Well, it's logical to "help" shard financially if you like playin' on it.
The only question why to buy licensed game with soulstone code (yeah, i'm not goin' to play on OSI, don't like crowds) for a free shard and then pay additionall money (I've already spent 70$)?
I remember in one topic psz told about some kind of possible protection for future versions of RunUO, that any hacked/beta versions of AoS/SE won't be able to login, but...
It's unclear how they'd be able to check your copy? During the install I didn't use any codes (i have one for creation account on OSI, one - for upgrading existing account, and one for claiming soulstone), so the game actually won't be any different if I let, for instance, my buddy to borrow it from me, right?
So, I don't mind donations, but in that case it would be more logical to spend those money on free shard, than paying for the game without any intensions of playing on OSI.