The recent trend of people begging for someone else to renew their BYOND membership is a bit disturbing, and indicative of a larger problem within the community.

Fifteen dollars is not a lot of money. It just isn't. Whether you're 10 years old or 30, coming up with $15 isn't hard. If you're younger and your family has enough money to own a computer and pay for internet access every month, then they certainly have enough money to pay you $15 in return for chores etc.

That said, I don't think that the problem is that people don't have the money. The problem is that a lot of people on BYOND are flat out lazy. Among other things, this culture of laziness shows through in the overall quality of the games. Rips exist because many developers don't have the ambition to learn how to do things themselves. And why should they? Unfortunately, motivated BYONDers are all too willing to sacrifice their time to help would-be "Rippers" with coding help.

Many BYONDers expect others to do things for them. In a misguided effort to improve BYOND, many veteran users oblige them. Why the hell should I spend $15 of my hard-earned money to renew the membership of X user simply because they only have 20 days of membership time left? In essence, I would be sacrificing the energy and time it took to earn that $15 to support someone who has no intention of putting in the same energy and time. Instead, they expect another person to exert that effort for them.

The people who beg for membership renewals are no better than the people who rip source code and create games without any real knowledge of DM. Both function based upon the same reprehensible motive: why do things for myself when there are plenty of suckers out their willing to do it for me?

I hate to say this, but the BYONDers who give these types of users coding help or gift memberships are just as much to blame for the problem. The lazy BYONDer wouldn't be able to thrive without a hand to feed them. If you're one of the people who hands out gift memberships etc., perhaps it's time to re-evaluate the types of users that you are supporting.

To clarify, there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving help to other people. I have received assistance many times on the Code Problems forum. Heck, several years ago one of my community members mailed me a free PC so that I could continue coding DWO. The difference in those situations was this: I didn't expect help. I worked hard, and I never thought of outside help or success as something that I had a right to. If the types of users who have given me assistance over the years needed help, I would be more than happy to return the favor. There is a big difference between charity for the sake of charity, and charity that has meaning and purpose.

Look at it this way: if the types of BYONDers you are supporting are motivated and work hard, then you are contributing to a positive future for BYOND. On the other hand, if you're forking over $15 to someone who is perfectly capable of spending their own $15 on a membership and has no intention of doing anything for themselves, then you are personally responsible for the lack of quality games and culture of laziness on BYOND.