[DGD] Commercial question

[Felix A. Croes]

Stephen Schmidt <schmidsj at union.edu> wrote:

>[...]
> > > 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.
>
> It's not clear to me why this is not income made through
> the mud, when the second example:
>
> > > 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.
>
> is income made through the mud. In either case, the person
> who pays the server bill has received money from others on
> condition that it be used to pay the server bill. If it is
> income in the second case, it seems to me like it should
> be in the first case as well.

It is income in both cases.  What matters is whether it is income
made through the mud.

I'm beginning to wonder whether this confusion about the word
"income" might be some subtlety of the English language that
I as a non-native speaker am not privy to.  Are donations not
income in the United States?


>[...]
> 1. Able starts the mud.
> 2. Baker players and makes a level 20 character.
> 3. Baker deletes his character, hence is no longer a player.
> 4. Baker gives Able $50 to help cover the server bill.
> 5. Baker creates a new character and resumes playing.
>
> It seems to me that that should be illegal too, but it is
> hard to argue that Baker is a player at the time he gives
> his donation. So that suggests that whether the donor is
> a player is not the relevant factor. But if not, then I'm
> not sure what is.

This is a borderline case, but one that does not depend on a
different interpretation of the word "income".  Generally
speaking, if you perform a service for some person and receive
a donation in return, you may have a hard time arguing before
a court that the donation was not actually in payment for the
service.

If you only want to call it income when made through the mud,
I (and my dictionary) won't agree, but that won't alter whether
or not your example is legal; the key phrase is "made through
the mud".

Regards,
Dworkin