Patreon situation - raising awareness & tips.

[Guest Redabyss]

Good morning. I'm a user of Patreon since an year, and quite a dedicated one.

In the cycle of life of The Sims 4 and WickedWhims, I observed how the whole project developped, along with new animators and new pages being created.

My focus will be one in particular.

 

Not all pages will deliver, even if you theoretically support them. The reason being, you don't know beforehand what the author is gonna do the following month.

Will he/she publish a decent number of animations? Will he/she disappear altogether, without leaving an explanation?

 

Even though some pages have dramatically improved on the communication and delivering side, others have taken a different route (I won't do names obviously - that's not the point).

Either the reason is "justifiable" or not, what I'm trying to say is be careful with your money, especially given that, once you start to support, that moment your money are gone. And I found myself wondering, many times, if I should had supported an author in the first place.

 

Here are some tips on you can do if you're not satisfied, and to have a better time on Patreon.

 

- Ask refund. Patreon issues refund, the problem being the authors have to accept those refunds. See there: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001243446-How-do-I-issue-a-refund-to-a-patron-

 

- At the end of the month, the very last day (or the last ones), delete every pledge on the page (except those you're planning to ask a request to - since those tiers are usually limited), and the following month, wait and see what the author is doing, and if he's working.

If you are interest, ask yourself if you need those animations. If yes, go ahead and pledge, then delete at the end of the month. Rinse and repeat.

Don't be tempted in case he has locked previews and you can't see them in any other way.  

Also, very important: NEVER pledge someone the first day of a month, you'll end up pay twice (since Patreon is still calculating the payment of the month before). Wait for the second day of the month!!

 

- Skip months. Basically organize yourself so that you support a guy one month, then you don't the following month. Then you repledge the month after.

This way, for a bit of patience, you'll still get the contents of the "skipped" month, saving 50% of the sum for support. 

 

- Remember to review your pledges after some time. I've seen some inactive pages that still receive support for some reasons, and made me wonder. 

Don't forget about Patreon once you start pledging. Remember, you'll keep to pledge (= money being subtracted from your account) until you delete a Patreon page you're supporting. Don't start pledging, then forget about the whole thing altogether!

 

That's all.

If you have other tips, please suggest them.

Remember: this thread is NOT for namecalling, for ranting about the current state of Patreon pages, etc.

Every animator who proves himself capable deserves support. Working on animations is tiresome, hard and time-consuming, and I speak from experience since I created 30-ish animations

 

[.Noir.]

Is a good Post. I think that you pointed the most important stuff to know abouth this. Patreon is something to needs be used with responsability by creators and patrons as well.

Maybe other importat thing is that the patrons no need to be afraid of make constructive criticism or just ask for any type of information related to the work of the creator that they support.

 

[Guest Redabyss]

Is a good Post. I think that you pointed the most important stuff to know abouth this. Patreon is something to needs be used with responsability by creators and patrons as well.

 

Maybe other importat thing is that the patrons no need to be afraid of make constructive criticism or just ask for any type of information related to the work of the creator that they support.

 

 

Thank you! Yes I agree. Authors need supporters, no question. 

But nowadays there are SO MANY Patreon pages we all have to be careful with our money.

In total honesty, at the beginning of this year there were, like, 5, 6 pages max, and they were all trustworthy. You would never support somebody to receive nothing in return.

I would have never thought this would have happened, but it has, more than one time!

So we have to be more careful.

To quote somebody that thinks as I do, doing money on Patreon seems to be an easy task, as well as becoming a competent author in one night.

That's not the case, at all.

There are also new pages that I really like, and are really working hard, and others that have improved, something I appreciate a lot.