Soliciting Your Thoughts

<b>What kinds of interactions do you enjoy when you back a project on Patreon?</b> -- I mostly just want to support their work. I look at your Patreon posts, but I'm mostly paying to keep you alive and producing content <hr> <b>Do you like seeing your names in the credits on videos?</b> -- I think your videos are too classy for that. But I do think you could get some sponsorships in your credits (to combat the Facebook freebooting problem). I know you're not yet big enough to have sponsorships; I'm just saying that you should feel free to do that when you have the opprotunity<hr> <b>Do you like campaigns that do Q&As?</b> -- Sometimes... CGP Grey's Q&As are pretty cool. But I've also seen Q&As that just aren't interesting or informative. I think I would like to see a Q&A from you, but just make sure you have good questions <hr> <b>Exclusive videos and/or podcasts?</b> -- I would like to hear you do a podcast, but I don't think it should be exclusive. I think the people who support you want your opinions and views to be freely available to everyone who wants to see them. I know that's a catch 22<hr> <b>If I were writing reviews of adventure games or album recommendations or talking about movies, would that be of interest?</b> -- Definitely. I'd really like to hear your opinions about movies. I have this overwhelming feeling of wanting to just be your friend. I want to know what your interests are. That's cool stuff

Jason Parker

Honestly, (and I tell everyone this), I like a lot of video creators, but what convinces me to pay some over others is interaction. I wish could support all the creators that I like, but that's just not an expense I can excuse. So, this may sound narcissistic, but the creator-backer correspondence does mean a lot. It's one of the many reasons why people prefer the "mom and pop" to the "faceless corporation". I'm sure you know all this. All I'm saying is that you should probably focus on interaction. Look at how much response the Honest Trailer guy gets just for asking people to tell him things to say in his "awesome voice".

casersatz

I would love too be more helpful, however I simply dont mind whatever you do. Q&amp;A's, Podcasts, Reviews, Recommendations all sound interesting, so do whatever you feel would be good.

This is actually my first patreon backed project. I honestly really loved the material and as I wish to create well done videos in the near future, it felt like the right move to back and glean all the information I can. I would love to have some Q&amp;As and exclusive videos!

Patreon definitely makes me feel more like a member of a community rather than a mere customer. It creates a special bond with the creators, or at least the feeling like there is one. I feel like it's always nice to have communication channels, through which the creator can be reached, and through which I (and other patrons) can leave suggestions. But honestly? At this point I'm mainly just super excited about your work. The Story Beats series offered perspectives I wasn't aware of before (yet instantly made sense given my personal experiences), and gave me a lot of new stuff to think about. Turns out that I don't really know what I want (to see in your work), which is kinda the point here - I learn new stuff from your work. And I love that. Also, often it motivates me to keep exploring the subjects - e.g. following the Story Beats series I was so hooked these subjects that I ended up swiftly reading Ian Bogost's "How to Talk about Video Games." So yeah, interaction through comments is nice, but I'll probably mostly just stay silent, eager for more of your work, which I REALLY love. And that's the main reason I'm here, supporting you. Keep up the excellent work!

Valentyn

I honestly don't care. I didn't subscribe to this patreon to get interaction with you, just to support your work. I've just been enjoying the videos you've been making. If I feel like the quality is slipping significantly slipping or the channel isn't what I signed up for I'll probably leave feedback then. As it stands my general silence is feedback that I'm happy with how things are at the moment. I don't care about community interaction or whatever you'd call it and seeing my name in the credits of a video is more likely going to make me feel embarrassed than proud.

Caoimhe

I have a ~20$/month Patreon budget for people who intersect my "top quality content" and "needs patron support" sets. It doesn't bug me when there are long gaps between output, but whenever I do get a fresh dose of your work, it's great. This isn't Kickstarter, I'm not preordering anything from you, I just like to have a budget item that makes the world have more great writing/critique/humor/etc.

Josh Duff (TehShrike)

Maybe I'm out of touch, but the most obvious gesture is to read and respond to interesting comments here, below the posts. The "creators" that go the extra mile to talk back to their "patrons" really go above and beyond what is expected. But if you do something other than being present in comments, while neglecting comments, it feels very disingenuous, as if comments are too time consuming, but doing something that would logically come after comments in terms of responsibilities is not. Why have Q &amp; A? Really what are the questions that would be asked? That cannot be asked in the form of comments, when there is an actual context for the question. Who attends these extracurricular events? I always assume they are the folks we'd have called stalkers 10yrs ago. EDITED: I am pretty sure there is also the Patron Post wall. Q &amp; A is already built into Patreon :)

Michael

I think given your approach to media it'd be interesting for you to have a twice-yearly solicitation of patron's impressions of gaming culture. I think culture doesn't change on single events but on a trajectory. Identifying and making explicit that trajectory helps us to understand how we can help change negative components of that evolving arc, and support positive components of that arc.

deconst

Another vote for "just please keep making more videos".

I'm in the "I throw money at you because I love what you're doing" crowd. I appreciate updates like these, though! I like seeing pictures in my feed, so maybe teaser screenshots from production or editing would be neat.

