Originally posted by Bnm85
Originally posted by Karyuu
there is no incentive in the world that can make any dev work faster, except the solving of those RL problems.
Money. 
Also, I don\'t think free time is determined just by having or not having RL problems.
I don\'t think any active member on the dev team is just \"strolling\" through his or her PS duties, or not putting in their absolute best effort. When it\'s a hobby, when it\'s something you love to do, you are already working on it as much as you can.
Well, I don\'t think they\'re just \"strolling\" through their duties either, nor did I ever say they did. And I don\'t think that a hobby necessarily means you\'re working on it as much as you can but rather as much as you feel like. Doesn\'t mean you don\'t make your best effort when you do, however. Also, you\'re forgetting to take in factors like lack of inspiration or motivation intervals. Writers write because they love to write. But sometimes there\'s no motivation to write, even if you have spare time. Donations could help with such a motivation. 
Writers write because they love to write. They do it for a living because it is possible. If their writing did not bring them a paycheck, they would find another career, and continue writing as a hobby. In fact, many do find other jobs, for the sake of having a stable income while doing what they love. Money is not a real or remotely effective motivation or inspiration for creative works of any kind.
The fact is that an income is a necessity; if one cannot earn a living through creative works, one must spend at least some time elsewhere, whereas if one
does receive payment for this, it becomes more possible to devote more time to it. However, money will not make a person work more, nor better, creatively speaking. If a person has the time to write a story and the will to do so, telling them \"I will pay you $10 per page you write.\" is liable only to encourage worthless filler that has no texture, no flavor, and no depth, if it has any effect at all (which is unlikely). Creativity cannot be purchased.
And so we have developers who have refused donations, and who have claimed an interest in improving their portfolios. In other words, these are people who are not doing this for a paycheck (because they already have an income), and people who are interested in making a living doing this, and thus being able to devote more of their time to such work. These are people with the heart and drive necessary to make Planeshift and other works the best that they can be, and it is naive to think for a moment that money will make everything better.
To address the original question, I hope it is not, and I expect that it is not. Even though I have put considerable effort into making my character what she is (and twice, at that), I am pleased to see progress, and would gladly do it again (perhaps under a different system). Wipes give us all a chance to examine the progress of the game.
