Patreon vs. Manual Donate Buttons

[Wolfsong]

A lot of sites seem to be using Patreon these days with a bit of success - I know the game is running at a pretty big funding deficit. Maybe updating the donation platform to Patreon might help fix that? The big draw of it, IMO, is that you can offer people more "tangible" rewards for their support (special blog posts, articles, development videos, etc.) or even only charge people per special unit (video released vs. monthly billing.) The flip side is that people will expect more for donating, and some responsibility to make it feel more "worthwhile" may be required.

When I'm at a computer (hah) I'll go into it further, but the way reward tiers work (think Kickstarter-esque) could be a big draw for certain people.

[nateflory]

I hesitate to agree with this, as I prefer "Note, however, that people that donate do not get any additional privileges..."
The current PayPal buttons specifically say "privileges In-Game" and while your suggestion is clear in mentioning only out-of-game things like cool videos or blog posts, and such, I still am unsure if "get more swag" is useful here.

Good idea though, and worthy of discussion. I could get behind it if it's Approved, no problem, but personally, I don't prefer that.
However, what being said, anything to help the game stay afloat/relevant is good, so, there's that!

[Wolfsong]

Well, to stay afloat the game needs more players first and foremost - begging for money won't make it more relevant. But traditional donations aren't cutting it anymore judging by the distinct lack of them. So if the game wants more money coming in, it may need to "get with the times."

[nateflory]

Unbalanced and wild unthinking Suggestion to have Donators able to play on "NewPlayer isle!"
aka: ResetLand!

[rd1988]

A lot of sites seem to be using Patreon these days with a bit of success - I know the game is running at a pretty big funding deficit. Maybe updating the donation platform to Patreon might help fix that? The big draw of it, IMO, is that you can offer people more "tangible" rewards for their support (special blog posts, articles, development videos, etc.) or even only charge people per special unit (video released vs. monthly billing.)

This game is administered by volounteers with personal lives - They have no time to implement things that have been accepted back in 2012, Do you think they would find time to make a blog post or some sort of a "making-of" video? What would they be about?

[Wolfsong]

Many volunteer run games manage to do just that, though. I understand that staff on Cantr, for whatever reason, seem unable to perform some basic administrative tasks... but that's not a reason to give up suggesting ways to possibly improve the game (or in this case, help shift the financial burden away from Jos.)

[returner]

I think the root of the problem you're trying to address isn't Paypal VS Patreon, it's actually ease-of-donation. As you mention, it doesn't provide any benefit over ease-of-use because we can't offer perks (one idea I had before I left the forums a while ago was to add Forum perks).

[Wolfsong]

Sure you can. Blog posts aren't hard, development updates aren't hard... And they don't have to be regular. Here's an example that I ripped from another volunteer run game --

When we reach $50 a month, we will enter all donors into a random draw and the winner will have INSERT-AWESOME-ARTIST-HERE do a sketch of one character of their choosing.

It shouldn't be hard to find a willing Cantr artist who loves the game enough to put in some of their own time toward it, and... tada, there you go. One idea that literally requires almost 0 effort by staff. (Not that I'm suggesting staff SHOULD do nothing... If you want people to give up their money, you have to earn that. Effort should be expended.)

[rd1988]

Sure you can. Blog posts aren't hard, development updates aren't hard... And they don't have to be regular. Here's an example that I ripped from another volunteer run game --

When we reach $50 a month, we will enter all donors into a random draw and the winner will have INSERT-AWESOME-ARTIST-HERE do a sketch of one character of their choosing

It would make sense if Cantr was a 3d game. But it doesn't. Sketches of random player characters aren't that interesting (for donators, unless they're cantr fanatics ). Blog posts describing how we've written an optimized database query aren't interesting either. We should get the manpower we need and focus on redesigning cantr to modern standards, so it could appear to a broader audience. The main reason why our marketing fails is because cantr is - in web standards - ugly.

[returner]

It shouldn't be hard to find a willing Cantr artist who loves the game enough to put in some of their own time toward it, and... tada, there you go. One idea that literally requires almost 0 effort by staff. (Not that I'm suggesting staff SHOULD do nothing... If you want people to give up their money, you have to earn that. Effort should be expended.)

Playing devil's advocate, I suspect they'd argue the game itself is effort enough. I mean, that's countless thousands upon thousands of free labor right there.

Totally get where you're coming from, though - in wanting to offer something "on top" for the donation.

I can't quite parse your example though because I don't have all the facts. Does the money go to the sole developer? Does it pay for a team? Does it pay for marketing? You'll find Cantr hard to compare with others because Jos wouldn't take the profit on top for himself - all money would go back into advertising the game once minimum activities like hosting are paid for.

[Armulus Satchula]

The problem isn't how to donate. Obviously, more donation options are better. People like variety and have different preferences and bias's towards certain companies. I know plenty of people who hate Paypal and refused to make an account. A Patreon would be cool, but i don't think that's the main issue.

- The donate buttons are out of sight
- The mindset that the game just exists and is completely free

I never scroll past my last character's name, ever. I completely forgot their were donate buttons and that i haven't donated in a long time. (I'll remedy that). Those buttons are so far down, sure they are huge, but people don't see really see them. In web design you want your most important information to be "above the fold". The fold in this case is the computer screen. If money is really an issue, i mocked up something i think would really help with that.

[Wolfsong]

That could work, too - bars graphing how far we are and where we need to be does seem to drive up donations in general. (Reddit is the most immediate example of this.) I would include a bit more about how the money goes to server costs in the mock up, though.

[Armulus Satchula]

I've never seen any site give detail lists of expenses. A simple, this is how much it costs. This is how much we need. If this were something to even be done, It could easily be a link off to another page. The idea would be to not fill the entire screen with donation information, but make it less hidden.

[Wolfsong]

Something like what legendsofthejedi.com has, though obviously not sidebarred.

Edit: Looking at your mock up, I'd allow for one time donations, too. Not just subs.

[returner]

I wonder if it's pushing it too much to allow donators to "hide" the donate window in your mockup.