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[Harbingerjm]

Once upon a time there was a grandmother, who's passion in life was to tell stories.

If she had said, "sure I have time to tell stories, but what good will that do", shed have never allowed that to happen.

Pick one.

[IronyOwl]

Once upon a time there was a grandmother, who's passion in life was to tell stories. Her grandchildren would become encaptured it the beautiful tales she would weave. Soon, they invited their friends to come. And soon they invited their parents. And they began giving money to her so that she could do it more.

If she had said, "sure I have time to tell stories, but what good will that do", shed have never allowed that to happen.

That's proving his point, though. The issue is whether the grandmother feels like telling stories, not whether some of her audience members are bribing her for it. The money doesn't actually help her do it more until it lets her quit her job or the like, which isn't terribly likely in the case of running forum games for thirty people.

More specifically, forum games tend to be much smaller in effort and payout than, say, flash games or in some cases pictures, which tend to be your more traditional "I made a thing this isn't my job but give me money?" operations. If you make a flash game and then make it available to everyone, it might be played by hundreds or thousands of people, a handful of whom might feel compelled to donate money over the issue. If you make a forum game and it has eight players... I mean, I suppose one of them could give you money, but it'd be trivial and probably edging into uncomfortable "is this a bribe" territory. It's also, let's be honest, usually rewarding much less work than a proper flash game or particularly detailed image until it's been running for a while.

So... overall, paying game hosts strikes me as a bit like paying people for advice on a topic they're not professionals in; I guess there's a point where it might make sense, but usually it just seems kind of excessive and weird.

On that note, when I do want to support game hosts, I typically give them the things I assume they actually want- posts, praise, and/or participation in their thread, and occasionally fanart and the like. Much more self-contained and relevant than hurling nickels at them.

[AoshimaMichio]

Money is irrelevant here. I wouldn't donate to game hosts, but I wouldn't accept money either. We all here, game hosts and players alike, are just doing what we love; gaming. As a Game Master there's exactly one thing I want: active players to whom I can tell an interactive story and hopefully they like it. As a player I want a good story where I can alter its course.

IronyOwl puts it rather nicely from player view point.

...
On that note, when I do want to support game hosts, I typically give them the things I assume they actually want- posts, praise, and/or participation in their thread, and occasionally fanart and the like. Much more self-contained and relevant than hurling nickels at them.

[freeformschooler]

This is sort of an uncomfortable topic. If it helps, imagine a forum game as the internet version of some people crowded around a table with a DM leading them in a tabletop RPG. Are you going to give the DM money? Would the DM feel comfortable with it? Would the players see it as inappropriate or a bribe? In all the tabletop games I've attended, the answers would be "no, no, and yes," respectively. We can get rather detached from these images on the Internet, but it helps us to understand the reality of the situation. If you really want to contribute, bring soda and snacks -- the Internet version of this is fan art, fan games, fan music, etc.

Take whatever money you're going to give to Bay12 GMs and give it to Toady to pay for diet coke and the Bay12 server costs we're all dependent on.

[GameBoyBlue]

If hosts did have an established donation page, and was getting, say 50 bucks a month in various donations, would that be immoral, or improper? Would you feel compelled to put an end to it if it happened here? Would you want to support anyone here?

[birdy51]

My opinion is that support doesn't simply have to be a monetary thing.

If there is joy to be found in the art of story-telling, perhaps that is in itself a reward to know that it's being read and to have a captive and participatory audience. If you really must show support to a favored poster, I say fan art is usually the best way to go as well.

[Harbingerjm]

If hosts did have an established donation page, and was getting, say 50 bucks a month in various donations,

Hahahahahahahaha.

would that be immoral, or improper?

... Would anyone who did think that be here, on this forum, given whose forum it is?

Would you feel compelled to put an end to it if it happened here?

Who would bother? Do you go out and try to put an end to people throwing money at obviously-dodgy kickstarters or the like? I mean, I don't even feel compelled to go out and stop people from throwing money at Molyneux, why would I bother with it here?

Would you want to support anyone here?

If this is your way of asking whether people will throw money at you to GM, then the answer is "lolno". And I certainly wouldn't throw money at any of the other GMs on the forum to pay them for GMing. Or indeed pretty much any GM at all.
If you, despite all evidence to the contrary, meant either non-financial support, or support for people for reasons unrelated to the status of their forum game running, then yes, but that has little to do with this... very special thread.