Allow me to preface this with the fact that we NEVER require our players to make donations in order to play on our servers. We appreciate everyone who comes to have fun on our servers, regardless if you contribute or not!

With that said, one of the things that sets us apart from most other gaming communities is we own and maintain everything ourselves.  We do not rent servers from hosting farms that run on their OVERSOLD infrastructure and internet connection. We have our own equipment which include the Server, Ram, HHDs or SSDs, UPS (battery backup), Operating Systems and other types of software when needed, and yes, we always use licensed versions of our software. Then you have the added utility (electric) cost and the 1Gig internet for both of our server locations.  Our admins & moderators put hours upon hours into installing, setting up & maintaining the games while also assisting players when needed. Finally, we are dealing with machines and they do break occasionally, requiring repair. The better funded we are, the faster we are able to get things back up and running. It's hard to put a price on the maintenance cost and labor aspect of all we do to keep this thing going. 

We really love what we're doing here and with your support, we plan on being here well into the future!