I think you may have perceived that incorrectly:
Quoted post from the Bass forum
Yes, if your software includes a donation button then a Shareware licence would be needed to use BASS in it,
as you would be making money from it. The occasional donation above 40 Euro will be OK.
EDIT:
Ian also provided a simple solution, in case your product does include a donation button.
Quoted post from the Bass forum
A Shareware licence would indeed be required for that arrangement, as you would be making money from the game.
You could perhaps get around that by asking for donations for hosting costs/etc rather than the game, but that would
need to be unconnected to the game, eg. there would be no requests for donations in the game itself and the donations
wouldn't buy the user any extra features/downloads/support/etc for the game.
/EDIT
You are good to continue without a license if your product does not include a donation button. Also, an occasional donation above 40 Euro will be OK.
Perhaps you are (understandably) a bit pissed off right now about the issue. On the Bass forum, you went straight ahead and shut the door waving goodbye WITHOUT awaiting a reply from Ian. You should at least wait for his response. I think the chances are not too bad the issue will be resolved positively in your interest. Oh, and ours, of course.