Update! (Patreon)
Content
Hey everyone! I am pausing next month's billing cycle because I am not getting the tier benefits out at all at the moment and I am sorry about that! Also I thought it would be nice to have a break for billing for the Christmas period. If you are a new Patron during this time and you have found this post, you may still be billed because you will have access to past content too, so a heads up about that!
I want to start this off by saying that I cannot thank you all enough for the support. If any of these other thoughts in this message go anywhere else, I wanted it to come to Patreon first to let you know what is happening and what I am thinking about when making decisions in the future. I also want to say that I really have had the best time with videos, the games you have suggested have been amazing, and its been such a cool thing to do.
The basics are that I have been really sick and YouTube has been a lot of stress for me too. In total honesty, I don't really know what to do right now and I have never had this feeling before. I am completely lost haha. I am considering taking a break but I don't know if that will just exacerbate the problem. If the channel and videos feel messy then this is the reason why 👍😁
Being sick may be putting a big miserable blur over my eyes (lol I don't know, the opposite of rose tinted glasses) but I am a bit worried to be honest. I would really like to be able to share my thoughts because I feel like the channel isn't just me making videos but the people who watch them too. But I am worried because I think when I talk about this, people can be quick to judge me for caring about how the videos do. But of course I care haha! For every video, YouTube gives you a set of analytics every time you publish it and it is my direct feedback to if people like the videos, and the engagement has taken a massive drop lately. I think people are disappointed when I talk about numbers, but seeing more people unsubscribe every day is a huge worry for me because it means I am doing something different that people really don't like. Not seeing regulars in the comments, less views, less of the video watched etc it's all added up, and there must be something going on.
I think I would be less worried if it was a gradual decline but the drop is quite big! This isn't just about "views" but watch time and interest too, and most worrying to me are that more people are unsubscribing every time I upload... so every time someone sees a new video they are choosing to opt out from future content too. My first thought is always oh god what has changed, am I not listening to what people want (just playing Zelda and Alien for my own enjoyment instead of starting something new) or am I doing something new in videos, am I too slow with uploads, did people come for one series and then leave etc.
The biggest "wake up" call has been Gow Ragnarok getting very little interest too. I thought it could be that everyone is playing it themselves coupled with there's just too many people playing it at the same time but my friends (other creators!) have been doing amazing, which I love for them, but I then wonder what happened for my channel. I absolutely loved God of War 2018 and we had the most amazing engagement - I would say both it and Bloodborne welcomed in the majority of new subscribers, with some really lovely regulars in the comments - and to see that they aren't returning for the new game is the kick I needed to really review what I am doing on here and why I am doing it. There have been some wonderful comments on the videos too, so I truly don't know if its luck of the draw or simply a case that I am not interesting to watch in this instance or lately.
Feeling like I am making bad videos or that people are no longer enjoying them is massively affecting my enjoyment making new videos and I don't want to feel that way because it means I am not enjoying making content anymore.
I just wanted to explain my mindset at the moment and if uploads or posts feel messy this is why! I am still trying and I do see some of the loveliest comments daily and they are wonderful but at the moment the negativity and uncertainty is outweighing all of it and I can't help but feel like I am missing the drive to do more lately.
I am back making content again today, I am going to try to get a few videos up this weekend onwards so there won't be a break yet, but I am pretty gutted about the whole thing - from being perpetually sick and miserable, to YouTube worrying me.
I hope you understand the update, I don't want this to seem like I am complaining or offloading but I really need to share my thoughts with you before I do something out of the blue like take a bunch of time off or try something new. Maybe I just overshare and this could just be something I should deal with alone in silence but here we are hahaha.