1782 Crisis Core.

by

This was such an odd idea that I almost didn’t do it, but I drew a sketch of the sideways panel and it struck me as funny. A lot of Jo’s weirdness comes from my internal monologue. She really got the short end of the stick when it comes to what parts of me ended up in her. Of course in a cute little woman it’s endearing. In me it’s just annoying.

Oh man… I don’t even know what to say about today. If you haven’t heard Patreon changed how they charge patrons and it has fucked things all up. I’m stuck with them at the moment but I’m looking in to other options. Chances are, depending on how things go, I’ll open an account when kickstarter opens their patreon alternative. I’ve also got paypal, but they lack the structure to really make the rewards work. In any event I got hit pretty hard in the wallet today. Ad revenue has been way down, across the entire internet, since the last American election and it’s no different for me. Everything is in a constant state of flux and it’s making everyone jumpy. Whatever happens I’ll keep going as long as I can until things break down so much I can no longer survive. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
I’m open to any ideas so feel free to make suggestions. If you’re already a patron I’ll make a post with a stopgap message as soon as I can. Of course if you don’t care about paying more to support my work you can just ignore all of this and keep doing what you’re doing. If I’m the only creator you support the actual increase in cost is negligible. If you pledge small amounts across many creators then it’s a problem.
Anyway, I’ll keep you guys posted.

In case you were curious my grandmother somehow survived her illness against incredible odds. She’s doing better but is still not well by any means. Her will to live is really strong though.

41 Comments

Brooksie, you aren’t dying! Now get the car and come over and pick me up!

Good to hear about your grandmother Jackie. I don’t know about Patreon’s deal, but if enough patrons quit because of the charges, they’ll probably change their tune quick. Unless this is a bid to suicide the company…

There are some people who have put out some good theories about patreon actually wanting to fail. It’s actually kind of chilling to think of it that way. Such a cynical cash grab.

Hey Jackie,

Just wanted to let you know that while I did pare down my Patreon donations, I’m keeping you on until you find another solution. Keep fighting the good fight.

Never surrender!

Man, that first panel could actually be about creators and Patreon. Or donors, in some cases, including my own.

Could you maybe stick a PayPal donate button or some such on the site? That way, I and others could continue to help you out, and still know exactly how much we’re paying every month.

Very well done, sir!

The odd thing on Jo’s head really drew me into the picture.

Is she in the trees? Is she resting her head in blue tarps?
*Sees the 3rd panel*…..OH, I see. :D

Same here. I was wondering “Is she standing on her head? Or maybe she’s at Jess’s ?”

I also had a first impression of the first couple of panels being of her standing on her head (with the picture flipped upside down). When I got to the final panel of course It was clear what I was seeing. Just a fun transition.

– also –
“exremental crisis” . . . *snerk*

I don’t care about the cost to me. I just want the bulk of the money I pledge to actually arrive in your hands, NOT get 20, 30, or however many cents on the dollar skimmed off by the damn platform. Especially when that platform seems to want to screw its users over. I have not been happy with some of Patreon’s decisions as of late, and this is no exception.

The guy who makes the Epic Battle Fantasy line of flash games, KupoGames / Matt Roszak, was talking about this Patreon kerfuffle. He cited the new revenue system being borked from Patreon changing how they take their share of revenue from Patreons. Something like, for Matt’s example, a $1 donation having a sort of tax on it, where Patreon was taking a set 0.35 cents for any given donation, so people who give him $1 donation plan are paying $1.35. That dollar still goes to Mr. Roszak, but that 0.35 goes to Patreon, and he felt at that point, ‘why both with the $1 plan at all, if it comes with a 35% fee tacked onto it?’
Not sure if greed, desperate for their own funds (hey, maybe they should start a Patre-oh wait…), or if as you say above, Jackie, regarding them purposefully shooting themselves in the foot to be done with it.

In hindsight, I feel I didn’t explain that very well. :/ So I’ll do the probably smarter thing, and just copy/paste what he said, like the good little bleating sheep I am. Beeeehhh.

