Hey Tig,

How is lvl run? I tried to find a donate button at the site but coulden't.

Would it be possible for lvl in the future to open up for Q1/Q2 releases too? 

My partner and I pay for the server as part of a commercial project we run. Sadly, that business (that really pays for the server) has been in a decline that can be matched to Facebooks popularity growth. If things continue to fall, the site may have to close. We have gone from requiring 8 servers to 4 in the last few years. For now, we are doing OK.

I have thought about adding a donation button in the past and others have brought it up too. My only (and big) reservation of including one is the fact the sites exists because of the "user made" content. This in-turn may lead to legal issues with the mappers when (if) a person donates money. Some mappers may feel they should be entitled to a slice of that donation.

I guess one option (which I just thought of) would be to make it very clear that the 100% of the donation would be used for server cost.

I have a bit of work to do on the site (for phone size screens) at the moment, but I think I will look into donation options too. Anyone know of alternatives to PayPal :] 

The Donation button on Quaddicted does only get used when I run a focused funding donation run. I did that the last two years and got much more than needed. The communities of old games can be super generous. Mappers should not feel entitled to anything of that, it's for funding, not access to maps (though I have always tried to made clear that I/we might just spent all money on girls). So if you want to go the community funded route, I would suggest setting a target and ask for donations at a specific date/week.

If the map downloads are the main cost, I would love to offer hosting them for you, IF it is zero maintenance for me, eg a rsync/wget cronjob. 

Yeah spirit seems pretty successful with the drives for quaddicted. I don't think any of the mappers would be seeking cash from it as it would go towards server costs etc. 

websites like lvl and quaddicted provide a huge value that is seperate from the value of the maps themselves; just the fact that it's a large browsable collection with reviews and hosting etc. 

and I don't even use lvl or play Q3. 

Thanks heaps for the feedback and support people.

@Spirit - For now everything is OK as far as downloads, lets talk again in a few years time :] 

If sites like LVL and other Quake-focused sites had to shut down, I've been starting to worrying about that lately, that's why I figured I should hang around them a bit more, show support.

Anyway, when you feel donations are in place Tig, you have my axe.