Before I begin, I want to mention that a similar idea was posted about 1-and-a-half years prior here:

https://itch.io/t/2102531/add-a-pricing-option-for-all-donations-go-to-itchio-th...

The reasons for posting a new thread are that

• The discussion was not really resolved and did not highlight the actual benefits compared to the current revenue share alternative

• This thread will expand and showcase this idea a bit more, while also giving more explanation and additional extension options

So in short: Thank you for already discussing this, I just want to re-highlight it and see where it goes as I think it would be a neat addition.

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For quite a while now I was liking the idea of supporting the itch.io website (or basically Itch Corp). I love that they offer their services for anyone without requiring to go commercial or any other form of paying them back. But that of course also poses the problem: If you do not go commercial, you basically have no way of paying them back (aka supporting them). You do not have to, but some would certainly like to.

The alternative posted in the thread linked above is to use the revenue share system, as you can set the share to 100% for itch.io. Which makes sense, all the earned money will go to Itch Corp, so you supported them.

The problem with this however is that it is the commercial route. You have to set up your payment details, finish the tax interview and, well, probably have to manage your taxes in the future from then on. I am not sure how it works in other countries, but where I live, you basically do not have to do that unless you are doing something commercially independently. Meaning, as long as you just earn money differently, you can, but do not have to manage your taxes. As soon as you start doing it however, you have to commit to it from then on. While this is normal for a lot of people probably, you can see how people not doing that are not really inclined to go through all this to make something possible which is basically a donation.

The second problem is that the revenue share system only works for a set price (and above) - so basically for if you already decided to ask money for your project. It does not matter if all the money goes to itch.io, the user still have to pay a price in order to get your product. Some people do not want that. They want to offer their work for no asking price, but with optional donation support. It is a different thing for the 'seller', as well as the 'buyer'. And with that 'thing', you cannot choose to support itch.io.

With all that outlined, I want to express the idea (again mentioned in the discussion linked above), to extend the donation option to choose Itch Corp.

The way I would think to implement it, is that you could select additional donation information when editing your individual project page. This would also resolve the third issue with the revenue share alternative: It is set for your whole account, meaning all your projects. And while this may make sense for that system, it would be more beneficial to allow individual donation settings for each project.

The information would allow you (the project owner), to set the 'donation target' individually. There would be a selector to choose 'Itch.io/Itch Corp' as the 'donation target'.

Now, the problematic thing about this is of course transparency. Because if a user wants to donate, they usually assume they will donate to you (the project owner). To resolve this, the donation page would need to be adjusted, to show the actual 'donation target', highlighted in a way the user can unmistakably realise that you (the project owner) decided to give donations to someone else. With that, the user can still decide if they want to donate and how much.

I think that this is the basic gist of it. That being said, this idea can actually be extended even further, if so desired:

• Another selector to choose a different itch.io user instead. Selecting it will allow you (the project owner) to type in a username, giving you the 'donation target' (or a list of similar names to choose from).

• A third selector to choose external 'donation targets' officially enabled by itch.io/Itch Corp. These could for example be fund raisers for charity.

• A revenue share system for donations. You can select a percentage of how much of the donation should go to you (the project owner), and the 'donation target'. The range would technically be the same as for revenue share - 0% to 100%, although setting it to 0% for the 'donation target' would of course make it a bit pointless.

• Exploit Protection: Same as with the username which can only be changed again after a certain time has passed, constantly changing the 'donation target' / share range should maybe limited, as people could begin to switch around too often, confusing users. (Not sure if that would actually be a problem, but you never know)

• Adding an overall donation setting to user account, which is selected/offered when creating a project page. You can then edit the selection/offer to manually set it how you want it to be for that specific project. (Might be overdoing it, though)

Above you see a little example I made to show how the donation window could look like. There could of course be additional formatting and different text, as well as additional features like making the 'donation target' a link so the user can get to their user profile/the itch.io 'About' site/a site that presents the external entities, as well as adjusting text based on different variables (like if a share is enabled or set to 0%/100%, it could change the info text and the part below it, for example).

To summarize everything a final time: This system would allow users to select other entities to be supported which currently is not possible / probably? used very marginally. While some people want to use the donation system to get support for themselves (which is totally okay and can of course still be done), it would open up more possibilities to support each other. Especially offering the option to support itch.io (although the other options would be great as well) would probably give many people a motivation and easier way to actually choose doing so.

That being said: What do you think? Would it be good? Feasible? Did I make some mistake in my assumptions/presentation? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Thank you and have a nice day/night.

==Changelog==

• Added another extension idea to the list (the fifth one)

• Fixed good, old spelling and grammar mistakes