Patreon Tier Changes for May, 2022

Hello everyone, some changes are on the horizon so read on below!

As of early May, next month that is, there will be some changes to my Patreon tiers.

The $1 "Customer" tier will be converted into a "Veteran" tier in order to face a slow phasing out.

Instead a $2 tier will open up as the new "Customer" tier, having the same benefits as the old $1 tier. People staying on the $1 Veteran tier will retain access to the same content as the new $2 Customer tier so long as they remain subscribed.

The $5 "Regular" tier remains completely unchanged. Just like it was before, with discord access as the main draw.

A new $10 tier will open up, getting similar discord access as the $5 tier, but also voting power in a monthly Patreon poll that will determine the character featured in the last Monday loop of that month. These polls will run at the start of every month, for 2 weeks, and will have its results turned into an animation before the end of that month.

The $1 Veteran tier will be "unpublished" in Patreon terms, meaning that it will not be deleted, and the people who are in it will retain access to all my Patreon posts just as always, but it cannot be selected by new patrons once these changes are in place. I hope that this will serve to both reward long-term backers who have been with me for a long time on this tier, as well as offer a potential option for those existing backers who know that $2 is a bit too steep for their budget or who otherwise are unwilling to pay this much for access to my work - but who still know they wish to support me in some form for the foreseeable future. So if you're a $1 backer and wish to stay that way, nothing will actually change for you.

Tiers will thus be as follows:

$2 - Basic access tier.
$5 - Discord tier.
$10 - Discord and monthly vote tier.
$1 - Hidden and unable to be selected by new patrons, but retains same access to content as $2 tier. This means that if you unsubscribe and return, you will not be able to select it again.

I am also, owing to feedback, launching a Subscribestar mirror-page with these same tier changes in place from the start, meaning it will not have a Veteran tier. The Subscribestar page will feature exactly the same content that I will make for Patreon, and since both pages have their own unique controversies and preferences I hope that this will offer people a choice of platform to support my work on. The one difference Subscribestar will have is the lack of archive content in terms of my non-public work, like the older Monday Loops and wallpapers for instance, as the task of re-downloading and re-building all these posts to the page would be monumental - it will thus only feature the major projects in the sticky post, as well as any and all future content made from May forward. This is to retain my sanity.

The reasons for these changes are rather simple: first, the $1 tier came from a time when I made this Patreon as something of a tip-jar that came with some perks for those interested in my then entirely SFM-oriented work. I believe that I, since then, have evolved my work and that I offer, to my knowledge at least, a lot of content comparative to the norm in terms of Patreon rewards from creators, and genuinely feel that the amount of time I put into this requires adequate compensation. Second reason is that my day-job is honestly killing me, and I am looking for a way out at this point, or at least a means to inoculate myself from potential backlash from my boss in the event where I lower my hours. Any and all support for the work I do here is actively giving me security in the event where I suddenly find myself without a job, or I end up in the "shit pool" where you barely get any shifts allocated owing to having been "difficult", so thank you everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting me and my work.

I was also recently, once again, approached by Affect3D for potential cooperation, but ended up turning down their offer. I've come to realize that the reliance on crowdfunding pages like Patreon and Subscribestar is tenebrous enough as it is, and making myself even more reliant on second party middle-men to deliver my content is not in my interest. My chief concern is signing off pricing and the rights of my work to other parties who might then undermine or otherwise price things at rates that are unfavorable to my Patreon/Subscribestar backers - meaning I would essentially end up competing with myself.

In terms of project progress, things are in the works, but I don't want to turn this wall of text into anything longer or more confusing than it already is, so more on that next Friday. I'll be sure to read any and all feedback in the comments, as to ascertain people's feelings on these matters and see how I can maneuver accordingly. While I don't always answer to comments, know that I read all of them.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and for all of your kind words. While the future remains uncertain, I'd like to believe in what I'm doing here, and hope that wherever you are, you're doing well - all things considered.

Take care of yourselves, and each other!
/DH