MirceaKitsune
patreon
Switching my Patreon to monthly
🕑 Added 2017-01-26 13:39:24 +0000 UTC After some thinking, I considered switching my Patreon to "monthly" rather than "per project". Obviously I'd rather make such a change after consulting existing patrons first, hence why this post; I'd like people to share their feedback on the matter if they wish, and will take the decision based on it sometime next month. As always I read all replies, so leave one below if you want to share your thoughts. This is my reasoning for the change, which I do ask everyone to read first:Back when I first started this page, I wasn't doing a whole lot on it, and had few ongoing projects I could share publicly. I asked around for what the best setup would be, and several people told me to use per-project as patrons would then have the guarantee they aren't being charged for nothing. Obviously that seemed like the safest and fairest option, so I immediately went with it. On the downside, some were afraid that I would charge them more than once a month instead... which is why I made the promise to only create one charged post per month, never more. Therefore the only reason why I used per-project altogether was to make sure no one pays during a month in which I didn't do anything.
This was two years ago. Today things have changed quite a bit: I have a group of awesome patrons who are supporting me, thanks to which I was able to kick up a lot of projects on which I work simultaneously. Charging per post is starting to become more of an inconvenience in comparison: I need to pick just one subject to post about publicly each month, and have to make sure I never publish more or less than one relevant post monthly... forcing me to either limit or oppositely strain myself.
I believe monthly would be a better solution at this point, and what every creator with my pace seems to use; My life consists of me sitting at a computer all day long... almost always working on some sort of project, which is in nearly all cases open-source or somehow available to the public. Whatever happens, I'm bound to work on something anyone can access and use freely! Another problem is that ironically, per-project is intended for people who charge multiple times a month, which is the exact opposite of my case... Youtubers who charge per video typically need this.
One important mention: While I do work on something intended for the public almost every day, this does not mean I make a whole new project each month or have radical new features available monthly! Nearly everything I make I make alone, and things take time to finish. Obviously I'm not alone here, since no one I know can create a new video game each month nor start and finish a complex animation in that timespan... many work on continuous projects the same way, which can sometimes take years to be officially finished. I know I'm probably stating the obvious here... just making sure I'm being clear and fair for all.
It should equally be noted that I often work on contributions to other projects too. They are themselves projects open to the public, but not necessarily things I'm explicitly supported for. For example, a few days ago I made several pull requests for the Tuxemon project, which is a FOSS monster fighting game written in Python; It's something that might be relevant to some of my supporters, while at the same time I plan to use the engine to make a project of my own someday... however it's up to everyone whether they consider something like that of personal interest. This is the case with a few other game engines or assets I contribute to, but of course I mainly focus on my own projects and they're never left out.
Comments
Terra-Bolt
Alright!
Mircea Kitsune
I plan to do it sometime this month (February). Mostly because I made a charged post on January, and wanted to be extra sure Patreon wouldn't think of charging anyone twice in the same month. I will see during the next days.
Terra-Bolt
When would this change take effect?
Mircea Kitsune
I understand. The change wouldn't really make a practical difference BTW: I was already planning to charge every month, especially for the first half of the year... the modification would only automate the process instead of me doing it with a post. As I still rely on staying above $250, I hope that won't have to be the case immediately... no worries if it is however, I understand you have your own struggles and I'm grateful for any support! Also thank you very much for mentioning this, so I'm prepared if it is the case.
Vector Wave
I may have to cut my patronage in half if we go monthly, I've got a few monetary issues of my own, but at least that will help keep things stable for you and not drain myself too heavily either.
