[agamemnon]

I was reading an excellent thread which was originally started by Yoda announcing the new and improved Pestilence. The thread quickly digressed into an attack against some of the members of Pestilence and "before someone puts their foot in their mouth", the thread was capped off by Zenith. But in the thread, Druchii brought up something that I feel could be easily rectified in this game. I'd like to bring up my idea here and look forward to your feedback.

I started playing this game at the beginning of January 2007 and didn't donate until one month ago. So, for the first five months, despite being one of the more prolific players in the game, I watched donators (who started the game after me) advance past me because they were able to buy the most expensive real estate, the best weapons and armour, and create the biggest gangs. I don't have a problem with this as it is certainly not the fault of the players who donate. In fact, they should have certain advantages because they donate. However, I started to realize that those players who are non-donators were being left far behind even if they did put in excessive hours in the game to try to remain competitive with their peers.

I began donating about one month ago because I love this game. It's the only RPG that I play. Since then, I've been able to upgrade my real estate to the point where I'm getting four times more development points at the gym than I was when I had non-donator status. I'm fortunate as I'm an adult and I work for a living and have the money to be able to donate into this game. When I do donate, I try to give a few credits to the other members of my gang who are almost non-donators. I know that this gesture is appreciated.

Now to get to my point: I believe that, every time a donator who is in a gang donates real cash to get donator status, an additional benefit should be accrued to the gang. For example, I belong to The Thugs. If I donate $10, I receive 1100 credits that go directly to me. Perhaps an additional 10% of those credits should go into the gang's bank account. So, in the end, not only do I have 1100 credits, but the gang also received 110 credits which can then be transferred to the players in that gang.

There is no doubt that the opportunity for abuse exists, but those presidents and vice-presidents who abuse this system and use the credits for their own will soon find themselves without gang members. Furthermore, I do not believe that the extra credits will proportionately reduce the amount of donations that are made to the game; in fact, I believe that it may have the opposite effect of increasing the amount of donations because the credits will likely be used to share amongst gangmates. The non-donators would benefit, at the very least, by being able to buy daily donation status or by selling the credits on the market for cash which can be converted into housing. It could add to the cohesiveness of the gangs as not only are you helping your own cause by donating, but also helping your gang. This may even compel non-donators to donate if they know that even a $5 donation will add 50 credits to their gang. In-gang competitions could be held where the winner takes an accumulation of credits, say, 500 and enough for 30-day donator status.

Let me know what you think. Is the idea good, but needs tweaking? Is it a dumb idea altogether? I'm interested in all of your responses.