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Should we continue to host Waifu Poll events? (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-28 12:17:59
Edited:
2023-02-28 13:34:46
Imported:
2026-06

Poll

Should we continue to host Waifu Poll events?

  • Yes 188
  • No 47
  • 2023-02-28
  • 235 votes
{'title': 'Should we continue to host Waifu Poll events? ', 'choices': [{'text': 'Yes', 'votes': 188}, {'text': 'No', 'votes': 47}], 'closes_at': None, 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2023, 2, 28, 12, 15, 9, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 235}

Content

Hi everyone, I'd like to take this chance to announce that after hearing much feedback over the past year or so with the continued discontent over the waifu poll events, I'm currently at the crossroads of whether I'd like to continue this event going forward. 

For those of you who have been with me for a while, these are the monthly event where I'd choose the nominees from the suggested anime character be it from anime, games, etc, and set up a poll for everyone to participate and vote on a character. I'd usually draw the winner of the poll and if time allows it, I've also drawn the runner-up characters as well in the past. 

Originally, I created this event as a way of connecting with you guys, my beloved community, and creating a chance to make something really cool with your input via the polls each month. That was the intention and I've kept hosting this event for years now despite the few breaks I had in between. But more and more as time goes by, I've heard several discontent opinions regarding the poll. 

The most common consensus is that some find it very distasteful as they feel no need to bother participating because it more or less boils down to what is trending at the time. When I thought about this long and hard, it got me thinking that maybe hosting this event simply will brew further discontent and negativity from some of you which are the very opposite of what I wanted to achieve originally. 

While you could also argue that what is trending right now wins the majority of votes designed to find what is the most popular candidate among the nominees, I've grown weary and tired of having to question whether it's doing more harm than good to host these polls. 

So I'm currently on the fence about abolishing the Waifu Poll going forward. It is very unfortunate news but recent comments have convinced me that I should address this now than later, so I ask everyone on my Patreon to please vote and give me your feedback on the following question. 

Should we continue to host Waifu Poll events? 

Comments

Cepler

💙🦊

Da_Moose

Idunno, man, like you can't win them all. The characters I tend to vote for rarely win, but I still think it's fun. I do think that you are right in that it seems to be whatever is trending that wins (not to say you do a bad job at all, they always look great). What if, though, the nominees didn't include characters that were super popular at the time? Something like, older characters or more obscure ones. That might even the playing field a bit. That being said, if it feels right to stop doing these, then it's the right thing to do. I, and many others I'd wager, are sticking around regardless.

Ember Celtica

I think that the system moreso needs a revamp so that less trendy characters have a chance to win. A one-time vote means that the waifu polls tend to be a two to three party system (Current anime waifu vs current video game waifu vs wildcard.) If you wanna keep the waifu polls and update the voting system, I'd check out some of the voting videos by CGP Grey. My vote's for the single* transferable vote.

Alenil

Do you have another way to choose what/who to draw if you abolish poll? Do you want subscribers to have some way of control - and if yes how will you manage that without poll. Myself I don't really care about polls, sometimes even forgetting to vote. Maybe make them smaller? And-or not characters but poses/situation?

Azumus

Would refurbishing it as a "interests for the current month" type of poll do any good? So not having it binding in any way and returning the decision on waifus into your hands, but not completly removing the interaction it offers.

bakaslayer

You could have 2 polls, 1 of them being the current popular waifus and the other being more og not popular at this moment but still liked characters in the past. Just a suggestion :)

Pierre Johnson

Just kill the Waifu poll and leave a permanent suggestion box open, IF by chance you cannot come up with a character to draw you can browse the channel and IF you happen to see someone that peaks your interest you can think about drawing them. I am fine with the polls as is, working on a trending character is not a bad idea for artists to catch more peoples attention but it seems it is time for the poll to go away *shrugs*

Zed

In almost every poll, my waifu is an option (yoruichi, pyra, yor, maki, samus) but yeah, the winners are almost always what's trending, so my vote never feels like it matters

DIO

I already explain my view of it recently, so nothing more to add. Hope you will be fine with either road Reine ❤

Taco-Slayer

I feel like this happens to any artist that host character polls where either sometimes the same popular character wins whenever they get a chance to be back up on the poll or whatever is trending is gonna win by a landslide because its a trendy and people want to see new art for that character. Nothing wrong with it but its just how i see it happen all the time and artists like yourself are in a lose/lose situation with your audience with no matter what you decide to do. Feels like theres no easy solution for this to be completely honest.

Epsilia

Huh...instead of setting it up as a vote for a single character or two that may be wasted vote(s), we could set it up as some sort of tournament. Trending character v.s. trending character, less trending character v.s. less trending character. After however so many daily rounds, we'd be able to finally end up with two finalists. That way, there's no "wasted" votes since in the end, everyone will be able to vote on who the ultimate winner is in the end. It'd be less infuriating this way since they were able to at least win a few of the rounds even if their character didn't win in the end and some trending character won. It's also good for community engagement.

