Why I’m not setting up a Patreon account

If you are a fan of Dreams, and you are reading my blog then the chances are I am not your generation. Someone posted a cute challenge on Twitter: post up the name of a game that was released in the year you were born. Great, except I am pre-Pong. There were no computer games. I am from the generation who saw the development of computer gaming and the internet from its infancy. The internet appeared when I was an adult. For most of you the internet has been around your entire lives. Social media is not a little distraction on the side of your life it is your main focus. You see YouTube as a career choice.That isn’t me. The idea of making money out of playing computer games seems ludicrous. I see young people do it, but that is not something I am trying to do or even want to do.

I have been making tutorials for game making, and playing computer games on YouTube for six years now. I don’t do it for the money. I don’t do it for fame. I probably don’t even do it for altruistic reasons. I have a YouTube channel because its a fun hobby. That’s what YouTube used to be about. That is what it was always about, not commerce, not money making, not a career, it was about having fun and sharing your experiences or knowledge. I do not monetise my channel. I don’t want adverts on my stuff. I also feel a bit weird about getting money by annoying the hell out of people. Be honest, those ads that you can’t skip and those ads that pop up in the middle of a video are awful aren’t they? And then there is those sponsorship ads built into the presentations themselves. Squarespace, Nord VPN and SkillShare who dominate the sponsorship advertising and bore everyone every time your favourite channel’s presenter says this is brought to you by….

So, I dont monetise, but I keep getting messages from my viewers asking me to set up a Patreon account so they can give me money. That is an incredibly weird experience for me. I am offering you my knowledge for free and you want to pay for it. It’s lovely that you appreciate what I am doing, but its free. I don’t want paying for it. Dreams and my YouTube channel are my hobby. YouTube is free to watch. I am not going to charge you for it. The idea of setting up a Patreon account so I can beg for “tips” for my tips is really weird to me. I do not come from a culture that tips people outside of a restaurant, and most of the time not even then. It all seems a bit foreign to me. So, I wont be doing that. I also do not want people trying to find other ways to send me money so please don’t do that. This may seem weird to you that I am turning down a chance to get some money, and that by refusing it I am somehow insulting you, but please don’t take that view.

If my channel consistently got thousands of views on every video, and we are talking about decent money,  then I would be stupid to not monetise then. But it would take a lot to make me feel it was worth it. So, I don’t envisage putting ads on my videos any time soon. This website is covered in ads. but I get nothing out of it at all – it’s the way WordPress funds the free websites it provides.

What is a little annoying however are the comments I get along the lines of, “why should I let you show my creations so you can make money off of my hard work?” and then there was the “You shouldnt ask people to make things for a creative challenge that is exploitative labour”. I am not a business. I am not making money off of anyone, and I’m not exploiting other people’s labour for personal gain. This is supposed to be something fun. When money gets involved it loses that, and you start chasing it, rather than doing what you enjoy. So enjoy all this free Dreams goodness, and maybe you can consider joining in, gratis, for the crack (as the Irish might say).

Advertisement