A Good Question

Hi Riulus!

We tend to get this a lot: people really want to help but don't think they have the skills to, so suggest giving donations instead. The subject of money has come up a lot, and while it sounds like a good idea on the surface, there are several problems with it.

Firstly, it's quite difficult to decide what to do with it. The core team's a bit more static than it once was, but even so, the list of people actively helping at any one time changes constantly. Dividing up money between everyone would be hard simply because we wouldn't know what the value of everything should be. Do we just give it to the programmers because they're what we need above all else right now? If not, how much do we value things like sound design relative to art or programming? Within the different development areas, who gets how much, and how do we measure how much everyone has contributed? What's the cutoff between getting some money for substantial contribution and getting none? Answering these seems at best unfair, and at worst massively ungrateful.

Alternatively, you might suggest we use it for team-wide purposes. These include server costs, software costs, etc. This could perhaps be a possibility (especially with server compensation) but again we have to pick priorities and leave some things behind. Say a 3D modeler wants some expensive software to work on graphics, but at the same time a composer wants to hire session musicians to record tracks. Who do we prioritise? Should we even consider "hiring" 3D modelers who don't have their own appropriate software? While this is a worst-case scenario and I'd hope nobody would imagine doing this, what if they just take the money and run, or buy something far cheaper and keep the rest for themselves? We're not a proper organisation, so we have no way of policing these things via proper contracts.

Another possibility is hiring programmers. Many of us could be labelled as idea guys, which programmers in general don't like working with, especially for free. Paying to hire new programmers who simply build what we want would certainly allow us to find more, but then we have to question whether existing programmers should get compensation. And again, it's the problem of weighing up how much work necessitates how much pay, and whether that's even a measurable statistic.

Secondly, involving money in the progress throws up some risks we don't want to think about. With the game taking so much inspiration from Spore, EA might have a problem even if we don't make any money from it. If we're completely non-profit, at least the worst we could expect would be a cease and desist notice, rather than a massive fine taking everything we'd made via sales or donations. We've also received threats recently from the original creator of the Thrive concept, back when it wasn't Thrive (it's a long story). While we don't believe he'd actually go through with suing us, adding money into the equation makes it more likely.

On the other hand, money might be a Godsend we'd regret ever being so against. Adding money into the equation creates a responsibility to keep working which may attract more people and help them stick around longer, as well as solidify the sense that this is actually happening. Money would allow us to pay for professional programmers who can get the game finished far quicker, as well as subsidising server costs, software costs, advertising costs and so on. It may also instill more confidence from newcomers. An open-source team trying to make a game like Thrive sounds unlikely. An open-source team trying to make a game like Thrive for free sounds completely nuts. It also gives people like you an opportunity to show your support and feel you've contributed something, which is always a good thing.

Here are a couple of responses to the question when it's come up before:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thrive/comments/2if4s1/kickstarter/

https://www.reddit.com/r/thrive/comments/2awjk5/thought_of_crowdfunding/

https://www.reddit.com/r/thrive/comments/2qmqsv/will_this_ever_happen/

thrivegame.canadaboard.net/t1546-a-very-important-topic

thrivegame.canadaboard.net/t1311-possible-idea-that-may-attract-investors

Thanks for the offer, but I hope you can see money's a bit of a thorny topic for us. Other members of the team will likely have their own reasons behind our freeware nature, just like I have mine. There are pros and cons to involving money in the process, and we'd need a long debate within ourselves before switching. We don't know ourselves what the right path is, and it's possible at this point we're just trying to justify the position we've already taken rather than looking at things rationally.

If you still want to help (which is great, by the way), what we could really use is some promotion. Unfortunately our website's in a bit of a jumble at the moment and can't be fixed until early September, but after that we'd love it if you helped garner some attention for us among potential developers. We just ask that you represent us professionally and don't assume the answers to anything you don't know if they ask questions (direct them to us instead).