Danalieth Vonlys

I never see one of my vote win the polls but I don't care about it because what I care is your art. Yes if one day the waifu I voted win I will be happy. And yes, it's more a "trending waifu moment vote" than everything else but that's the game of polls like that. What matter is what do you think is the best for you. You're right on the limits of the system so if you don't like the polls as it is, then change it. I think we (almost) all open to news things. As long as it's a system you're happy to wrok with, it's ok for me.

Toastywafflz

I like some of the alternatives that people have suggested already, mainly the more actionable ones for you that wouldn't consume a crazy amount of time, like having more of a suggestion box than a binding poll. You could also split the difference kinda and just make sure nobody super popular or trending is on the poll, or focus the poll on characters you like, but that could be a bit of a pain. Regardless, it's the nature of polls to have winners and losers; if the issue is having the same winners all the time, I think the most direct solution without ridding us of the poll entirely is to take note of those characters and what's trending and exclude them from the poll, especially if they're characters you may intend on doing anyways. All that being said, I also support you because I like your art. I think I care more about you drawing characters you're passionate about and having fun with your work than seeing you draw specific people. Of course, if I were to be able to have some sort of input here or there in some way, that's fun; I think we all have characters we like and want to see our favorite artists render. But if you feel that the poll is restrictive, or that it has a negative impact on your community, I'm happy to just see you do whatever you want, because that's why I'm here anyways. I think it's important to feel good about your work, especially if it's your passion, and even though this issue doesn't pertain as directly to the art creation process, I could definitely see how it could be stressful or discouraging to have to wrestle discontent with the poll system. I really value the enjoyment of the creator, personally, that's one of the most important things to me as a supporter. Enabling you in some way to do what you love is participation enough for me. I do really like the idea too of replacing the poll character with your own character. I do want to see more of her, she's cute. And that sounds like it'd be a lot of fun for you too, so everyone wins. Knowing we'll see more of her either way is nice. Either way, thank you for your diligence. I appreciate your mindfulness, and I hope we can help you come to a decision that straightens everything out. I really am fine either way in the end, as long as it works for you :)

Moonwizards1

I voted to abolish it so you save yourself a headache but I actually don't mind the system. It gives us a voice and allows us to choose from the months lineup. People will always be dissatisfied but at least having an option to choose and communicate is better than no voice with the alternative. Sorry if you're having a hard time Foxy but please believe we are here for you and aren't going anywhere regardless of your decision. Be well and thanks for all you do!

Fusiontech45

One method that I’ve seen some artists use is that the artist picks 3-4 characters that they feel like drawing that month. The patrons then vote from the available choices. It’s not a perfect system, but I’ve seen the artists have more fun because all the choices are something they want to draw anyway, and the patrons still have an impact on what’s drawn.

