Trail Thoughts ✦ May 2021 (Patreon)

Happy June everyone! I can't believe summer is upon us, for those of us in the northern hemisphere. The weather is getting a lot nicer where I am. Let's look back on May together!

May Stats:

• # of Streams: 11
• Avg Viewers, Incl. Hosts & Raids: 33
• Avg Viewers, Excl. Hosts & Raids: 24.5
• Unique Viewers: 1,795
• Unique Chatters: 218
• Chat Messages: 5,810 (avg 528 per stream)
• New Followers: 42 (avg 4 per stream)
• Subscriptions: 63 (avg 6 per stream)

May Thoughts:

The month of May saw me finishing my custom world state playthrough of Dragon Age: Inquisition! I had such a fun time playing this particular playthrough and I can't wait for Dragon Age 4 to be released so that I can continue my custom world state PT into that game. I continued to truck along in Mass Effect: Andromeda and am still loving that game. For Flex Fridays, I played the adorable short point-and-click game called Gone Home, built a wonderful little city in Polyville Canyon, and started the game of one of my favourite stories, The Pillars of the Earth, which is longer than I anticipated it being so that game will continue for the Fridays ahead (I should have maybe made this a regular game on Sundays/Tuesdays but oh well).

The summer dip that occurs on Twitch starting every May has definitely begun and I felt the full effects of that this month. It is easy to see on SullyGnome that Twitch viewership has dropped across the entire platform now that it's getting warmer in the northern hemisphere and the world is opening back up. I am setting my brain up to expect that there is a good chance that numbers will continue to trickle downward. As always, I'm just going to keep doing my thing because I completely understand everyone wanting to get back to some kind of normal and it's unrealistic to expect that Twitch's numbers will continue to be what they were throughout the pandemic. I'm happy with the content that I'm producing on my stream, the interactions with the community that is able to watch when they can, and our talks in Discord. I'm really looking forward to my upcoming playthroughs and some of the other Flex Friday games I'll be hopping into. I'm also really excited about the mediocre and happy side of things (see my last post on Patreon for details!) that I've decided to venture into. Growth over there will be slow to start, and that's the way it goes! Even though my Twitch stats were down by quite a lot across the various things measured, I'm not at all upset by how May was. It was a good month!

Thoughts for June:

There are only going to be 7 streams this month, as I am taking off the last half of June to finish up my research paper and essay, and then study for and write my three final exams. I am excited to finish my first university semester! I desperately need this time to be off of Twitch and pulled away from Discord. So I anticipate that this month will be the quietest one I've ever had. I have never taken more than two weeks off of streams before; the longest has been one, or just over one. Part of me is sad I have to take this time, but I also know that I need to. And to be honest, I will likely make it a habit to take off the last two weeks of each of my semesters so that I don't have this distraction.

The last stream will be on Tuesday, June 15th and I will come back on Friday, July 2. I might stream on Tuesday, June 29th as my last final is on the 28th, but I haven't confirmed this for myself yet. I really want to spend the time fully preparing my schedule and next semester so I will probably use this time for that. 

June Game Plan: Mass Effect: Andromeda will carry on like normal for June. The two Friday streams will be dedicated to more of The Pillars of the Earth. On Sunday, June 6th and 13th, I'll be playing my first playthrough of Detroit: Become Human! If I need a third stream to finish this up, then I'll push aside MEA on June 15th and we'll finish DBH that day.

Other Updates:

Stream Rebrand: As I shared in a previous post, the rebrand is very much underway and please go read that post if you want to see a sneak peek! I am meeting with the designer tomorrow morning in a video call to discuss things further and I should have everything ready to launch by the time I come back from my break. One other thing in mind for this rebrand is doing a final (hopefully final) overhaul of my Discord server. I know I've changed the server a bajillion times in the past year. Maybe I'll always be unhappy with it, IDK. But I have some organizational ideas and I'll probably create a separate server to play around with channels/categories and when I make something that I think will work, I'll toss some screenshots in here and get your opinions.

Important Patreon Change: I have made a couple of adjustments to how my Patreon is set up. First, I introduced another tier that is $1.50/mo that will give people access to this newsletter, the Discord role, and included on the Patreon list on the stream. I also removed the two highest tiers as I evaluated my time and priorities and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to commit to the rewards that I had offered for those levels. Nobody was pledged at them anyway, so I felt safe removing them. The other change I've made is that I have decided to temporarily remove the monthly free digital download that I was offering. I realized that it is too much for me, on top of creating a design for merch for you all. I would honestly rather put all my focus on the merch items you'll be receiving. I say temporarily removed, as I do want to bring this back, I'm just not sure when it will be.

Thank You

I am so grateful for all of you that continue to support me through Patreon. I always sit here and worry that I'm not doing enough here, or not offering enough in exchange for the $ you are pledging. I appreciate all of you very much. Thank you for being here!