2020 Patron Survey Results (Patreon)

Hello everyone! 

This past weekend polls closed on the 2020 Patron Survey and I am pleased to share with you the resulting feedback! As so many of you were generous with your time in responding to this survey I will attempt to return the favor by summarizing the data succinctly and pointing towards the direct actions I'll be taking as a result. 

If you (understandably) are not interested in the lengthier review of these results I have included a tl;dr at the bottom of this post with the major bullet points. Lastly, the free map promised for participation was sent out this morning to the email address you used when responding; if you responded and did not receive your free map please send me a message.

Analysis: In general (58%) of you feel that your input is seen and/or relevant to the content I produce, which is great as that is my intent! Obviously I can't listen to everyone as there is often conflicting desires, but it is my goal to have the content be reflective of your overall wants. What was most surprising here was how many of you did not particularly care for input and trusted me entirely, which is quite nice! About 6% of you feel unsure that your input matters which is unfortunate, but sometimes inevitable. If you have ideas for alternative ways I could be receptive to community input please let me know!

Analysis: Perhaps this is my crippling self-esteem issues talking, but I was very pleasantly surprised by this! More than 3/4 of you are "Very satisfied" with the content and only 1.9% were neutral with no respondents indicating they were unsatisfied. Genuinely would not have thought that would be the case. 

Analysis: The overwhelming majority of you use the battle maps and/or assets ('Tactical Content') in one fashion or another, with 44.3% of you using that content exclusively. I was aware that was likely the leaning overall, but was somewhat surprised it was this dominant. However 6% are more here for the 'Lore Content' and half of you like both, so I don't intend to ignore that type of map either.

Action: With this broader preference in mind, the content should be heavily skewed towards battle maps and assets, though with some notable content for lore based options as well. From the 30 'paid maps' released in 2020 thus far 80% of those were of tactical content, which feels in alignment with this feedback (and in some cases like 'building maps' such as the MNO railway or the Gruff & Ready they fall into both categories).

These questions all pertain to various 'directions' I am interested in taking the content in. My goal here was for the feedback to hopefully pull me in one of those directions first, though not necessarily entirely eliminate other directions for the future.

Analysis: To clarify, as I don't think I was clear enough in the original question, this would effectively be like two battle maps that were drawn to be adjacent to each other while also being able to exist separately if need be. The majority of you were interested in this idea, even if it counted as more than one 'paid post' (which it ultimately would need to if I'm drawing both from scratch as I would any other battle map). Only 10% of you were uninterested in larger scope maps (...why?).

Action: I believe this question (as well as the one below on map packs) is in need of some 'proof of concept' to present to you all in order to get a more accurate sense of whether it's something you'd like to see more of moving forward. Seeing as this direction clearly has the blessing of the majority I will be creating a 'prototype' of this larger scale map and releasing it in July for your feedback to follow.

Analysis: The majority of you (63.2%) were pretty interested in this direction, though possibly with the caveat of it not necessarily being a monthly thing. 27% are on the fence while the remaining 10% would rather pass.

Action: As stated above, both this option and the previous one are in need of tangible examples of what these could look like. I will be creating a 'prototype' map pack using primarily assets and counting as a single paid post, to be released later in July to then be followed by additional feedback.

Analysis: A near even tie! I doubt there are many other questions I could ask that would render such an even split.

Action: In general I agree that it's great from a DM's perspective to have maps that 'fit into one another'. I think I could do more of that moving forward, but will want to balance it against not repeatedly visiting familiar ground and still allowing inspiration to strike even if the map isn't directly connected to an existing location already.

Analysis: Funnily enough, the vast majority of you like it how it is currently! And furthermore, the two ends of the spectrum on asset types here are fairly evenly matched, not necessarily weighing the scales in any one direction.

Action: No change! Will continue to try and do my best to balance larger, eye-catching centerpiece assets alongside smaller, more background pieces that assist in verisimilitude. 

Analysis: More than half of you expressed some amount of interest in an exclusive discord server--not an insignificant portion!

Action: I will now begin looking into best practices regarding the starting and maintaining of a discord server for us. While I use the platform myself personally I do not have a lot of experience in managing servers and would want to make sure the community space we set up there will be as good as possible. Expect updates to come on this and if you have Discord-specific suggestions here please let me know!

Analysis: Of the three content-based tier options the map variations had the most support from the category of 'I'd like it, but I wouldn't pay more for it', indicating that in general this is a positive move, but not super-compelling enough for most.

Action: No immediate action; I will continue to provide my standard variations to everyone as I am able to and will keep this feedback in mind if/when I start to offer new tier benefits.

Analysis: Of the three content-based tier options this one had by far the most support from those saying 'Yes I like this and I would offer more support for it'. 

Action: No immediate action; I don't ordinarily create VTT tokens (aside from a few notable exceptions) though I am interested in the idea. I will keep this feedback especially in mind if/when I start to offer new tier benefits they will likely include VTT tokens in one fashion or another.

Analysis: Of the three content-based tier options this one had the most 'not interested!' responses, though still a majority of you (65.5%) indicating positivity for it. 

Action: Unless I get a tremendous amount of additional free time in the near future or otherwise seek out partnership with a professional writer (not something that's out of the question) I'm not sure if monthly adventure modules are a realistic option. I do enjoy getting to do them (i.e. Gruff & Ready, Westernos' Deep, etc.), but would be worried about the additional workload it would mean if I tackled it by myself, particularly when map content needs to remain the focus. That said, I appreciate this feedback and will still take note of the 21.6% of you who indicated 'very interested' if/when I start to offer new tier benefits.

Analysis: Unsurprisingly, people would be in support of new, regularly-released free content! 

Action: I am not 100% sure what form a loyalty reward would come in as of right now, but I enjoyed the asset giveaway from our 3-year anniversary and would like to be able to continue that spirit with something more regular moving forward. Expect an update on this in the coming months.

Analysis: Okay this one was kind of just for fun. I know there are lots of ideas bouncing around and I'm trying out new content in addition to the regular maps and this is one of those 'crazier' ideas that has floated through my mind from time to time. Frankly the results here are much more positive than I would've guessed (64.7% indicating support for it for one reason or another), but as of right now I have to lean towards the 'this is crazy!' camp for the time being. 

TL;DR

• Most patrons support more for assets and battle maps than anything else, but still like a blend with lore-based maps. Monthly content will continue to be reflective of that mixed preference. 
• Patrons largely support wider-scope battle maps, though I will be creating a 'prototype' to illustrate exactly what I mean, to be released in July.
• Patrons largely support the idea of 'map packs', though like the wide-scope battle maps I will be creating a prototype to illustrate exactly what these would look like.
• Once both 'protoypes' are released in July I will have a smaller follow-up poll on patreon to collect more relevant feedback in the wake of their respective releases.
• I will be focusing slightly more on battle maps connected to preexisting lore locations, though not at the sacrifice of providing unique scenes.
• Patrons largely prefer a balance of larger, more eye-catching assets alongside smaller, but greater quantities of more generic pieces. I will continue to try and balance that divide.
• Patrons are interested in an exclusive Discord benefit; I will do further research and update you in the coming weeks.
• Of the three content-based tier benefit suggestions, VTT tokens were the most popular, map variants of a middling popularity, and monthly modules were the least popular. If/when I decide to offer new tier benefits I will be taking this feedback strongly into account. 

Thank you for reading!