Various suggestions.

1. Guild Members in another color. Not everyone knows all the team members and stuff like that, so it might be handy that when you press set to see who is on, that your team members are in another color, this could help you see them.
2. PVP. Everyone's PVP is different, and people are in various areas, rather than randomly running around hunting for them, possibly in that same whisper menu there could be the PVP number next to the name so they don't have to go to the hub and look at the screen back and forth.
3. Battle Arena: Maybe a fun little arena where people can meet up for PVP battles, that way others who aren't in the mood to PVP don't constantly get bothered to battle. They can just all go to that building and face off against people who are there.
4. Safari Zone (Already suggested by someone else.) Possibly for people of PVP 40 or higher that could catch a few more of the original 150 pokemon that aren't available still in the game.
5. Maybe a few exclusive Kanto quest where you have to go to multiple towns, talk to multiple NPCs and find a place that they all point to for a prize.
6. Of course my favorite suggestion is from the Byond Members Only thread, but since I don't think Byond Members are truly supporting you to the fullest extent, I believe that while they should get a small contribution to them, there should also be a higher thing known as Donators, that way when people donate directly to you they get Pokepoints. These pokepoints can go towards a special shop that you must donate to get into. Possibly a 100 pokepoint per entrance. And inside could be a shop, maybe a casino to help gain money faster. With various TMs, maybe identicals to the ones you win at the gyms for sale now to you, possibly a bit cheaper or 5000, either way or a few rarer ones that you won't see until later. A few pokemon that you aren't able to catch: Aerodactyl, Snorlax, etc, etc. Each of them costing pokepoints that you've earned through donating. This will provide extra cash to Fint for his wonderful gaming and provide the members with a little extra for sending money for his hard work.
7. A special stone, called the citrine stone, that if that above suggestion is good enough could be in there for quite a large amount that could evolve any pokemon up one evolution without having to reach the maximum level.
8. A clothing store to where you can change your sprite and color possibly, maybe customize it up a bit, though that would have to come much later.
9. Berry trees where we can collect berries and sell them for some extra cash rather than just bothering trainers all the time with rechallenges.

My disclaimer to clear up 6 and 7: It would be available to every member, which would mean, everyone has an equal opportunity of getting it and only have to donate to be able to do it. Therefore it isn't all, well that isn't fair, what if you can't? Truth is, you can, everyone is -capable- of doing it, whether they can or can't doesn't come into question. It is quite fair. If someone is able to have a shiny, it doesn't mean everyone else can have shinies because that one person has it. This donation thing works that same way. It is an opportunity to do something for a small contribution to the person who has brought you smiles and enjoyment through a wonderful game.

Let me hear your thoughts!

Sincerely,

Mikva

Well I don't have time to look into all suggestions in detail right now, I will some other time.
BUT, I really like your donation idea but it's just against the law.
I can't put up a point shop or something, what I could do is personally thank the people who donate and give them random points. Again, there can't be any link between the donation given and ingame gain, atleast not a direct link.

Actually, as the law states. A donation can be rewarded with a 'THANK YOU' of which is a free service provided to the donators in return for their donation. This could be those points. If those points are your 'Thank you' towards the donations then nothing can be said or done to you as it isn't against the law. Since pokepoints are technically a free service it can't be said they are for gain or being purchased because they aren't so long as you give a detailed information that will to the full extent not make it against the law. Such as...

Pokepoints are by no means payment for donations and are the soul property of thanking those who donate with special rewards for their contribution to making this free service game what it is.

If you provide legal statements such as those in a copyright fashion you can't be held accountable for anything you give in return for donations.

Mmm, well, if you did research and it's proven to be accurate and true I see no reason why I wouldn't beable to add this to the game.

I will for you do a complete law analysis and provide you with various laws and information that is needed to do this legally, that way when you read it again you will know how to set it up properly to prevent any such annoyance of legality. That can be a piece of my contribution and stuff since I have no problem researching various laws and providing them. I will post them on here when done.

Byond qualifies itself as a free service, this thus means that anything provided on Byond is free. Thus anything provided on, or by Byond is free.

Two examples of for-profit donating.

Blood: When blood is donated they sometimes provide t-shirts or other means of a reward for donating blood, it is a free service since they do not charge for it at all and state that it is nothing more than a free service provided for your donation.

Plasma: When you donate plasma to a plasma center, they actually pay you between 20-50 dollars per each donation, which is providing you with compensation for your donation.

Each of these things are legal, therefore I have come up with a detailed statement to help you escape legal charges and therefore here you are.

Pokemon is copyright Nintendo and gamefreaks respectively. Pokemon Citrine is copyright to Fint(Or what you call your production company). All donations given or received are the soul property of Fint, and are not required by any member to do so. All gifts given for donations are nothing more than thank yous and gifts in exchange for donation and are provided only in free service and are by no means being bought or given for any monetary gain by the individuals who post them. All gifts herein are therefore the soul property of Pokemon Citrine and respective creator/owner. Any monetary gain goes towards the development of the game and therefore are donations to keep the game in development in a faster more reliable means for the guests of the game. All provided pokepoints can be used and are available to purchase various gifts in game for their donation, and are by no means a purchasing or buying means.

If you are still unsure about this, then there is another way. If your shop is put on the forums itself and not on the game itself then you can't be held accountable either since it will be provided on a website which thus is not happening on Byond itself, then if you give a GIFT to someone on Byond that they purchased off this website...it won't be illegal or anything of the such. Well, I think that about covers what I have to say, but I do know that it will work as it is not against the law to provide a free service for donations, and since pixels are free, you don't charge for your game, and Byond states it is a freeware game you can't be held accountable for anything you give for people who donate.

