Just stop with the nonsense. This shard is as "free" as are the public roads we all use to drive on. While we don't pay a fee to access those roads, they are paid for by someone who pays taxes just like this shard exists because of all the people who have spent hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy EDs.ButteryBiscuits wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:41 pm
In the final analysis, this is not a paid shard. We do not have to pay anything to be here or get anything. All the admins (now and then, i believe) have always been volunteers. Many people who have never worked in the realm of IT, servers, coding, etc have this warped idea that a "free shard" means that not only do they not have to pay to play but that there are no real world costs to keep the shard operational. That is not true. Beyond the often times significant costs of servers and their upkeep, the monthly fees to have the shard hosted in a reliable, accessible environment- there is the HUGELY time consuming, life sacrificing suck to create new content.
Make no mistake, this shard is a profitable venture. Very profitable. Let's not pretend that the lights are kept on out of the kindness of someones heart. If ED purchases stopped today the lights would be turned off quicker than Usain Bolt can run a 100m sprint.