Even titles and other such in game I think is a bit lame and will encourage the "buying your way into coolness" attitude. I think selling something with part of the money going to fund the server, or maybe holding contests outside the game would work good, if someone has to have a LOOK AT ME I DONATED thing going maybe something on the forums...
gamerswithjobs for instance does an annual donation drive, typically it works like this:
1.) if you donate over X amount (like 10$ or something) you get entered into a contest to win X video game merchandise
2.) if you donate you get a nifty little icon next to your name on the forums that upgrades each year you donate, like year one might be a giant dildo, year two you upgrade to a cheeseburger, year three you get a platinum grill, year four you get some gold chains, etc etc You can't buy ahead so if you want the coolest icon you have to donate every year.
*shrug*
Anything more than that or selling merchandise is lame and cheapens the game.
|