Quote: Original post by LessBread
I disagree with Obscure. The product is commercial if you set a price on it. But if you give it away for free while asking for donations that's not at all commercial. So long as visitors are free to choose how much the want to donate (or not). This kind of set up isn't obfusction. A church that gives away free meals can ask for donations without becoming a restaurant.

The church is a registered charity and must adhere to very strict rules. A company or person providing a product and accepting money is a commercial venture - just because they call payments "donations" on their web site doesn't mean that legally they are the same as real donations to a charity. Payments to a company or person that offers a product or service will be considered to be income. Not only would this make the product commercial but it would also be liable for income tax. It doesn't matter if some customers don't pay (that happens all too often in every business).

I still disagree. I agree about registering and so forth but a donation does not entail a 'quid pro quo', a payment does. No doubt some less scrupulous organizations blur these distinctions to gain some advantage, but we lack evidence to say that is the case here. As far as income and income taxes go, the totality of donations to a church also constitute income and churches (and other non-profits) are required to file income tax returns (at least here in the US). In fact, tax returns are one way the government verifies the legitimacy of charities.
adventuredesign makes a good point. These things vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

To clear things up a bit - I sent an email to Ageia/NovodeX. They say that with non-commercial they mean non-profit, so looks like Obscure is right. I guess it's safe to assume that the same applies to all other stuff (textures, music...) unless stated otherwise.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help.