I don't know if you've seen this but there is a it of a stink been kicked up by the Too Fat Lardies (TFL) starting a Patreon service. Patreon is a subscription service that creators use to generate an income stream for which they provide exclusive content. They are charging £5 per month and have over 300 people signed up in the first day.
I wonder what people's thoughts are on this. Some members of the TFL community are upset as they say it will create a 'haves and have nots' situation. Others are happy to contribute towards a regular revenue stream that helps the company. I suppose in the case of the TFL, once you've bought a set of rules for the period you're interested in, you don't need to spend any money with them until the second edition comes out.
Anyway I thought it would be an interesting topic of conversation. Many 3D printing creative use this model of income generation. I wonder if more and more companies will follow suit?
Patreon is fair, in that folk do usually get what they pay for.
i.e access to the inner circle.
So long as Patreon payers are not locked in, then they can easily draw back.
The "inner circle" does need to offer something that the payers want.
That might be extra stuff such as scenarios or printable counters/models. It might also provide payers with reassurance that they are within the inner circle and the status/friendship that it provides.
I would consider such a contribution to a company, but would want to see the previous 6 months of benefits offered. I would want a discount of say 5% on products?
£5 is a good price level at which most payers will not notice the money going out.
Hope both payer and payee do well out of it.
I think the total amount of money given can be seen somewhere?
To capitalise further, a company could have different price bands for "quite a good friend", "good friend", "best friend", "super chum" etc?? Looks good as a wall display.
I don't think PP will do patreon, as no one has to buy our goodwill. If we can help, we do.
martin :)
https://www.patreon.com/battlegames
This one makes £800 a month.
Obviously very popular.
martin :)
My personal experience is that I have bought some of their rules. Dux Britanniarum is a great set that I enjoy playing, especially as I have a lot of interest in post-Roman Britain. The others I tried to play and abandoned as they were just too ethereal for my taste. Just could not work out how one was supposed to play them, so I will not be going down the Patreon road.
Andy,
Ethereal is a great word and one I've been searching for myself to describe their rules.
However I am aware that they are a very popular company and people love their rules much as I love the Peter Pig rules. There is space for us all.
I'm not suggesting this as a sycophantic fan boy or anything, but if Peter Pig did a Patreon, even just to keep the lights on, I'd happily pay £5 per month with no expectation of benefits other than Peter Pig remaining in business. Maybe the odd video chat with Martin to see how things are going.
Not all Patreons have extra content behind a pay wall beyond that which is available for free.
I don't know that all 300 members of the TFL are paying £5, but if they are, that's quite a nice income on top of whatever business they do already.
491 members now at £5 per head. I dontnhave enough fingers and toes to work that out per month 😂
Quote from: Sean Clark on May 16, 2025, 01:51:01 PM491 members now at £5 per head. I dontnhave enough fingers and toes to work that out per month 😂
You don't need to, Sean.
At that rate, you can employ someone else to count your toes for you ;D
Simon
I wonder if the cause of the discontent with TFL followers is that by going down the patreon route TFL will be charging for things that they supplied for free in the past. I'm not sure that they did much by way of free downloads, but they did do some as I have got some. I suppose that the grumblers are thinking that all this sort of stuff will now be subscription only. The other problem with this system is that you have no control over the content, whereas if stuff is available to buy on their website then you can pick and choose what you are interested in. Therefore you, the customer, have the choice rather than the producer having the choice. Personally I don't do patreon.
John
I don't personally subscribe to any Patreons, as I really can't find anything worth the money :-)
Rich from TFL does pose an interesting angle in that its aimed as being a safe space compared to FB, X , Bluesky etc. This I think is probably worth paying for - if you are fed up with the increasingly invasive & vile attentions of a lot of social media. There is a bit of rise in paid community hubs (Circle, School etc) so it shows that people are willing to pay to keep the undesirables at bay.
That said, the what content they create I don't know.
To be honest I would have thought that PP would be ripe candidate for this sort of activity. I don't think there is anything wrong with a 'go fund me' approach
Sadly, I do not rate myself so highly as to rate access to my thoughts and holiday snaps as worth money. If people will pay for that, then I still do not see it as a benefit to the miniatures community. An anathema.
martin :)
I don't really thinks is 'thoughts and pictures' though. One might see it as a 'keep the lights on' subscription, as Sean alluded to. To increase the profitability of a company/organisation.
This forum is founded on the same premise. Its not free, but a 'pay want you want' model. Some choose nothing, some pay more. If everyone paid nothing it would go away, and you'd have to go back to FB etc.
Quote from: Sean Clark on May 16, 2025, 10:05:59 AMI don't know if you've seen this but there is a it of a stink been kicked up by the Too Fat Lardies (TFL) starting a Patreon service. Patreon is a subscription service that creators use to generate an income stream for which they provide exclusive content. They are charging £5 per month and have over 300 people signed up in the first day.
I wonder what people's thoughts are on this. Some members of the TFL community are upset as they say it will create a 'haves and have nots' situation. Others are happy to contribute towards a regular revenue stream that helps the company. I suppose in the case of the TFL, once you've bought a set of rules for the period you're interested in, you don't need to spend any money with them until the second edition comes out.
Anyway I thought it would be an interesting topic of conversation. Many 3D printing creative use this model of income generation. I wonder if more and more companies will follow suit?
Let us hope its success doesn't encourage them to start an only fans site
Ian
;D
Come on guys, this is 5 times table primary school stuff - always show your working out:
500 x 5 = 2500 - 9x5 = 45 = 2455. That's roughly my pension - should've gone to Patreon. :(
The problem Andy, might be keeping up attractive content over time.
Patreon is not to my liking. I also do not use twitter, my space, facebook et al.
I think this forums job is communicating amongst ourselves as well as letting all others see what is going on. Thanks to Simon it does this jolly well.
martin :)
Oops! Crossed wires Martin. I meant I should've gone to Patreon to double my pension :)
I have to agree with Martin and Simon P this is very much a Grand idea but not for this Forum as it is ?
As long as we, those that do contribute to the running costs ? Keep the site running ? Then that's all that matters ? Many small contributions does usually keep us running I assume ? I am more than happy to pay my monthly £1 unless that needs to go up ? Then I would gladly contribute more ?
I feel I get my money's worth back from it ?
As long as members can pay fairly for the up keep of the site then that's good?
Otherwise the site would need to do more to give us more if you start talking £5 from everyone a month ? A free 3D print from Simon C ?
So my vote is to keep it as is unless someone can show us differently?
Miles
I'm certainly not proposing any changed here! This forum is doing great as it is so long as Simon C is willing to host it.
QuoteSo my vote is to keep it as is unless someone can show us differently?
No one is suggesting any change here Miles. I was just trying to illustrate that it is a style of crowdfunding. The difference being I'm not trying to do for a job, where TFL are :-)