Anon42
patreon
Blatant 'piracy'
🕑 Added 2014-09-04 19:26:45 +0000 UTC I'm not sure how many of you know this, but Patreon has a serious hole in their systems that allows people to pledge to a Creator, access the patron-exclusive content, and then immediately pull their pledge. It costs nothing and gets you access to everything you want from them. It's also seriously scummy and hurtful. There have been several of these people over the last few days, and I'm considering changing up the way I deliver updates. Instead of releasing it as a 'paid creation', I would instead wait until patron cards have been charged, and then send each patron a private message with the download link to the game. I REALLY don't want to do this, because it means my patrons who actually care about supporting me will have to wait longer to access the update (cards are processed through the first few days of the new month), but it's painful to see several updates a day stating "You have a new patron!" only to find out, guess what, they're gone already. It's essentially pirating, except it's done right in front of me rather than in secret. I get that some may not have extra cash to pledge, and I'm okay with pirating for the most part - it's inevitable, and I don't blame people for it. But these updates come to the public after a month to begin with, and getting a notification every time somebody steals my work is a serious slap to the face. It's hurtful, unfair to those of you who actually DO support Crisis Point, and it's killing my desire to keep working.. which is something I really don't want to happen.Comments
Anon42
Yeah, it's a shame things are like that. At least there are ways for me to work around it, but it sucks that I have to let down the patrons who actually do support me because of the assholes who just want to steal the game.
Patreon Terms of Use 14. Intellectual Property Rights 15. Copyright Complaints and Copyright Agent Good one Patreon. Way to promote Intellectual Property Theft. Also, Dear Patreon Staff, as any sports fan would to their losing team "Pick up your game"
Anon42
It's super simple to find, you just have to go to the Patron Manager. It's right at the top of the My Account page.
Vesle Triumphant
Can you share that information with Combin-Ation and how to do so?
Kayin Sparkle Twilight Dreemurr
And to ensure (for those determined to steal it) that it doesn't happen with every update, you could change the password for each update. Alternatively, you could set it up so that Patrons who have payed get a PM with a file necessary to run the game, while those who just download the new update and haven't payed get some sort of trolly popup message instead xD
Kayin Sparkle Twilight Dreemurr
However, there is a separate solution of sorts. Rather than PMing the update itself, you could instead set it up so that the ZIP archive holding the updates requires a password, and then you could PM the password to those who have already given their charge for the update.
Anon42
Luckily, there's a system in place with Patreon that would make the whole PM-ing system a lot easier. It basically just shows a list of all the Patrons that have pledged to you, and whether or nor their pledge has been processed yet. Thanks for the support, though. I'm glad to know people wouldn't hate me for transitioning to the PM-ing system.
Anon42
It's not that easy to just say "eh, screw 'em" though. I've lost probably around $100 in patrons over the past week or two because of people doing this. Dedicating my free time and life to a game that people are just going to steal isn't the most motivating idea in the world. And unfortunately, I'm not sure a petition would mean anything. The reason Patreon uses the system they have is to give the power to the patrons. If they gave more control to the creators, then they could be putting themselves in a position for legal issues. Patrons have to pay money to use this service - creators don't. That's why I'm considering sending the new updates to patrons individually.
Mark Herrig
I agree with the petition Idea Cain had. It would show patron that there is a problem and we want it solved, if they don't already know about it. If they do know about it I hope they are working on a solution already. Also I know it would not be fun to have to pm everyone the update link, but if thats what it takes I for one would not mind waiting. I do not begrudge pirates either, but they could have a little patience.
Kayin Sparkle Twilight Dreemurr
It is indeed inevitable, but the only suggestion I can make is to keep on forging ahead. There are always going to be people who do this, so allowing them to mess with your motivation only hurts you. However, you could possibly do something about it by contacting the Patreon staff. You could even create a petition and have patrons and creators sign it to show they need to fix that hole.
Vesle Triumphant
I'm donating here for activity thread. Not at agent alona. I've already donated to him through paypal.
Vesle Triumphant
Huh. Combin Ation or Agent Alona is also having this problem. I mostly donating for the activity feed over the actual game.
This is pretty crummy. Patreon should just change their system so that people have to commit to at least one month of patronage....patronship? That way, the patron will be charged at least once. Anyway, I just noticed that even though your lowest tier for getting prototype updates isn't very pricey at all at $5, it is very limited (and completely full). Maybe if you were to take off the limit, you'll have fewer people tempted to do this sort of thing? Just a thought, not defending these people.