Tap三y M.C.

I'm a patron in the sense that I support you, so I'm giving you my money so you can keep doing what you do, nothing special required on my end. P.S.: I've found out that this comment box considers "Enter" as post, sorry if you got extra emails because I was figuring that out.

Eduardo Lavaque

I'm really really not interested in you making private videos for us Patrons. It's all in the name for me, I'm not your client I'm your patron, I don't own you or your work, I back you because I love what you do, that's it. So even the dev logs I don't think should be private or password protected. I give my patronage because I want to see what you do appear in the world, so I 'd prefer if it could reach as many people as it can because intelligent game critique needs to emerge, people need to see that there can be more to games than just IGN and Kotaku. That said, I think some level of Patronage (just to give you less work, not to be snob or anything) should give a select few access to a forum or something of some sort that would allow us to discuss with you your subjects, suggest things, know about upcoming videos, talk amongst ourselves… Some kind of private line. Like some have said before me, I'm not interested in Q&amp;As, we don't have specific questions to ask you, we'd rather talk with you about your work. I'm sure if you had a dedicated discussion board, it could even help you with research and accelerate your process in some ways. So here's my two cents on how to make this patron thing better : more interaction, not more private content.

Oscar Barda

Was gonna start this "I can only speak for myself" but apparently I'm not alone, so I'll just say I agree with comments like ". I support you because I like there being academic games critique in the world, that's all" (Stella-Terra, above). Not trying to influence your work, just trying to make sure you get to keep making it.

So I'm a new sub who hasn't given any money yet, but i think releasing less edited content like Game Maker's Playlist after a certain paybar is fine. I would up my own meager sub if you did that. To be honest, I'm ok with contributing per video like with Mark Brown as well, (i'd just cap it myself somewhere around $10 a month). You're a pretty irregular poster so I don't know if this would give you more or less money, but your videos are always dense enough for that to be okay with me.

Personally, I enjoy the selection bias of only seeing comments from people interested/engaged enough to put money into a project. Your engagement with those comments is also great - but I'd say that's the best "feature" of Patreon imo. I've also enjoyed seeing personal blog-like posts that describe issues that crop up when creating content (Matthewmatosis did a great blog a few months ago on all of the devilish details of screen capping gameplay for his video essays, the Bonfireside Chat folks recently put out a "I got laid off recently... here's what's going on creative wise as a consequence"). Finally, and this is obviously a touchy subject, but in cases where you're interested in soliciting input as to what source materials to use in a study, it's always fun to suggest games/work that I think would be interesting to include for consideration. (e.g., "I'm thinking about class representation in RPGs, does anyone have games they think would be interesting to consider?")

Sean

Hmmmm. I think you're an interesting guy (thus why I send money so that you will put your ideas in a format where I can consume them, basically) so to me what would be interesting is any kind of increased communication. But a lot of the ways Patreon's do that generally don't work for me. Live chats and such tend to require being around at your computer at a specific time AND paying attention which I'm bad at, Q&amp;As tend to require having a specific question whereas I mostly just like conversation. Etc. So I don't really know that I have a suggestion, honestly. I kind of which Tumblr or Patreon were better for just chatting, because I'm more interested in to the chance to communicate WITH someone than just like, ask a question, get an answer. (And not even specifically just you. I assume the people who Patreon you are also people I might like to talk with but yeah we're not gonna get to know each other in the Patreon comments or anything). I guess I would wonder what YOU are looking for? I know you don't look at the comments on your videos on Youtube, and I don't think Patreon really encourages commenting the way YT does (even tho it's effectively the same it's just... people use YT, Patreon doesn't seem to get used that much). Looking for more feedback? More of a connection to your followers? Or just want to know if you could be improving our experience?

AV

I've been watching the patron-backed video creation business model grow for a while now. I think I'm trying to tend the field in case I ever decide to plant a seed. I back and follow a few different video creators who do patreons and I see a wide gamut of different levels of interaction. My favorite is very little. Sneak info about upcoming videos, occasional behind the scenes stuff. Backers aren't fans trying to pay to be your friends, so you don't need to fake it. Just think of it as a segment of your audience that you don't need to convince. Smart marks.

Aaron

Yep mostly just supporting the content. Idea submissions or helping you pick a topic among some choices if you have multiple ideas you need to choose between could be fun.

Meh. TBH, I just really like watching your content. I don't really want or need anything else. I support you because I like there being academic games critique in the world, that's all. ^_^

Stella-Terra Clemens

I have a pretty simple investment. I like it when the people I'm backing on Patreon create something cool that I get to enjoy. I don't really want exclusive content, I'd generally rather the people I support achieve a larger audience so they can make more things I like, and most of the time I don't even take advantage of the early access I'm given. I watch the videos / read the thing when I have the time, regardless of when I got access. Edit: That said, I'd probably read reviews of adventure games if you did them. I don't actually enjoy playing adventure games, it turns out, but I do think they're interesting so I enjoy reading/learning more about them. If I can get some enjoyment out of them without actually having to play them, that's always a plus.

Stuart Gorman