I was hoping to try out Turtle last summer but didn't get around to it. And had looked into Azerothcore. I hope turtle open sources (if they haven't already and they are allowed to).

I do think part of the problem is payment to cover dev time is actually profit.

I profit from work, although they are just paying me for my time really.

  I hope turtle open sources
Have private servers shared their work at all? I have a feeling that everyone is redoing everyone's work and keep it private out of rivalry.

Payment to devs could be considered profit, but profit for the actual people, not the project as a whole and its owners. Also, remember, it's still work, even if it's work on a game. There are reasons not to call pay you get from work "profit"