Yes. The donators fill up a slot preventing people from joining. The only thing that changes is that they can join when the server has a max cap, and increase the cap to above max.

 

Not a marketing ploy. If he shut the server down completely to make it all get done faster then the servers uptime listed on minestatus and other sites would drop. Also the hardware is good enough to handle some players while doing everything its doing so why deny everyone the ability to play if you don't have to? Being able to log on above player cap is a big selling point, but since switching to 300 player cap its been a rarely used benefit. If it was a marketing ploy he would lower the player cap back to 200 or 150 on weekends and it would be 95% donators playing then. Even with a player cap of 30 I have seen new players join the server in the past, all a matter of being persistent/patient or simply doing a minimum donation which I believe is $10.

 

all donators should have a mandatory quit for 5 min then rejoin like every hour or so.
then the rest of us could play

 

How much of a benefit would it be to donate to join if you are forced to stop everything you are doing every hour? I'd hate to have to constantly forget what I was doing and being forced to leave every hour for a full five minutes. I'd rather wait and take the time to get in the server without interruptions.
It may sound like a good idea in theory to non-donators, but to donators, you might have wished you never got that benefit for donating.
This is coming from someone who, when he plays, plays for hours at a time, and forgets things quickly, so it's worse for me, but still. :p

 

I am always baffled by this logic, its like we have a vested interest in making sure non donators get their fix. It would be a great reason NOT to donate if this were mandatory. It would be like hey, thanks for supporting the server we all play on, now as punishment, get the hell off so people who haven't supported the server can get on. How does that make any sense?

 

In an egalitarian society, yes donors would be treated like everyone else. Donations should be to support the server, without granting the donor any special ability. You can't think about a free service as something which warrants the user to purchase a prerequisite. In order for a free service to actually be free, it must provide an equal chance for all people looking to consume the free service. If its free given you've payed the company, then its actually not free at all.

 

You are drifting away from the purpose of this thread. (also technically it is not donating, but it is buying virtual items/money)


@cody
People PAID to get features on this server and this above the playercap joining is something you get EXTRA for supporting the server.
That is why people should not have to get off every hour just so those who have NOT paid any money can join.

 

...jwpwns did not post in this thread. Who are you talking to?

 

It was 2am when I wrote this, I misread the name :| (I Fixed it now :B)