Hi guys,
I have a question about the pay-what-you-want model I've been seeing on people's games. Would that fall into the category of commercial if I set the minimum price of my game to be $0 meaning people can either give donations or not, whatever they choose?
There are resources that specifically say for non-commercial games and I wasn't sure if I can use them if I used a pay-what-you-want model for my game.
Thanks in advance!
I have returned after a long time away. Working on a small project, hope I'll be able to show it on here soon! =D
To be safe you should just get in contact with whoever is offering the resources you want to use.
Likely some will say that it's alright and others will say it isn't. But you definitely don't want to use anything unless you know their for sure what their opinion on pay-what-you-want pricing models is.
If getting in touch in not an option I'd advise finding something else to use rather than going ahead and hoping they'll be okay with in.
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Yes its still commercial, you are getting money from personal art that clearly said no commercial use. Donating is indeed giving money to someone while the artist never wanted the art to help rise money for that user. Final answer is just don't use artist work for anything that might gain money. It's not your work and you are taking advantage of their kindness.
special thanks to nantoka.main.jp and iichan_lolbot
Id say PWYW is still commercial. Donations are different since you are asking for them separate from when you purchase the game and it's not necessarily "for the game" but for you directly. PWYW on the other hand is "suggesting" a commercial price. The instant someone actually pays money for the game, they are making a commercial "buy" of the game.
It's a pity, I thought it'd be an easy way for people to donate if they so wished since it's an option on itch.io and easy means that more people would consider helping the developer.
Katta wrote:It's a pity, I thought it'd be an easy way for people to donate if they so wished since it's an option on itch.io and easy means that more people would consider helping the developer.
you can direct users outside the game page with a button and ask for money there, dont link your games or anything related with non-commercial use. its best if you use your website and then have it on "about" tab where they than click on a donation to another page stating what you do with the money (like a KS page).
special thanks to nantoka.main.jp and iichan_lolbot
Katta wrote:It's a pity, I thought it'd be an easy way for people to donate if they so wished since it's an option on itch.io and easy means that more people would consider helping the developer.
you can direct users outside the game page with a button and ask for money there, dont link your games or anything related with non-commercial use. its best if you use your website and then have it on "about" tab where they than click on a donation to another page stating what you do with the money (like a KS page).
This is correct. Your game can link to your dev/studio website (or at least use an identity that's easy to look up), where they can donate to the person/studio, rather than the project. It may sound like the same thing, but how your intent comes across goes a long way in deciding whether the infringed creator will take action against you or not.
You can also use this to credit the resource creator too. "Support X's work" is pretty common and appreciated. After all, it's free advertising.
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