Pay to Race - Would You?

Stuart Thomson · Nov 26, 2009

All I can say is - be prepared for less racing. Less everything.

We keep missing the donation target, there will be cutbacks.

And the worst thing about that is the people who have donated are the ones who will miss out the most. Not the people racing on the RD benefit scheme.

If all racing members donated €1 for each month where they raced on our servers, we'd be fine, but that seems to br asking too much, apparently.

Sam J Simpson · Nov 26, 2009

I have to say that I have donated here in the past and will again when I get more free cash, because of my situation, out of my control, I have zero disposable income and at this time of year nothing has to be stretched even thinner, but, I'm not complaining TOO loudly about it:curse::snicker:.

I don't drink alcohol.......anymore

and I'm house bound :damnit: so about the only interaction with others I have is online racing, and if it hadn't been for the generosity of a very good mate, he payed for my current computer, I wouldn't even have that, if it comes to doing without that because of a couple of quid, I will find a way to do without something else that I don't really need, but it will not be any time in the next 5/6 weeks, my grandkids come before my "needs" in the festive season, I hate riding other folks coat tails but at the moment there is little or no extra funds so I would, if it comes to it, do without racing for while if the choice had to be made but it would not be for long I assure you and I WOULD, and will, cough up sooner rather than later to keep racing here.

Sam

Jarrod Crossley · Nov 26, 2009

At first I hit No. But after a bit of thought, I would say its a may be.
If the funds are going to the cost of the servers then yes I would pay.

Also RD may be able to use the extra funds to hold competion not all racing based and use the funds to purchase prizes, then Id look it to that also.

Resi Respati · Nov 26, 2009

Not all things in this world are free. And I hate that.

So no

Lee Downham · Nov 26, 2009

Anyone got comments on my suggestions below for fund raising at RD?

... it might be more constructive than discussing whether or not each of us has enough money to donate each month or not, or whether we are bludging off others who do donate ... that has been done many times here, and for whatever reasons donations are not working, so lets look at more positive ways of getting money into the club.

Lee Downham said:
It seems to me that donations are a constant struggle ... if so, then I fail to see why there is a problem with trying alternative methods of keeping the racing free such as those I proposed here [RD logo'd t-shirt and sticker sales], plus others like advertising, sponsorship, marketing surveys, demographics data, statistical data collection and resale to large corporations ... etc etc etc

Any other ideas out there to add to the "fund raiser" ideas???
Here's another one from me ...
"Raffles" ...
eg. buy a (virtual) raffle ticket for €1 win a copy of some game or other (Game vendors obviously being persuaded into sponsoring such events by giving out the games to RD for free).

Ben Tusting · Nov 26, 2009

Stuart's idea is the best tbh

All racing club members pay 1/2 euros a month

Martin Bulgin · Nov 26, 2009

If half a euro a month is all it is then I think it`s a great Idea, we can all cough that up.

Ben Tusting · Nov 26, 2009

no i meant we have to pay either 1 or 2 euros a month(Depends on how many racing club members we have)

Martin Bulgin · Nov 26, 2009

Ben Tusting said:
no i meant we have to pay either 1 or 2 euros a month(Depends on how many racing club members we have)

Ah ok but even 1 or 2 euros is still a bargain :thumb:

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 26, 2009

Guys this thread is in offtopic for a reason. It was not started by RD to see if people are interested. It's not an issue at the moment.

Although Stuart is right that we run out of resources soon.

Paulo Ribeiro · Nov 26, 2009

Just for the record, I had vote maybe.
My availability for online races, unfortunately shift a lot.
I can be one or two months without it and suddenly one intire week racing possibility.

1001 post now.

Knut Omdal Tveito · Nov 26, 2009

To answer the question - Yes, I would pay to race.

Cars is my one big hobby so I don't mind spending some money on it.

I would probably been using iRacing if it wasn't for GTLegends. I did try the free Radical version and I liked it a lot. But it lacks the cars and racing environment(thanks RD) that makes GTL my favorite sim

Using 50EUR to race online gives me much more fun than a tank of petrol in a real car

Lee Downham · Nov 26, 2009

Ben Tusting said:
Stuart's idea is the best tbh

All racing club members pay 1 [to] 2 euros a month

It is a great idea, but its not working as both he and Bram and others have clearly stated in the past ... hence my suggestions to boost it with other stuff.

Nigel Atkins · Nov 28, 2009

i can`t see selling T-Shirts and other stuff would work. the work load for organizing and running it would be big and i wouldn`t expect someone to do that for free, so the prophets would soon out run the running costs. only way it could work is if an outside company did it on some kind of no sale no fee contract.

the idea about raffles is a good one, i know RD occasionally get free copys of games and give them away in little competitions. maybe a 1 euro raffle ticket would be a better option. but can isen`t there a minimum amount you can pay through paypal so it isen`t swallowed up in charges?

even though i`m unemployed i try to donate 5 euros every couple of months which is a small price to pay for the service we get, and compared to what we pay for our hardware (my hardware bill is over £1000) its a drop in the ocean.

Lee Downham · Nov 28, 2009

^^ good to hear someone discussing the other funding methods mentioned.

... and yeah ... I know I should have donated something for the past year or so's racing I have had round here, but up to lately I have not had any real expendable income (no I don't drink, smoke, do narcs, or have expensive holidays and the like) ... and what money I have had has been spoken for with other things (shoes for kids

) ... as I am bit more flush than I have been for a long time, I have just rectified the situation with about 18 months worth of donation credits, 'cos I am not sure I will be in this situation for long, so had better pay a bit up front too

I still think that paying to race can be a thing of the past tho, and with a bit of thought and maybe just a bit of effort to set something new up, those folks with no jobs or very limited expendable income can still enjoy a great race here at RD and not be made to feel like freeloaders :dazed: