In your two scenarios you are describing things that can happen. Any well functioning hierarchy of people i.e. a hierarchy predicated upon competence can degenerate into a corrupted hierarchy, that is a hierarchy predicated on power. You see that in families, businesses, institutions and nations. This may also happen to AC. However I do not think that this risk can be completely mitigated by the governance model. In the end the level of integrity of the individual who participates will decide if things move towards the greater good or degenerate.
I hear that the idea of a yearly fee does not resonate well so far. I understand that it might be perceived like a stock in a company or like a license - instead of a support of an idealistic cause. The idealistic cause being the nourishing of a game and allowing others to have the same profound experience you've had. For me that would be the experience of creating great stuff in collaboration with others and mastering challenge by challenge. It was a time that I consider valuable and I see value in enabling future generations to experience this as well. Everyone has his/her own personal experience they consider valuable and worth passing on. Anyway, I think we need to remove the fee and fund the infrastructure people by a yearly call for donations, that might work better.
I think it is fair to compensate for external costs such as infrastructure or assets that are needed for the project success but I do not think effort in hours should be compensated. If you would start compensating hours, even just on small scale, you would act immoral towards those that have invested their hours in the past. In my perspective it would also defeat the idealistic cause. Another approach would be monetizing the app - however this is currently not possible due to licensing and it is also a moral topic.
There are conflicting interests between the people that use a product and those that develop it. I think this is natural. You can mitigate this partially with money but money creates other problems. The question is can you manage to establish a healthy relationship between the parties and can you have an implicit or explicit agreement on the sacrifices you are willing to pay for certain goals.
Thanks everyone who shared their perspective. I will update the governance model and incorporate some - but not all - of the points and ask the committee for approval. We need to start somewhere and we need to be courageous enough to start badly.
I hear that the idea of a yearly fee does not resonate well so far. I understand that it might be perceived like a stock in a company or like a license - instead of a support of an idealistic cause. The idealistic cause being the nourishing of a game and allowing others to have the same profound experience you've had. For me that would be the experience of creating great stuff in collaboration with others and mastering challenge by challenge. It was a time that I consider valuable and I see value in enabling future generations to experience this as well. Everyone has his/her own personal experience they consider valuable and worth passing on. Anyway, I think we need to remove the fee and fund the infrastructure people by a yearly call for donations, that might work better.
I think it is fair to compensate for external costs such as infrastructure or assets that are needed for the project success but I do not think effort in hours should be compensated. If you would start compensating hours, even just on small scale, you would act immoral towards those that have invested their hours in the past. In my perspective it would also defeat the idealistic cause. Another approach would be monetizing the app - however this is currently not possible due to licensing and it is also a moral topic.
There are conflicting interests between the people that use a product and those that develop it. I think this is natural. You can mitigate this partially with money but money creates other problems. The question is can you manage to establish a healthy relationship between the parties and can you have an implicit or explicit agreement on the sacrifices you are willing to pay for certain goals.
Thanks everyone who shared their perspective. I will update the governance model and incorporate some - but not all - of the points and ask the committee for approval. We need to start somewhere and we need to be courageous enough to start badly.