When S.O.3 comes...

[Lingus]

I think my previous idea relating to account security would be best (though I'm not sure exactly how to implement it in programming). Basically when people set up an account on the new SO3, they would be required to enter their email. They would then be sent an automated email with some kind of security code (or some other method.) Then they would have to enter that code (or whatever goes along with any other method) in their account screen. Now their email is linked to their account. This would allow for password resets, and it would give Meiun a way to identify donors (which could potentially be done automatically by entering a list of emails who are donors upon setup of the new game).

Anyways, point is, it could be done. It's a matter of whether there's any flaws in that system as far as how to program it (not sure if there's a way for the game to automatically send emails) or whether Meiun decides to do it that way.

In any case, none of the donors should expect any of this. If we get it, we should be happy with whatever we get. If we don't, we should be happy SO3 is out.

[T-Rok]

What your saying could be entirely possible, and is most likely the easiest way to achieve what you want. Unfortunately I've never done this outside of a webpage, so I don't know what this would require. Although I'm sure it's as simple as figuring out the mass of a black hole. xD

[Cactuscat222]

And in the end, if you do get something, it will be non game affecting. Maybe a special hat, but with no stats. As to keep the balance. Besides, really, what are the chances? The work to track down all the donors, figure out what the new respective accounts they have are, and add said bonus to each of them would be a lot of work, better spent developing and updating, and I for one would rather that.

Actually it's easy to track down the donors. Meiun can just simply look at his email! :P

And than relate that to all the new accounts they have? They would each have to message him with their new account, since surely many will have new names, which means he has to go through a lot of crap once again.

Oh no, he would have to spend time to do something for the community? Such a shame! Meiun, please, for the sake of us, don't do anything for us at all! :P

[Seifer]

And in the end, if you do get something, it will be non game affecting. Maybe a special hat, but with no stats. As to keep the balance. Besides, really, what are the chances? The work to track down all the donors, figure out what the new respective accounts they have are, and add said bonus to each of them would be a lot of work, better spent developing and updating, and I for one would rather that.

Actually it's easy to track down the donors. Meiun can just simply look at his email! :P

And than relate that to all the new accounts they have? They would each have to message him with their new account, since surely many will have new names, which means he has to go through a lot of crap once again.

Oh no, he would have to spend time to do something for the community? Such a shame! Meiun, please, for the sake of us, don't do anything for us at all! :P

I would much rather him spend time developing and adding to the game, for the fun of all, than get some special hat to say hey, I had money!

[Scotty]

I stand by having the donors get beta access to v.3.  Meiun should set up a bugzilla server and have the donors beta test the game and report all their bugs they encounter to the tracker.  Have that go for a couple of months to weed out the bugs.  I guarantee that with that, donations would skyrocket!

[Meiun]

Like I said before, there may be something special for all of you donors in the new game, but I can not make any promises at this point. Ideally I would like to have a much better (hopefully somewhat automated) setup for doing it than everyone messaging me and then having to manually verify it though... As that would take huge amounts of time away from actually being able to work on the game. Also, it would most likely not be anything like a stat boost, as that would be somewhat unfair.

[Seifer]

I stand by having the donors get beta access to v.3.  Meiun should set up a bugzilla server and have the donors beta test the game and report all their bugs they encounter to the tracker.  Have that go for a couple of months to weed out the bugs.  I guarantee that with that, donations would skyrocket!

That would be fine. Though I doubt beta-testing would take that long, perhaps a month. But in either case, as with So2, I do not think the few of us, the mods, namely myself, Chaos, Jake and snow were adequate to test the game to it's fullest before the release.

[Lingus]

If nothing else, you'd still want to do a stress test on the server. But it's always best to get a significant group of testers. 4 people would not be significant. You'd definitely have some duplication in bugs caught, but you'd catch a lot of bugs that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. No matter what you do, some bugs are going to be caught after release, so it's best to catch as many as possible beforehand.