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[tyronehenrie]

I know that this topic has been talked about at-length and I've looked at conversations about the topic in the past by searching, but I wonder if things are changing? Is the topic worth addressing again?

How many of you people do donation buttons on your site and is it worth doing? What is the general consensus on the subject? Based on the past conversations it looks like donations aren't even worth trying and it only works in rare cases like Dwarf Fortress. In fact I find that donation buttons themselves are extremely rare and hard to find on indie game dev sites.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i think it's a good idea to put one up if your game is freeware, but don't expect more than $50 from it total, even if your game is extremely popular.

and the df ones are not truly donations because the players know that development of the game won't continue without donating; so they're paying for future features

[moi]

I know that this topic has been talked about at-length and I've looked at conversations about the topic in the past by searching, but I wonder if things are changing? Is the topic worth addressing again?

How many of you people do donation buttons on your site and is it worth doing? What is the general consensus on the subject? Based on the past conversations it looks like donations aren't even worth trying and it only works in rare cases like Dwarf Fortress. In fact I find that donation buttons themselves are extremely rare and hard to find on indie game dev sites.

How often do you make donations yourself /thread

[FastSpringCEO]

I'd say it can be worthwhile for certain situations.  For example, if you click on 'Support IrfanView' at:
http://irfanview.com/

You'll see how donation payments are setup for him.  In these types of situations the vendor can earn significant revenue, but consider that his program is free, incredibly popular, fully featured, and highly appreciated by its audience.  These factors certainly help drive a lot more donation volume than the typical freeware app with a donation link.  At the same time, it doesn't take much effort to setup a donation link, and you will only know what results from it after you've taken the time to try it.  So we do encourage vendors to try out offering a donation link and quickly learning how lucrative it appears to or not to be.  I can tell you through experience that if you have a free app out there with factors similar to the factors described above, there's no reason you can't earn thousands per month in donations.  It depends to what degree you hit those factors, such as your degree of popularity and buzz-worthy fan base.

At the same, I wouldn't rule out charging for the game and seeing how that goes.  When I first put out Morpheus in 2001, my partner didn't think anyone would pay a single dollar for the freeware program.  We listed it for $9.99 and got some sales.  Then we tried $29.95 and $49.95.  After testing pricing and also trial expiration scenarios, adding a couple of relevant cross-sells in the cart, we were able to optimize the downloads and today our average order size is over $65.00 on a product we gave out for free and then for a long time charged no more than $10 on.  So testing, tweaking, and optimizing is worth it.

Dan

[Zenorf]

I have to admit I've bought plenty of little indie games but I've only every donated to Wiki and Childsplay. So from my perspective your more likely to snag me with a cool demo and a reasonable price tag than a pay whatever you like, if you like, donations button.

Maybe I'm just a bad stingy person though.

[undertech]

I don't think I've ever donated to a game before - then again I've never played a donationware game that I thought was worth it. A few free games that were worth it (Spelunky for example) ironically never asked for donations. By worth it I mean spent enough time with it/was utterly impressed with what time I spent on it.
This isn't to say that the (indie) games I purchased were necessarily worth the money themselves. They just happened to require payment and I liked the demo enough to pay the asking price. But the full game wasn't always what I thought it'd be.
On the other hand, I have donated to several donationware non-game applications.
So, my opinion on the matter is: if you really want money from your game, have a pay version and be prepared to deal with the overhead of collecting money and giving support.

[tyronehenrie]

How often do you make donations yourself /thread

I have made donations a few times, most recently to cactus when he was asking for a little help.

Now that I am an indie? No way, my bank statement won't allow it.

Personally I feel that there is an inherent problem with the obscurity of donations. You need to get your game in front of the right people. Fellow indie devs are not those people. There is a purpose in having them too. If you don't have a complete game, you can't sell it yet.

Some interesting points have been brought up, thanks!

[True Valhalla]

and the df ones are not truly donations because the players know that development of the game won't continue without donating; so they're paying for future features

Dwarf Fortress was the first game I ever donated to, and I donated becaused I loved the premise and dedication to the project, not to pay for a future release. I was surprised at the numbers DF is pulling though!

Regarding donations themselves, their success is based on how much you push them. Simply throwing a link at the bottom of your site isn't going to get anyone interested in the concept of supporting you. With my last WIP, recently discontinued, even with the heavily restricted audience (for testing purposes) of around 150 players, I received nearly $200 in donations. That was over around the last 6 months of development.

And to be honest that's a lot more than I expected. When I push for a larger audience with my new project, who knows how high that figure will go. The addition of rewards for donators can help too. Simply offering a special spell (I offered 'fireworks' once) is enough to get people to help you out.

-Tv

[obscure]

The addition of rewards for donators can help too. Simply offering a special spell (I offered 'fireworks' once) is enough to get people to help you out.

But then that isn't a donation - they are buying something.