DunceCap64

There is issues with the current system which is quite aggravating as someone who comes here for your art, not every single month people voting for a Genshin character (sorry guys who like it, I'm disinterested). Those who are trending isn't as big a deal since they are usually one ofs but the current system has problems. Firstly, disproportionate voting power in this case being literally pay to win. Something I've always noticed is that they don't ever split their votes if they have more, they just double down on who they actually want to see. This creates an issues of relative voting power, since you split your choices you will loose, and those who pay more have much bigger say on who actually wins. A bigger block of total people can be overided by a smaller block who all pay for more votes, which is likely where some of the disconnect comes from. It's not exactly good feeling to know your votes don't matter when your one or 2 votes can get run over by a guy with 5, which is why some don't vote. I don't have the data to back this up since I can't the end result but I have a suspicion that you have a swing group of people with a lot of votes who basically decide who wins given the trends. Second, there is no real limits to what people can vote for. This is something that as someone who enjoys older games or less popular titles is def annoying and I don't think I'm the only one. What we always see is usually this: Popular Character for this anime Season, a Very popular new game Waifu, Genshin Character, and Fate character. The first 2 switch out often enough that it's usually fine, since hey they are usually one and done with one very obvious exception (Marin). But it's very much the case that if it's not a trendy character it's going to be Genshin. Whenever we get someone who isn't from like a big name swing anime or game it's always goes back to Genshin and selects that character pretty much 90% of the time I have yet to see it do otherwise. I get you enjoy it and let the community also enjoys it but I feel like there needs to be some raining in since we miss a lot of opportunities to see someone new because someone wants their gacha character and because it's popular enough or potentially people strategically voting for the thing they will hate the least they end up winning. If this is really intended for the community coming together and deciding it needs to be said that everyone's first vote at least should matter the most. If people have a disproportionate amounts of say in the matter you get people who are disinterested in that's what I think is going on, I know for certain I don't vote at all because 90% of the time it won't ever swing anything. I am likely not the only one, you have smaller people who also just don't vote because they're one vote doesn't do anything, which in turn only doubles down the issue of that block who already collectively decides as a whole. Voting Dynamics is a tricky situation. So here I want to offer two potential fixes to at least address these issues that will need to see some actual testing runs to see if it actually changes things. Firstly is remove the ability for a person to just dump their entire block of votes onto a single character. If it is intended for the community to really decide who they would like to see we need to remove the disproportionate votes, Because everyone's voice should matter if this is intended to give back to the community and it should matter equally. I understand wanting to give a bonus to the people who pay more so instead of giving them more votes to dump into their one character just let them be able to pick more than one. The current incentive system right now basically forces anyone who pays more to dump it into the character they actually want to see the most because if they do not they will just lose, splitting votes is detrimental to what they would actually want so they're going to optimize the fun out of what's supposed to be a community event. By making each individual vote equal they need not worry of their primary character not potentially getting in, they can vote for a second that they wouldn't mind or a third or a fourth or if they just want to vote for the one they can vote for the one. It would be more reflective of what the community as a whole would actually like to see rather than a smaller block who decides for the community. Second thing that would need to change there would need to be cool downs on either specific characters or franchises/series. I may have to reply back on this after digging through the start of when I started joining but I can say with a fair level of confidence we have probably had at least one Genshin character every other month and potentially sometimes for several times in a row. We also had Marin who you also nearly had to step in to prevent her from just dominating the community vote for a while which I think is an example of the problem of their needs to be cooldowns. We'll need to see exactly how often certain series pop up to give some space for people who are new. Like with the example I mentioned before you would need a 3-month grace period to prevent either a fate character or a Genshin character from winning again and taking any chance of somebody new or from a less popular series from just getting filtered out even if the community as a whole would like to see more of it. 3rd narrow down what actually might be drawn. This part is actually relatively easy what you do here is you have open a suggestion box and then decide for yourself the eight that you seem interested in drawing and have the community vote from there. At the end of the day we are here for your art so you should also have a bit of a say in what you actually want to put out for the community. The last thing any of us want is you feeling burnout from drawing the same series over and over again not because you want to but because the community just keeps voting for it. Thankfully it hasn't happened but let's try to do something preventative from letting that happen. I don't believe these are perfect solutions, but it's a step in the right direction to prevent people from feeling like their vote doesn't matter. Because if the community as a whole feels like their vote doesn't matter they're just not going to and if they don't then that group that decides already who wins just decides even harder. This also isn't including characters who might have actually been interesting to see you draw not even getting recommended because why bother they're never going to win. And don't be afraid to ask us for help if you decide to implement these newer changes I guarantee someone would not mind myself included doing the work of managing the voting system if it means we get to see some new art of characters we have never seen before or have never seen you draw. It definitely would at least improve retention and total voters which should also ironically make it easier. And apologies for making this incredibly long this kind of think discussion is very much something I enjoy.

Flaming_Kaiser

Maybe you could safe up the less choosen characters and put all of them in one poll. Or you could do several characters from one series then you atleast have more different series portrayed. You also have really cool original characters you make up yourself. It's a little dissapointing to see the same series win all the time but thats a poll. But when its finished it always looks great in the end so im not that fussed.

Swizzler9

I have said my remarks on Discord but figured I should record them here Maye consider cutting back the monthly poll from 1 a month to 1 every two months and then draw the top 2 from the votes. Otherwise dropping the poll altogether could be good to allow you to draw more of your OC

Erzen

Some creators I have supported solve this kind of issues by having "niche poll" for unpopular characters so they are on equal footing. You may argue that preventing trending characters from entering the poll is bandage solution but in my opinion the moment that happens the poll is already rigged as 99% of the time the familiar trending character would win over character from older series simply because the latter caters only to specific fandom. Outliers like exists like Olga for example but this differs from community to community. Overall, I think that if you do not have a way to settle the problem in a way you find it reasonable to YOU first, then simply abolish the poll. I would personally love to have my favourite old school waifus drawn by you but considering it won't ever happen I would accept the reality.

Phantasma__

Foxy, I love anything you draw. Honestly, the character matters much less than whether you are enjoying the work. I read a few of the comments here; I couldn't read them all. And I feel that if not having enough time to draw your OC or wanting to draw your OC more is an issue, then the poll can be relaxed some. Otherwise, I would say keep the poll. I don't participate in them so frequently, but I do enjoy them.

Rafaelima_CH

Do what's best for you Reine, we love everything you draw and I know it's impossible to please everyone, but if you think about doing a rotation of anime characters one week, game characters another would be a good idea, or reduce the quantity would be good too; but do it for your own good Reine, we support you.