Question on Donations
12-08-2010, 02:32 AM
There's no compensation. Therefore it isn't commercial.
It can not be commercial unless it requires compensation or other form of payment to have service rendered. The use of material, IE: a game to play, counts as such service. I pay you, I get the game, that simple.
If I'm an old geezer, and a local child decides to rake my yard of leaves and shovel it of snow, and I give him a tip it's not child labor. Why? Because there was no labor. Why? Because he did not receive compensation for a service rendered. He received compensation in the form of a tip, or donation, which was not required for the service.
If, however, I had to donate to get full features or get additional features, then yes, it is commercial. But if downloading an RM game without paying can be done, it is merely a donation, or a tip if you will, and does not constitute payment in any way. It is not commercial in the slightest.
--just to edit in this bit,
The only way the "don't use in this or that" argument even stands remotely close is if they state "if you receive any financial contribution due to the product this (resource) is used in, then-". In this case pretend it's a script. I write a script, and I post it, and I say "If you get any money from this, split it with me a dime a dollar."
Now if I feel you and your website is making money off of a product, the game that has my script in it, I might feel that you owe me 10 cents for every dollar you have earned through those donations. However I would have to - if this was brought to courts - legally prove that some, if not a majority, of those earnings were made because of this one product. If you had a game: COMMANDER THEORETICAL IN HYPOWORLD, and that was the ONLY product on this site, the one accepting donations, and my script was used in that game, then it can be done.
If your website hosts, say, 20 games, it becomes harder to do, still can be done.
Though, I have yet to see anyone say "If someone gives you a tip because of the project your using this (material) for, give me a dime a dollar" so, you're in the clear.
It can not be commercial unless it requires compensation or other form of payment to have service rendered. The use of material, IE: a game to play, counts as such service. I pay you, I get the game, that simple.
If I'm an old geezer, and a local child decides to rake my yard of leaves and shovel it of snow, and I give him a tip it's not child labor. Why? Because there was no labor. Why? Because he did not receive compensation for a service rendered. He received compensation in the form of a tip, or donation, which was not required for the service.
If, however, I had to donate to get full features or get additional features, then yes, it is commercial. But if downloading an RM game without paying can be done, it is merely a donation, or a tip if you will, and does not constitute payment in any way. It is not commercial in the slightest.
--just to edit in this bit,
The only way the "don't use in this or that" argument even stands remotely close is if they state "if you receive any financial contribution due to the product this (resource) is used in, then-". In this case pretend it's a script. I write a script, and I post it, and I say "If you get any money from this, split it with me a dime a dollar."
Now if I feel you and your website is making money off of a product, the game that has my script in it, I might feel that you owe me 10 cents for every dollar you have earned through those donations. However I would have to - if this was brought to courts - legally prove that some, if not a majority, of those earnings were made because of this one product. If you had a game: COMMANDER THEORETICAL IN HYPOWORLD, and that was the ONLY product on this site, the one accepting donations, and my script was used in that game, then it can be done.
If your website hosts, say, 20 games, it becomes harder to do, still can be done.
Though, I have yet to see anyone say "If someone gives you a tip because of the project your using this (material) for, give me a dime a dollar" so, you're in the clear.
Snazzy Sig in a Spoiler
