Licensing and 'Pay what you want'

[andrewngn13]

If I'm using assets that I've found online under a license that allows me to freely use its contents for a noncommercial project, but receive money under a type of 'Pay what you want' or a kind of donation system, would that fall into violating the license?

[gamerbum]

Yes, it would violate the license. PWYW is indeed commercial - it has "pay" right in the name. It's simply commercial-lite.

[Suika]

Here is an interesting report from 2009 about how "non-commercial" is defined and interpreted, along with the full report and raw data.

The actual license restricts use:

… in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation.

which almost undoubtedly encompasses PWYW, and probably covers donation-based as well. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, but I think it's safe to assume NC licenses don't want you accepting any money whatsoever.

Does "commercial advantage or private monetary compensation" apply to charitable causes (e.g. PWYW, but all proceeds get donated to a legally non-profit charity, or "make a donation to this charity to unlock the game")?

[SundownKid]

With PWYW you are making it clear that you expect some money. That is the difference between PWYW and donations. When you accept donations, you don't care whether you get money, but it will help, making it noncommercial.

[firecat]

the answer has been given out, anything that gives you money is called commercial. using non-commercial art to get donations is a risk, the end drop it.

[KittyWills]

It depends how the donations work. There loopholes that you can use to get around them. Not always recommended as it's kinda a dick move. You can not accept donations for that specific game, but you can accept donations for yourself. Say I have a patreon to support my game and comic making, one of the games I release for free has some music in it I downloaded. This should be alright.

Sometimes it's a case by case issue. You may be asked to remove something or the content creator won't care. I have better things to do then chase down every iffy use of my content I see it in. Overall, it's better just not to risk it. Games are expensive to make and if you want to make money off of them you just got to take the hit.