Important Update for 5 Dollar Backers! End of the Name in Credits Perk. (Patreon)

Hi everybody, I hope you're doing well. I've come to the decision that the God of War Ascension video will be the last video to feature Patreon credits. I know this may come as a disappointment, but for the last few months I've been ruminating over the decision to end this perk and I hope you'll understand my reasoning.

This perk has been around since the inception of this Patreon page and I'll admit that when I started this page I didn't think this bonus through very much. It was something that most other Patreon creators were doing so I didn't think about it too hard when I added it as a perk for the 5 dollar and above backers.

The issue is that as the Patreon has ballooned in size (which I'm of course extremely grateful for) the amount of 5 dollar backers has also increased massively and to an all time high. This has caused issues during video production that weren't such a big deal early on but have now become bigger concerns causing me to come to this decision.

-When adding Patron names to a video I always scan them first for potentially dodgy language or inappropriate content I don't want in the video. This takes a lot of additional time. With some names and titles being in different languages it even has me resorting to looking up what certain names mean which can also add to production time.

-Of course the level of inappropriate language some names may present can be somewhat subjective. I have to spend time thinking through sometimes whether a name is appropriate or not and the decision can sometimes be tricky, since I don't want to disappoint someone paying for the perk by leaving them off the list just because my sensibilities are different but I also don't want to imprint something I'm not comfortable with on my video.

-In general collating all the names takes a lot of time now. Trying to make sure I don't leave anybody off the list who has paid and that I've got the correct names for active backers is taking up more and more time that could be used elsewhere. I've been trying to streamline my production process to get bigger videos out faster and creating the backer name's section at the end of every video has become a bigger speed bump than it once was. It even adds to render time quite exponentially since all the names are quite a burden for the PC to churn out.

-The following has yet to become an issue as far as I'm aware but I'm also worried about the potential for people to regret at a later date sharing their information or username and having it branded on one of my videos. Likewise it could put me in an awkward situation if some dodgy character started pledging and I'd potentially feel obligated to or even perhaps just inadvertently immortalise them in my content. Safe to say this issue goes both ways and it's something I want to avoid potentially happening going forward.

Even though I will no longer be putting backer names in the credits, 5 Dollar backers will still exclusively have access to the Voting Perk which will allow you to vote on the order of future video releases after every 4 major videos. Maybe we can expand this to other votes too, like what Patreon exclusive videos to make.

Last year I also released a preview of my Killzone video as production dragged on to 3 dollar and above backers. Going forward I'd like to introduce early video previews as a 5 dollar perk.

I understand if this may be disappointing and if some of you want to drop your pledge to 3 dollars, I'd totally understand. This wasn't a decision made lightly but the amount of reasons to ditch the perk have become too numerous for me now. If you choose to drop your pledge I'd like to thank you again for such a high monthly donation, I know that 5 dollars a month is no joke; something else I don't take lightly.

If you have any questions about this or anything else feel free to shoot it over via the Patreon message system.