I, myself thought this would be a great idea, the only problem I thought there would be is copyright matters.
But what you typed up looks pretty solid.

It does seem pretty Solid.
If you want, just make the shop hidden so only Fint and the person who donated knows. Then ask them to be bind by a contract of secrecy so only a select few will know. This way, no one will seem it unfair if they don't know and escape legal matters. Two birds in one stone.

Well, I do like to overdo it sometimes with my suggestions, sorry about all the rambling, it comes from the habit of being in school to become a doctor, heh. Umm, there is another thing that I would like to point out... There is really only one person in this situation that can come after you for doing such a thing as this, nintendo or gamefreak, which if they wanted to, could come after you just for having this game like it is now. Though they are a very large company and chances are would only do this one line: take it down. Since they haven't seemed to do it yet, and aren't after you it seems, there shouldn't be any problem with what you are doing. Byond can't ban you for donations that come to you so long as you list it under: For game building purposes. If you simply say: All donations go towards bigger servers, better bandwidth, game expansion, then donations are for a charitable cause and can't be held accountable so long as you never say it goes into your pocket for your personal use.

Nintendo has said multiple times, that they do not care if we re-use there ideas just as long as their is no donatons of any kind or of any monetary value involved, prime example is PureZC

Then to escape Nintendo's monetary value clause, one would have to state that the money being donated is for equipment only, nothing more or less. It is for equipment, not for the game, and not for paying to play. It will have to be stated in a giant thing which I'd be more than happy to write for Fint if he wants stating all the corners and edges as best as possible so that he may get away with donations and the such if he wants that is.

Actually, you need a statement from the government to legally collect donations and to call it donations...

It actually varies with government, Fint doesn't live in the U.S. for one.
What he can do is a give the donater a random prize.
Like a Pack with:
2 Super Potion
1 Random Stone
1 Random Pokemon.
1 Random Tm.
Something around those lines, if its random they no one can't argue that it wasn't a gift.

To be honest, I wouldn't do this at least with the above information, seems like a lot of shades of gray, and hardly any factual evidence that secures you're protected while doing this.

The problem I see, is the fact its "pokepoints" it doesn't take a genius to figure out this model(MMO premium shops) its hardly a "gift" if its a monetary value that only exist to be rewarded to "donators" to access exclusive areas.At this point ur merely changing up names, Im not a lawyer but that seems like fraud on top of making money from copyrighted material.

.For example if you say : Donators will get free bicycles instead of having to pay 100k for them in game.Thats a gift.It seems that to make this idea a bit more plausible you'd need to make pokepoints and integral part of the game for it to constitute as a gift and not a service.

Lets say that you need 100 pokepoints to go this "shop"
-For every trainer that you defeat you earn pokepoints
-First time 2 pokepoints,Replay 1 point,Gym leaders 5 points.
-If you donate less than 5$ you get 50 points,10$ 1k points,etc as a gift.
I read about some Trading card game in plan for this game so we can add that
-Booster packs are 5 points, etc.

Hell you could all together make this pokepoints the same as coins(casino points) for when the casino gets added hopefully with those cool prizes and as bonus you'll have the shop.

So by making the points a part of the game(an alternative monetary value for in game features) you can trully say you're gifting merely helping players a bit for helping you.

Donations would OF COURSE have to be stated and "used" solely for things like servers,etc. but I think we all understand that.

Also :
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donate-intro
Fint you might want to read this.Also im sending you a PM.

He already has the Donation Button in the Portal at top.

Well alot of you gave me advice, here is my view on the matter.

I'm not going to put myself at risk here.
So I'm not going to state you will get anything in return for donating.
A donation is exactly that, a donation to me.
Someone for my personal use, and I can do with it whatever I want.

If I feel like giving a shiny or something to someone who donates, that's my choice but I think it's best if people expect nothing in return.
There can be a milion ways to try to make it air tight but lets face it, giving stuff in return for a donation is making money.
It's buying something, which also meens i'm making money of copyrighted materials, which is against the law.

Another thing which bothers me is the fact that at some point some person is going to get pissed of at the game and will likely start broadcasting the fact I take donations and give stuff in return.

So for now, people who donate will probably be called VIP on the forum, but that's it. I cant promise you get ingame gain.

I believe that people who really care about the game will donate anyways.
And if they dont, well maybe that's just the way it has to be.
I rather take the high road and try get as many outside people to join BYOND and become a member.

Maybe we can focus on that instead?

I have to respect your decision I think its a fine conclusion.

As for the byond members thing, I guess what you could do, is make Members something good/intriguing enough for people to figure its worth it, but not too upset your non-member population. After having figured out a nice package.

You or you're staff actively seek out pokemon fan forums,etc and promote; just join the game and thus byond making them referrals and in turn with a good Member features you intrigue them into becoming so.

Fint made the right choice here.
Even though I can't really see a big threat of risking yourself. Nintendo would HAVE to warn you before they can really sue you for anything.

But as Nintendo said that they don't mind if we use their game, except if it is with donations then I wouldn't do it, because they actually warned you with that message.

It's a good thing to decide not to sell in-game products for real money, as this can only cause problems.

But maybe you can make some reward on the forum and thank the people who donated that way.