“They’re planning to put up their fees soon, which works out very poorly for people pledging many small amounts. Previously the fee was taken from all of your pledges put together (the whole point of a service like this), but now it’ll cost 0.35c for each individual pledge. Meaning if you support many Patreons for $1, you’ll essentially be charged over 35% in fees, which is absurdly high. Patreon’s been very brazen about this change, hiding it behind the fact that creators will get more money overall (assuming that many patrons don’t just outright leave). Patreon’s facade of being in it to support the little guy is becoming very hard to believe, especially with these dishonest PR statements that don’t address the actual reasons for these changes.”

Apologies for wall of text.

Love the first two panels. Until I got to the last panel I though there was some sort of miraculous indoor breeze providing an epic-hair heroic pose.

I hadda pare down my Patreon. You can take what pride you will in the fact that you’re one of the few I can still afford to support…

I am in a good enough financial position that my patreon support is not affected by this.

It helps that

1) I independently cut support for a few creators that just weren’t “doing it” for me anymore. The patreon change merely eats into that savings.

2) I allocate my support in >$1 amounts so the patreon change is not a 38% increase for me.

The big thing I want to know is if this is the same fee structure creators paid. I’m happy to take on the processing costs that formerly were taken out of my support. I’m happy to see my creators get more of my pledge.

I’d be much less happy if Patreon were double-dipping, using the switch to tack a bit extra onto the processing fees for themselves as well as taking their 5% off creators.

Currently the best guess is that they are actually accidentally giving PayPal a huge boost by separating all pledges to individual transactions. There seems to be some level of increasing profit for them too but its obfuscated at the moment.

With that strip title I was hoping you were going to have a romanticized and insightful rant about how great Final Fantasy: Crises Core was and how it impacted your life lol, always like it when you do stuff like that.

Patreon thing doesn’t bother me that much, you’re worth the extra bit of cash to support. Between Failures is my first stop on M/W/F mornings for webcomic updates, I really enjoy everything about it, from the art style, the writing, the storyline/situations, and how clear it is that you deeply care about your work.

Keep moving on Jackie, glad your grandma is ok, and you yourself are sorta feeling better! I’ll be here re-reading the comic again.

I closed my Patreon account over the fee increase. Total BS for them to raise fees on us so they could give you guys a pittance and effectively triple their cut. That said, I’m waiting for one of those better solutions to come along so I can resume my support.

Oh Brooksie, you’re the only one we can count on to clean the toilets and not go berserk and kill everybody in sight.

ah the most difficult of all tests in life, enduring goodness, in the face of shitty returns (literal and figurative).

it is as times like these that I think to LOTR, when Gandalf and Pippin are sitting in Gondor waiting for the hammer to fall upon it. and Pippin asks, “Is there any hope, Gandalf… for Frodo and Sam?” and Gandalf replies “There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope.”

if there is any reason to endure treating others in goodness, whilst you clean their shit out of a sink, it is in a fools hope that the reward you earn comes at the end, and thusly in the beginning.

” Of course in a cute little woman it’s endearing. In me it’s just annoying. ”

Not categorically true. I think Jo is annoying and the worst character by far. (I think Reggie is the best character.)

I.M.O. You ay take Reggie where the sun don’t shine;
He’s an interesting, and well written character, but:

I’ll take the amazonian goddess Nina,
Followed, mayhaps lesbianically close, by Jo.

I had to pare down my Patreon support recently as well, but it was before this whole CF hit. I’m still keeping it for now, but I may be on the look out for one of these better solutions soon.

It’s not so much the extra cost as the principle of the thing. Apparently Patreon doesn’t care to keep the many micro-supporters, instead focusing on the large spenders. That’s kind of a shitty business model though – “No, please, don’t give me your money.”

This whole Patreon crisis made me further lose faith in humanity. And I do *not* mean what Patreon tried to do. Sure, they fucked up pretty bad (especially communication): but it was a honest mistake. What shocked me was the amount of dumb and hostile reactions — even after they explained the situation, making it very clear that the extra money would go to PayPal not to Patreon, i.e. it was clearly *not* some kind of evil corporate money grab…

The main problem was that they failed to communicate what they were doing & fundamentally abandoned the original premise of the service, which was micro transactions.

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