so!
A survival server should be exactly that: survival. Giving paying players to ability to spawn items in is just overpowered. Any server that does allow that shouldn't call themselves survival, because quite frankly, they are not.
Flight's a huge advantage too, you can cover large distances in a relatively safe way that's much quicker than if you were walking. It also makes building much easier, and if the server is indeed survival, then it shouldn't be so easy.
Just no. All players should be punished equally, and all rules should apply to all players. If a server doesn't allow free players to x-ray (which is basic common sense), then no-one shouldn't be allowed to. Donators are not some kind of god (or at least shouldn't be), they're just people who have spare money, and should be treated as such.
Other games will happily ban you even if you are a paid subscriber and you break the rules. I don't think Minecraft servers should be any exception.
Just give it to all your players, not just donators. It's multiplayer after all, so not being able to communicate with the rest of the community just makes it a bit... pointless. Sure, have a donator only chat channel, but make the main one free!
Please, if you own a server then please have sense when choosing your donator benefits. Don't just think about the donators, but also think about the free players. Honestly, set up the server in a way that you'll think will work, login as a free player and try and play the game. If anything seems unbalanced then change it - perks should make people want to donate, but not force them to.
Also, please price things well. I know you want money and all, but charging $300 for the ability to place TNT or $75 to be able to have a colored name is a little bit excessive...
If you're ever looking for a new server, then I advise that you check the donator benefits before you even sign up, it'll pay off in the long run. Be sure that you're not going to regret choosing that server, and remember you can't take anything you've gained with you if you decide that the server's not right for you in the long run.
Readers
So, what do you all think is a good donator bonus? Have you ever donated to a server, and do you think was worth it or not? What do you think is overpowered? Let me know in the comments if you've got anything to say about any of these questions, or anything else! My only request is that you don't bash servers, or name them just to shame them.
Good Perks
A colored name
It just looks good, and doesn't provide an unfair advantage over everyone else. In fact, I think it's a great thing to offer in return for donations as it makes it obvious who donated. A word of advice though: in my opinion, rainbow names are icky.
A reserved slot on the server
I think being able to login to a server when full (such as at peak times) is a fantastic bonus! While it acts as an incentive for players to donate, it doesn't mean free players lose out on everything, as they can still login during less busy times.
At the very least, I recommend that every server offers this to their staff, so that they can login if trouble occurs during peak times and sort out the situation.
Restricted item/block placement
For example, if the server prevents normal players from placing TNT and lava to prevent griefing, then I see no problem with allowing donators to place them (although I recommend you use a plugin to log placement of these two things) - in general, donators are less likely to do things that will get them banned, although there are always some that will.
What I don't think is a good perk is where the admin blocks placement of certain blocks that don't need to be blocked (such as brick, seeds, ore blocks etc) to "encourage" people to donate (when in reality, they're just being greedy and forcing people to donate for things that they shouldn't have to).
Additional land claiming - in moderation
If you allow free players to protect 25x25 blocks of land, then allowing donators to claim 40x40 blocks of land seems fine to me. There's always the same issue as the restricted item placement, where the server owner purposely only gives them a small amount of land to pretty much force them to donate - e.g.: free players only getting to claim 5x5x5 of land and donators getting to claim 100x100x100 of land - it's just plain unfair.
The same applies to plots if you have a plot based world. Sure, let donators claim a few extra plots, just don't give then the ability to claim ones that are already claimed by others, or an excessive amount.
Periodic bonuses
Daily currency bonuses or periodically available kits are great, but don't overpower the bonus! An iron ingot or two every day isn't overpowered, 500 diamonds is. Think "is it possible to get this bonus by mining/gathering in the same amount of time a donator can claim it?", If not, then the bonus is too high and overpowered in my opinion.
Bad Offerings and Overpowered Bribes
The ability to kick, ban, jail or mute players
Please, just no. It's a staff power to be able to punish players, not a donator's. I promise you, at some point it will be abused to the extent where you'll lose players. It's a completely unfair perk where if a donator disagrees with what a free players says, they can effectively "torture" the player.
Increased chances of becoming staff
It does tie in with my last point, but even indirectly offering staff powers puts you in my bad books. Staff should be chosen because they're good at their job (which is moderating in most circumstances), not because they have money to spare.
Please, just choose good candidates and ignore their donation status. Someone not donating doesn't mean they don't want to support the server, it could just mean they can't afford to do so!
Item spawning/creative mode/flight/god mode on a survival server
A survival server should be exactly that: survival. Giving paying players to ability to spawn items in is just overpowered. Any server that does allow that shouldn't call themselves survival, because quite frankly, they are not.
Flight's a huge advantage too, you can cover large distances in a relatively safe way that's much quicker than if you were walking. It also makes building much easier, and if the server is indeed survival, then it shouldn't be so easy.
The ability to be immune to bans or to be punished less harshly
Just no. All players should be punished equally, and all rules should apply to all players. If a server doesn't allow free players to x-ray (which is basic common sense), then no-one shouldn't be allowed to. Donators are not some kind of god (or at least shouldn't be), they're just people who have spare money, and should be treated as such.
Other games will happily ban you even if you are a paid subscriber and you break the rules. I don't think Minecraft servers should be any exception.
The ability to chat
Just give it to all your players, not just donators. It's multiplayer after all, so not being able to communicate with the rest of the community just makes it a bit... pointless. Sure, have a donator only chat channel, but make the main one free!
Ending off
Server Owners
Please, if you own a server then please have sense when choosing your donator benefits. Don't just think about the donators, but also think about the free players. Honestly, set up the server in a way that you'll think will work, login as a free player and try and play the game. If anything seems unbalanced then change it - perks should make people want to donate, but not force them to.
Also, please price things well. I know you want money and all, but charging $300 for the ability to place TNT or $75 to be able to have a colored name is a little bit excessive...
SMP Players
If you're ever looking for a new server, then I advise that you check the donator benefits before you even sign up, it'll pay off in the long run. Be sure that you're not going to regret choosing that server, and remember you can't take anything you've gained with you if you decide that the server's not right for you in the long run.
Readers
So, what do you all think is a good donator bonus? Have you ever donated to a server, and do you think was worth it or not? What do you think is overpowered? Let me know in the comments if you've got anything to say about any of these questions, or anything else! My only request is that you don't bash servers, or name them just to shame them.
More in this series
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Update #1 : by ElectricHamstar 10/17/2012 9:53:59 amOct 17th, 2012
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For example i limit most blocks disable fly and allow pvp in creative (so players can still hit them)
they also cannot have certain items in there hot bar like diamond swords.
they also have seperate incentories for each game mode and tgey cant drop items pick up items and they dont drop items upon death.
I'd also consider time limiting item spawning, so that they can only spawn a certain amount of items in in a certain amount of time, and only allowing them to fly for a certain duration.
I don't think taking a perk that they've paid for would be fair, that's why I suggest this. :)
Thanks for help,
- Legovader09
http://dev.bukkit.org/server-mods/reservations/ - This one's been updated for 1.3.1 (so should work for 1.3.2), but kicks the people if someone joins that can login to a full server if it's full. I recommend using the "permissions" method at the bottom of the post.
See if you can get either of them working, let me know if you can't and I'll have a look for some more. :)
a lvl 1 with sense!!
New sub and diamond!