Imagine a world where a TF2 match started 30 seconds later. You had to sit through a 30 second ad and there was no way to bypass it. Round times were shortened to squeeze a few more ads in per day and you had no options to play elsewhere. If you are unfamiliar with Pinion, let me explain. Pinion is a company that offers money for ad space in the message of the day. You see this thing every single time a map changes. Reference: http://critsandvich.com/motd/index.php
More and more servers are using Pinion. And Pinion is moving to capitalize on its revenue source. Currently you can close the MOTD window and bypass the video ad. Soon you won't. Want to know what it's worth to server owners? $2 per 1000 views. If you play 10 maps in a day, you'll lose 5 minutes of your life to ads. There's also a minor effect on your performance. You have videos loading in the background and it can effect your FPS. Go figure.
Let's imagine if we used Pinion. OK nevermind. Quite simply. In a single day we'd be stealing 20-30 hours of overall playtime, of our valued guests, on ads. No joke. All for maybe $3 dollars in revenue.
So we should all thank our donors. If not for them. You'd be watching Doritos Locos commercials every 10 minutes. Over the years it has been hard. But our system has worked. And the hard work has paid off.
And a personal message to all the server owners who use shitty ads. Lrn2Play.
