[DGD] Commercial question

[Shentino]

Aw, nuts.

It's a good thing I asked then.

On 3/28/06, Felix A. Croes <felix at dworkin.nl> wrote:
> Stephen Schmidt <schmidsj at union.edu> wrote:
>
> > I think the argument that was made in the LP world was that
> > having people help pay your server costs did not constitute
> > "income" for you. Therefore, it was not in violation of the
> > prohibition on earning income from using LPMud to take
> > donations as long as they were used to cover server costs.
>
> The LPmud license does not mention "income", but "monetary gain"
> which according to some was income, and according to others, profit.
>
> Income, I think, is a pretty well-defined term.
>
>
> > I presume Dworkin would not accept that argument. But there
> > are some sticky cases.
> >
> > Example: Two people start a mud. The server host charges
> > $50 per month. Each one gets a bill from the host for $25
> > and pays $25 of his own money. Clearly legal.
> >
> > Example: Two people start a mud. The server host charges
> > $50 per month. One gets a bill from the host for $50. That
> > one pays $50 of his own money. The other gives $25 of his
> > own money to the first to cover half the bill. I think this
> > is legal.
> >
> > Example: Ten people start a mud. The server host charges
> > $50 per month. One gets the bill and pays it - the other
> > nine each give $5 to the one who pays it. This seems
> > legal, but it's getting tenuous.
>
> It's legal -- the $5 from the other nine is income for the
> one who pays the bill, but it's not income made through the mud.
> Obviously, using DGD cannot prevent you from making money in a
> general sense.
>
>
> > Example: One person starts a mud and nine people play it.
> > Each of the nine players gives the one who started it
> > $5 to cover the server costs. This is not legal.
>
> Correct.
>
>
> > What distinguishes the last two examples? Or if the third
> > example is also illegal, what distinguishes the second
> > and the third?
> >
> > > I would take that line to mean that obvious work arounds to the
> > > no-donations rule such as selling t-shirts or other merchandise with
> > > your MUD's name on it to help cover server costs is also illegal
> > > without a commercial license.
> >
> > I think those are more illegal than taking donations, since
> > those are more obviously forms of income.
>
> It seems to me that you are confusing "income" and "profit".
> Donations and money made through merchandise are all income.
>
> Regards,
> Dworkin
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