Patreon Changes (Patreon)

Hey!  How's it going?

I don't have a ton to report on right now, but mainly I just wanted to let you know I updated my Patreon profile.  It was about time, too, as things have changed drastically since I first wrote all that stuff.  Giving it all a read-through will fill you in on everything, but let's touch on the key changes.

I changed the main description to reflect the nature of my videos.  I did once plan on making most of my content "timeless," but due to popular demand I now do regular reporting and whatnot on topical subjects.  But most importantly I explained how I know I don't offer as much in the way of rewards as a lot of folks on here, but it's because I just don't have enough time.  As such it's really important that anyone supporting me here legitimately wants to help keep the channel alive, and isn't relying on a bunch of stuff in return.

And believe me, I hate that it has to be this way, but I've just got to be realistic about how much time I have.  Now, this isn't me saying "No more blogs!  No more ArloCasts!"  I'm still going to try my best to deliver this extra stuff just as frequently as I have been.  I think I just needed to get this all out there so that I can stop feeling constant guilt about not doing enough for my awesome Patrons.  Like really, I'm ALWAYS feeling like junk because I want to give back, and some of you guys have given so much, but the extra stuff is just so irregular.  And I also feel guilty that I'm not able to do more for my $20+ patrons, and have resorted to using what I'm now calling the "Wall of Patrons" instead of a verbal shoutout.

But I don't want to feel bad about it anymore...  Okay, well I'll always WISH I could do more, and maybe someday I'll be able to, but I feel better now that this is all out in the open.  I've changed all the reward tiers to more accurately describe what you get when you pledge.  I've also deleted my profile's final "goal," which was $2000 to start Youtubing full time.  I got rid of it because I really don't know how much it will take to make such a huge change in my life.  And I really can't think of any other goals, because again, I just don't have the time to do fun extra stuff without it impacting my regular content.  Yeah, I know it's not as interesting, but again I'm trying to be realistic and not over-promise.  I'll do what I can for my patrons, but I have to hope that when patron perks are sparse everyone is still happy just knowing they're making a difference.

One other large change is that I've once more made my total pledge amount visible.  I originally made it private for two reasons.  Firstly, being visible seemed to put a cap on how much I could make.  Every time I hit $1000 I lost a ton of patrons, I assume because they felt that that was a good milestone and that I no longer needed the help.  As you know, any and all reasons to pull your support are good reasons, and I fully encourage you to only support me if you're ABSOLUTELY 100% willing to, and every single individual person who's pledged even as little as one dollar LIFETIME is SUPREMELY AWESOME!  (I just had to make that clear.  I'm terrified of sounding ungrateful.  XP)  But time and time again I crept up to $1000 then dropped well below it, and it was hindering my growth, so I thought I would try making the amount invisible as an experiment.  Sure enough, I was able to creep past the milestone.  The second reason I made it invisible was because I guess I just thought it was a little classier.  It felt more professional...or something?  I don't exactly know.

BUT I changed it back because in the end I think it just makes sense.  Most other folks on Patreon have it visible, and really if you're donating to something you deserve to see how much that thing is already making.  I mean, would you want to donate to a Kickstarter if you didn't even know what the goal was or how close it was to reaching it?  So it's visible again.  Yeah, maybe I'll have the same milestone issues, but that's life.  Better to be transparent so everyone knows exactly what they're giving toward.

Lastly I took down my welcome video.  It's a bummer because I love the jokes in it, but it just wasn't accurate anymore.  Hopefully I'll be able to make another one someday.

But I think that's it for Patreon changes!  I'll be back soon (hopefully) with a bigger and more accurate list, but right now I'm working on a video talking about Nintendo's current relationship with indies/third parties.  The Nindies Showcase and Nintendo Direct had some really great announcements, so I thought it would be fun to talk about them.

I played a few hours of A Hat In Time, though I'm not sure yet if I'm going to be able to do a full review.  Beyond that I'm going to do a video about the game that scared me the most.  I can't remember if I've talked about that one yet...  But if I haven't, we'll have to touch on it later!

A million thanks to any and all new patrons since the last blog!  You're beautiful!

See you soon!