About the Current System (Format and Sketches)
Added 2016-05-04 11:46:18 +0000 UTCHello and good morning! This is going to be an exclusive text for this page, it's like a journal that won't be posted to my galleries because there is no need for that. It is important that you keep reading :3
Today while I was making a quick pause from drawing to wash the dishes, I started wondering about the current state of my Patreon page and I felt that making a post about it here is the best thing I can do. Hearing from you who access the page and support me is the best opinion I can hear.
It's been a few months since I was informed raffles aren't recommended rewards in this site since it can be compared to gambling, which is against the rules. And since I want to avoid trouble and also renew my page (specially after the design change they did with the site, all my images were badly resized, etc), I have to think of the best solution, the best method to keep my work here going on and providing rewards to you who supports me (other than making the comics and art).
I had a chat with a friend of mine who is also making the grammar corrections for Weekend 2, about the challenges I would have with the different systems for free sketches, and I will try to make a short version of each one of them for you:
1 - Rewarding randomly
Giving sketches randomly to patrons could be seen as unfair, and would be a problem to deal with because of favoritism.
2 - Rewarding for Total lifetime money amount / Per total time supporting
This could solve the problem from the suggestion above, but the favoritism would only be replaced by "measuring" by how much money they can spend, or by how long he's supporting, which is not good in my opinion, it's a system that can exclude newer patrons
3 - Rewarding with Private Sketchstreams
They could be for only patron viewers, or for everyone, but only patrons can ask for sketches. But the issue is that I would still need to find a way for how am I choosing who gets the sketches, if it's by the reasons above, by who gets in the stream first, etc. Which I still think can lead to a negative experience for everyone.
4 - Rewarding per Total money pledged / Every 6 months of being a patron
It's like a slowed down version of suggestion 2. My only worries about this one is that I would need to keep an eye on every payment and check their total, that's over 100 patrons, could be easy to lose track, and also, if I used the per time option, every 6 months I would have 100+ sketches to make, that would not end well.
5 - Not rewarding with sketches anymore
Stop giving this kind of reward will solve the problem of changing the raffle method, and would also not keep me worried each month about sorting people, checking every payment and adding something extra to the art queue each month. But the cons are that I will lack patreon rewards, which means supporters will have less reasons to support. The only rewards left would be the comic cameos, the file updates I always post, and of course all the art content I keep making for you all.
I made a poll so you can vote, it would give me a better idea of what to do. Feel free to voice your opinions in the comments of this post! It was made for this purpose exactly ^^ I want Patreon to be something nice for both you my patrons, and myself, so I don't feel burned out and you feel like things are fair.
Link to the poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/10125777
Oh and one last thing, there will be a comic page update later today, I'm just making sure everything is ok and I'm already preparing for the next page, I must apologize for this page delay, I said I would stop apologizing so much but I can't avoid haha, I was dealing with a ton of stress the last 2 weeks, which made me focus on other forms of work until my mind was ok to dive back again into Weekend 2 madness :P There might also be a stream in a few hours, but I will be streaming artwork making like I use to!
See ya guys and thanks for your time reading, I'm looking foward to making this better and nicer. I'm excited to know your opinion!
Comments
*nod* I understand Markus, and thanks for writing your opinion <3
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-06 09:50:43 +0000 UTCThanks for your opinion man, it makes helps me to see things clearer :3
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-06 09:49:54 +0000 UTCThe vote thing is actually a very smart idea, I remember i thought of making that when I first created my patreon page, but it was never really used, since I felt like voting for next artwork themes could be kind of frustrating, taking away that freedom to draw what you want, you know. But I was thinking of a short comic made exclusively for this purporse, a story driven by the supporters, it's a good idea =o Thanks for commenting Juan
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-06 09:49:06 +0000 UTCHey there, I'm glad you could find me and that my work somehow managed to touch your feelings ^^ Yeah, timezones are a challenge for this type of stream, I was figuring out that people with different timezones could have trouble in attending to these streams and getting their sketch too. Keeping them would also be hard, but like you said maybe it's better if I stop sketch rewards and instead offer this vote system, maybe even come up with a short comic that is made exactly for this purpose, where the next pages depends on the supporter's vote, that's a very neat idea. Thanks for your comment and your support Tecky! <3
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-06 09:46:58 +0000 UTCHi Zeta-Haru, I went for number 5 as well. I found out about you from the Weekend comic on another site, your art struck a chord with me that no other artist has managed. It got me tracking you down here, something I’ve never done before. I watch regular streams of people playing games and I do see the struggle they all have with timing them for international viewers, and I don’t want to see you crumble trying to satisfy everyone. I’m not interested in commissions that will take you away from other projects. As Juan has said, some sort of irregular vote on another project to run alongside the weekend 2 comic could be a possibility, or another option for your next comic (I say this as I know you have the storyline for the weekend 2 set in stone currently) could be get us to vote on how to progress the comic, come up with points in the storyline where there could be multiple roads to take. But above all, make sure you keep enjoying what you do producing such great work!
