Everyone Needs To Watch This Please
Added 2019-08-14 23:23:22 +0000 UTCAlrighty, firstly, all patrons should watch the above video, it is the video I put out for everyone to see. After that, patrons should watch this video if they have any concerns:
I think it would also help to just do a quick outline for those who can't watch. If you watched both videos, skip to the very bottom for Patreon information.
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Firstly, I want to start off by apologizing and saying that I'm sorry to all our patrons. After we remake the system last month, I'm sure this comes as something very unexpected. It was unexpected for me too - I even recorded a batch of reaction videos last night, and so as you can imagine in my mind, I wasn't even considering doing this since I was prepping for a normal week. But last night when I was talking to one of my friends, one thing led to another and this morning I messaged Hunter. I was like "Hunter, we are nuking everything" and he was like "UHHHH" and I was like "okay, not nuking, but things need to change" and we went from there.
Who?: Us
What?: We're no longer going to be doing Timer Based Reactions. We are instead changing our videos so all of them reflect the format of a RWBY or gen:LOCK discussion video, where we screen cap the entire episode and discuss and analyze.
This is going to impact the patrons, because some, if not all the anime or cartoons requested, are either not worth analyzing as they don't have enough substance for say, 12 or 25 analyze videos, or because they are so outdated people still won't care to watch them.
For example, She-Ra episodes have enough for us to discuss and analyze as well as theorize. Something like, to throw an old example under the bus, Food Wars, obviously does not. So if Patrons have requested anime or cartoon reactions, obviously this impacts them.
Where?: On YouTube
When?: Effective Immediately
Why?:
1. Timer based reactions, as a whole, are not getting views. There have been outliers in the past, such as the Promised Neverland for example, but generally our Timer Based Reactions have been unimpressive and uneventful in terms of gaining any views. Some of them are doing pretty horribly and not even breaking 100 - even the ones that are of brand new anime. Other outliers have been say, Attack on Titan. But people were hate-watching those, and while thinking about it I do truly think that if we analyzed AoT like RWBY, people would be marginally more happy with us, even if it was only a BIT
1a) This is pretty much the main reason. If the videos aren't getting views, it's supply and demand. I don't know exactly what people want, but clearly and unfortunately it isn't this.
And I understand the patrons want it, as they've requested anime and cartoon reactions, which I will get to in a second, but the majority of the 12,000 people subscribed to my channel have said no, and I think that's obvious in the view numbers. The Channel as a whole hasn't been doing well this particular month, but the spot it really shines are when we went back to RWBY Theories (The Nora and Penny one for example, has 2000 views. That's more then 4-6 reaction videos combined)
1b) Community discussion is a big thing. If no one is watching the videos, no one is commenting and discussing. This is again, an indicator that these types of videos were not working out. It's also a lot of work for the viewer, and kills the mobile audience to do timer based reactions. I truly think that Timer Based reactions are the best format, but sometimes people won't watch what is the "best" way, but the most convenient way.
1c) It's mentally exhausting to work so hard, and not see results. And I do understand that the results of my labour are whatever someone has donated to the Patreon page. If I do a video the exchange is the money. But that doesn't help me feel better about what I'm doing. I want our videos to matter, I want people to be impacted by them and be happy. So if they aren't being watched, I'm not doing what my purpose was.
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These are some side thoughts I couldn't really fit anywhere:
I discussed this more in the video, but we've always had more of an inkling towards discussion, theories and analysis. When I was talking to my YouTuber friend about this, he said that it always goes back to making what you want to see. I watch people react to RWBY, Miraculous, gen:LOCK, etc, but I wouldn't watch someone using a Timer myself.
I feel like what I really missed, is that when this started I really looked up to Semblance of Sanity with stars in my eyes, and that's really why I wanted to try the anime reactions. But I missed a very key part - they analyze and discussion the episodes after they watch them. Sometimes on YouTube, that is the MAJORITY of the video because of copyright and whatever else. They basically do what Hunter and I do with RWBY analyze videos but with their anime.
I was afraid to change because I knew it would be disappointing. I knew that people had paid for reaction series and had plans for how long they wanted to pledge for, what they wanted us to react to, and budgeted accordingly. And it sucks to feel like I'm letting those people down. But at the end of the day, I see what's happening right now as a sinking ship. And the sunk cost fallacy may be at play here for a lot of us but that's why I decided to nip it. In the short run, I can imagine for you guys that it really hurts, but I hope that you can trust me that I think this is the best thing for the entire channel. Now is the perfect time to try something new while we still have the summer, instead of having major burnout during RWBY season because we can't stand what we're doing anymore.
There are some anime which are "evergreen" as Hunter mentioned - if we were to analyze and discuss Death Note, it doesn't matter that it's old, people will still watch that, similar to Avatar. But most anime are not like this, and so it no longer makes sense to take any cartoon or anime requests. Because if something is as unique as Code Geass, Avatar, etc, where we could talk about it for hours, we will probably do it ourselves or at the recommendation of the patrons.
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PATREON RELATED:
So because of these changes, Cartoon and Anime requests will be canceled. If your video is no longer on the schedule, it has been "canceled" ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/196DkTzOMuEdrBxBwiem7Hisl5gjCZtotUmE3yXmF1OI/edit?usp=sharing )
This is because most, if not pretty much all requested anime isn't going to work for an analyze and discussion. For example, I REALLY enjoyed Carmen Sandiego, but there's no way it's going to work for an analysis and discussion. I also really enjoy Spice and Wolf, but it's much of the same.
I paid for a request, but it's been canceled: What happens now?
Basically, patrons have two options, and these options are ONLY available to current patrons:
You can "convert" your requests into an analysis or discussion video:
For example, to use Spice and Wolf - Oberon could, instead of getting me to react to Season 2, instead request an analysis video about what makes a good anime relationship, using Holo and Lawrence as a basis for a video essay. We'd watch the anime on our own time, write and script the video.
Or, for another example, Carmen Sandiego, instead of finishing the reactions, we could instead make a video about say, the similarities of Adora (She-Ra) and Carmen.
The 2nd option is getting a refund:
August pledges can be entirely refunded. I don't think I've worked on any August videos yet, so you can request a refund.
If your requests are older then August, or have been partially completed, we'd have to sort something out through PayPal basically. As I said in the other video, most of the money from Patreon has already been put back into the channel. In the video schedule document I actually outline our monthly costs, and you can see that there isn't really anything left over.
However, if people need a refund, I can give refunds using my own money that I earn at my part-time job. Basically, the refund would be calculated based on the percentage of your request is finished. If I've done half your videos and you were a $20 patron, you'd get a $10 refund etc.
I'm hoping that most people will decide to "convert" their videos into analysis videos. Just because I really like the ideas that we thought of while looking at what people have requested.
Finally, the August Spread-Sheet will now be changed to reflect the new system. If you have not looked at the new tier rewards, basically, there is an "easy", "normal", "hard" and "nightmare" video type. Like video game levels, these videos are ranked by the amount of difficulty they would be to make.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E2LeZTJmVdu_moSdMfVBKhANe0R2ct8zZ04ZXVUDxE0/edit?usp=sharing
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That is basically it. If anyone has any questions, they are able to DM me or ask them in the Patron chat in the Discord Server. I hope this wasn't too confusing.
