Hurray?
February is the month of Valentine’s Day, and there is absolutely no correlation between that event and me announcing that MMO Fallout is on Patreon. Why even bring that up? I don’t know, I make jokes when I’m nervous. Writing this article is the most awkward thing I’ve done in the past decade and I’ve written joke subheaders so awkward that they prompted mental health welfare checks from some of my PR contacts.
I don’t read much in the way of the games press anymore simply due to how abrasive and hostile a lot of writers have become toward their readers. And I’m not the only one because a recent Gallup poll shows that trust in the press universally is almost nonexistent depending on where you look. Every week there’s some new controversy where a glorified blogger is calling huge swaths of gamers bad people for one reason or another, or posting a really bad or ignorant take in order to generate hate clicks. There are a lot of writers who seem to believe that traffic (and thus revenue) is something they deserve rather than something they need to work for.
One of MMO Fallout’s philosophies over the past twelve years has been that we always strive for the truth, never rely on clickbait for articles or having our viewers walk away from an article feeling like they’ve been bamboozled. People don’t come here to be lectured about the games they play or be proselytized to over their taste in genre. You don’t want that content and I don’t want to write it.
The Patreon will always be a vestigial thing that exists as a means to support the website and maybe even get us on better hosting. My DMs on Twitter remain open and unlike some other creators access to me will never be locked behind a paywall (I don’t value my contact that highly). My plan is to release some video/audio content a day early for Patrons, but I also won’t have content locked off to Patrons. I was originally going to incorporate giveaways into the Patreon but that’s a whole can of ethical worms I don’t want to open.
Essentially this is a way for me to respond to the various people who have asked why I haven’t started a Patreon for MMO Fallout while simultaneously calling those people on their bluff. I also don’t want any of my friends and compatriots to feel obligated to join up, as this isn’t a begathon.
Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.
MMO Fallout 