Tecky Reid
2016-05-05 17:19:56 +0000 UTCI'm voting to stop the sketch streams entirely. It seems like the least painful option, and there are always other ways to give rewards. Perhaps Patrons of certain levels could vote on future projects or have access to special sessions with you? Maybe submit ideas for new mini-comics for you to make, you choose a few of the best ones, and then Patrons vote on them? Just putting out some ideas.
Mark Samuels
2016-05-05 07:18:22 +0000 UTCI voted for decision 5 as well. It seems the most fair. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm supporting your work because I like your art, not because I expect a reward for it. Keep up the fantastic art!
Kael Duranus
2016-05-05 04:51:42 +0000 UTCWhen I typed my reply it was on mobile and work, that was exactly my thought behind my own reasoning. And agree on the Commissions comment; Id do the normal process if that was my reasoning.
NoodlJake
2016-05-04 23:33:31 +0000 UTCYeah, I think to me it's the one that seems the most "right", because if I can't find a way to make a fair system for this reward without having to dedicate completly to it or getting burned out, maybe the best choice is to forget about them and keep doing that I do normally, instead of two patreon sketchs a month perhaps I could give you all a personal artwork every month, the support would allow space for it and I think everyone could appreciate, just like the comic =o If it will return, only time will say I guess, but raffles can't go on for this long, it feels like I'm an outlaw in this supportive place hehe ;w; but I will think a lot more before saying my final decision. Thanks for your reply Jacob <3
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-04 19:35:41 +0000 UTCI voted for decision 5 too, but for a completely different reason: I am here, because a) I want to support your great art b) I want you to be able to make more pages of "Weekend" I am not here, because I want sketches or commissions from you. If I did, I would apply for the normal commission process.
2016-05-04 18:49:42 +0000 UTCYou actually have a great point there, with that out of my head I would only need to focus on the sketch making instead of thinking too much on who I want to draw for. But my worry with this method is that I would need to dedicate more time for sketchstreams, which can interfere with the time I have to work on my other projects. I still gotta think a lot about these changes... But your words were of help, so thanks for writing this comment :3
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-04 18:48:52 +0000 UTCI voted for decision 5 to stop the sketch rewards entirely. I dont see a real way to ensure any award is avaliable to all patreons completely or by X amount of money or time they have seeing as that is what you wish to avoid by the sounds of it. I voted to stop them entirely as they appear to be a worry and distraction from your main work which is not the patreons purpose. Its purpose is to support you and your work; namely the comics as an example, and if its become a boon then perhaps it should be stopped entirely. And if you figure out how to reintroduce it at a later time to your benefit, then thats perfectly fine. But in my opinion its better to drop the disttaction entirely rather than just replace it.
NoodlJake
2016-05-04 17:58:51 +0000 UTCI voted for the sketch stream option, which is currently not the most popular. But my reason for doing so is pretty simple: I do not support folks on patreon with the hopes of getting work from them. I've been "randomly selected" before to have a commission done, but I just don't have anything I want to commission folks for. So I had the artist make up something they wanted to do. I guess my point is that not everyone is looking for those sorts of rewards to begin with. So, those who do want it can get a better chance of receiving one by logging onto the sketch stream and those who don't just don't log in or don't request one in the stream. I think that is actually the ideal system.
Graye
2016-05-04 17:33:31 +0000 UTCOne thing I noticed only after writing this post, is that the suggestion number 1 could also be seen as a form of raffle by patreon, since giving something away randomly and choosing between a certain group of people who paid money to be there, is basically a raffle
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-04 15:26:02 +0000 UTCOk
2016-05-04 15:08:33 +0000 UTCYes :o I will perform the next raffle normally
Zeta-Haru
2016-05-04 15:08:12 +0000 UTC
