Being asked to work for free

[Gamerprinter]

I've had only one bad map commission experience where a client waited almost 6 months before paying me for the work I've done, but not before asking for changes to the map. I told him simply, you normally need to pay me upon completion of the map. I would have provided the changes he asked for free, if he'd already paid. Since he had not, I insisted on getting the original pay first, then charging him additional fees for the changes. Again, if he'd paid on time, I'd have done the extra at no cost. However, because of the delay, he was not entitled to any breaks. I may have been curt in my response, but I was not rude, and don't find being rude to be the best response to most client interactions, no matter how badly they treated me. I tend to get more results with sugar, than vinegar.

If a publisher ever asks to work for FREE, based on his belief that his product will eventually sell, and will be paying you based possible royalties. I say, "No way."

A given product may or may not sell, that is not my concern. If my skills are needed to produce freelance work, then I will be paid a pre-agreed upon price at the completion of work. If the product is a super success, I don't feel I am entitled for extra payment (if a publisher pays me extra, I'm fine with that). However, I will not wait to be paid at some future date based on the 'pie in the sky' possibility that it will be successful. I don't do work as an investment towards a project. If you want services from me, I will be paid the full amount at completion, or I won't do the work at all.

This is the primary reason, that I am mostly creating maps for my own published projects to avoid any of the possible payment hassles dealing with companies other than me.