My thoughts on some recently discussed topics.
Added 2019-05-06 12:13:50 +0000 UTCHey, everyone! I saw a recent discussion about my income and customer support in the SEUS Patrons Discord server and I wanted to share some thoughts about these topics, as well as a few related others.
I started my Patreon page hoping that I'd be able to get by doing what I love. I was drawn to Patreon because it is a platform where people can support creators who are doing work that they admire, and the creators can provide something in return for their support. It's not a store where you buy individual things, it's a place where you support a creator for the work that they do. I left my previous work for this, expecting that it would earn me a lot less than what I had been earning. And, for most of the time since I started the Patreon, that's what it has been, and I've been very happy with it! After a time, with your support, I reached this goal and didn't expect it to grow much further.
So, now that it has grown so much, some of you are wondering why I haven't hired support staff. The problem isn't money, it's time and effort. I've tried something similar in the past, and it only ended up costing me time and effort, rather than saving it. I'd have to train support staff first, which would be very time-consuming, because SEUS and Minecraft shader modding in general is pretty complicated stuff. I'd have to get them familiar with all known issues, and effectively re-train them any time there's an update, and a lot of the time, they'd likely be referring to me anyway. I would also have to manage the support staff (just because I'd be paying them doesn't mean they wouldn't do things I don't want them to do) and worry about all the legal and business side stuff, which is a bit of a nightmare for me, at least; I'm not a businessman. I would be spending a lot of time doing all of these things, which is time that would be taken away from working on SEUS itself, fixing bugs, improving compatibility, and attacking the problem at its source.
The best support that I can provide is by taking note of your bug reports (even if I don't thank you for your report or say that I've taken note of it, I do) and working on fixing these bugs directly, rather than providing direct support on a case-by-case basis. I hope you understand and agree.
SEUS PTGI will be freely available to download for anyone when it is ready to be released and no longer such experimental work with bugs and performance issues aplenty. Those who would rather not deal with the frustrations of alpha/experimental software may be better off waiting until it's finished. Development can be slow because I'm trying to perform ray tracing with things that weren't designed to perform ray tracing (Minecraft with OptiFine's renderer, OpenGL, and traditional graphics hardware). Each improvement is hard-earned, and progress is impossible to predict (which is why there is no ETA for release). I would like to assure you that I am not artificially slowing development because of people's support. If anything, your support is enabling and motivating me to work as hard as I can on getting it ready for release!
I'm a shader guy. I like making shaders. It's my primary focus, and it will continue to be as long as I'm running this Patreon page, regardless of my income. I want to be open and honest with you guys, which is why I'm posting this, and why I've chosen not to hide my income here on Patreon. Thank you so much for your understanding and support!
Comments
When I FIRST heard about "some raytracing mod for 10$" I thought no effing way. I am not paying for a mod. But then when I started learning about it, you, this website. I had zero hesitation dropping 10$ to help you out. And I would rather you get my 10$ than companies like Bestheda who are charging 20$ for access to the BFG in Rage 2. You insanely lame is that?! (You have to order the deluxe edition of Rage 2 to get BFG, otherwise it not available in the game)
Robert Dykes
2019-05-09 09:59:56 +0000 UTCI was commenting that it was odd that 25k, and no support other than community. I understand what you have written and agree to a degree with what you are saying.
Captaindogman
2019-05-08 12:26:12 +0000 UTCI agree that there’s definitely a greater sense of entitlement amongst heavy internet users. It’s likely an effect of free services like YouTube, which can make paid digital services or products appear expensive by comparison.
Gareth Welch
2019-05-07 15:09:33 +0000 UTCHonestly i support you simply due to the fact that your shaders are still some of my favorite that i ever have used for Minecraft. When i heard you were working on Pathtraced illumination. i could not help but throw a bit of money to you to help support you while you work on this. I assume this is not an easy project and i figure every little bit helps. I personally feel that pathtracing Global illumination is incredibly nice and something worth working on. I just hope the little i provide helps!~
Corosar
2019-05-07 12:33:02 +0000 UTCme encanta tu trabajo
2019-05-07 02:19:47 +0000 UTCIt's not only the younger generations, plenty of people of all ages have the same issue, and I said "a lot of"... so if that does not include you then you have no need to take offense. What I really meant and should have said is people who spend too much time on the Internet in the last 15 years. Age doesn't matter, it just happens to be the cross-section of people on the Internet who play games tend to be younger people because games didn't really exist before my generation. The real problem is that people put their wants and needs in front of their logic circuits and don't even take the time to understand the services they are throwing their money into.
Ricktor_Black
2019-05-07 00:56:34 +0000 UTCI'm a member of the generation you describe. I'm happy to donate (as I am doing) because – unlike your generalisation suggests – I understand that creators can't do their work for free. But you're not going to heal the issues you see in my generation by taking every opportunity you can get to denigrate us.
Gareth Welch
2019-05-06 23:45:38 +0000 UTCGreat post! You are yet another victim of The Entitled Generation(s). There seems to be a very strong sense of Entitlement in a lot of younger people (it seems especially intense in the gaming industry) . I see this a lot in Patreon but ESPECIALLY in Kickstarters. Some of it comes from a misunderstanding of what these platforms exist for. People have this sense that "I give you money... and you give me what I want.." But neither Patreon nor Kickstarter work that way... in both instances you are giving money to creators with the intention of giving them the funds they need to create (or sometimes in Patreon is to show appreciation instead of 'funding'). Kickstarter is more 'project based' and Patreon is more of an ongoing thing, but the idea is similar. Neither one of these platforms are stores in the traditional sense and no matter how many times you tell people this... a lot of people just... don't... get it.
Ricktor_Black
2019-05-06 17:25:21 +0000 UTCThat said, I really hope you're investing that extra income into real estate or something so you can put your future kids though college or whatever. Seriously, keep up the good work
Rubedo Alaberti
2019-05-06 16:59:33 +0000 UTCThe fact that this conversation even had to happen says more about the supporters than you. Nothing you've said here should be a surprise to anyone, nor should you have to account for it. That you have is awesome, but you aren't an item on a stock portfolio and we aren't professional investors - this is just a display of overwhelming community support for an incredible developer .
Rubedo Alaberti
2019-05-06 16:58:45 +0000 UTCbruh youre making $299904 a year lol
gmodiscool15
2019-05-06 14:41:36 +0000 UTCThe post is appreciated! I have used your shaders for years, so throwing ten bones your way a month is the least I can do to say thank you for your hard work.
Patrick Cumming
2019-05-06 13:19:00 +0000 UTCAvoid pressuring yourself, keep doing what you like and stay safe !
2019-05-06 12:44:14 +0000 UTCI have mad respect for your transparency. Thank you for that.
Andres Stephens
2019-05-06 12:33:21 +0000 UTCKeep it up! Sounds like you have a solid and reasonable strategy.
Jordan Bennett
2019-05-06 12:25:30 +0000 UTC"SEUS PTGI will be freely available to download for anyone when it is ready to be released and no longer such experimental work" It isn't freely available yet; it will be when he's done. For my part, totally understand and thank you for writing your reasoning out clearly. Your level of popularity here doesn't obligate you to run a business you don't want to run, and people should understand what their donation is (and isn't) getting them.
Eric Leslie
2019-05-06 12:24:09 +0000 UTCThere’s no free download to the PTGI, you need to support him with at least 10$
cabeca143
2019-05-06 12:21:45 +0000 UTC
